Life, Death, Music

June 13, 2009

Last summer, Emily Hsiao, a teenager whom I’d never met, e-mailed me. She asked whether the Guarneri Quartet would have time to listen to music students in her high school when we played in Ann Arbor, Michigan that winter. Only hours after my visit to the school, a brutal attack on one of those students tragically ended her young life. The following excerpted e-mails tell a story of life, death, and the enormous power of music.

Arnold Steinhardt with Emily Hsiao

November 27, 2008

Dear Dr. Steinhardt,

This is Emily Hsiao. You may recall that I contacted you over the summer about your stop in Ann Arbor during Guarneri’s Farewell Tour this season.

As the date for Guarneri’s Ann Arbor performance is approaching, I was wondering if you had a better idea if the Guarneri String Quartet could stop by my high school during your stay in Ann Arbor. We would very much like to meet you, and now that Guarneri is retiring, we feel that this could be our last chance.

Also, I was wondering if you had any chamber music advice for us. Our chamber orchestra has been working on the Mendelssohn Octet (Presto), and if I may recall correctly, I believe that Guarneri has played that with the Johannes String Quartet.

I hope your tour has been going well, and I hope to see you in January!

Yours,
Emily Hsiao

December 3, 2008

Dear Emily,

Sorry to take so long in answering. The rest of the quartet will leave the morning after our Ann Arbor concert but I’m staying on to do a reading and book signing at one of the local bookstores. I’d probably have time to hear music in your school.

Best wishes,
Arnold Steinhardt

January 9, 2009

Dear Dr. Steinhardt,

We are all very excited and are looking forward to your visit! Many of us will be at your concert on Sunday.

Thank you so much for everything!

Yours,
Emily Hsiao

On January 12, 2009, Emily Hsiao and her mother picked me up at my hotel and drove to Huron High School. In the next two hours, I heard everything from Bach played on a single violin to Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony performed by the entire school orchestra. The school’s commitment to its music program, the quality of the students’ playing, and their unbridled enthusiasm were remarkable. Afterward, I signed autographs, posed for photos with the students, and left the school feeling exhilarated. Christopher Mark, the music teacher, had obviously fashioned a vibrant and successful music program. Equally impressive were these highly motivated young musicians, unquestionably spurred on by their leader and, apparently, a veritable force of nature, Emily Hsiao. As I left the school, I could not help thinking how lucky they were.

(L to R) Andrew Liu, Arnold Steinhardt, Naomi Lin, Anna Maria List, John Masuga, Joun Bae

But then I received the following e-mails:

Subject: Emily Hsiao Urgent and Tragic News…

January 18, 2009

Hi Mr. Steinhardt,

I wanted to thank you again for your visit last week—it was one of the highlights of my life. I apologize for burdening you with this news. Monday evening, after your visit, Emily’s best friend since Kindergarten, Anna List—who is also a member of the Symphony here—was brutally beaten by her boyfriend. She has remained mostly in a coma, induced by the doctors this past week. I write to you in the hopes you can provide Emily with some words. She respects and admires you deeply. None of us are able to slow her down. I think she believes if she slows down, it will kill her best friend. We are all filled with guilt, anger, remorse, outrage and sadness, but I’m trying to keep us together and positive.

Emily has been a true president of the orchestra, and a “mother hen”, taking care of everyone else’s emotional, physical and spiritual needs. Her family has opened it’s home to anyone and they usually have 20 people in the house. A few kids are staying all night, because when they are alone at home is when they feel most vulnerable.

I don’t know how to lead. I’m trying to be strong and positive for the students, hopeful for a miracle, yet still trying to prepare them for the possibility of a quick end. Yesterday, Anna’s cranial pressure climbed so fast that her family was called in to say their good-byes. They refused and instead we began a huge prayer-chain of phone calls and e-mails. She did stabilize, thank God, and made it through the night, but the long-term prognosis in not good statistically, although unknown.

I’m torn between giving all of my energy to Anna, and still giving to the kids in the group who are breaking down and checking out. Finals week and the end of the semester are this week, and we won’t see each other much for 10 days.

Could you please reach out to Emily?

Thank you, Mr. Steinhardt. You continue to be an inspiration to us.

Yours,
Chris

Christopher Mark
Director of Orchestras
Huron High School
2727 Fuller Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105

“The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is close to the center of a nation’s purpose—and is the test of the quality of a nation’s civilization.”
—President John F. Kennedy

January 18, 2009

Dear Mr. Steinhardt,

Thank you again for coming to Huron High School! We just had our solo and ensemble festival yesterday and Kevin (Emily’s brother), the double octet, and the duet all did great, receiving straight 1’s, the highest score. We also had a lot of fun playing in the festival. The judges all touched exactly on what you had said—the duet’s contrast in dynamics was great, Kevin’s expressiveness was good, and the octet’s balance was better. At my voice lesson the other day, my teacher yelled at me to do it “the Steinhardt way”—with good dynamic contrast and phrasing. I was taken aback, but amused. We are all benefiting from your visit last week.

Here is the news article.

I’m really sorry to have not contacted you earlier. The night that you did the book signing did not end up being a good night for the orchestra. My best friend since kindergarten, orchestra member Anna Maria List, was physically abused by her boyfriend that night to the point of being in critical condition in the hospital. She is still in very critical condition at the hospital, and was very close last night, but is back to being stable now. She is and will be in an induced coma for the next few weeks, and the entire orchestra is trying very hard to just keep it together. She was very close to many members of the orchestra family, and because we are so close as an orchestra in the first place, the orchestra is taking it very hard. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. We are going to buy her an ipod and speakers for her birthday (next week), which she will not be awake for, and we are going to try to record voices, our playing, and other various artists on it so she can listen to it. We are definitely going to put on Guarneri’s Beethoven set as well as your Bach Partitas, as they were some of her favorites. Do you have any other suggestions? She also loved listening to the cello, so we are going to put on some Yo-Yo Ma, Jaqueline du Pre, and Rostropovich.

Again, thank you very much for your time (and many signatures). Could we have your address so we can send you a gift?

Yours,
Emily Hsiao

January 20, 2009

Dear Emily,

There is so much goodness in the world—witness your sterling efforts in cultivating music in Huron High—and so much darkness as you have described in the tragedy that has befallen your friend Anna. I send her my most healing thoughts and you and all of Anna’s other friends an e-mail hug of sympathy and solidarity. If you send me your address, Emily, perhaps I can put together a few CDs for Anna.

I loved spending time with all of you at your high school. The music and our interaction was a lovely and unexpected gift to me.

Best wishes,
Arnold Steinhardt

January 20, 2009

Dear Mr. Steinhardt,

I am very sorry to inform you that Anna Maria passed away yesterday morning. We are all trying to cope and do things for her and her family. Thank you so much for your offer. If you could still put together a few CDs, I am sure she would love them. We could play them at her service, as well as possibly bury them with her. She was my support the whole way as far as inviting you to my school, and has always been my leaning post for everything. She was also the head mentor at one of the middle schools this year. Her service will most likely be held this Saturday, January 24th.

Again, thank you so much for your concern and offer. I cannot thank you enough, on both my and Anna’s behalf.

Yours,
Emily Hsiao

January 20, 2009

Dear Emily,

Although I did not have the honor of knowing Anna, I am broken hearted for her, for her family, for you, and all Anna’s friends. I am sending as quickly as possible to you, two CDs of Schubert’s music. If I had to take one composer to a desert island, it would be Schubert, whose humanity as well as his genius goes straight to the heart. If you do get the package in time for Anna’s service, I would certainly recommend the first movement of Schubert’s A minor Quartet as appropriate for the service.

I send you, your friends, and above all, Anna’s family my heartfelt wishes for the strength to cope with this tragedy.

Arnold Steinhardt

February 2, 2009

Dear Mr. Steinhardt,

Thank you so much for your CDs. I am sure she would love it. We are going to put the picture of her with you in a memory book of her life. She also ushered your concert at Rackham. I will definitely play Schubert’s A minor Quartet for her service.

Again, thank you so much.

Yours,
Emily Hsiao

The Guarneri String Quartet program in Ann Arbor’s Rackham Auditorium that night consisted of two late Beethoven string quartets—Opus 127 and Opus 132. I hope that Anna Maria List’s family and friends can derive a small amount of comfort, even as they grieve, in knowing that she listened in the waning hours of her life to music that seems both to take us deep inside our selves but also to worlds we can only begin to imagine.

Anna Maria List