The Alexander String Quartet is happy and grateful to be spending this uniquely American holiday week with our respective family members. Of necessity we routinely spend a lot of time away from home and over the years, we have celebrated thanksgiving many times with just each other – Chinese restaurants in Germany or Indian restaurants in England come easily to mind but wherever we have happened to be touring on the day, even if performances were featured, certainly good food shared together has reliably been an important focus.
But as we gather once again and encouraged to consider how much we have to be thankful for, it is the seemingly countless individuals who come to the fore. There are simply so many special people who make our uniquely peripatetic lives and careers work and moreover, who make it meaningful and worthwhile. I’m thinking of the presenters, hosting families and friends, the generous supporters, managers, publicists, photographers, writers, annotators, even critics – yikes! – recording engineers and producers, backstage-techs, front-of-house managers, advisors, accountants, administrators –it’s a long list of folks who all contribute to make it work.
Of course we couldn’t do it without each other. Through thick and thin, for more than 32 years we’ve learnt to treasure and cherish the bond that ties us together in the making and sharing of extraordinary music. It’s a life’s work like none other but, how could we do it if not for our families who love and care for us? Our Quartet wives and kids have always supported and accepted that valuable family time must be sacrificed so that the Quartet can travel away from home, dividing our time to play for people they may never have met.
Like so many family businesses, it is the people who stay at home, toiling behind the scenes who help keep it all together and working so smoothly. Let’s be especially grateful to them at this Thanksgiving.
— Sandy Wilson