The St Lawrence String Quartet is maintaining the Canadian content by replacing outgoing violinist Scott St John with Montreal-based Mark Fewer, one of this country’s busiest and most accomplished violinists, on January 1.
The St Lawrence String Quartet, which was founded in Toronto, has been ensemble in residence at California’s Stanford University since 1998.
Founding St Lawrence violinist Geoff Nutall had this to say about Fewer: “His imagination, inquisitive spirit, incredible command of the violin, and dedication to quartet life (rehearsing!), are all important parts of who he is. We have experienced it all first hand while playing over thirty concerts together while Scott or I was on paternity leave in the last couple of years. (Julia and Ellis are here to prove it.) Lesley, Chris and I are very excited to have Mark Fewer along with us for the next chapter (twenty five years!?) of the SLSQ.”
Fewer has considerable experience as a soloist and collaborator in art music as well as jazz. He spent five years as head of the Scotia Festival and is the founding director of the SweetWater Music Festival in Leith. He said he was “honoured and thrilled at this collaboration.”
Besides their work at Stanford, the St Lawrences tour extensively — including making an annual concert stop in Toronto.
St John announced earlier this year that he will be taking some time off from the concert world to concentrate on spending time with his family at their new home in London, Ontario.
John Terauds