A LOVELY SURPRISE

The focus of the first program in the 28^th season of Rob Kapilow’s “What Makes It Great,” was Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G Major, known as “Jack-in-the Box.” With his signature wit and energy, celebrity conductor and music educator Rob Kapilow entertained and educated about this particular string quartet and Haydn in general.

Kapilow is known for breaking down the music of many different genres with live performers who demonstrate his points and then provide a complete performance of the work discussed. For this program, which was part of the Celebrity Series of Boston, he was backed by the Balourdet Quartet, which recently completed a residency at the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet program.

Kapilow’s emphasis was on Haydn’s ability to achieve both unity and variety by repeating certain musical patterns and yet using them in surprising ways. The Balourdet musicians, who include Angela Bae, Justin DeFilippis, Benjamin Zonnoni, and Russell Houston, did an excellent job of playing selected passages, offering dramatic bow work and the kind of cheerful yet precise demeanor fitting Haydn’s music. Kapilow typically invites audience participation, and this performance was no exception. He invited members of the audience to “sing” certain musical patterns, strengthening their ability to recognize the repetitions in Haydn’s music—and adding an element of fun to the evening!

Kapilow contends that classical music, like a good novel, has a plot. In other words, it creates expectations and sets up inevitabilities, though these may not be obvious to the listener in advance. And indeed, by the time the Balourdet players performed the string quartet in its entirety, the audience knew where to laugh—because they had been surprised—without being prompted. Evidence, according to Kapilow, of the success of his presentation.

Another hallmark of Kapilow’s presentations is his ability to find a moral, or lesson, in some aspect of the music he is presenting. This time, he argued that the lesson of Haydn is that like the musical patterns Haydn employs in his work, none of us are only one thing. Just as Haydn can use the same three notes and alter their effect by varying the key, the rhythm, the order, or the volume in which they are presented, all of us, according to Kapilow, “contain multitudes.” Just as Kapilow encourages appreciation for music through careful listening, he encourages all of us to listen carefully to one another in order to find healing and understanding. “All you have to do,” Kapilow says, “is listen.” Which also happens to be the title of his book, All You Have to Do Is Listen: Music from the Inside Out.

photos by Robert Torres

The Genius of Haydn
What Makes It Great: With Rob Kapilow
presented by Celebrity Series of Boston
New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, 50 Gainsborough Street in Boston
reviewed October 19, 2025