The Whistler Chamber Music Society (WCMS) 2024-25 concert season wraps up on April 6 with Quartetto Gelato.
Oboe player Colin Maier, violinist Konstantin Popović and accordionist Matti Pulkki have recently welcomed cello player Dr. Dobrochna Zubek into their midst. However, the group has been around since 1990 with various lineups welcomed warmly in New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Washington and more.
Quartetto Gelato is a former winner of NPR Performance Today’s Debut Artist of the Year award and their first DVD, A Concert in Wine Country, is still broadcast regularly after PBS picked it up in 2007. They also contributed to the soundtrack of Only You, a romantic comedy starring Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr.
According to their own website, Quartetto Gelato is "a popular and highly unusual classical quartet" which brings to the table an "exotic blend of musical virtuosity, artistic passion and humour." They can play anything from classical masterworks and romantic ballads to distinctive Romani, Klezmer and tango material.
Maier and his peers reason that: if rock bands and players without degrees can memorize their content, so can they.
"We have a great group of awesome musicians and great people, and everybody brings in a new flavour," Maier explains. "When you get rid of the sheet music and music stands, that forces musicians to look somewhere else. Music can be so abstract sometimes … say there's an internal line of music that I'm playing as an oboist—when we're actively staring at each other, that brings out new levels of listening. We try and be as real as possible on stage with who we are.
"We try to create an evening where the audience doesn't know what's going to happen. If things get too predictable, people can get bored, like any Hollywood movie if you can predict the ending. We come on stage almost like a first date: you have two hours to impress that person. [A concert] is not just us. We want the audience to kind of give back, and we encourage that."
'You can always communicate with music'
Maier began playing oboe in the fall of 1992, a couple of years before Quartetto Gelato's self-titled debut album came out. He remembers an instructor handing him that CD as material for his senior recital.
The Calgarian was enraptured, having never heard anybody play his instrument with such flair and skill. He decided he would model his career after Quartetto Gelato, hoping to join a band like them. In 2009, he more or less crossed an item off his bucket list and officially became the group's oboist.
"I still have to pinch myself that I'm kind of doing my childhood dream," admits Maier. "Whenever we perform, we try to honour the spirit of the group and the founders too. As an oboist, there aren't many opportunities, really … I mean, how many famous oboists can you name?"
The quartet's members are thrilled with every chance to perform. They've stood the tests of both time and COVID-19, appreciating the fact that demand for live shows remains high in a post-pandemic world.
Maier elaborates: "Every audience is the same. If you can communicate with them through words, that's great, but if you can't, you can always communicate with music. A good song is a good song. That being said … we always present concerts in the language [of our host city]. Doesn't matter if it's a small house party for some people locally, at a cottage in Muskoka, or if it's playing at an art gallery in New York City. People are people."
Quartetto Gelato is yet to bring its current lineup to Whistler. They love playing anywhere in Canada, especially British Columbia, and they find something "magical" about the Sea to Sky. Having performed at the 2010 Olympic opening ceremonies, Maier looks forward to his return.
Visit whistlerchambermusic.ca/concert/quartetto-gelato/ for tickets and more information.
