Classical Makes A Youthful Comeback In Quogue

According to cellist Julia Bruskin, it takes 25 seconds to walk across the main stage at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan.

That may not seem like a long time, but to Ms. Bruskin, it felt like an eternity as she and a packed house watched her twin sister, Emily, exit the stage after an instrument snafu occurred during their debut main stage performance 10 years ago with their chamber music group, Claremont Trio.

“Emily’s violin string broke. We had to stop,” Ms. Bruskin recalled during a telephone interview last week. “She went off stage, switched the string and we finished the movement. Normally, though, at that moment, I would tell a joke. But it’s such a big place that I couldn’t.”

Since then, the trio has played Carnegie Hall many times without mishap. And, according to Ms. Bruskin, the group members hope for a super smooth performance on Saturday, September 10, when they close this season’s Quogue Chamber Music series at the Quogue Community Hall. But it’s less about sweating the small stuff as it is sitting back and enjoying the ride that is music, Ms. Bruskin stressed.

“Music wakes you up to what’s important in your life and gives you an experience that makes you appreciate the beauty of things,” Ms. Bruskin said. “Even if you haven’t heard that much of this music before, it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to know anything in advance. You can just show up and let yourself experience it.”

Jane Deckoff, the Quogue Chamber Music board president, began the series in 2009 simply to fill a void in the village, she said.

“Classical music moves me. I can’t live without it,” Ms. Deckoff said during a telephone interview last week. “It’s a very important part of my life. It’s all I know, and it’s something that Quogue was missing.”

The Quogue Community Hall holds 200, which Ms. Deckoff says is perfect for chamber music, or classical music written for a small group with just one assigned performer per part.

Earlier in the day, the trio will play for a more modestly-sized audience at the Westhampton Care Center—the outreach component of the concert series, Ms. Deckoff explained. In years past, musicians have performed at the Peconic Bay Medical Center and the Quogue Elementary School.

“There are a lot of people who can’t come to a concert, or who don’t know such a thing exists,” Ms. Deckoff said. “Young people don’t always have classical music in their repertoire, or even their curriculum. It’s the first thing thrown out when there’s a budget crunch.”

Ms. Bruskin is an advocate for Ms. Dekoff’s outreach cause, she said. After all, the Bruskin twins began playing their instruments at age 4.

“Our parents play violin and viola, and when they found out they were going to have twins, they said, ‘Oh, they can play violin and cello, and then we’ll have a string quartet,’” Ms. Bruskin said. “That was their plan.”

And that’s what they did, throwing the girls into a world of chamber music. While studying at The Juilliard School in Manhattan, the women met pianist Donna Kwong—the final link in their trio.

“That year, I never imagined that it would last this long,” Ms. Bruskin said with a laugh. “We’ve been together for 12 years. It’s really quite amazing.”

The trio has produced four studio albums and toured across the country, as well as internationally through Europe and Australia, Ms. Bruskin said. And with the twin sisters at age 31, and Ms. Kwong just 33, their careers are only getting started.

“They’re a fine trio, absolutely superb,” Ms. Deckoff said. “I like to have something with a piano every year. There’s a lot of excitement with a piano.”

In Quogue, the women plan to play a program that spans the emotional gamut, including a moving “Piano Trio in A Major” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and then “Piano Trio #2 in E Minor” by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich. The second piece, by Mr. Shostakovich, intentionally uses very dramatic and harsh sounds, as it was written toward the end of World War II, Ms. Bruskin explained. But the program will close with a tender number, “Trio in B Major, Opus 8” by Johannes Brahms, Ms. Bruskin reported.

“We’ll be playing one of my favorite pieces in the whole world by Johannes Brahms,” she said. “I would describe it as extremely singing and beautifully lyrical. In the beginning, there’s a cello solo. I can communicate very directly with the audience when I play that piece.

“It’s hard to describe emotions and feelings in words, but music, to me, communicates emotions and feelings very directly,” she continued. “It’s a universal language. You feel the emotion of music even if you don’t come from the same background or language. It’s a deep connection with people.”

The Claremont Trio will close the Quogue Chamber Music series on Saturday, September 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Quogue Community Hall. A celebratory party will follow at the home of Carol Gristina in Quogue. Tickets are $40 for the concert only, or $100 including the party. To purchase tickets, make checks payable to “Quogue Chamber Music, Inc.” and mail to PO Box 1984, Quogue, NY 11959. Or stop by the box office, starting at 6:30 p.m., on show night. Only cash or check will be accepted on-site.