Education and Outreach

Education and outreach are a vital part of the mission of Quogue Chamber Music, made possible by your contributions to the organization. For the past several years, we have sponsored performances by chamber music groups at local schools in Quogue, Riverhead, and Hampton Bays. These programs have introduced hundreds of students at these schools to high-quality, live classical music. In Hampton Bays, the musicians have worked directly with the music teacher to develop programs that illustrate the concepts being taught in class. The children always have lots of questions for the performers — both about their instruments and about how they became professional musicians.

In the 2025-26 school year, Quogue Chamber Music sponsored 4 chamber music outreach programs at Hampton Bays Elementary School (2 days), Quogue Elementary School, and Riverhead High School.  In Hampton Bays, the Ivalas String Quartet did programs for over 200 kindergarten and third grade children on two mornings, defining pitch and rhythm.  After introducing the concepts, they illustrated those concepts, playing excerpts by Haydn and Mendelsohn in minor and major keys.  The children clapped along to the rhythm of “Carmen.”  At Quogue Elementary School, as in Hampton Bays, the students were particularly thrilled to recognize the string quartet’s rendition of “Soda Pop,” from the wildly popular film, “K-Pop Demon Hunters.”

In Riverhead, the Ivalas String Quartet had a very different program for the high school music students.  At an assembly attended by about 125 students, they played movements from a Mozart string quartet and then two very different movements from Dvořàk’s “American” String Quartet.  They pointed out the influence of African-American spiritual music on the piece, which was written while the composer was spending the summer in a Czech community in Iowa after teaching that year in New York. City  The students were an attentive and appreciative audience.  Afterwards, they had a number of thoughtful questions, including how to be admitted to a good college-level music training program and about the dynamics between the four musicians while they perform.  After the assembly, the quartet did a coaching session with a string quartet of juniors and seniors, where they got tips on holding their bows, and giving their music more dynamism—down to focusing on a single note in the score and where it is “coming from” or “going.”  

As in years past, the teachers all told us what a unique gift it is for their students to have these skilled, professional musicians play for them and talk with them about the music and music-making.

Photos and video from the school outreach programs are posted Facebook and Instagram @quoguechambermusic

Your generosity makes these programs possible for our community.