The Debussy Quartet presented two very impressive concerts on February 6 & 7, of which most of you probably saw at least one. You may not have known about the lecture/performance they presented for SOU music majors and the public that Friday afternoon ("convocation"). This convocation presentation was one of the best we've had in quite some time — the group struck the perfect balance of instructive comments and helpful samples. They discussed the similarities between the quartets of Ravel and the little-known French composer Bonnal, and used demonstrations to show the odd meter in two of the movements.
One of the more exciting moments that weekend came when the cellist Allain came to me at 6:30 p.m. the evening of the concert wondering if there was a cello he could borrow. As he put it, "My cello does not like Oregon." Due to the differences in humidity, his cello began cracking in several places during their rehearsal, and he was worried that it might not make it through the concert. To our relief, one of CMC's patrons, Judy Bjorlie (principal cellist with the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra), agreed to let Allain borrow her cello "just in case." Happily his cello hung in there and stabilized, but he kept Judy's cello through the Saturday concert just in case — he was convinced if he gave it back earlier, his cello would figure out he didn't have a back up and start cracking again!