No Name-Dropping

What’s in a name?

In the case of the Leontovych String Quartet, one hopes not too much: The classical string ensemble is named for Nicola Leontovych, a 19th century composer best known for choral arrangements of folk music.

“The name was not chosen by the members of the quartet,” assured first violinist Yuri Mazurkevich in a recent phone interview from his home in Boston. “The name was given to the quartet by the Minister of Culture in the Ukraine. It was not a matter of choice at all. It was a matter that the Party felt that it was appropriate, they suggested it and it stuck.”

That was 25 years ago, long before the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Tuesday at Irvine Barclay Theatre, the Leontovych plays a concert co-sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Laguna Chamber Music Society.

“With the quartet playing in so many countries, and with a certain name recognition, it would be a major disturbance to change the name now,” Mazurkevich noted.

The foursome--Mazurkevich, violinist Yuri Kharenko, violist Borys Deviatov and cellist Vladimir Panteleyev--is undergoing enough turmoil as it is.

Pianist Robert Guralnik was to have joined the ensemble in a program featuring Brahms and Shostakovich piano quintets, but he died Oct. 20, shortly after learning he had cancer. Guralnik also served as the group’s manager.

The revised program includes string quartets by Schubert and Tchaikovsky, and Partita No. 6 for String Quartet by Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk, written this year and dedicated to the Leontovych players.

Mazurkevich is the most recent addition to the group; he was invited to replace Simon Kobets three years ago when Kobets accepted a teaching position in Australia. Mazurkevich has been a member of the violin faculty at Boston University since 1985; he taught in Canada for 10 years before that (and at Kiev Conservatory before that). His extensive performing activities also include duo recitals with his wife, violinist Dana Pomerants-Mazurkevich, and solo concerts with orchestra.

“I was never thinking of joining a string quartet in my life,” Mazurkevich said. “But after some meditation, I decided to try this new avenue.”

The other members are recent additions to the hemisphere.

While they were here five years ago for concerts at the Music Mountain Festival in Connecticut and in New York City, a new round of performances was proposed. As Mazurkevich tells it, “Instead of traveling back and forth, they decided to stay around. It just happened that they stayed and stayed--and after a while it was not worth it to return at all.

“In 1991, the former Soviet Union fell apart. So OK, they thought, ‘Where are we going to, to which country are we going back? The system is broken.’ They overstayed their original invitation, but they did it officially. Now everybody has permanent status.”

Those musicians--including cellist Panteleyev, who co-founded the Leontovych Quartet in Kiev a quarter century ago--now live in New York, teaching privately to augment their chamber music careers; together, they play 40 to 50 concerts per year.

“There is very good chemistry between each member of the quartet,” Mazurkevich said. “It’s not just coming together to play music. We are fans on a personal level. We take pleasure in touring. Not every quartet can say that.”

Mazurkevich takes obvious pleasure in just about every other facet of this new avenue as well.

“It’s incredible the way you learn to listen to details,” he said. “You become more detailed in studying the score, you react to each little line. I started to hear music not only horizontally but, more and more, vertically. You become a much deeper musician.

“Playing quartet music makes me very optimistic about everything. If I am not in so great a mood, it’s almost medical for changing my outlook on life.”

* The Leontovych String Quartet plays works by Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Myroslav Skoryk on Tuesday at Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. Sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Laguna Chamber Music Society. 8 p.m. $14-$25. (714) 854-4646.