Meet Bergamot Quartet | String Quartet

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bergamot Quartet and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bergamot Quartet, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We didn’t initially conceive of Bergamot Quartet as a business. We’re a string quartet: two violins, a violist, and a cellist, and while this has changed in recent years, we weren’t taught in music school to think entrepreneurially: that came later. It began as the two violinists (Sarah and Ledah) being excited about performing 21st century classical music, while noticing a dearth of opportunities around us both to perform and to hear that music in our local community. We eventually found Amy and Irene, our violist and cellist, gave ourselves a band name, and started performing. Right away, we also noticed a niche we were filling: we were four women playing a lot of classical music by women, which is still (shockingly) somewhat of a phenomenon. As our commitment to and skills in the work we were doing grew, and as we gained an increasingly large audience, it became apparent to us that we weren’t just a band: we were a business, offering something we think makes the world a better place. When we decided to incorporate and legally become a business, the decision was twofold. Practically, it allowed us to pool resources and simplify taxes, become eligible for more funding opportunities, and become more serious about developing a sustainable model so we can do this work for a long time. Philosophically, it allowed us to establish our commitment to each other and the music we bring to life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Our core artistic team is the four of us: Ledah, Sarah, Amy, and Irene. We each bring very different backgrounds to our common ground as classically trained artists. We believe that our differences working in harmony with our shared commitment to our art are what gives Bergamot Quartet a powerful artistic identity. Our biggest challenge has been placing ourselves in the rapidly changing world of classical music: fighting to distance ourselves from and grow through elements of that world we believe to be toxic or outdated, while infusing it with new sounds and ways of collaborating. Classical music has long been an insular community, with its mainstream arms mostly consisting of film music: we aim to show our listeners that classical music can be many things, that it can honor other playing traditions, and that it has deep value beyond the elite institutions that have characterized it for so long.

One thing that sets us apart is that we appeal to young listeners and collaborate with young artists. We want to make the music we like: therefore, we are often self-producing projects in unconventional venues. We’re passionate about the composers who are redefining classical music (some of them are members of Bergamot Quartet!) and want to champion their creations. Our favorite experiences are when we get to workshop new music alongside composers we love both as artists and people, and share that music widely.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Irene: Washington square dog park, get a dollar slice, Lucy’s bar in the Lower East Side Amy: Brunch at Rule of Thirds, explore all the cute shops in Williamsburg, take the subway back to Manhattan to get boba from Xin Fu Tang in the East Village
Ledah: Ride the ferry out to the beach at the Rockaways, explore the New York Botanical Garden, lunch at Bakeri in Greenpoint, get amazing food and drinks at Bar LunAtico while catching an incredible show
Sarah: Fort Tryon Park for a nice walk, The Cloisters museum, great food at Izakaya Toribar

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are a huge number of shoutouts we owe, and we are honored and uplifted by the knowledge that being in the music industry requires support and know-how from a big community. Our longest-term mentors have been the JACK Quartet. They’re a string quartet also based in NYC like us, who have believed in us from the beginning and shared their skills not only in music performance but in all aspects of the music business. With their guidance, we have gone from students to skilled performers and entrepreneurs.

Website: www.bergamotquartet.com

Instagram: @bergamotquartet

Facebook: Bergamot Quartet

Youtube: @bergamotquartet5792

Other: https://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/bergamot-quartet-in-the-brink/

Image Credits
Corey Hayes