We are, as ever, delighted to host this, the civilized portion of Richard Washington's Blackbeard's Castle. Richard, after all, discovered us, you might say.
We are The Quartet of the Longbeards, and ours is a simple philosophy: As chamber musicians, we are dedicated to sharing the love of our chosen field with the young and the young-at-heart; further, we seek the betterment of the enjoyment of chamber music --- by emphasizing its fun, occasionally playful side.
Now, we will admit, chamber music does not always personify happiness. There is, admittedly again, a touch of sadness and often seriousness in the various works in our repertoire, but in our honest opinion, there is simply no sense in playing string quartet pieces if the players are not having as much fun with the music as are the listeners. So, on our homepage, you will be introduced to, among other things, our 10 Favorite Composers of works for string quartet; our 10 Favorite Quartet Pieces --- that is to say, our ten most requested and most enjoyable quartet pieces..... in other words, the quartet works we love to play the most; our unofficial tribute to Nicholas Gordon's Music Mountain in Falls Village, Connecticut --- home of America's oldest and most legendary chamber music festival; and The Story of the Muller Brothers Quartets --- the tale of how one family in Brunswick, Germany produced two string quartets whose members were all brothers!
And, of course, as shown above, you can click on each of our names if you wish to learn about us individually --- that is to say, one member at a time --- or click on our About us section to if you wish to learn of how we first came together as a group.
And, naturally, our complete Repertoire is posted herein --- and if you think you've heard all the world's favorite quartet works, wait'll you get a load of our lineup, which encompasses works by over 100 of the world's leading and lesser-known composers --- individuals whose passion for two violins, viola and cello more than expands our own love for this type of ensemble!
Also, our site features some of the Programmes we Longbeards have prepared for our younger audiences, along with an extensive selection of links to string quartet homepages from all over the world. Plus click here to visit our Quartet Gallery, with portraits of our favorite Quartets!
By the way, in case you were wondering, yes, our beards ARE real, and we actually did grow them over time. The very fact that our quartet is named for our beards allows us to maintain a grip upon our image. Even in the world of string quartet playing --- Earth's most civilized form of music-making --- image is everything!
And if you would like to leave us a friendly message or two, please do so by typing in blackbeardian@yahoo.com or electric_pirates@hotmail.com. Hearing from you would be most enjoyable!
Like our musically-inclined sister sites, Old Man Fiddler's Cabin and Uncle Fergus' Bagpipers' Paradise, we Longbeards are seeking out musicians on both YouTube.com and MySpace.com (string quartets and related chamber and/or classical groups, of course!). In the search window of either site, please type in the words "String quartets" or "Symphony orchestras" or "Chamber music" --- and matters will take care of themselves accordingly.
The doctors will perform for you now: that would be the Doctors' Orchestral Society of New York, now in its 70th Anniversary Season. Founded in 1938 at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Doctors' Orchestra is presently headquartered at Cabrini Medical Center, where it rehearses under the direction of Music Director Peter Bellino, Chairman of Composition at Mannes College of Music.
THE QUARTET OF THE LONGBEARDS and Quartet of the Longbeards characters are trademarks of EPE Holdings, Inc. TMs & (C) Copyright 2009 by EPE Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.