Formosa Quartet, Shattering Expectations (Michael Russo)

Upon arriving at Empac on Thursday, October 11th in anticipation of the Formosa Quartet performance I did not know what to expect. I had not been to a show at Empac before and I am not particularly experienced when it comes to events like this. I was attending as an assignment for my Multimedia Century Class, had the assignment not been assigned I definitely would not have been in attendance that night. Even though, I went with an open attitude and wanted to see if this was something that I could enjoy. In simplest terms, my expectations, or the lack of, were absolutely shattered.

The performance consisted of a live audience that moved as a unit through five different settings. In each setting, the Formosa Quartet performed five different musical pieces. The instruments they use were three violins and one cello. In addition, each set featured different arrangements of the audience and performance stage.

In the first setting, the long lines of the anxious audience lined outside the main concert hall were guided to sit on the rows of seats arranged on the stage facing out towards the audience’s usual seats. Upon sitting down I looked diagonally up and notices four silhouette figures with string instruments set up in the top section seats of the audience, often referred to as the nosebleed seats. After the audience settled into the seats of the stage the four silhouette figures began to play a song. Initially, I was confused thinking “I can barely see them”. From what I could see the poetic music and motions the silhouette figures was very uniform and coordinated. In general, I enjoyed the aural and visual experiences that presented themselves in the first show. When the musicians finished they stood up and exited their set up. The audience did the same, quietly, slowly, and carefully moving from their seats into the hallway between the concert hall and Studio 1, which was where the second performance was.

Upon entering Studio 1, the room was dark besides the spotlights in the middle of the room. The purpose of the set up was explicit. The spotlights shining down on the four musicians showcased the seriousness of their attitudes and the focus of their emotions. The audience was arranged in a ring facing the center where the musicians were arranged in a  square diamond shape sitting and facing each other. Once they started playing the piece, the powerful violent jerks of their bows were on full display, quite the opposite of the first performance. Even the choreographed flipping between pages of their music sheets was spot on and perfected. After they finished the song they uniformly stood up and moved to the 3rd setting, the audience did the same. The detail and visual effects of this settings made this my favorite of the five performances. I was impressed with the talent and the rigorous training that was no doubt institutional and on full display in this performance.  

In the third setting, Studio 2, the room was arranged the opposite of the second so that the audience was in the middle facing the musicians on the outside. There were also seats facing towards the center of the room in a corner of the room, this was where I was sitting. The significance of this setup is that the experience of the audience member will be different depending upon which seat they are sitting in. I was between the cello performer and one of the violin performers so the notes from them dominated my ears while the two other violin performers were far away and not as prominent. Like the second performance, the emotions and strength of the musicians were on full display as the majority of the lights in the room were directed towards the musicians.

The fourth performance was in the Theater and when the audience first walked inside there was a lot of confusion as to where we should sit and where the musicians were set up. The Formosa Quartet was set up out of sight of the audience. The red lights illuminating the theater gave a very different impression than previous settings, it was as if I was in a spooky Halloween esk horror movie. While I did enjoy this performance it was my least favorite of the five. The sounds of the music were the emphasis of the performance but the lights and the lack of other visuals made the sound just musical noise since there was no added emotion. Because of this, I could not fully enjoy it as much as the other performances.

Similar to the first performance, the fifth performance was in the in the Concert Hall, but it was a traditional set up with the Formosa Quartet setup on the stage and the audience sitting in the front section of the seats. The performance utilized many of the aesthetics used in the previous performances. For example, the lights were dimmed and brightened to emphasize the structure and flow of the music and the emotions of the musicians was on full display as well. The musical piece had multiple climaxes and there were multiple times during it that I was convinced that it was nearing the end. To my surprise every single time the music built up again. Upon completion of the piece I was convinced that it was going to continue, then there was a pause and suddenly the crowd erupted in cheers.

The event was truly stunning and something that blew my expectations away. The Formosa Quartet did a wonderful set of performances and was able to showcase much of their amazing talent. I did not envision myself enjoying it as much as I did and I would definitely be interested in seeing a performance similar to it in the future.