Rock the Conservatory: The Low End String Quartet

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IT'S WRITTEN ON paper and played on stringed instruments, so is the music of the Low End String Quartet classical?

Sort of, yes, and for all intents and purposes, no.

"In the classical music universe, there's this little ghetto, and that's called ‘contemporary music,'" says composer-guitarist Jonathan Matis, who founded the LESQ. "And in that little ghetto, those people are trying to reach the classical music audience. It's not a good fit."

This conundrum — how to bring contemporary classical music to the best potential audience — led Matis away from the Kennedy Center and toward U Street. The LESQ — bassist Dan Barbiero, cellist Jodi Beder, Andrea Vercoe on violin and Matis on guitar — hauls its instruments into the Velvet Lounge on Saturday night with the specific purpose of setting the place's roof on fire.

"Small clubs are the vibrant place where chamber music is happing these days," says Matis. "A conventional string quartet would have a hard time in that environment because it's noisy."

So he went back to the composition he had been working on and amplified all the instrumentation.

"We're heavier on the lower instruments than a conventional string quartet. The guitar and the cello are actually very, very close in register, then we have the bass and a violin."

The result is chamber music for this century — loud, gorgeous and ready for the club.

» Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW, Sat., 7 p.m., $7; 202-462-3213. (U St.-Cardozo)

Photos by Lawrence Luk/Express