by Stephanie Manning
School’s out for the summer, but that doesn’t mean all learning has to be put on pause. Enter programs like “Summer Fun For Everyone” at the Garfield Heights Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.
On most weekday mornings during the summer, kids from grades one through six are welcome to drop in to the campus on Turney Road for exploratory educational activities. On Thursday, June 12, what was in store included a concert of string quartets, performed by the young artists of the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute.
While the musicians were warming up, a few kids and caregivers waited in the adjoining room. There, the tables were already lined with crafting supplies — cardboard boxes, rubber bands, and the like — to build makeshift instruments. Local resident Michelle Foley brought young Cameron to check out what the library had planned. “ It’s something for him to do out of the house, learn new things, and experience the different people they bring in,” she said.
Given the variety of offerings, Foley didn’t know that day’s activities would be music-related. She said that’s what keeps things interesting. “ They’ve had animals some days. And we get a new book every day to read. So it’s just exciting, whatever we do.”
Thursday morning’s performance involved twelve musicians from the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute’s Summer Academy, a three-week long training program for students aged 13 to 26. ENCORE in CLE, the Institute’s series of community engagement performances, puts on events by students, faculty, and alumni year-round. This particular concert featured three of the pre-formed string quartets participating in the 2025 Academy.
At about an hour long, the program was in some ways a big ask for a young audience. The Dōnum String Quartet from South Korea played the second movement of Beethoven’s Quartet No. 12 — beautiful, intricate, and slow, but also a selection that pushed fifteen minutes and had some kids looking a little fidgety.
The Stilo Quartet from Rice University did a fine job of engaging the audience. Violinist Evan Llafet introduced his collaborators by name, described their music choices, and explained the tuning process for those unfamiliar with it. Their repertoire — the first and second movements of Prokofiev’s Quartet No. 2 — was a little more energetic, and Llafet invited the audience to dance along.
The most interesting pieces of the morning came from the Monroe String Quartet from Oberlin Conservatory (pictured), who played Mark O’Connell’s Appalachian Waltz and the first movement of Bohuslav Martinů’s Quartet No. 1. Violist Liam Young-Skeen described the Martinů by imagining a rabbit scurrying around a desert landscape before turning a corner to see a suddenly vivid world.
Cellist Max Geissler, an ENCORE faculty member in attendance, said that the students’ benefits from ENCORE in CLE events are twofold. ”Getting as many performance opportunities as possible is really essential,” he said. Plus, “one of the most important skills as a musician now is speaking about the music and engaging the audience in that way.”
As part of the Academy, the students participated in a workshop designed to get them thinking about the most effective ways to connect with their listeners. Geissler noted that: “ String quartets are known for engaging the community, so they need to get going as soon as possible with talking about the music and being vivid in their depiction of it. It’s really important to draw them into this music that really everyone can find a way to love.”
Published on ClevelandClassical.com June 26, 2025.
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