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String quartet cellist STEPHEN HARRISON has been on the Stanford University faculty since 1983. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and Boston University, where he received the Award for Distinction in Graduate Performance. Former principal cellist of the Opera Company of Boston, the New England Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Symphony of San Francisco, he has performed on National Public Radio, the BBC, and on both German State Radio and the Netherlands State Radio.
As solo cellist of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, he has toured internationally and recorded on the Delos, CRI, New Albion and Newport Classics labels. He has also performed on both the “Music of the Sacred and Profane” and New and Unusual Music Series presented by the San Francisco Symphony, and for Chamber Music West. Mr. Harrison has been on the faculty of the Pacific Music Festival and is currently an artist/faculty member of the Rocky Ridge Music Center.
“I was born and raised in San Francisco. When I was six we moved to upper Haight Street, so I was there during the ‘Summer of Love’ and all that. I had dreams of being the lead guitarist in a rock band, so when I had the opportunity to learn an instrument in junior high school, I picked the string bass because I thought I could use what I learned in a rock band more than one of the other instruments. But gradually I became fascinated by classical music and started listening to my parents’ records. I taught myself the cello in eighth grade and started taking lessons a year later. I suppose I looked sort of dorky taking my cello in the vinyl case on the bus down to Market Street and transferring to the streetcar to go out to 24th and Guerrero for my lessons.
“It was always a dream of mine to play chamber music. Playing with an orchestra can be a wonderful experience because there is a great feeling of the power of the sound and of being swept away, but you’re never in charge.
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I like the challenge of democracy in being in a quartet. You have to learn to use your interpersonal skills, which is something you’re not trained for in the conservatory. You learn to work with people in very intimate ways far beyond how people work other professions. You’re always on the verge of criticizing someone else’s very being when you talk about his or her playing.
“We’re concerned about our relationship with the community and we’re determined to broaden the audience for chamber music and the way we see to do that is to get involved with the educational system. By doing away with public school music education and with public support of the arts, classical music has become more elitist. Now only the people who have money can afford to take lessons and go to concerts. Kids aren’t getting the kinds of exposure today I had; they don’t have the experience of being turned onto classical music by a really great teacher.
“Usually it’s a matter of getting people started listening. My sister is a great barometer for me. She loves music but not classical music so much because she feels it’s ‘head’ music – it’s not down in your gut. The idea is to get a little loose with the notion of a string quartet and make it less high-brow and get the audience involved as though they were listening to great jazz. A symphony orchestra can use the sound of the different instruments to inspire peoples’ interest. A string quartet has to attract peoples’ interest based on the music itself. It’s not a costume drama!
“I still listen to the music I enjoyed when I was a teenager: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Carli Simon, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell. I met Joni Mitchell a few years ago and had her sign some stuff for me. I’m an inveterate sports fan. I loved baseball long before I ever gave a hoot about music. I’m a diehard Giants and 49ers fan, way back from the time when they used to break your hearts!”
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