On Monday at the Ackland Art Museum, an audience waited in anticipation as a quartet of string instrumentalists sat in front of them. The room was completely silent, all eyes on the artists.
The crowd leaned forward as the group lowered their bows to their instruments. Contact was made; enchanting notes glided through the air, and audience members closed their eyes to sway to the rhythm. It was this experience that members of the Chapel Hill community savored during the mesmerizing chamber music performance by the Balourdet Quartet.
During the intermission, audience members could walk around, sip on a glass of wine or sit and watch the performance with others. It is this aspect of the event that can elevate the experience of observing art, the Ackland Event Coordinator Elise Crawford said.
“You know, your brain makes these associations visually,” Crawford said. “But then when you add the music, it can just supply an entirely new context for what you're looking at.”
The Balourdet Quartet said that they enjoy performing in the Ackland for this reason.
“It always, I think, leaves people feeling very inspired and rejuvenated and feeling like it was an awesome experience to be there,” violist Benjamin Zannoni said. “And we're always thankful that they continue to let us perform there and let these experiences happen.”
The quartet is made up of Zannoni, violinist Angela Bae, violinist Justin DeFilippis and cellist Russel Houston. The group initially came together at Rice University where they practiced chamber music after meeting at the Taos School of Music festival in New Mexico. Named after Chef Antoine Balourdet, the group bonded over food and music, eventually competing and performing as the Balourdet Quartet.
The group now travels the world sharing their chamber music with audiences, including those in the Triangle area. The quartet is part of the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and participates in the UpClose Chamber Music Series. The series offers the opportunity for the quartet to play at venues organized by the Chamber Orchestra, but they are still able to prepare their own music.
Pouring emotion into their instruments, the quartet played a variety of pieces from Hungarian folk rhythms to abstract contemporary dreamscapes, inviting the audience into a fantastical world of melodies. While the quartet had performed some of the pieces in concert before, there is always a fresh element to their set, DeFilippis said.
