Teresa Ling first experienced Garth Newel in 1996 as a guest artist, and she was terrified. She was a seasoned musician, but she would be performing a monumental late Beethoven piano quartet that she had never played, along with three other artists in the same boat. In a venue she’d never seen. They had just a few days to put it together before they performed for an audience.
But, she says, what was wonderful was that she got to experience Garth Newel and see what a special place it is—not only serenely beautiful, but also possessing a remarkable spirit of camaraderie and hospitality. Teresa fondly remembers the extraordinary dinners created by Arlene Di Cecco, the original violinist and co-founder of Garth Newel Music Center. “She would jump up after playing and create these amazing meals for all of us,” Teresa recalls.
She must have held her own, as she kept getting invited back. In 1998, she was offered the full-time violin position with the Quartet. She had found her new home.
One of her favorite things about Garth Newel is being part of the Quartet. As the longest-standing member, she has had a hand in hiring the rest of the ensemble: cellist Isaac Melamed in 2014, pianist Jeannette Fang in 2015, and violist Fitz Gary in 2022.
“We are all very close,” she says. “We love working with each other, we like each other, and we are all passionate about chamber music. It’s an incredible privilege to work on wonderful repertoire with my colleagues; studying and perfecting a piece together is challenging and rewarding.”
She believes that the experience of working within a chamber music ensemble for so many years has also made her a better person. “Playing chamber music for so many years, I’ve grown to appreciate the importance of listening, and not only when playing. It carries over into all my relationships. Working so intensely with three other people, you have to learn to read the signals. We need to help each other sound better, so it’s important to understand the emotional groundwork of what people are feeling before making comments. You don’t want to make someone feel as if they are being attacked.”
Jeannette Fang, pianist with the Garth Newel Piano Quartet, says that Teresa is the ideal model for how to work in chamber music. “I try all the time to model my behavior after her. I could not ask for a better colleague. She treats people well. Everything she does, she does with class, kindness, and diplomacy. She’s also fun to talk to and a good friend.”
Widening Impact
Quartet members Teresa Ling, Jeannette Fang, and Fitz Gary with members of Soundscape, who enjoyed a residency at Garth Newel this April.
Like the other members of the Quartet, Teresa’s responsibilities extend far beyond performing. Together, the four musicians are co-artistic directors and run all Garth Newel’s programming, from putting together the yearly schedule and individual concert programs to hiring guest artists, leading the educational programs and residencies, commissioning new compositions, organizing the international composition competition, and arranging the logistics for their tours.
Teresa appreciates the opportunity to be involved in music education at Garth Newel. In addition to working with the fellowship students selected for the Emerging Artist Program (which Isaac leads) each summer, she spearheads group residencies. Earlier this year, for instance, a group of 50 students from the Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School in Georgia and another group from Soundscapes in Newport News had residencies at Garth Newel.
She also leads the annual Amateur Retreat. “It’s really fun to work with them,” she says. “They just want to talk about music and play music morning to night.”
Beyond the music
Teresa shares her home with Milo the “Quartet Cat,” so named because he was originally Jeannette’s, then Isaac’s, and now happily resides with Teresa. She describes him as “a handful, and incredibly fun.” Having always loved plants, she also tends an array of houseplants. She enjoys hiking, books, visiting family, and traveling to fascinating international destinations with her partner, John Bushweller.
Teresa is also an inveterate puzzle enthusiast. She has a hard time walking by a jigsaw puzzle in progress without stopping to work on it and is “obsessed” with all of the New York Times puzzles. In fact, all the Quartet members are serious about the NYT’s daily Wordle puzzle and have a bit of a competition going.
Milo Teresa and her partner John Bushweller in Egypt.
Before Garth Newel
Growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and then Marin County, California, Teresa always loved music, but it never occurred to her that she could make a career out of it. Her parents were both scientists. Expecting to follow a similar path, she earned a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale. There, she studied violin with Paul Kantor, one of the foremost violin teachers in the country. He suggested she apply for a summer fellowship with the Aspen Music Festival and School. It was at Aspen, surrounded by other serious music students, that she began to think seriously about choosing music over science or medicine.
After earning a master’s in performance from Eastman School of Music, Teresa landed a job with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and the Dakota String Quartet.
“It was a really fun job,” she says. “But I didn’t want to spend my life in South Dakota.” So, she moved on to the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, where she taught and performed. To learn more about her career and the awards she has won, check out her official bio.
Gratitude
Twenty-nine years after that first experience with Garth Newel, Teresa has an ever deeper understanding of how special it is. One major reason is the audience. “I love to meet them at the dinners. Whether they know a lot about chamber music or nothing, it’s fascinating to find out more about them and their experience of the music. I am incredibly grateful to everyone who comes and supports us.”
Left: Jeannette and Teresa with Board Member Janice Mueller
