SEPTEMBER 29 • 2022 | 57

to tolerate our differences but to 
appreciate differences. I always 
say to younger groups that if 
you stay together long enough 
and if you become successful, 
success is a lubricant for the 
frictions that occasionally 
occur.
”
With many appearances in 
Michigan, including time at the 
Great Lakes Chamber Music 
Festival, Drucker appreciates 
time the quartet has spent with 
younger groups including the 
Calidore String Quartet as part 
of an Ann Arbor program.
“We had mentored the 
quartet at Stony Brook,
” 
Drucker said. “They’re a 
wonderful young group. We 
played four collaborative pieces 
and my two colleagues, Larry 
Dutton and Paul Watkins, 
joined them for the sextet from 
Strauss’ opera Capriccio. 
“It’s always fun to collaborate 
with other musicians, especially 
with a stellar young quartet.
”

Drucker’s own family offers 
the idea of being close to other 
musicians, including his wife, 
Roberta Cooper, a freelance 
cellist, and his son, Julian, 
a composer and television 
music supervisor.
“We are going through this 
final season with a mix of 
emotions,
” Drucker said. “We 
want to look ahead to what 
will follow. We are touched 
by the outpouring of interest 
and emotion that we’ve been 
experiencing from audiences. 
“It’s with mixed feelings 
that we’re looking ahead to 
the sunset of all of this, but 
all good things have to come to 
an end. We feel we want to stop 
when we’re at least near the top 
of our game. 
“We’re very appreciative 
of our good luck having 
been able to have this active 
career, playing music that 
we love, making sure this art 
form survives and passing 

on what we know to younger 
generations of quartets.
”
While this concert will be the 
final time in Ann Arbor, there 
will be more farewell concerts 
in Michigan before the quartet 
disbands — a first at Hillsdale 
College and a repeat at the 
Great Lakes Chamber Music 
Festival. 

Details

The Emerson String 
Quartet will perform 
at 8 p.m. Saturday, 
Oct. 1, at the Rackham 
Auditorium, 915 E. 
Washington, Ann Arbor. 
Tickets start at $30. 
(734) 764-2538. 
ums.org.

