The Lydian String VIOLIST MARK BERGER CAN FOLD HIS TALL, lanky frame into a music ensemble of any size. He frequently performs with New England’s finest orchestras: the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Emmanuel Music and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. An avid chamber musician, Berger is a member of the Worcester Chamber Music Society and Music at Eden’s Edge, and has been a guest artist with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Boston Musica Viva and Radius Ensemble. The rural Minnesota native also performs with many of Boston’s new-music ensembles, including Sound Icon, Boston Musica Viva and Dinosaur Annex. Berger earned a PhD in composition from Brandeis in 2012. And while a grad student at Brandeis,
Quartet welcomes its
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You have an incredibly productive freelance career as a performer and composer. What drew you back to Brandeis? It’s a dream come true. The opportunity to make music at the highest level with these esteemed colleagues. To commune on a If you know regular basis with me, you know the greatest that… works of the classical I WILL NEVER chamber SAY NO TO music canon. COFFEE. And by way of the LSQ Commission Prize, to push boundaries through new works with cutting-edge composers. Obviously, I’m very comfortable here at
DREAM G Mark Berger’s
he had one of his earliest compositions, Notturno, performed by the Lydian String Quartet. This fall, he joins the quartet as its violist, filling the position of founding member and violist Mary Ruth Ray (1956-2013), and becomes a member of the music department faculty.
You’ve also performed in some unusual spaces, with unusual collaborators. Not the typical “gig“ for a classical musician. Like on an urban basketball court? Yes, as part of a string octet accompanying young rappers and street dancers in the spokenword opera titled “Hoop Suite,” a collaboration between choreographer Anna Myer and the North American Family Institute.
PATRICK O’CONNOR
In June, Berger took a break from packing for the summer season at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute in western Massachusetts (where he is in residence with his wife, flutist and conductor Kathleen Berger, and their two young children) to talk about his return to Brandeis and the vibrant future of the Lydian String Quartet.
Brandeis. The department is warm and friendly. I love playing in the Slosberg Recital Hall. Acoustically, it’s perfect for a chamber group.
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BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | STATE OF THE ARTS
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fall 2014
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