The Revenant Composer

This week, we were fortunate enough to entertain a 2-day residency by New York-based string quintet Sybarite5 at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts. Over the course of their two-day stay, they provided several masterclasses for string performance, talks on their career and successes as a string quintet, and a forum to discuss the best way for burgeoning composers to approach established music groups for connection, collaboration, and performance – as well as a phenomenal concert of their repertoire.

Who is Sybarite5?

Sybarite5 is, somewhat unusually, a string quintet, comprising violinists Sami Merdinian and Suliman Tekalli, violist Caeli Smith, cellist Laura Andrade, and double bassist Louis Levitt. The brainchild of Louis Levitt, it was formed several decades ago as an attempt to build a repertoire of chamber music that involves the double bass (the vast majority of chamber string repertoire is for string quartet, thereby excluding the bass from the ensemble). Growing from its inception, Sybarite5 now perform internationally, and have five albums of their performances – the most recent of which, Collective Wisdom, was released in 2023.

Through partnership with the composition and string departments at Rutgers University, the quintet was invited to Mason Gross School of the Arts this week, and their presence was not only a delight, but profoundly useful to all who attended their sessions.

Masterclasses

On Tuesday, Sybarite5 held several masterclasses for the string players at Rutgers. Although I myself am a composition student, I thought it would be interesting to attend some of the masterclasses to get a feel for what such an event was like, and to learn more about string playing in general.

The first session was a chamber class, involving supporting students in perfecting their art as a group of players. I was only able to catch the last session of this masterclass, but it was fascinating to watch as the string quartet, playing Beethoven, started out with a run-through of the work. The immediate, actionable and meaningful feedback from the members of Sybarite5 was impressive; within twenty minutes, through nothing more than modest suggestions for improvement, the quartet was tighter, more engaged, and playing better than ever. For example, the simple act of physically moving the players closer together, thereby increasing their responsiveness to each other, made an astonishing difference to the tightness and intimacy of the performance.

Following the chamber masterclass, I was able to dip into two of the solo masterclasses – violin and viola. Once again, the group’s expertise shone through; whilst I was initially impressed with one student’s rendition of Sibelius’ violin concerto (perhaps my favorite violin work out there, along with Beethoven’s masterful violin concerto), the suggestions and feedback from Suliman and Sami was directly impactful, and by the time I left for the viola class twenty minutes later, the performance was already far more impressive.

The viola class, with Caeli, was fun as there was exactly one viola student present. I was able to see advice on strong pizzicato playing, with Caeli ripping away at the strings to produce a beautiful, bright and powerful sound.

Throughout these classes, the members of the group were fun, engaging, and insightful; I would say they are nothing if not approachable and genuinely kind people.

Learning How to Engage Groups

Later, following the masterclasses, the group gathered again to talk to students about the rigors of being a professional performing ensemble. Whilst the initial intention was, I believe, to have one discussion around the entrepreneurship of being a working group, and a second about how to approach existing groups, it turned out the majority of attendees for both sessions were composers – which of course suited my own career path very well.

There was a wonderful debate between the group, the composition students, and the composition department head Dr. Ordway, and I must admit that there was a great deal of learns that I took away from these conversations. Louis Levitt, for example, broke down incentivizing groups into three basic reasons to perform: money, exposure, and repertoire. In other words, does it pay, does it get recognition, and does it allow the group to play music they actually want to play.

I found these discussions fascinating and enlightening; to a great degree, they broke down some of the mental barriers I’ve had up until now around actually getting my name out there and getting my music played. After all, the driving reason behind my decision to back to school was to be able to have performances of my work, and getting to know Sybarite5 absolutely helped me realize that it’s a lot more possible – and realistic – than I had perhaps suspected.

The Concert

It would be remiss of me not to mention the incredible performance Sybarite5 put on for us on the evening of the first day of their residency. In the beautiful Voorhees Chapel at Rutgers’ Douglass Campus, Sybarite5 spent an hour playing through some of their most popular repertoire in an informal and intimate setting. Perhaps one of the most engaging aspects of their performance was that, with the exception of Laura (the cellist), none of the group sat for the performance – a stark contrast to a typical string quartet setting. This created a delightfully engaging and dynamic performance, as the group were able to move, wander, and emote with their entire body.

Forgive my memory – there was no printed program – but there was a great deal of modern repertoire on the docket, including a piece called Groove Machine by Marc Mellits and Kenji Bunch’s Allemande pour tout le Monde, as well as a set of Armenian pieces (regretfully, the composer’s name escapes me at the moment). They also performed a riveting rendition of Mahler’s famous Adagietto (I believe).

One of the most encouraging things to me about their concert was that it showcased a great deal of accessible, tonal music that is very much in the style that I find myself composing already. A huge concern for me coming into a music program – especially after so long away – was that my tonal style would be out of touch with modern contemporary classical music (when I left the scene in the early 2000s, it was unthinkable to write a simple major chord). Their performance introduced me to a number of composers who clearly aren’t afraid to write tonal, beautiful music, and this has alone given me a huge boost of confidence in my own music.

Closing Thoughts

I am incredibly grateful to Rutgers for being able to make such residencies happen; I am equally grateful to the kindness, support and encouragement from all the members of Sybarite5. It was a rewarding and humbling experience, and one that has only reinforced my desire to continue with this path in life.

I don’t know if I will cross paths with the members of Sybarite5 again, but I do know that I am eager to hear more of their work, whether through recordings or live performances, and I would die to write a work for them to perform.

If you aren’t familiar with the group, check them out on Spotify or Apple Music, where you can find most if not all of their recorded works. They are obviously incredibly talented, but they are humble, down-to-earth, and generally wonderful people to know.

Thank you, Sybarite5!