Photograph by Flint Born

Harvard Portrait:
The Mendelssohn Quartet

Violist Dov Scheindlin (second from right) has been temporarily standing in while the Mendelssohn String Quartet seeks a new member. Personnel changes are a fact of life even in the much-coveted existence of a professional quartet. (According to Harvard psychologist J. Richard Hackman's 1996 study on job satisfaction, members of string quartets ranked themselves happier than any other group studied; symphony orchestra players, on the other hand, came in just below federal prison guards.) "It's the music that makes it so great," says Nick Eanet (left), first violinist of the quartet for five years. Cellist and founding member Marcy Rosen (right) agrees: "The repertoire is so rich: we could be happy just playing Beethoven quartets for the rest of our lives." As the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence, the quartet visits Harvard four weeks each academic year--each week culminating in a performance--to teach chamber music groups and individuals. Though Harvard has no formal performance major, violinist Nicholas Mann (second from left), also a founding member, finds the students very motivated "and very good. I know they really want that lesson." Eanet explains, "Each of us is probably here because of inspirational chamber-music coaches"--one of whom happens to be Nicholas Mann's father, Robert, recently retired violinist of the renowned Juilliard Quartet, who taught both the Mendelssohn's violinists.