Classical musicians may seem like a stuffy bunch, all white tie and tails, black dresses and pearls. But behind that elegant facade lies, well, real people.
Of the four members of the BeauMetro Quartet performing Jan. 8 at the First Sunday at the Commons concert, one heads an annual string quartet concert series during a 15-day river trip through the Grand Canyon, performing in some of the most spectacular natural amphitheaters in the world. Another plays electric violin for Seattle’s one-ring circus dinner theater, Teatro Zinzanni.
Stephen Bryant is the whitewater rafting violinist, while Tom Dziekonski rosins up the bow for the dinner theater fiddle.
Other members of the quartet are their wives, Sue Jane Bryant on viola and Virginia Dziekonski on cello.
Bryant has a qualified musical pedigree in addition to his whitewater skills. He has been a member of orchestras in Los Angeles, Edmonton, Calgary, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and Seattle.
He and Sue Jane Bryant have performed in string quartets together for 30 years.
Tom Dziekonski graduated from the University of Washington with honors in Music, Arts and Electrical Engineering. He was concertmaster for the Seattle Youth Symphony and is first violinist in the Metropolitan String Quartet, of which his wife is also a member, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra.
Sue Jane Bryant has been a member of the Edmonton Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic and Calgary Philharmonic orchestras.
Virginia Dziekonski is assistant principal cellist of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and has performed with the Seattle Opera and Northwest Chamber Orchestra.
She has also performed as principal cellist for the Tacoma Opera, Northwest Sinfonietta and the St. James Cathedral Chamber Orchestra. She has also recorded scores for radio, TV and movies.
Sunday’s program at the Commons features music by Dvorak, Mendelssohn and Schnittke.
BeauMetro Quartet performs at 4 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Bainbridge Commons, 402 Brien Drive, Bainbridge Island.
Admission is $15 adults, $10 students. The concert series is sponsored by the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council. wu
