by Daniel Hathaway
Three decades after its founding at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Miró Quartet celebrated that milestone by playing a complete Beethoven cycle in six concerts from October 10-12 in venues throughout the Lorain County campus.
That musical marathon of sixteen string quartets, performed in the order they were written, neatly coincided with Oberlin’s Homecoming Weekend, a nostalgic occasion for the Quartet’s founding members — first violinist Daniel Ching and cellist Joshua Gindele — as well as for Oberlin alumni in general, who helped swell the audiences for the well-attended Beethoven cycle.
Second violinist William Fedkenheuer and violist John Largess, who joined the ensemble a bit later, complete a well-oiled machine that has something distinct to say musically. They play as a single unit with a rich, blended sound and well-matched articulations, offering an experience that’s both exciting and transcendent.
“A lot of people have preconceived ideas about what free improv is, and that it means everything is totally random,” violinist Leah Asher said in a recent interview, speaking from her home in New York City. “But there is a total spectrum of the amount of determinacy in music, and I like to think about where I am on that spectrum.” Also a violist, composer, and visual artist, Asher recently recorded a series of improvisations for the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s 2021 Re:Sound Festival.
A group of students at Oberlin College and Conservatory are spreading gratitude and raising funds for 
The audience may have been more restrained than the appreciatively foot-stomping listeners who typically pack into Finney Chapel back home — but not by much. The crowd in New York’s Carnegie Hall gave two ensembles from Oberlin College and Conservatory a warm reception on January 19, with loud cheers and even some shoutouts to the players onstage. All well-deserved.