Meet Your Musician Bravo! Vail Edition: Dalí Quartet
Get to know your Bravo! Vail musicians
Dali Quartet/Courtesy photo
Editor’s Note: The Vail Daily is showcasing area musicians in a series called “Meet Your Musician” so you can learn a bit more about the people behind the tunes. In the “Meet Your Musician: Bravo! Vail Edition” we give you a chance to meet some of the artists coming to the valley to perform during the Bravo! Vail Music Festival.
Q: What is your name/your ensemble’s/orchestra’s name?
A: We are the Dalí Quartet based in Philadelphia. Members of the quartet are from Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the United States. We specialize in performing chamber music by Latin American composers alongside Western string quartet repertoire.
Q: What instrument(s) do you play?
A: The Dalí Quartet is Ari Isaacman-Beck, first violin; Carlos Rubio, second violin; Adriana Linares, viola; Jesús Morales, cello.
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Q: How long have you been performing? How long have you been with your current orchestra or ensemble?
A: The quartet started in the summer of 2004 with founding members Carlos and Adriana. Jesus joined the quartet in 2008, and Ari come on board in 2020.
Q: How long have you been coming to the Bravo! Vail Music Festival?
A: This is our Bravo! Vail Music Festival debut and we are looking forward to making some wonderful memories.
Q: Where you do perform when you are not in Vail?
A: While our quartet in based in Philadelphia, we tour all around the U.S. and abroad.
Q: What’s your dream venue?
A: We fell utterly in love with Spivey Hall at Clayton State University outside of Atlanta, Georgia; we felt like the room gifted a radiant glow that inspired an elemental, visceral reaction to the beauty of sound. However, our favorite venues are totally defined by the audience and the quality of silence before we play. It feels like magic when, as a performer, you can tell that the audience is following the improvisation and necessity of every sound. Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London and Teatro Colón in Argentina are definitely on our bucket list.
Q: What other styles of music do you/does the ensemble listen to or like to play?
A: Our violist, Adriana, loves to play and dance any Latin music, and actually took up electric bass during the pandemic! Ari particularly loves jazz, early 90’s rap (also Common!), alternative (he loves Phoenix). Carlos loves Caribbean music — merengue is his specialty! And Jesus is a great salsa dancer.
Q: Do you have any advice for young people learning to play music?
A: Keep listening to find things you love, and always ask why: Why did I love this performance, what makes this piece hard to play, how can I make it easier? Always keep working on your own growth.
Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in music?
A: We started the Dalí Quartet to perform not only the traditional quartet repertoire we love and studied, but to perform music of our upbringing in Latin America. And since this repertoire is underrepresented in the U.S., we quickly understood the value of bringing this, mostly undiscovered, music to American audiences.
Q: What is your/your ensemble’s favorite piece or composer to play?
A: Nothing can replace Beethoven’s late quartets — their breadth, invention and emotional impact make them indispensable. But the giants of Latin American composition are near and dear to all of us: Piazzolla, Ginastera, Villa Lobos. We are also champions of new music by living Latin American composers. We believe European composers of the past, as creative and curious artists, would have been enraptured by the sounds of Latin America.
Q: Anything else we should have asked, anything else you’d like to share?
A: We are very excited for our week-long visit to Vail and hope you will join us for our many performances around the community. We’re especially excited to perform with our dear friend and clarinetist Ricardo Morales on July 11 at 7 p.m. at the Vilar Performing Arts Center.
