Sister Bay, Wis. (November 14, 2023) – Midsummer’s Music is pleased to announce that its resident ensemble, the Griffon String Quartet, was awarded a $3,000 grant from the Door County Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund to support student scholarships and school presentations. The grant was made possible from the following Door County Community Foundation funds: the Women’s Fund Endowment of Door County, the Diane and Pat Ford Family Fund, the Gail R. Fischer Fund, the Orlaine and Michael Gabert Fund, the Ed and Adele Douglass Fund, the Nancy A. Felhofer Memorial Fund, and the Trudy Gehring Fund.
The Griffon String Quartet is a full-time professional string quartet from September through May and resides in northeastern Wisconsin with a mission of educating, enriching, and exciting people by being actively embedded in the community and captivating every generation through music. Its members currently work with children in northeast Wisconsin via its Einstein Series, a highly interactive program for school-age children. The quartet’s B Double Sharp program presents miniconcerts for the aging or disabled, as well as their caregivers. Additional Community-Embedded programs are all-inclusive for families.
Allyson Fleck, Midsummer’s Executive Director and Assistant Artistic Director, expressed her appreciation: “This generous grant ensures that the Griffon’s music education includes lessons and performances for youth – and specifically young girls – through collaborations with organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA, and Door County schools. Activities include expanding school-age instruction, enhancing community outreach, and broadening horizons with new community partnerships. Through the diligent work of the Griffon String Quartet, we have already impacted the lives of over 100 families in Door County. With this grant, we intend to multiply this manifold impact, bringing the joy of music to every corner of our community. Thank you, Women’s Fund, for your support!”
One of the most vibrant and engaging quartets of its generation, Midsummer’s Music founded the Griffon String Quartet in the fall of 2018. The quartet enriches the lives of children and adults throughout northeast Wisconsin through concerts, workshops, and music education outreach. Griffon members are professional musicians who have performed with orchestras and ensembles in the finest halls around the globe – from Carnegie Hall and Brazil’s Teatro Municipal de São Paulo to Japan’s Suntory Hall – and have won prestigious music competitions and awards. All are equally dedicated to music education and inspiring the next generation of music lovers. They have advanced degrees and significant experience, both as educators and performers, and the ensemble has been recognized for “its youthful vigor, which is absolutely infectious!” Current members are Roy Meyer and Alex Norris, violins, and Jesse Nummelin, cello.
Midsummer’s Music was co-founded in 1990 by Jim and Jean Berkenstock, long-time Door County summer residents and principal orchestral players with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. What began as two concerts among friends has become one of the Midwest’s most anticipated chamber music series, bringing thousands of chamber music enthusiasts from around the globe to the magical Door County Peninsula.
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