Allan Appel Photo
Nysir Harris, Thomas Boynton-Comba, and violist Benn.
It’s not every string quartet concert where you can run through the splash pad, lick a cool Sponge Bob pop, and then climb on stage and sit down next to the violist.
Thomas Boynton-Comba and Nysir Harris [he had a Klondike bar] were able to do that at Scantlebury Park on a gorgeous late Monday afternoon when the Music Haven String Quartet Truck pulled up.
The quartet truck — which is like the old-fashioned neighborhood ice cream truck, only it serves kids Mozart instead of popsicles — was making its third appearance of what will be many around town through Friday as part of the International Festival Of Arts and Ideas. (Click here for the itinerary.)
Click on the video to hear the first movement of Mozart’s late quartet, K. 428.
Stay-at-home dad Paul Kim had brought his daughter Josie to play in the splash padl; she ended up at her first string quartet concert. “It certainly made her smile,” he said.
As Music Haven’s press materials put it: “You already know the Cupcake Truck and the the Cheese Truck. Now get to know the String Quartet Truck, the city’s latest delicacy on wheels.”
The project is the brainchild of Music Haven director Tina Hadari.
“I was stuck in traffic behind a city truck after I’d given a talk on public service” and and music, she said.
Her next thoguht: What way to be more completely accessible — that’s Music Haven’s aim with music — than driving music around the city?
On Monday afternoon, a year later, Hadari was behind a public works truck. This time she wasn’t stuck.
Matyakubova and Hadari.
Rather, she and fellow violinist Yaira Matyakubova, cellist Matt Beckmann, and violist Colin Benn were being happily toted in a converted 10-foot hay wagon to Scantlebury Park’s splash pad area, Stop & Shop, C‑Town — places where people eat lunch, shop, and congregate, but don’t usually expect to hear Mozart.
The instruments were miked, which was both good and bad for Mozart in a park.
When the wind was calm, Mozart seemed to merge with the bouncy grazing of a tree branch in front of the violist.
When the wind blew brashly, well, it seemed to be insisting on making a string quartet a quintet.
It was well with Nysir, a 7‑year-old who attends Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy. He said he wanted to play the flute, but after hearing the quartet decided to become a violist.
The String Quartet Truck is a brilliant twist on a favorite New Haven idea. Brava, Tina Hadari and Music Haven.