Category: Chamber Music

Meta4

Founded in 2001, Meta4 is one of Finland’s most celebrated string quartets. In 2004, the ensemble won first prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of a Shostakovich work at the International Shostakovich String Quartets Competition in Moscow and, in 2007, first prize at the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. The Finnish Ministry of Culture awarded the ensemble the Finland Prize in recognition of its international cultural influence and Meta4 was chosen for the “BBC New Generation Artist Scheme” (2008, 2010). 

Program
Polarkr(e)is Drifting North 
Kaija Saariaho Fleurs de neige
Amy Beach String Quartet in One Movement
Krishna Nagarja Stringar
Jean Sibelius String Quartet “Voces Intimae”

Harlem Quartet | Echoes of Inspiration

“One of the greatest string quartets I have ever heard. They can play anything.”—Ted Nash

New York-based, GRAMMY-award winning Harlem Quartet has been praised for its “panache” by the New York Times and hailed in the Cincinnati Enquirer for “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent.” Since its public debut at Carnegie Hall in 2006, the ensemble has thrilled audiences and students in 47 states as well as in the U.K., France, Belgium, Brazil, Panama, Canada, Venezuela, Japan, Ethiopia, and South Africa.

The GRAMMY award-winning quartet returns to San Diego with Echoes of Inspiration, an eclectic program that weaves together works from three different centuries. For this program, the ensemble has selected pieces that each composer wrote to celebrate the influence of their heroes and cultural traditions.

The program is anchored by an early Beethoven work, opus 18 no. 5 in A Major, which intentionally reflects the moods and ideas of Mozart’s quartet in the same key. The musical counterpoint the group has selected, Benjamin Britten’s Quartet No. 2, is a heartfelt tribute to Henry Purcell which Britten composed in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Purcell’s passing. Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte draws inspiration from the minuet of Haydn’s Quartet Opus 77/2, reflecting both innovation & respect for tradition. Guido Lopez-Gavilan’s Cuarteto en Guaguanco rounds out the program— this exhilarating work is inspired by Afro-Cuban Chant.

Through their meticulous selection of works, this ensemble demonstrates their dedication to combining traditional masterpieces performed at the highest level with complementary contemporary works that are writing the future for classical music. Their ability to seamlessly traverse various musical styles while maintaining a signature sound that also honors both the specific style and context of the work, but also the inspirations behind each piece is a testament to their exceptional musicianship and artistic vision.

Program:
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in A Major, op.18 no.5
Benjamin Britten: String Quartet No. 2, op. 36
Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte
Guido Lopez-Gavilan: Cuarteto en Guaguanco

Brentano String Quartet

With a career spanning over three decades, the Brentano Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. The New York Times extols its “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism; and the Times (London) hails their “wonderful, selfless music-making.” They bring their “Evocations of Home” program to San Diego—which offers a set of perspectives on the idea of home, culturally, intellectually, emotionally, and geographically. The evening program prominently features a new work by UC San Diego Professor Lei Liang, alongside movements byDvorak, Schubert, Bartok and Monteverdi that evoke a sense of place, identity and heritage.

Program
Antonín Dvořák Dumka from Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 51
Franz Schubert Scherzo from Quartet in G Major, D887
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi Lamento della ninfa (arr. Lei Liang)
Lei Liang Gobi Gloria
Bela Bartok Scherzo alla bulgarese from Quartet No. 5
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Andante cantabile from Quartet No. 1
Evaristo Ginastera Allegramente rustico from Quartet No. 1
Chou Wen-Chung Larghetto nostalgico from Quartet No. 1, “Clouds”
Lei Liang “Madrigal Mongolia” for String Quartet (2024)

Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion featuring Ringdown

For 20 years and counting, Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the 21st century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (New Yorker). For their ArtPower debut, they are joined by Ringdown, an “ecstatically blissful” (Night After Night) and “irresistible” (Feast of Music) cinematic electro-pop duo featuring composer-musicians Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan. They create music that floats up from the dusty record bin between Brahms and Brandi Carlile, and centers around joy, human connection, and trying to inspire people to feel more love.

JACK Quartet + Art of Elan

Following a highly successful performance at the Birch Aquarium in May 2024, co-presented by Art of Elan and ArtPower, the internationally renowned JACK Quartet returns to San Diego with an exciting program that features the world premiere of a new work by UC San Diego (UCSD) faculty member and composer, Rand Steiger, as well as “Three Imaginary Chansons” by Juri Seo. This one-night-only special event will take place in the acoustically superb Conrad Prebys Concert Hall on campus at UCSD and will offer a chance to meet the composer and musicians immediately following the performance.

PROGRAM

Juri Seo: Three Imaginary Chansons
Rand Steiger: Tropes
Rand Steiger: Rage/Resolve

Roomful of Teeth

“Roomful of Teeth is revolutionizing choral music.”—New Yorker

Roomful of Teeth is a two-time GRAMMY Award-winning ensemble dedicated to the performance of new works for eight amplified voices. Through collaboration, commissioning, and new technologies, they seek to reimagine the expressive potential of the human voice.

Their latest album, Rough Magic (New Amsterdam Records, 2023) was captured using groundbreaking recording techniques and innovative spatial technology. Roomful of Teeth was recognized at the 66th GRAMMY Awards in 2024, winning Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for Rough Magic; and composer William Brittelle’s work Psychedelics, which appears on the album, was nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

WEDS@7 – CEPROMUSIC Ensemble

Concert 2 of 2

The Center for Experimentation and Production of Contemporary Music (CEPROMUSIC), founded in 2012, is the leading new music ensemble in Mexico and a publicly funded program through which artistic and academic activities converge in support of the creation and promotion of contemporary music. In its first ever visit to the US West Coast, Cepromusic will offer two concerts at UC San Diego’s Conrad Prebys Music Center, featuring enthralling recent works by Mexican and UC San Diego composers.

The Center for Experimentation and Production of Contemporary Music (CEPROMUSIC), created in 2012, is a space in which artistic and academic activities converge in favor of the creation, development and dissemination of contemporary music in Mexico. In addition to its regular seasons at the Palace of Fine Arts, the CEPROMUSIC Ensemble has made eight international tours with great success from critics and the public, to Germany, Colombia, Scotland, Spain, England, Brazil and two to the United States; as well as artistic and academic residencies in Colombia, Spain, the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In 2018, his career was recognized with an invitation to the Darmstadt Summer Festival. The ensemble’s repertoire tries to summon the broadest aspect of the current scene: from new complexity to improvisation or from macro timbre to real-time code.

CEPROMUSIC has had residencies and collaborations with composers and performers such as Anna Göckel, Chris Cogburn, Christian Wolff, Dafne Vicente, Irvine Arditti, James Dillon, John Butcher, Joshua Fineberg, Kaija Saariaho, Katalin Károlyi, Klaus Lang, Peter Ablinger, Sigma Project Quartet, Susan Platts, Tiffany DuMouchelle, Tony Arnold, UMS ‘n JIP and Ute Wassermann, among others. In addition to its decided Latin American vocation, the CEPROMUSIC Ensemble is the instrument of a large part of contemporary Mexican composers, having collaborated, commissioned, performed and recorded national composers of several generations. The ensemble regularly collaborates with other disciplines such as video, theater, silent film, dance and multimedia, and has three record productions. Since its creation, the ensemble has performed more than 383 concerts in which it has performed more than 675 works and 212 premieres.

El Centro de Experimentación y Producción de Música Contemporánea (CEPROMUSIC), creado en 2012, es un espacio en el que convergen actividades artísticas y académicas en favor de la creación, desarrollo y difusión de la música contemporánea en México. Además de sus temporadas regulares en el Palacio de Bellas Artes, el Ensamble CEPROMUSIC ha realizado ocho giras internacionales con gran éxito de crítica y público, por Alemania, Colombia, Escocia, España, Inglaterra, Brasil y dos por Estados Unidos; así como residencias artísticas y académicas en Colombia, España, Estados Unidos, México y Reino Unido. En 2018, su trayectoria fue reconocida con una invitación al Festival de Verano de Darmstadt. El repertorio del ensamble trata de convocar a lo más amplio de la escena actual: de la nueva complejidad a la improvisación o del macro timbre al código en tiempo real.

El CEPROMUSIC ha tenido residencias y colaboraciones con compositores e intérpretes como Anna Göckel, Chris Cogburn, Christian Wolff, Dafne Vicente, Irvine Arditti, James Dillon, John Butcher, Joshua Fineberg, Kaija Saariaho, Katalin Károlyi, Klaus Lang, Peter Ablinger, Sigma Project Quartet, Susan Platts, Tiffany DuMouchelle, Tony Arnold, UMS ‘n JIP y Ute Wassermann, entre otros. Además de su decidida vocación latinoamericana, el Ensamble CEPROMUSIC es el instrumento de gran parte de los compositores mexicanos contemporáneos, habiendo colaborado, encargado, interpretado y grabado a compositores nacionales de varias generaciones. El ensamble colabora habitualmente con otras disciplinas como el video, el teatro, el cine silente, la danza y la multimedia, y cuenta con tres producciones discográficas. Desde su creación, el ensamble ha ejecutado más de 383 conciertos en los que ha interpretado más de 675 obras y 212 estrenos.

CEPROMUSIC Ensemble

Concert 1 of 2

The Center for Experimentation and Production of Contemporary Music (CEPROMUSIC), founded in 2012, is the leading new music ensemble in Mexico and a publicly funded program through which artistic and academic activities converge in support of the creation and promotion of contemporary music. In its first ever visit to the US West Coast, Cepromusic will offer two concerts at UC San Diego’s Conrad Prebys Music Center, featuring enthralling recent works by Mexican and UC San Diego composers.

The Center for Experimentation and Production of Contemporary Music (CEPROMUSIC), created in 2012, is a space in which artistic and academic activities converge in favor of the creation, development and dissemination of contemporary music in Mexico. In addition to its regular seasons at the Palace of Fine Arts, the CEPROMUSIC Ensemble has made eight international tours with great success from critics and the public, to Germany, Colombia, Scotland, Spain, England, Brazil and two to the United States; as well as artistic and academic residencies in Colombia, Spain, the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In 2018, his career was recognized with an invitation to the Darmstadt Summer Festival. The ensemble’s repertoire tries to summon the broadest aspect of the current scene: from new complexity to improvisation or from macro timbre to real-time code.

CEPROMUSIC has had residencies and collaborations with composers and performers such as Anna Göckel, Chris Cogburn, Christian Wolff, Dafne Vicente, Irvine Arditti, James Dillon, John Butcher, Joshua Fineberg, Kaija Saariaho, Katalin Károlyi, Klaus Lang, Peter Ablinger, Sigma Project Quartet, Susan Platts, Tiffany DuMouchelle, Tony Arnold, UMS ‘n JIP and Ute Wassermann, among others. In addition to its decided Latin American vocation, the CEPROMUSIC Ensemble is the instrument of a large part of contemporary Mexican composers, having collaborated, commissioned, performed and recorded national composers of several generations. The ensemble regularly collaborates with other disciplines such as video, theater, silent film, dance and multimedia, and has three record productions. Since its creation, the ensemble has performed more than 383 concerts in which it has performed more than 675 works and 212 premieres.

El Centro de Experimentación y Producción de Música Contemporánea (CEPROMUSIC), creado en 2012, es un espacio en el que convergen actividades artísticas y académicas en favor de la creación, desarrollo y difusión de la música contemporánea en México. Además de sus temporadas regulares en el Palacio de Bellas Artes, el Ensamble CEPROMUSIC ha realizado ocho giras internacionales con gran éxito de crítica y público, por Alemania, Colombia, Escocia, España, Inglaterra, Brasil y dos por Estados Unidos; así como residencias artísticas y académicas en Colombia, España, Estados Unidos, México y Reino Unido. En 2018, su trayectoria fue reconocida con una invitación al Festival de Verano de Darmstadt. El repertorio del ensamble trata de convocar a lo más amplio de la escena actual: de la nueva complejidad a la improvisación o del macro timbre al código en tiempo real.

El CEPROMUSIC ha tenido residencias y colaboraciones con compositores e intérpretes como Anna Göckel, Chris Cogburn, Christian Wolff, Dafne Vicente, Irvine Arditti, James Dillon, John Butcher, Joshua Fineberg, Kaija Saariaho, Katalin Károlyi, Klaus Lang, Peter Ablinger, Sigma Project Quartet, Susan Platts, Tiffany DuMouchelle, Tony Arnold, UMS ‘n JIP y Ute Wassermann, entre otros. Además de su decidida vocación latinoamericana, el Ensamble CEPROMUSIC es el instrumento de gran parte de los compositores mexicanos contemporáneos, habiendo colaborado, encargado, interpretado y grabado a compositores nacionales de varias generaciones. El ensamble colabora habitualmente con otras disciplinas como el video, el teatro, el cine silente, la danza y la multimedia, y cuenta con tres producciones discográficas. Desde su creación, el ensamble ha ejecutado más de 383 conciertos en los que ha interpretado más de 675 obras y 212 estrenos.

JACK Quartet + Art of Elan

Presented by Art of Elan and ArtPower at UC San Diego

Art of Elan and ArtPower’s first-ever collaboration brings the renowned JACK Quartet to San Diego for an evening of music titled “Modern Medieval,” at The Loft in UC San Diego, where connections of musicality and thought between European composers of the past and the voices of American music today are explored in this one-hour program that includes music by Caroline Shaw as well as Gabriella Smith.

Program
Austin Wulliman: Hoquetus David on Guillaume de Machaut (2024)
Caroline Shaw: Entre’acte (2011)
Ruth Crawford Seeger: String Quartet (1931)
Morton Feldman: Structures (1951)
Gabriella Smith: Carrot Revolution (2015)

An Evening with the St. Lawrence

With Saxophonist Steven Banks

 

Hailed by the New Yorker ”not simply for the quality of their music making, exalted as it is, but for the joy they take in the act of connection,” the acclaimed St. Lawrence returns to San Diego. In this performance the St Lawrence are joined by young phenomenon Steven Banks, a performer and composer revolutionizing the role of saxophone in chamber music.

Program

Mozart: Quartet for Oboe (arranged for saxophone) and strings in F Major, K 370 and Three Preludes and Fugues for String Trio, K. 404a
Britten: Phantasy Quartet for Oboe (arranged for saxophone) and Strings, Op. 2
Steven Banks: Reflections and Exaltations for soprano saxophone and string quartet (2024) World Premiere