Event Details


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Concert Series:

When Bill Simmons and Evie McFadden announced their intention to step down from their Geostrophic String Quartet, hearts sank at the Woods Hole Public Library. Their Library concerts have been exceedingly popular with local classical music lovers, and their style, with Bill as irrepressible raconteur, cellist, and historian, would be hard to match. First assembled in 2011 to celebrate Bill’s former WHOI and musical colleague, Fritz Fuglister, and to complement an exhibit of Fuglister’s science, music, and artwork at the Woods Hole Historical Museum, the Geostrophic String Quartet has delighted local audiences with concerts in the Library at least once a year since first being organized. The seemingly ageless Bill and Evie had the temerity to tender resignations “because of their age”! However, they kindly arranged for successors to take over and to continue the Geostrophic tradition.

Thus the Woods Hole Public Library is pleased to announce a concert by the New Geostrophic String Quartet on October 24 at 7:30 pm in the Library. Members of the new quartet include violinists from the original group, David Hobbie and Matthew Liebendorfer, with cellist Jennifer Minnich and violist Elizabeth Westner joining them. The evening’s musical fare will feature string quartets by Mozart and Schumann as well as an intriguing piece in one movement by Joaquin Turina, a Spanish composer from the first half of the twentieth century.

Hobbie and Liebendorfer are both Oberlin Conservatory graduates. Hobbie, a member of the Massachusetts Bar and Litigation Knowledge Manager for the Boston firm Goodwin Procter LLP, grew up in Falmouth and graduated from Falmouth Academy. For the past 30 years, he has been a familiar performer in myriad local musical productions, including the Woods Hole Public Library’s Chamber Music Series. Liebendorfer, who hails from Boise Idaho, is an active and prominent violinist in the New England chamber music scene. For the past 7 years, he has directed and participated in “Heaven,” a dynamic, highly-regarded summer chamber music festival in the Finger Lakes in New York. By day, he pursues a career in business technology integration, specializing in relational database technology implementation.

Jennifer Minnich, an active performer in the New England area with a particular interest in chamber music and contemporary repertoire, teaches cello in several Boston-area public school string programs. She performs with several community symphonies. Jennifer received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Cello Performance from Boston University. Violist Elisabeth Westner teaches violin and viola at the Winchester Community Music School, the Community Music Center of Boston, and the Westwood Prodigy Program. She graduated from Smith College, and received her master’s degree from the Yale School of Music. She performs regularly with the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tickets for the 7:30 pm Woods Hole Public Library fundraiser concert on Saturday, October 24, cost $20 and are available at Eight Cousins, the Bank of Woods Hole, as well as at the Library during regular hours and at the door. Doors will open at 7 pm. Online tickets are at https://www.showclix.com/event/geostrophic-oct2015. Please join us as we welcome the New Geostrophic String Quartet!