Canyon String Quartet is a string quartet made up of BYU-Idaho alumnae, and they performed last night at the Snow Recital Hall.
The string quartet is made up Sarah Arnesen on the cello, Molly Cowley and Emily Olsen on violin and violist Michelle Bowers. They live in the Salt Lake City area and perform in special events, weddings and concerts. Molly Cowley and Sarah Arnesen talked to BYU-Idaho Radio about the quartet and the special event at BYU-Idaho.
“We want them (the audience) to recognize their own experiences while they listen,” Cowley said.
Their goal is to help the audience feel connected to the music and experience it in a personal way. When the String Canyon Quartet play their instruments they give their whole heart to it. This is their passion and they want to share it with others. Arnesen emphasized how incredible it is to think that most of the music they play was written by composers long since dead, but they still had the same emotions that today’s performers have.
“As we connect with our own experiences and put that into music…the audience will feel that as well and that is what changes audiences,” Arnesen said.
After graduating from BYU-Idaho the members of the quartet have studied at other universities, so they were excited to come back and play at BYU-Idaho.
“There is just something really special about the program there,” Cowley said. “I always felt that it was a real nurturing environment, so it’s fun to come back and sort of share our continuing journey.”
They said for students in the music program who hope to get a job in the industry, it’s crucial to keep going.
“Put yourself in scary situation,” Arnesen said. “For me, whenever I can push myself to do something that is really scary for me my abilities of what I can do expands, and it pushes me to work even harder.”
For information about the Canyon String Quartet see their Facebook page or their Instagram page at @canyonstringquartet.