The Alexander String Quartet wowed students, faculty and community members during its week-long residency at St. Lawrence University last week. The world-premiere ensemble was founded in New York City, New York in 1981 and is currently based out of San Francisco, California.   

The quartet held two performances: a noon matinee on Oct. 18 and a concert on Oct. 19. Passionate about education, the members of the quartet graciously guest lectured in multiple SLU classes to share with students how music can connect to life and people in many ways.  

The quartet has completed many similar visits to SLU in years past. The Alexander String Quartet includes founding member Sandy Wilson on the cello, Viola player David Samuel, first chair violinist Zakarias Grafilo and second violinist Yuna Lee.   

Lee is the newest member of the quartet. This was her first residency at SLU. Prior to joining the Alexander String Quartet, Lee played in orchestras, freelanced and was a member of a string quartet that played together for 10 years while in college and grad school.   

The Alexander String Quartet’s performances were complex and beautiful, and the four musicians naturally complimented each other. It was impossible to tell that Lee had only been playing with the quartet since August. Samuel shared that joint potential is a key element to achieving harmony as a group. “Quartet is all about that; we want all four of us to have equal contribution and an equal voice.”  

The pieces that the quartet performed were beautiful and full of passion and emotion. Wilson described music as a language of its own that holds great psychological significance. Wilson finds playing music valuable as a form of nonverbal communication, “I think it is a great way to express how you feel without being pinned down to vocabulary.”  

The members of the quartet guest lectured in multiple first-year program classes. The musicians connect their craft to many different topics, such as music, psychology, physics and communication. The members of the quartet met with the Laurentian Singers and demonstrated how they rehearse and work. Lee was excited to share her passion, “I thought they took away something from that, that they thought was really valuable. You know, it’s sort of like art of collaboration, which you can take into any discipline.”  

SLU Music Professor In-Sil Yoo coordinated the quartet’s visit and joined me and the quartet for an interview. Professor In-Sil Yoo loves working with the quartet and seeing her students learn from them, “I always ask [students] to watch them how they communicate and how they would respond in exactly the same score. But that shows the difference with professional and amateur… that’s a really beautiful thing; I get excited whenever they come.”    

Grafilo has been in the quartet for 21 years and shared that he always enjoys coming back for the quartet’s residencies at SLU. Grafilo favors Canton’s beautiful fall weather and the feeling of homecoming while catching up with faculty and seeing how everybody’s doing. “I mean, it’s like a family here.”