The Lark String Quartet to Give Free Concert on Shelter Island

Larks, it’s said, have “more elaborate calls than most birds, and often extravagant songs, given in display flight . . . melodious sounds that have ensured larks a prominent place in literature and music.” How fitting, and how welcome, that The Lark, a critically acclaimed, Grammy-award winning, 30-year-old internationally celebrated group of chamber musicians will grace Shelter Island over the Labor Day weekend as part of the free concert offerings of Friends of Shelter Island Music. Composed of Deborah Buck (violin 1), Basia Danilow (violin 2), Kathryn Lockwood (viola) and Caroline Stinson (cello), the quartet will give classical music lovers an opportunity to hear some fine music in a venue with fine acoustics and be part of a growing community of music lovers on the East End.

The four young women of The Lark are composers as well as performers and do both traditional and contemporary pieces, many commissioned works. Lately, says Buck, the group has opened itself to collaborations featuring the quartet with piano, clarinet, or voice. This accommodation has given the group “the chance to experiment with a vast amount of color, rhythm and music idiom from around the world.” A move that has informed and inspired their playing in new ways: “We are more flexible, more daring, more imaginative.” The collaborations have meant that the group can commission composers whom a more traditional string quartet would not otherwise consider. The collaborations have also strengthened the group’s already strong bonds, and it’s not all music. As Buck says, “We have seven children amongst us, so motherhood has been a wonderful thing to share together.”

Sunday, September 6, at 8pm, at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, 32 North Ferry Road (Route 114), Shelter Island.