The St. Lawrence String Quartet — whose ongoing exploration of nontraditional venues and new audiences was developed, in part, by early community outreach opportunities — observed a need for similar training programs for the next generation of emerging artists. In response to this need, the SLSQ developed the Emerging String Quartet Program (ESQP).
The ESQP is a workshop focused on community outreach for young professional musicians, in which emerging ensembles are invited to Stanford for a residency of one to two weeks. During the residency, the musicians receive coaching from the SLSQ and experience an intense schedule performing both on- and off- campus for a variety of schools, community groups and Silicon Valley businesses. The musicians, already highly accomplished presenters and performers, are provided rare opportunities to interact with the audiences to develop both their skills as performers and as community builders.
Since the program launched in 2009, the greater Stanford community has benefited from the electricity, passion and excellence of these extraordinary young ensembles while the musicians have gained valuable experience presenting to a wide variety of audiences in a short period of time. The ensembles have gone on to develop rich connections with their communities both in the U.S. and abroad.