MUSIC : Budapest Cellist’s Spirit Is Kept Alive by Mischa Ensemble

Chamber music groups often name themselves to honor their mentor or to assert a particular point of view. Music for Mischa, an ensemble that plays Sunday afternoon at Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, was established to honor the memory of the great Budapest String Quartet cellist Mischa Schneider, who died in 1985 at the age of 81.

“I just have tremendous affection and memory of him,” said ensemble founder and cellist Robert Martin in a phone interview from his office at UCLA. “He typified the chamber music spirit. He was a consummate player. I don’t want to say he was a team player; that sounds too corporate. He was a person of democratic ideals and just loved making music with other people. So I formed the group to keep his memory alive.”

The ensemble started in 1986 originally as “a one-shot project” to play all the Beethoven trios. The first performances at Gindi Auditorium at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles went “so well and (generated) such good audience response” that Martin decided to continue and explore other musical repertory.

“We were casting around for a name,” he said. “My wife made the suggestion that we call it ‘Music for Mischa.’ So many of the players--everyone I knew--had some connection to him. He had taught and played at the Marlboro (Music Festival in Vermont), Curtis Institute (in Philadelphia). He coached our (Sequoia) String Quartet. The name caught on, and we’ve been very happy to use it.

“I just started inviting different people to come play with us. People knew him and were close to him. It’s been very gratifying in that players from Los Angeles and from around the country who knew Mischa continue to express interest in playing in the group.

“In fact, we’ve had very distinctive people interested in coming back, and we’ve had a good audience, always,” he added.

The ensemble continued at Gindi Auditorium for three more seasons, then moved to UCLA in 1989, the same year Martin began teaching in the philosophy department there. (A year later, he was appointed dean of humanities at the university.) The Sunday concert marks the group’s first appearance in Orange County.

“We play what we want,” Martin said. “That’s been the hallmark of the group. Since we’re not a full-time touring ensemble, we’re able to be very selective of what we do.

“There’s no one in the group who has it as his or her primary income. Others are all doing lots of other things. We try to make the concerts cover our costs, but we don’t have to try to make a living for the people. That’s a big difference.

“I don’t mean to say financial issues are not a problem,” he added. “But having been in a professional quartet for 10 years, I know what it’s like to make a living and be a full-time group. It’s very hard.”