Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 | Posted on Sat, Jun. 05, 2010
Menergy quartet makes a statement in Carnegie Hall
By CHUCK FURLONG
The Kansas City Star
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? For four Kansas City area high school and college students, practicing was just the beginning.
The string quartet Menergy performed Monday in New York in the final round of the 2010 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition.
Out of 88 initial contestants, judged on their DVD submissions, Menergy was one of 25 ensembles selected to compete in the semifinals in Boston. Then the quartet advanced with eight other groups to the final round at Carnegie Hall.
“It was a little unreal,” said Melissa Kornspan, 17, the ensemble’s cellist. “It was definitely a great experience.”
Menergy’s four members range in age from 17 to 20, and only one has attended a university, making them among the youngest players on stage.
This year’s winner was a professional group from Turkey.
The Kansas City quartet didn’t place in the final round, but the judges were impressed by how well such a young group performed, said Jackie Lee, the quartet’s coach and founder of Stringendo, the program that started the group.
“We’re talking about high school students competing with professional and pre-professional groups internationally,” Lee said.
Violist Kevan Clarkston, 20, added: “It was still great to be in competition with those people.”
Violinist Philip Marten, 17, called the experience intimidating.
“Our coach told us to think about all the great performers that were there before us,” he said.
While the competition may have been their only thought at the time, during the school year the quartet members are involved in more than just music.
“This is a program where students sacrifice weekends, and evenings sometimes,” Lee said.
In the fall, Kornspan will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study engineering. Clarkston was at Rockhurst University studying biochemistry, but he transferred to the University of Missouri-Kansas City to double major in music starting this fall.
He said the Stringendo program in part inspired him to change his major.
“This quartet formed two years ago,” he said, “and I came to love chamber music.”
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