Martin Beaver with mother-in-law, Hiroko Primrose, wife, Mana, and daughter, Anna.
Martin Beaver, one of the more recent additions to the SAA Honorary Board, is a Canadian, who studied violin with Victor Danchenko in Toronto and later with Josef Gingold in Indiana and also Henryk Szeryng. After winning many awards and distinctions, including a Silver Medal (1993) at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, Martin served on the faculties of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and the University of British Columbia before joining the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. In 2002 Martin was invited to be First Violinist with the prestigious Tokyo String Quartet, which performs about 100 concerts a year all over the world.
What projects are you involved with at the moment?
The Quartet has just returned from Japan where, in addition to performing, we completed a rather ambitious project—the recording of the complete Beethoven quartets. While we were there, we recorded the Op. 130 with the Grosse Fuge, and Op. 132 quartets. We felt it was fitting to finish recording this cycle in Tokyo, because oddly enough the Tokyo Quartet has never made a recording in Tokyo!
An earlier incarnation of the Tokyo String Quartet recorded the complete Beethoven quartets many years ago. I am now in my seventh season with the quartet and I am especially proud that our present formation has managed to learn all the Beethoven quartets and record this great cornerstone of the repertoire in such a short time. It has been a big challenge but very rewarding.
This was actually our second trip to Japan this summer. The first was in July when we were conducting a String Quartet seminar at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo for two weeks—an annual commitment for some years already. Teaching is a big part of our quartet’s life—an aspect we all enjoy immensely. The quartet has been Quartet in Residence at Yale University since the mid-1970s and we are proud of our work with chamber ensembles there.
I would like to mention a little side note to do with the Quartet: Kazu, our violist, remembers travelling once a month to Nagoya when he was a young student to have a lesson with Dr. Suzuki. Kazu credits Dr. Suzuki with fostering his passion for violin playing. Kazu’s parents were non-musicians and who, like many Japanese after World War II, were in despair. The future looked bleak for their country. Dr. Suzuki offered hope and inspired the young musicians who came in contact with him.
One big project now, related to this focus on the works of Beethoven, is that for the next three years, we will be part of a Beethoven series that will take place at the 92nd St. Y in New York. Over three years we will perform the Beethoven quartet cycle in concerts we will share with guest pianists who will play selected Piano Sonatas of Beethoven. Some of the pianists who will share in this project are: Garrick Ohlsson, Alon Goldstein and Benjamin Hochman. We will also be presenting the Beethoven quartet cycle at Music Toronto over the next three seasons.
What is or was the most satisfying aspect of your career?
I thought about this question a lot, and it was difficult to choose one aspect. I would say that performing the great works of chamber music in the great halls of the world has been and continues to be the most satisfying aspect of my career. Additionally, I very much enjoy working with young quartets, to “turn them on” to chamber music. The opportunity to pass on the great art of chamber music to young musicians is one I always treasure.
I would like to tell you of one such occasion that happened about 1.5 years ago. The quartet accepted an invitation to teach in Sao Paulo at the Instituto Baccarelli; we were driven outside the city to an extremely impoverished area called the Favela Heliopolis. We spent a wonderful morning, each of us doing a master class with students who demonstrated a wonderful attitude and impressive achievements. This Institute provides lessons, theory classes and offers orchestra experience to these students who have little hope and live in poverty. Many commute three hours to come to rehearsals and lessons. I know that the SAA also does wonderful work in South American countries, as I have learned from some of the articles in your Journal.
In your view how is music education affecting the music industry?
I wish there was more importance placed on music education in the general curriculum. We hear so often of another arts program being cut because of lack of funding. Music education represents a positive step in creating the audiences of tomorrow, not to say its future professionals.
Have you been, or are you actively involved in teaching?
My quartet commitments prevent me from doing a lot of private teaching, which is a shame as I enjoy teaching a lot. Currently, I have a couple of students at New York University. I tend to accept students at the graduate level since they seem better equipped to deal with the absences that our quartet schedule dictates. I teach them less frequently but give them lessons of 1.5—2 hours at a time.
Martin, I know you have quite a few connections with the Suzuki world.
We were just talking about my teaching at NYU. A recent graduate is Whitney Lee, son of Cathy Lee (violin teacher in San Francisco). Before joining the quartet, when I was at Peabody, I taught several students from Suzuki backgrounds, students of Susan Kempter, for example, and, of course, your neighbor in Guelph, David Gillham, now of the Arianna Quartet.
I have also taught at Stevens Point, the Intermountain Suzuki Institute in Utah, and at the Seattle Institute. I have fond memories of Margery Aber, and her car with the canoe on top!
Now when I do master classes in various centers, I often realize that I have taught a student before, and it turns out that I had met him/her at a Suzuki event. When I have met Suzuki graduates as students I have always noted their positive attitudes.
We could say, though, that your connections to Suzuki are daily. Suzuki teachers are familiar with the name of the late Hiroko Primrose, who was your wife Mana’s mother.
Yes, Mana was a Suzuki violin and viola teacher for many years, although at present she is working as an assistant teacher in a pre-school. Our younger daughter, Anna, who is 8, takes Suzuki cello with Nicole Johnson. In the early 1980s in Toronto, I attended a Master Class with William Primrose. This was many years before I met Mana. If anyone had told me then I would later marry his daughter, I would never have believed it!
Incidentally, I began learning the violin in Quebec City when I was four years old, and I started with the Suzuki method.
When you were asked to be a member of our Honorary Board, what prompted you to say “yes”?
I accepted because I admire the SAA’s work and I consider it an honour to have been asked to serve. The Honorary Board also has many illustrious individuals whose work I greatly admire. I believe that the Suzuki method offers a positive atmosphere for learning. Like the Institute in Brazil I mentioned, the Suzuki movement embodies a civilized atmosphere in a world sometimes in need of a little more civility!
Also, I think that the Suzuki concept of having students playing together is very effective; it develops superior listening skills.
What would you like to tell the Suzuki Association?
I am very pleased to be connected with the Suzuki method, with the past (Kazu and Hiroko), the present (Anna), and the future (through involvement with the SAA).
It is the SAA which is fortunate that Martin is part of our Honorary Board. From an early beginning as a Suzuki student to an extraordinary musician and inspiring teacher, not to mention being part of a “Suzuki family,” Martin represents an ideal for our Association.
