Session ID:

VS4-01

u Advanced

The Paradox of Creativity
How a classical string quartet uses a LEAN strategy to get from rehearsal to performance

The artist sits in his studio, meditating on the act of creation. He waits patiently for the perfect moment.

All of a sudden the muse of inspiration strikes, and in a burst of artistic passion he brings forth a fully-formed masterpiece for the ages.

Is this really how art is produced? Well, perhaps in movies or Victorian novels. In the real world, however, the making of art and the business of art is actually subject to many of the same pressures, constraints, and opportunities that concern the manufacturing community.

In this video and audio rich session let cellist Benjamin Wolff take you “behind the scenes.” Find out about the secret life of the string quartet—far removed from the glamour of the concert stage—and learn how creativity in the arts emerges from the LEAN application of equal parts imagination and discipline.

The Hofstra String Quartet is the faculty quartet in residence at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Since 1998 the quartet has directed the string program at Hofstra, mentored young musicians, and performed an acclaimed series of concerts at Hofstra’s Monroe Theater. Additional highlights of past seasons include performances at the Museum of the City of New York, the Huntington Museum of Art, and the recital series at the Brookhaven National Laboratories. The members of the Hofstra String Quartet—Alexander Sharpe, Matthew Lehmann, Todd Low, and Benjamin Wolff—are also in demand as orchestral, chamber and solo artists. Performing with ensembles such as the Grant Park Symphony, Orchestras of the Voices of Ascension, the American Symphony, Concert Royal, and the Sonos Chamber Orchestra, they appear regularly in concert at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and other concert venues throughout New York City.

Benjamin Wolff, Assistant Professor of Music

Benjamin Wolff is Assistant Professor of Music at Hofstra University in New York. He is a cellist and a member of the Hofstra String Quartet, ensemble in residence at Hofstra University.

As one of the first participants in a double degree program established by the Juilliard School and Columbia University, Wolff studied cello and chamber music with Joel Krosnick and the Juilliard String Quartet, and graduated with a B.A. degree in history from Columbia College. From 1993 to 1995 he was a fellow at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Center, and was awarded its C.D. Jackson prize for excellence in 1994. He received his Master’s degree in Music from Rice University in 1995.

Wolff is currently a member of Concert Royal, the acclaimed period instrument orchestra in residence at St. Thomas Church in New York City, Sinfonia New York , a new Classical orchestra, and also performs regularly with other professional ensembles in the New York metropolitan area.

In addition to his work as a performing musician, Wolff is deeply committed to broadening the important connections between the worlds of the arts, sciences, and business.

He is presently the creator and director of NEXUS: The Open Mind, a concert series that explores the links between music and other spheres of human achievement and knowledge. NEXUS presents unique entry-points for audiences by crafting bridges from their particular experiences and interests to the music being performed.