Ep 5: Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt - Violist of the Dover Quartet

Being in a quartet is like being in a marriage, says Milena
Pajaro-van de Stadt, violist and founding member of the world
renowned award-winning Dover Quartet & our guest for Episode
5 of the So This Is My Why Podcast. 





Holding dual citizenship in the US and the Netherlands, Milena
considers herself to have grown up “a little bit of everywhere”
including in Oxford (UK), Baltimore and Jacksonville. 





Her father taught her the piano before, feeling fed up with the
instrument, she chose the violin as her next musical endeavour.
An instrument she picked up after hearing a musician busk on the
streets of Oxford. 





At the age of 10 years old, having moved back to Jacksonville by
then, she picked up the trombone and also (eagerly!) volunteered
to play the viola when her younger brother wanted to form a
quartet. 





We explore all that including a pivotal moment in the summer of
2005, where she met and learned from Michael Klotz, violist of
Amernet Quartet & her first viola teacher, at the Bowdoin
International Music Festival. A meeting that resulted in her
“sudden immersion in the viola world”.





Curtis Institute of Music


We also discuss the considerations she had in place when applying
for music schools and how she dropped all other applications the
moment she got into her dream school - the Curtis Institute of
Music! There, she studied with the likes of Michael Tree (of the
Guarneri Quartet) & Roberto Diaz (President & CEO of the
Curtis Institute of Music).





It was also at Curtis that the members of what would be the Dover
Quartet came together - not unlike the tentative start of a
budding relationship! They bonded so well, one of their teachers,
Shmuel Ashkenasi (Vermeer Quartet) asked them, “Have you
considered getting married (to each other)?” because you’re
always together. To which Milena said:





We could not have been more giddy than when he said that to us
because we had looked up to him so much and he notoriously is one
of the most demanding coaches we've ever had. And so to get that
kind of encouragement from someone we looked up to… I think that
definitely had a huge thing to do with our morale and decision to
be kind of brave enough to commit to one another.





From there, they decided to show “commitment” to each other by
attending the graduate residency program at Rice University’s
Shepherd School of Music as a quartet. 





Realities of Life As a String Quartet Member


The life of a string quartet member is so very unique & some
of the things we explore include: 


What is your schedule like as a string quartet? How often are
you on the road?

What was it like participating in competitions (e.g. Fischoff
Competition) and in particular, your memories of those incredible
wins at the Banff Competition 2013 which launched the Dover
Quartet into the spotlight?

Importance of competitions to the careers of string quartets

Ways of dealing with disagreements between quartet members,
particularly in musical interpretations of pieces

Managing personal space while on the road;

Staying in touch with loved ones while on the road 

Collaborations with other musicians & how that comes
about

Giving live performances versus making studio recordings;

The role of social media & the power of collaborations -
e.g. with Avi Avital, Edgar Meyer, Ray Chen, Roomful of Teeth
& the Brooklyn Duo; 

The Importance of public speaking as a means of connecting
with the audience;

Dealing with concert reviews

Giving back to the community through Music For Food; and

“Balancing” a solo career with being in a quartet.






String Instruments


As the instrument itself is so important to a musician, we talk
about:


The two violas she plays on & their different purposes

Modern v old instruments - which is better? Does it even
matter?

How do you choose your violin?

Are violins with an unknown maker a good investment? 

Impact of COVID-19 on her personal life & the life of the
Dover Quartet






Role of Parents in a Child’s Education


For parents with young kids or those thinking of pursuing music,
we also deal with questions on:


Should all children be exposed to music / have music lessons?

How should parents handle children who don’t want to
practice, especially if they want to just quit after trying it
for a short while?

At what age should a child learn a musical instrument?

What should people looking to pursue music think about &
do?






Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/5/





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Official Bio of the Dover Quartet


The phenomenal Dover Quartet catapulted to international stardom
following a stunning sweep of the 2013 Banff Competition, at
which they won every prize. Named the Cleveland Quartet
Award-winner, and honored with the coveted Avery Fisher Career
Grant, the Dover has become one of the most in-demand ensembles
in the world.





The Quartet’s rise from up-and-coming young ensemble to occupying
a spot at the top of their field has been “practically meteoric”
(Strings). With its burnished warmth, incisive rhythms, and
natural phrasing, the Quartet’s distinctive sound has helped
confirm its status as “the young American string quartet of the
moment” (New Yorker). The Quartet serves as the
quartet-in-residence for the Bienen School of Music at
Northwestern University, Chamber Music Northwest, Artosphere, the
Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and Peoples’ Symphony in
New York, and was recently named the first-ever
quartet-in-residence for the Kennedy Center. 





In 2018-19 the Dover Quartet performs more than a hundred
concerts around North America, including performances at the
Kennedy Center, San Francisco Performances, the Philadelphia
Chamber Music Society, Spivey Hall, Boston’s Celebrity Series,
the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and Carnegie Hall. In
addition, the Dover’s season features tours of Hong Kong, Europe,
and Australia, collaborations with Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan,
Peter Serkin, Anthony McGill, and Roomful of Teeth, and premieres
of new works by Caroline Shaw and Matan Porat. The Quartet was
thrilled to be invited by the maverick filmmaker and cultural
icon David Lynch to be featured at his Los Angeles Festival of
Disruption. 





Cedille Records released the Quartet’s sophomore album, entitled
Voices of Defiance: 1943, 1944, 1945 in October 2017. The
recording takes listeners on a powerful journey through works
written during World War II by Viktor Ullmann, Dimitri
Shostakovich, and Simon Laks. The 2016-17 season saw the release
of its all-Mozart debut recording on the Cedille label, a nod to
the 1965 debut album of the Guarneri Quartet, whose founding
violist, the late Michael Tree, joined the Dover Quartet on the
recording. 





In addition, the group has participated in three complete
Beethoven quartet cycles, including the University at Buffalo’s
famous “Slee Cycle” – which has presented annual Beethoven
quartet cycles since 1955 and has featured the likes of the
Budapest, Guarneri, and Cleveland Quartets – and will record the
cycle over the next three seasons. The group’s world-class
collaborators have included pianists Anne-Marie McDermott,
Emanuel Ax, Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Peter
Serkin, and Jon Kimura Parker; violists Roberto Díaz and Cynthia
Phelps; bassist Edgar Meyer; and the Pacifica and Escher
Quartets.


In the spring of 2016, the Dover Quartet was recognized with the
Hunt Family Award, one of the inaugural Lincoln Center Emerging
Artist Awards, and in past years has taken top prizes at the
Fischoff Competition and the Wigmore Hall International String
Quartet Competition.





All four Quartet members are consummate solo artists: first
violinist Joel Link took first prize at the Menuhin Competition;
violinist Bryan Lee and violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt have
appeared as soloists with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Tokyo
Philharmonic, respectively; and cellist Camden Shaw released a
solo album debut on the Unipheye Music label.





As Strad observes, “With their exceptional interpretative
maturity, tonal refinement, and taut ensemble,” the Dover Quartet
is “pulling away from their peers.”





Hailed as “the next Guarneri Quartet” (Chicago Tribune), the
Dover Quartet draws from the lineage of that distinguished
ensemble, as well that of the Cleveland and Vermeer Quartets; its
members studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and Rice
University’s Shepherd School of Music, where they were mentored
extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Dunham, Norman Fischer,
Kenneth Goldsmith, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael
Tree, and Peter Wiley. It was at Curtis that the Quartet first
formed, and its name pays tribute toDover Beach by fellow Curtis
alumnus Samuel Barber. The group has since returned for
residencies to Rice in 2011-13, and to Curtis, where it became
the conservatory’s first Quartet-in-Residence, in 2013-14. In
addition, in 2015 the Dover was appointed the first Resident
Ensemble of Peoples’ Symphony Concerts in the 116-year history of
New York City’s oldest concert series.





The Dover Quartet is dedicated to sharing its music with
under-served communities and is actively involved with Music for
Food, an initiative enabling musicians to raise resources and
awareness in the fight against hunger.





The Dover Quartet plays on the following instruments:


Joel Link: Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, Paris circa
1857, on loan by Desirée Ruhstrat


Bryan Lee: Riccardo Antoniazzi, Milan 1904


Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt: Michele Deconet,
Venice, 1780, the ‘Kroyt,’ generously on loan from the grandson
of Boris Kroyt of the Budapest Quartet


Camden Shaw: Frank Ravatin, France, 2010