Today we’d like to introduce you to Brasilis String Quartet. Them and their team share their story with us below:
The Brasilis String Quartet was officially formed in 2022. It started when a few friends – mostly from Brazil – had the opportunity to meet in Memphis. They decided to explore repertoire from Brazilian composers and eventually expand it to Latin American composers.
Rebeca Rathlef (violin – Brazil), Noel Medford (violin – USA), Amaro Dubois (violin – Brazil) and Roberta dos Santos (cello – Brazil) found a common passion in sharing not only the richness of Latin American music but also collaborating with living composers.
Although the quartet is newly formed, we have been working hard by investing a substantial amount of time in rehearsals preparing for concerts, and working with the community by giving masterclasses, workshops, and pedagogical concerts as powerful tools for an inspirational and better future for the younger generation of musicians.
We have been giving many performances around the Memphis area but we would like to highlight our last concert that took place a few days ago on June 22nd in the Green Room at Crosstown Arts.
In the program, we performed pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos (one of the biggest names in Brazilian music in the 20th century), Jose Elizondo (a living Mexican composer), and Dimitri Cervo (a living Brazilian composer). They both have been working closely with us kindly giving us important feedback.
And to end the program, we included the renowned String Quartet No. 8 by Dmitri Shostakovich even though is far from being Latin American, has a quite strong and political message about resistance and resilience.
As for our work with the community, in May of 2022, the Brasilis String Quartet gave a few pedagogical concerts in partnership with the Memphis Music Initiative (MMI) by visiting the Memphis public schools. Also, in June of 2022, we were invited to give a performance and a masterclass to the students at the Harmonic South Summer Camp.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As we are all professional musicians and have very different and busy schedules due to our projects and the quartet, I would say one of our biggest challenges as a group is finding a common schedule for rehearsals.
We have been quite committed since the very beginning, therefore, we envision high-quality work that requires a lot of dedication as we rehearse every day to prepare for our performances.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The Brasilis String Quartet is proud to share our passion for Latin American Music and celebrate living composers. We have been gathering the attention of audiences for our versatility of repertoire.
One of our very first pieces that eventually we ended up including in one of our concerts in May of 2022 with special guest Dawson Hull on piano, we performed the vibrant and joyful piano quintet by the Cuban composer Aldo Lopez-Gavilan “Pan Con Timba”.
With the exploration of jazz improvisation and classical music, it was like the piece was written for us somehow because, despite the technical challenges of putting a piece like that together, we have always enjoyed the process and had fun.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
One thing we have been trying to explore more in our presence on social media and the internet in general.
With the advent of technology, it can make a big difference if we use it wisely and in our favor by promoting our work. Also, connecting with composers and other musicians is key.
We are all artists and we should support each other.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @brasilisstringquartet
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Brasilis-String-Quartet-112771128108745
Image Credits
Harris Beauchamp
