ANGELA LYONS
The Shanghai Quartet celebrates its 35th anniversary during the 2018–19 concert season – an impressive milestone by any standards, but even more so considering that when the group first formed in its native China, Western chamber music was virtually unknown there. The story of the quartet’s founding – motivated by a simple desire to visit the UK – is a fascinating one, and testament to the value of hard work and ambition. But perhaps even more interesting is the group’s continuing mission to educate Chinese audiences and students about the value of chamber repertoire – and equally to introduce Western audiences to Chinese folk music through the attractive arrangements of second violinist Yi-Wen Jiang. The quartet is in fact a perfect example of how music can engage, educate, and bring together those from different cultures, as I discover on page 30.
Cellists and yoga practitioners Ruth Phillips and Jane Fenton explore another meeting of cultures on page 54. For many years the two have been helping fellow string players to cope with tension and stage fright through the application of yoga, introduced to Phillips by leading Italian expert Vanda Scaravelli. Their article describes concepts of ‘breath’, ‘gravity’ and ‘the wave’ and three corresponding yoga exercises, designed to release players from worry and strain.