Renowned violinist who calls Merida home invites public to ISQY concerts

Then little by little, I started to come to Mérida more often, whenever I was free. Gotcha, the other Concertino prefers when I´m here, so it works out perfectly! Though I have another old house in New Jersey, about 10 minutes from Manhattan, I´m there less and less, due to other engagements and wanting to be here in Merida as much as possible. I´m going to sell the New Jersey house soon, and use Merida as my base of operations I figure in about three more years.

TYT: I see you have a piano here, do you play other instruments besides the violin?Yes, I love to play the piano but not professionally. When I come home late from playing, instead of watching TV, I play the piano, it helps me to relax. Luckily the walls of my house are thick enough, so no one complains.TYT: What can you tell us about the International string quartet of Yucatan?
So much of the world´s greatest music has been written for the string quartet. It sort of compares in literature to the works of Shakespeare, Dante, or Cervantes. They contain so much truth, that they never grow old. It´s a gift. So, throughout my life, I’ve always had string quartets, sometimes even more than one quartet at a time. It´s always challenging, and one lifetime isn´t nearly enough time to do it all justice. When I chose my instrument, I had no idea that this was going to become my life… there was this good family friend that I knew could teach me, so from the age of six, it´s taken me on this amazing trip. I’ve never had to do another kind of job. I went to conservatories, I had a Fulbright to Europe, and all my life, I’ve loved all kinds of music, symphonic, opera, jazz (I used to play a lot with Sarah Vaughn) and string quartets.
We started the ISQY 6 years ago, because the opportunity came up to start a monthly series at Hacienda Xcanatún. It was a big success pretty much from the beginning, but nowadays the Chapel there  is too small for the growing audience we have!!! We plan to be more of a part of the City at large, and tour Mexico, playing wherever we can, as often as we can.
Now we have a bigger venue located on the south side of Mérida. As soon as people come there, we think they will love it! It´s not as well known as Xcanatún, but in a short time it will be. It’s just as beautiful and special, it has the old trees and beautiful buildings too, and it´s called Hacienda Santa Cruz Palomeque.
It is managed by wonderful people involved in environmental issues. We will be performing in their “Gran Sala”, a seventeenth century building, beautifully maintained, and they are generously providing us with everything we need. The stage, rug and chairs are due this week in fact.
The hacienda also has an excellent restaurant. It features a woman chef from Mexico City, who has won a lot of prizes, served several political personages including Obama They specialize in Yucatecan food, but it is a very high-end gourmet type of place, so it really is a treat, I´m sure people is going to love it.
I really feel very excited about this new phase for the quartet. There are also plans to do some recordings, and we are going to have a strong presence on the internet.