Dorothy Lawson of ETHEL

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Cellist and composer Dorothy Lawson is one of the founding members and Artistic Directors for ETHEL, a string quartet celebrating 25 years of setting the standard for contemporary concert music. In this episode, you’ll hear about many fascinating and meaningful collaborations with musicians including Alllison Loggins-Hull, Robert Mirabal, and Layale Chaker. It was really inspiring to hear how they got started with adapting the concert experience into something less-predictable, and ways to connect with new audiences. Dorothy also shared her insights into playing and teaching the cello and staying healthy. We also talked about many of the long-term relationships with the Metropolitain Museum, Denison College and the Grand Canyon Music Festival’s Native American Composer Apprentice Projecct. You’ll be hearing excerpts from 3 of ETHEL’s recent albums, including wonderful music by Leilehua Lanzilotti, Sam Wu and Migiwa “Miggy” Miyajima, and everything is linked to ETHEL’s website: https://ethelcentral.org/

Transcript and YouTube video of this episode:
https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/dorothy-lawson-ethel

This is my final podcast for this year, Episode 51 of Season 4, and Season 5 starts in a couple of weeks in January. Please check the links for different ways to support and follow this independent podcast. I really do need the help of my listeners; I do all the many jobs of research, production and publicity. Can you buy this podcaster a coffee to support this series? ⁠https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman⁠ Thanks! Follow me on Social Media: ⁠https://linktr.ee/leahroseman⁠ Merchandise: https://www.leahroseman.com/beautiful... Newsletter sign-up Complete Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about Transcript and podcast on all the platforms linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/... You may be also interested in my episodes with: the Euclid Quartet https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/... the Cheng2 duo https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/... Meg Okura https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/... Martha Mooke https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/... Rebeca Omordia https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/... Pat Irwin https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/... Frank Horvat https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/...

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:19) ETHEL string quartet, Persist project Allison Loggins-Hull

(07:29)how and why ETHEL got started, Mary Rowell, Todd Rundgren, Joe Jackson

(13:32) Persist album, Sam Wu composer

(14:56) excerpt from Terraria by Sam Wu on the Persist album

(16:54) composer Leilehua Lanzilotti, Hawaii history and culture

(19:14) excerpt from We began this quilt there by Leilehua Lanzilotti from album Persist

(20:33) composer Migiwa Miyajima

(23:18) clip from Reconciliation Suite by Migiwa “Miggy” Miyajima from album Persist

(24:11) Allison Loggins-Hull, about Persist

(26:41) excerpt from Perisist by Allison Loggins-Hull

(28:50) multi-media shows, Docuamerica

(33:02) collaboration with Ringling museum for Circus: Wandering City show

(37:21) other episodes that will interest you and different ways to support this series

(38:06) the name ETHEL, members

(46:09) Robert Mirabal, Grand Canyon Music Festival

(56:41) excerpt from trailer for the Red Willow project with Robert Mirabal

(58:46) Layale Chaker violinist composer, new album Vigil

(01:01:58) excerpt from Vigil with Layale Chaker

(01:05:07)Dorothy’s approach to teaching cello, avoiding injury, strategies for staying healthy

(01:10:45) Metropolitan Museum collaboration

(01:17:47)Denison University residency, city universities in New York Macaulay Honors