justArts: What motivated you to join the Lydian String Quartet?

Mark Berger: Well, it was kind of a long, gradual process. I first got to know [the quartet] when I was a Ph.D. student here [at Brandeis] in composition. At the time, I started substituting with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and when I did that, my stand partner ended up being Mary Ruth [Ray], who was [the Lydian String Quartet’s] previous violist. Subsequently, the entire quartet invited me to play a string sextet with them as a guest artist. We had all known each other quite well from various different places and experiences. Then, unfortunately, Mary Ruth got sick and had to cut back her playing ... For a year, I ended up substituting with the quartet, and then, sadly, Mary Ruth passed away. Then, after the wheels had turned and the position became officially [open], I of course applied. I did the audition and went through that whole process, and here I am.

JA: You play for many different orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. How does performing with the Lydian String Quartet differ from playing with these other groups?

MB: Most of my other performing work is very much freelance work, which means that every week it’s playing a different repertoire with a different group of people. The wonderful thing about this quartet is the consistency—being able to spend large amounts of time focusing on repertoire with the same group of people allows you to get much more in depth. It allows you to work much closer together and do things that you just can’t do when you only have three rehearsals and then a concert ... In a certain way, the real, heavy-duty string quartet music is usually only played by the professional quartets that have the time to put the amount of energy that this repertoire requires into it. And so, that’s a big difference. Being a member of a high-level, professional quartet, I get to play that repertoire now all the time, which is really wonderful. 

JA: How do you think your time at Brandeis has influence the way you play and look at music?

MB: When you play in a chamber ensemble, especially when you’re playing really intense music over a long period of time with the same group of people, it changes the way that you play because you develop—you sort of grow together. It’s a very familial kind of relationship with a string quartet, just [like] how, when you live with somebody for a while, you sort of grow together in interesting ways. The exact same thing happens musically. We learn how to read each other, we learn how to work together, we learn how to problem solve together. Everybody is an individual, especially in a great string quartet like this. We are four very very different people, and we, of course, in that sense, have a lot of influence on each other from very different perspectives.

JA: You are also a composer—what inspires your compositions?

MB: Life.

JA: Is there one thing you want the audience to take away from the concert?

MB: I hope that the music inspires them, and I hope [that] the music connects with them. The whole reason that we do what we do is that—that way that music can communicate with an audience, and the way that we can then communicate with each other and then transfer that experience to the audience. It’s such a magical thing; I mean that’s why we do what we do. This is a very interesting program with three wildly different pieces of music. But they all have this common thread of dreams and dream time that’s running through all the different pieces in various ways. The way that these pieces play off [of] each other is really interesting and I hope that comes across in our performance. And I hope that people do enjoy the experience.