Meet our Artist of the Week, the talented violinist Tina Bouey!
We sat down with Tina to get to know her a little better and this is what we learned:
MT: Do you come from a musical family? how did you start playing the Violin?
Tina: I come from an extremely musical family. Both of my parents are opera singers and my sister is a singer/dancer/ actress. My grandma was also a piano teacher so the musicality spans through 3 generations. I started playing violin, after I saw Sarah Chang on TV when I was 5. I was so drawn to the violin and was dying to play it. Unfortunately due to financial difficulties, I wasn’t able to start until I was 10, which made me love it that much more after waiting for 5 years!
MT: Can you describe the feeling of playing in a quartet, how is it unique?
Tina: Playing in a quartet is simply the best form of chamber music. We all know each others playing so well and we can be spontaneous. It’s very special to play with an ensemble in which each member has their own sound. We can create so many colors together.
MT: How did you guys meet and decide to play together?
Tina: I met Colin and Rhiannon at Kneisel Hall. I played with Colin for two summers, and with Rhiannon once as well, so we knew we wanted to start a quartet following that experience. Unfortunately none of us lived in the same city. Colin and I kept in touch and a couple of years later, we started making a move towards making the group happen. I brought Grace on board, who was one of my best friends from my master’s degree at MSM. We searched for a violinist for almost an entire year! I found out that Rhiannon was moving to New York, and I had a feeling she was going to be the perfect fit. It turns out she was and the rest is history! On a side note: Colin and Rhiannon played together almost 10 years ago, so were all connected in some way!
MT: What is some of your favorite quartet rep to play?
Tina: All of the Beethoven String Quartets, be it early, middle, or late. Also, Janacek and Debussy are some of our absolute favorites!
MT: What are some of your other interests/talents?
Tina: If I weren’t a violinist, I would still be in the musical circles. I would be an opera singer. But if I had to choose something non music related, being an astronaut and exploring out there would be very cool!
MT: Any quartet related anecdotes? fun stories?
Tina: We have many fun stories, but probably the most recent fun time happened this past week! We are in New Orleans this week and basically right after we landed, we headed to Bourbon St. for some po boys and good times!
