Daniel Pearl Memorial Quartet Nears Completion
The beautifully flamed poplar back of Cooper’s viola.
What began as a New England luthier memorializing a slain New York journalist has grown massively in the nine years since donating a violin to a foundation. And now, thanks to generous donations, a full quartet of instruments built by violin maker Jonathan Cooper is almost complete. Touched by the story of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter assassinated by Al Qaeda in 2002, Cooper, of Gorham, Maine, was inspired to donate a violin to a foundation created to honor Pearl’s vision of promoting peace and harmony through music. This led to a program, run through Mark O’Connor’s summer fiddle camp, in which a promising young violinist receives the instrument for a one-year loan.
Inspired by this initial violin and the subsequent grant program, which was named for the journalist who was also an avid amateur violinist and fiddler, several other generous donors have stepped up. With the impending completion of a viola, the Daniel Pearl Memorial Quartet is nearing completion. The first violin is based on a 1730s Guarneri del Gesù. A second fiddle joined it in ’05, thanks to an anonymous donation. The pair grew to a trio last year, thanks to cellist Ann Swanson, who donated her Cooper cello, which is one of Cooper’s designs, melding a Strad-style scroll and a body styled from a Venetian instrument.
Moved by last year’s cello presentation, the head of the Niederhoffer Foundation stepped forward and commissioned a viola on the spot. Influenced by 16th-century Brescian violas, Cooper built a 15 3/4-inch viola with high arches, which he feels helps express the viola’s earthiness. It was made with an Italian spruce top and a two-piece poplar back, and should be ready for a promising violist next summer.
Announced in July at the Mark O’Connor/Berklee College of Music Summer String Program in Boston, the latest violin recipients are Gracie Hays, from Gulfport, Mississippi, and Philip Glen from Santa Fe Springs, California; while the cello goes to Keizo Yoshioka from Hopedale, Massachusetts. “Through no obligation to the foundation, everyone who has had these instruments has honored the mission through writing music, talking about Daniel Pearl, and taking part in World Music Days,” says Cooper. “It’s helped them express themselves musically and to see music in the wider sense of the world.”
The theme for the 10th Annual Daniel Pearl World Music Days, happening October 1–31, is “Harmony for Humanity.” Learn more, or post an event, at danielpearlmusicdays.org.
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