Project Inclusion String Quartet

Night out in the Parks – Project Inclusion String Quartet – Lake Shore Park – August 19, 2021

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The last time I wrote about Project Inclusion’s concert in the park was July, 2018. Things have changed, and stayed the same. That time there was a musician from Havana, this time from Venezuela. Both times there were string players from a place much less interesting, Texas.

One of them, violinist Audrey Lee, told us that she had never been to Chicago before, and, though she loved it, would soon be returning to her current home in Durant, Oklahoma, where she teaches music. I’ve never heard of Durant, and I’m sure there are several good reasons for that.

I thought I also had never heard of Southeastern Oklahoma State University, where she teaches, but it turns out that Dennis Rodman went to school there, as the Savage Storm (still known as the Savages when Rodman was there) participate in half a dozen men’s and women’s varsity sports, including, for both, rodeo (one of the 73 schools that do!), which makes me wish that the quartet had played some Copeland, rather than the so-so selections they chose.

The program listed one of the songs as The Walzing Cat. I’m pretty sure they meant The Waltzing Cat, unless the song was about a German feline that went on a road trip.

During another piece, they told us it was okay to get up and dance. No one did. During the encore pop mash-up, they said it was okay to sing along. No one did. But the weather was nice.

Project Inclusion String Quartet – July 17 and 26, 2018 – Washington Square Park and Lake Shore Park

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If you didn’t get a chance to see the wonderful Project Inclusion String Quartet this summer at one of their outdoor concerts in various city parks, don’t worry, you can see them next summer, except it will be a whole new quartet, made up of new Fellows.

“Project Inclusion is a unique training opportunity for singers and string players from diverse backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the symphonic orchestral and choral world.” That description certainly applies to this year’s quartet, one of whom is from Havana, and another of whom, perhaps more impressively, made it to Chicago from rural Texas.

Their last concert, in Lake Shore Park, highlighted a couple of challenges of playing in the elements. First, one always has to deal with the wind. A website I found about playing outdoors notes that “[y]ou can never have too many clothespins for the wind.”

And, indeed, the quartet used the largest clothespins I’ve ever seen to hold their music in place. They could have held Shaquille O’Neal’s clothes out to dry on the line with them. This led me to find a website that lists 15 smart uses for clothespins, none of which involve clothes.

Second, while the music was delightful, the background to the Lake Shore Park performance suggested to me a Fellini movie with a John Cage soundtrack. There were children doing cartwheels on the lawn, runners doing wind sprints on the track, and dogs catching frisbees, while other dogs barked, and buses roared by.

The quartet was exposed to other Chicago ambient sounds as they introduced and performed with the Grant Park Symphony in Millennium Park on July 18. There one has to deal with sirens, cicadas, the occasional helicopter, and, in the audience, the guy sitting behind you who thinks he’s whispering.