6/26/98

Editors, news directors: A photo of The Lark Quartet suitable for newspaper use may be downloaded from the Web at: http://www.ohiou.edu/news/pix/lark.jpg . The color photo shows the Lark playing at night on Ohio University's College G reen and depicts a scene also captured in the new documentary, "The Lark Quartet: A Year in a Residency." A headshot of David Urano is available at http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/news/pix/urano.jpg . Also, footage from the documentary is available to television stations by contacting David Urano at (740) 593-9733 or by e-mail at urano@ohiou.edu.

Contact: David Urano, writer, producer and di rector of the documentary, (740) 593-9733.

ATHENS, Ohio -- David Urano loves to tell a good story. And when he stumbled upon a performance by four gifted, high-energy, sometimes unconventional string musicians at Ohio University in the fall of 1995, he knew theirs was a story he wanted to tell. "The Lark Quartet: A Year in a Residency" is a one-hour documentary about four women whose music and enthusiasm have stretched the imaginations and impressions of audiences throughout Southeast ern Ohio for the past three years. It airs at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 11, on Ohio University Public Television stations WOUB-TV (Athens) and WOUC-TV (Cambridge), which together reach viewers in all or part of 35 counties in Southeastern Ohio and northwest West Virginia.

"To see them play -- and to see the passion that they have for their music and the connection that they have with each other -- is fascinating," says Urano, senior media producer with Ohio University Media Productions. "I wanted to document their time here."

Formed in 1985 and based in New York City, the Lark counts among its accomplishments several international music awards and a special birthday performance for first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. During their just-concluded three-year stint as artists-in-residence at Ohio University, quartet members have worked with students, collaborated with dance and music professors, and brought to campus such visiting artists as Aaron Jay Kernis, whose original composition fo r the Lark won him the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Music. The quartet also has performed at schools, nursing homes, prisons, libraries and other venues in a region stretching from Columbus to Dayton to Huntington, W.Va.

"I think the point of it all was to bring classical music to a greater audience -- to use classical music and the quartet as a cultural arm of the university, as a way of meeting the community around Ohio University," says Astrid Schween, the quartet's cellist. "The documentary presents what was really important about our residency, which was communicating that the music is alive."

A clip from the Lark's performance at Morrison Elementary School in Athens is one example. The quartet's members, whose attire that day included jeans and sneakers, twist and twirl their way into the room while playing their instruments -- Jennifer Orchard and Diane Pascal on violin, Anna Kruger on viola and Schween on cello. The audience of wide-eyed children sits cross-legged on the floor, spellbound by a performance that was nothing like they expected from the world-renowned musicians their teacher had just described.

"When you see kids' faces in this documentary, you see what the Lark has brought to them," Urano says. "A lot of them wouldn't have had an opportunity to hear a group like this."

Urano began work on the documentary in early 1996 and started shooting it that fall. It chronicles the second year of the Lark's residency, featuring some 21 minutes of performance time, footage from off-campus visits and interviews with quartet members and others. Other key players in the documentary's creation were executive producer Paul Ladwig, editor and videographer Vicky Foster and graphic designer Andrew Marconi, all part of the Division of University Relations' Media Productions unit.

"I think it is a phenomenal reflection of The Lark Quartet's time here," says Gretchen Stephens, whose Office of Public Occasions coordinated the Lark's stay. "It truly reflected what a residency can do in a community." The Lark's residency was funded by Ohio University, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest fund and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.

Carolyn Lewis, director of the Telecommunications Center that operates the university's two television stations, sent a tape of the documentary to the Public Broadcasting System's programming department in hopes that it will air nationally. Lewis also may pitch it to the National Educational Telecommunications Association, which has about 80 public television member stations. The documentary will air again in August and December on WOUB-TV and WOUC-TV, Lewis says.

Meanwhile, Lark Quartet members have moved back to their base in New York City and are preparing fo r upcoming concerts in Sweden, Mexico, Massachusetts, Vermont and elsewhere. They plan to visit Ohio University for three weeks next school year -- one week in the fall and two in the spring.

"We really hope that Athens and Ohio University can remain a part of what we are for a number of years," Schween says. Certainly those words are music to the ears of The Lark Quartet's many fans here.