The following is an online extra from our September 2021 issue.
Photo courtesy Shanghai Quartet
“Behind the Strings” is a documentary premiering at the Richmond International Film Festival about the Shangai Quartet — a name that might ring familiar to Richmonders because of the ensemble’s 15-year residency at the University of Richmond. Founding members and brothers Honggang and Weigang Li formed the quartet at the end of Mao’s Cultural Revolution in 1983, a time when Western influence, including classical music, was prohibited. Violinist Yi-Wen Jiang and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras both joined the quartet over two decades ago. Richmond magazine spoke with executive producer and co-writer Michael Peroff about the film and the quartet’s ties to the River City.
Richmond magazine: Why make a movie about classically trained musicians fleeing China at the end of the Cultural Revolution?
Michael Peroff: I worked in China for almost four years, and I got to learn a lot about the Cultural Revolution. … One day I saw an ad in the newspaper for the quartet that was performing, and I said, “The Shanghai Quartet — I used to live in Shanghai,” so I bought a ticket and went. But it wasn’t until I met Honggang and began going to the performances regularly and I got to meet the other two members and I began to understand their story [that] I said, “This is not your typical classical string quartet, this is more than a music story, this is a life experience story.”
RM: How did the quartet react to director Hal Rifken wanting to make a movie about them?
Peroff: They said, “Why? What do we do that is so interesting?” That’s what Weigang says all the time. They were overall positive. We didn’t have to put a hard sell on [the film]. Then they realized we were going to be in their personal studio when they rehearsed and had these discussions, and initially they were reluctant to be candid, and it took them about six months to let us be a fly on the wall.
RM: What is the importance of Richmond and the University of Richmond to the quartet?
Peroff: After [graduating] Juilliard, they [came to] the University of Richmond as their quartet in residence. It was supposed to be a one-year assignment, but they ended up staying 15 years. … [The quartet] considers Richmond their professional home where they got their start.
RM: Even though this is a film about classically trained musicians, what makes it relatable to people who don’t play instruments?
Peroff: It’s a great human-interest story. We hoped the way we filmed and edited a film that a person that has no understanding, or interest or passion of classical music [can relate] because the characters and the story are rich.
“Behind the Strings” premieres at the Richmond International Film Festival Sunday, Sept. 12, at 3:45 p.m. Tickets are $8 to $195.
