2.16 Managing a Modern Quartet: Attacca Quartet

Domenic Salerni of the Attacca Quartet joins us to chat about what it means to "live in the present…without rejecting the virtues of the past" and how the ensemble approaches breathes new life into traditional projects. We discuss the ins and outs of artist management, and how the ensemble approaches commissions. And, Domenic shares how the quartet searches for a recording label and how up-and-coming artists can develop the skills needed for the recording process.

Grammy award-winning Attacca Quartet, as described by The Nation, “lives in the present aesthetically, without rejecting the virtues of the musical past”, and it is this dexterity to glide between the music of the 18th through to 21st century living composer’s repertoire that has placed them as one of the most versatile and outstanding ensembles of the moment – a quartet for modern times.

Touring extensively in the United States, recent and upcoming highlights include Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts, New York Philharmonic’s Nightcap series, Lincoln Center White Lights Festival and Miller Theatre, both with Caroline Shaw, Phillips Collection, Wolf Trap, Carolina Performing Arts, Chamber Music Detroit, Red Bank Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Austin and a residency at the National Sawdust, Brooklyn. They recently performed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, where they will return in 2020 and have performed a series of Beethoven String Quartet cycles both at the historic University at Buffalo’s Slee Beethoven Quartet Cycle series and at the New York and Trinity Lutheran Church, Manhattan, where they have a longstanding partnership. The upcoming season will see them debuting at the Trinity Church at Wall Street as part as their 12 Night Festival where they will perform the complete cycle of the Beethoven String Quartets. Attacca Quartet has also served as Juilliard’s Graduate Resident String Quartet, the Quartet in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Ensemble-in-Residence at the School of Music at Texas State University.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

For more information about eighth blackbird, please visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.