The Dolphins Quartet to Perform at the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival on June 19th

By James Carder

Young, fun-loving, community-minded, and – yes – exceptionally talented, the musicians of The Dolphins Quartet return to The Ebenezer Theater in Easton on June 19th at 7:30 p.m. as part of the 41st Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival. The Quartet’s return comes on the heels of its recent big win at the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition, where the Dolphins – as the members like to be called – both awed the judges and won over the audience and went home with the $10,000 Lerman Gold First Prize and the $1,000 Audience Choice Prize.

The New York City-based Dolphins Quartet members – violinists Luke Henderson and Isaac Park, violist James Preucil, and cellist Ian Maloney – all trained at The Juilliard School where they met, became close friends and discovered that when playing chamber music together they had what is often called a “quartet chemistry.” In 2022, they formed The Dolphins Quartet. Since then, they have both embraced the classical canon (especially, Beethoven, Mozart and Bartók), championed contemporary works and developed original compositions. Their ever-growing success is due in large part to their ability to find balance and harmony as an ensemble and to make chamber music vibrant, daring, and deeply human.

Their concert at the Festival will feature Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10, “The Harp,” and four pieces from their own 2023 composition, The Dolphin Miniatures, a seven-movement piece chronicling their early experiences and adventures. Their programming of the Beethoven quartet with The Dolphin Miniatures aligns with their belief that a work like the Beethoven can serve as a bridge for the audience between the classical canon and the contemporary work. Moreover, this bridge allows their programming to be both adventurous and accessible. By placing Beethoven alongside The Dolphin Miniatures, they invite the audience to hear both the established and the “living, breathing” possibilities of the string quartet medium. For them, a Beethoven quartet programmed alongside a contemporary work can evince varied emotional sound worlds that allow them to showcase the same level of imagination and storytelling in the Beethoven that they brought to their own composition.

The Dolphins are also committed to educational outreach, serving as the Arts Leadership Ensemble for Project: Music Heals Us, where they help lead Music for the Future, an initiative bringing Juilliard’s composition curriculum to correctional facilities nationwide. Last year, they launched their own Young Composers Program, that motivates pre-college students to compose for a string quartet. This culminated in eleven world premieres by middle and high school-aged student composers. The Dolphins recently released their debut album, Dolphins at Play, featuring their original compositions.

The dynamic Dolphins Quartet has very rapidly ascended as a powerhouse on the chamber music scene, distinguishing itself not only through technical brilliance, but also through a profound dedication to the accessibility and enjoyment of music. Moreover, its members are committed to the living art of composition and to educational outreach outside the usual confines of the classical music world. The Dolphins Quartet’s June 19th performance will give the Chesapeake Music audience the opportunity of an early, “ground-floor” preview of this highly accomplished, technically adept and socially conscious ensemble, one that is very likely to become a “must-see” string quartet in the very near future.

Be a part of this year’s Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival and experience The Dolphins Quartet performance and all of the Festival’s extraordinary music, performed in an intimate setting. Detailed information on the Festival concerts, including programs, dates, times and ticket availability, can be found at ChesapeakeMusic.org.