Four Quartets: Variations

“Four Quartets: Variations,” revolving around T. S. Eliot’s inimitable sequence Four Quartets, is a theatrical, musical and poetic tour de force.  Moored by the performances of four vocalizing actors and four poets interacting with excerpted and remixed text of Eliot’s Four Quartets, the project also features byways into performance sets by the Bryant Park Quartet (string quartet) and The Guidonian Hand (trombone quartet), as well as guest artists Iktus Percussion Quartet, which expand the musical reaches and correspondences of the poem.  Emphasizing the profundity and structural revelations of Eliot’s book-length text, the actors and musicians surround the poets’ recitations with extended techniques of all varieties, from improbable instrumental sounds to extremes of vocal and improvisatory production, letting the text re-echo in time past, time present, and time future.  Fare forward, voyagers.

The quartet of actors are Marya Lowry, Phil Timberlake, Corianna Moffatt, and Nate Speare, while participating poets include Thalia Field, R. Dwayne Betts, Cathy Park Hong, Katie Ford, Major Jackson, Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Jon Woodward, and Oni Buchanan.

Grateful thanks to the following individuals for their support in producing this project:
Sponsors: Colleen Hovey and Chris Bator, Sirkku Kontinnen and Harri Kytömaa
Contributors: Robin Welte and Art Murray, Paula and Jack Barthel, David and Joella Hricik, Tom and Debbie Bross, Greta and Bob Ingraham, Jan Pechenik, Jaqueth Hutchinson

Machines

In “Machines,” The Guidonian Hand, Oni Buchanan, and Duo Orfeo perform in a triple-bill collaboration with kinetic sculptor Arthur Ganson whose works will be present on stage, in shadow, and in film.  Matching the delicate workings and profound absurdities of Ganson’s machines to their repertoire, the performers create an evening of uncanny correspondences and unexpected trajectories.  Boston-based Duo Orfeo performs their own transcriptions for classical and electric guitar with a breezy mix of warmth and precision, brought to light by their incredible performances of Reich, Satie, Poulenc, and the world premiere of their arrangements of the music of Arvo Pärt for electric guitar duo.  Concert pianist Oni Buchanan, also Boston-based, brings careful mastery to the work of contemporary New York composer Annie Gosfield, the piano-and-tape work of Mei-Fang Lin, and the post-tonal dissonant hybrids of Cindy Cox.  And the New York City trombone quartet Guidonian Hand presents the grand finale, showcasing stunning commissions from composers Eve Beglarian, Galen Brown, Michael Gordon, and Jeremy Howard Beck.