Concert Features String Quartet Dedication

Four rare, hand-crafted instruments, which Westmont commissioned master violin maker James Wimmer to fashion in spring 2007, will be presented at the String Chamber Concert and Dedication of the Hubert Schwyzer Quartet Friday, Nov. 20, at 8 p.m. in Westmont’s Deane Chapel. Wimmer, who has been handcrafting string instruments in Santa Barbara for 22 years, will talk about making the quartet and will show a pictorial presentation at 7:15 p.m. The presentation and concert are free and open to the public.

The Hubert Schwyzer Quartet, named in honor of a former UC Santa Barbara philosophy professor and cellist, will be used by generations of Westmont students and faculty during the school year and be loaned to the Music Academy of the West for its summer programs. The instruments will exist in perpetuity as a resource for the Santa Barbara music community.

Philip Ficsor, Westmont professor of violin, says it is extremely rare for a college to commission a first-class violin maker to create a quartet from the same tree. “Westmont is making a strong commitment to music and to the Santa Barbara community,” he says. “They are extremely fine instruments, and it’s a rare privilege to be able to play them.”

Wimmer studied in Germany with a family whose tradition of violin making goes back to the early 1700s, and he continues to use their painstaking process today. His instruments are played around the world and are known for their similarity to 18th century Italian masters.

“What a wonderful opportunity for any maker to have a prestigious institution like Westmont commission a string quartet with the intention of keeping them together in perpetuity,” Wimmer says. “I am extremely fortunate and grateful to be chosen for this beautiful project.”

The concert will feature a quartet of faculty, Ficsor, Claude-Lise LaFranc, Valerie Malvinni and Nona Pyron, and three student quartets. They will perform selections from string quartets by Ravel, Schubert, Haydn and Brahms.