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Projects

Arcis Saxophone Quartet_2019-20 Biographies.pdf

Arcis Saxophone Quartet—Photos for Public Download.zip

Arcis Saxophone Quartet

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Philip Glass&nbsp;–&nbsp;Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and OrchestraLuke Bedford&nbsp;–&nbsp;Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra Arcis is constantly pushing the traditional boundaries and concepts of the saxophone as a classical music instrument. They commissioned British composer Luke Bedford to write a concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra which received its premiere in 2017 by the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin at the Philharmonie Berlin. The Philip Glass Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra has become a staple of saxophone quartets, and each of the four movements showcases the different timbres and tones of each saxophone.

Arcis with Orchestra

Akropolis Reed Quintet_ 2021-22 Biographies.pdf

Winner of the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award, Akropolis will reach more than 6,000 K-12 students during its 17/18 season alone. Deeply passionate and experienced, Akropolis delivers fast-paced and informative workshops, including its “The Best Story” presentation for elementary schools, featuring a musical reenactment of the Eileen Spinelli children’s book. At the middle and high school level, Akropolis gives full band workshops, master classes, interactive performances, and Q&amp;A’s.“I am in awe of your genius in this educational arena and excited for all the young lives that you will impact and change because you are first and foremost extraordinary artists who are bringing that excellence and meticulous preparation and execution to the educational arena.”-Kathy Soroka, Allegheny RiverStone Center for Arts Education

K-12 Outreach

Akropolis custom-designs satellite performances so that community members outside the concert hall can engage the arts. During its Corporate to Corner Tour in 2017, Akropolis presented office space concerts in Detroit high rises and pop-up concerts throughout Detroit’s downtown as part of a community residency funded by Chamber Music America and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Akropolis has performed at two homeless shelters in Portland, Oregon, hosts a house concert and barbecue each year in Ann Arbor, MI, held its 3rd CD release concert at a local distillery, and has performed at numerous non-traditional venues. Akropolis is committed to diversifying classical music’s audience, and can do this in your community.

Community Engagement

Akropolis has designed and taught music business management courses at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, and delivered workshops on marketing, strategic planning, audience engagement, competition success, and more at dozens of universities around the country. Akropolis gives inspiring master classes, reads new works by student composers, and has even collaborated in performance with students during its visits. Visit <a href="http://www.akropolisquintet.com/akropolisworks">akropolisquintet.com/akropolisworks</a> to view sample workshop templates, lecture topics, webinars, and more.

Akropolis Works (University)

Akropolis Reed Quintet—Photos for Public Download.zip

Akropolis Reed Quintet

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“Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?” is a project combining the 7-time national prize-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet,&nbsp;Grammy-nominated composer and pianist Pascal Le Boeuf, and one of&nbsp;Revive Magazine’s&nbsp;“six&nbsp;drummers you should know about,” Christian Euman. “Are We Dreaming the Same Dream” is a new work composed for the septet by Le Boeuf,&nbsp;supported in part by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The dueling elements prized and exemplified&nbsp;by the three collaborative parties create&nbsp;a novel hybridization that draws from&nbsp;both&nbsp;classical and jazz idioms&nbsp;and provides&nbsp;a flexible framework&nbsp;to reflect on American identity—in classical music, in jazz, and in American culture in general—by commenting on overlapping&nbsp;and conflicting&nbsp;strands of influence from composers who have historically represented American identity in their work, such as Charles Mingus, Geri Allen, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Dave Brubeck.Repertoire Chosen From the Following Pascal Le Boeuf –&nbsp;Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?&nbsp;(full septet) 25′ Pascal Le Boeuf –&nbsp;Wanderlust&nbsp;(full septet) 7′ Dave Brubeck arr. Le Boeuf – “Blue Rondo a La Turk” (full septet) 7′ George Gershwin arr. Raaf Hekkema –&nbsp;An American in Paris&nbsp;(Akropolis) 18′ Aaron Copland&nbsp;arr. Le Boeuf – “Copland Medley” (Le Boeuf and Euman)&nbsp;8′ Geri Allen&nbsp;arr. Le Boeuf – “RTG”&nbsp;(Le Boeuf and Euman) 5′ Charles Mingus&nbsp;arr. Le Boeuf – “Self-Portrait in Three Colors”&nbsp;(Le Boeuf and Euman) 7′Biographies Founded in 2009, Akropolis has toured internationally while championing new music by&nbsp;a&nbsp;diverse&nbsp;range of&nbsp;composers, appearing on&nbsp;significant&nbsp;series including Oneppo, Flagler, Chautauqua, and&nbsp;others. They have been termed “pure gold” by the&nbsp;San Francisco Chronicle, and they are a Fischoff Gold Medalist and recipient of three consecutive National Endowment for the Arts “Art Works” grants. Pascal Le Boeuf is a Grammy nominated composer, pianist, and producer&nbsp;described as “sleek, new” and “hyper-fluent” by the&nbsp;New York Times.&nbsp;He is widely recognized for his polyrhythmic approach to chamber music and hybridization of disparate idioms.&nbsp;Christian Euman has toured with Kurt Elling, Billy Childs, Walter Smith III, Geoff Keezer, and Jacob Collier, among others. He attended the Thelonious Monk Institute where he studied and performed with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chris Potter, Jimmy Heath, and Stefon Harris.

Akropolis Reed Quintet | Pascal Le Boeuf | Christian Euman

Are We Dreaming the Same Dream

ZOFO_2021-22 Biographies.pdf

ZOFO—Photos for Public Download.zip

ZOFO

one piano, four hands

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Australian composer Carl Vine has written two piano solo concertos and a concerto for two pianos. Now ZOFO commissions him for a concerto for piano duet (one-piano four-hands) and full orchestra – a combination that is very attractive, but extremely rare.“When we came across Carl Vine’s Sonata for Piano Four Hands a few years ago, we were immediately enthralled by his music. We were attracted to the richness and depth of expression, the overflow of ideas, the carefully crafted score, so artfully and smartly composed for four hands — a masterwork, inspiring us and demanding that we give our very best. Now, a few years later, we are very excited to have the opportunity to commission Carl Vine for a piano duet concerto. It will be an invaluable addition to the almost non-existent list of piano duet concertos and will be cherished by generations of piano duos.” — ZOFO“I am overwhelmed by the artistic unity and performance perfection of ZOFO. They play with a single, massively inventive mind, and I want to create music for this mystical four-armed animal that will turn the piano into the acoustic embodiment of the twenty-fingered orchestra.” – Carl VineLength:&nbsp;22-23 minutesInstrumentation:&nbsp; One piano four hands and an orchestra, 2.2.2.2-4.2.3.1-timp, 2pc, harp, and strings.

Carl Vine Piano Duet Concerto

Delphi Trio_2021-22 Biographies.pdf

Duration: 45 minutesAn interactive, family-friendly performance for all ages, this program combines musical performance with visual art in a game-like format that allows viewers to join in on the music making.Using graphic notation, a unique way of writing sounds in the form of artistic images, Circle Dash consists of a series of animated “video scores” conceived by composer and educator Danny Clay that lead participants on a journey through a variety of musical landscapes.Audience members are invited to perform along with Delphi Trio using objects not traditionally considered instruments - no musical experience necessary! Along the way, audience members will learn about the basic building blocks of musical composition and explore the process of interpreting and performing music in a hands-on, interactive way. Presentations ofCircle Dash can be done in person or online.Circle Dash is a Delphi commission and an ongoing project.Danny Clay, ComposerDanny Clay is a composer and teaching artist whose work is deeply rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and the sheer joy of making things with people of all ages and levels of artistic experience.Working closely with artists, students, and community members alike, he builds worlds of inquiry, play, and perpetual discovery that integrate elements of sound, movement, theater, and visual design. Children's games, speculative systems, cognitive puzzles, invented notation, found objects, imaginary archives, repurposed media, micro-improvisations, and happy accidents all make frequent appearances in his projects.Recent collaborators include Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, Volti, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Wu Man, Sarah Cahill, Phyllis Chen, and printmaker Jon Fischer. His work has been performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP), Ensemble Dal Niente, and has been presented by the deYoung Museum, San Francisco Performances, the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts at the Minnesota Street Project, the Grey Area Foundation for the Arts, the Meaney Center for the Arts in Seattle, and university programs throughout the United States. Learn more about Danny at<a href="https://www.dclaymusic.com/"> www.dclaymusic.com</a>.<a href="http://www.delphitrio.com/familyconcert">www.delphitrio.com/familyconcert</a> &nbsp;

Circle Dash

Delphi Trio is passionate about sharing knowledge and educating young artists. All three members of the Trio are devoted teaching artists who feel strongly about the importance of sharing and passing on knowledge to the next generation. In this offering, the Trio works together to coach chamber music, or separately to coach individual instrumentalists on solo or sonata repertoire. The Trio is also available to offer panel discussions and lectures on a variety of topics, including career building, historical performance practice, arts administration, ensemble dynamics, practice psychology, and more.

Masterclasses & Panel Discussions

The members of Delphi Trio love connecting with their audiences on and off the concert stage. In the Q&amp;A and Post-Concert Chat options, the Trio will collaborate with the presenting host to facilitate a formal dialogue between the Trio and the audience. This conversation may consist of the Trio answering audience members’ questions, or delving into discussion topics such as the Trio’s musical upbringings, ideas about particular works, instruments, or anything else that might be of interest. In the Meet &amp; Greet option, the Trio will attend an informal post-concert reception where they can meet and talk with audience members directly. The availability of this option is contingent on appropriate mask policies being enforced.

Q&A/Post-Concert Chat/Meet & Greet

Delphi Trio—Photos for Public Download.zip

Delphi Trio

piano trio

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A worldwide celebration is on the horizon! The Delphi Trio seeks co-commissioners for&nbsp;a new triple concerto for violin, cello, and piano by Clarice Assad that celebrates the rebirth of cultural life, of connection, of community.&nbsp;It is&nbsp;a&nbsp;21st-century female response to Beethoven's popular Triple Concerto of 1803. The piece will be designed to work either standing alone or as a companion piece to the Beethoven and will have the same instrumentation:&nbsp;soloists plus one flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings,&nbsp;plus potentially one extra musician.The commissioning consortium is led by the San José Chamber Orchestra (SJCO)&nbsp;and Maestra Barbara Day Turner; each co-commissioner is asked to contribute $5,000 toward the composer’s fee and copying costs.&nbsp;The SJCO will give the world premiere of the work on Sunday, March 20, 2022. The work is proprietary in performance to co-commissioners and the Delphi Trio for spring 2022 and fall 2023.&nbsp;About Clarice AssadA powerful communicator renowned for her musical scope and versatility, Brazilian-American Clarice Assad is a significant artistic voice in the classical, world music, pop, and jazz genres, renowned for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range. A prolific Grammy-nominated composer, with over 70 works to her credit, her work has been commissioned by internationally renowned organizations, festivals, and artists, and are published in France (Editions Lemoine), Germany (Trekel), Criadores do Brasil (Brazil), and in the US by Virtual Artists Collective Publishing. Ms. Assad has released seven solo albums and appeared on or had her works performed on another 30. Her music is represented on Cedille Records, SONY Masterworks, Nonesuch, Adventure Music, Edge, Telarc, NSS Music, GHA, and CHANDOS. As an innovator, her award-winning Voxploration Series on music education, creation, songwriting, and improvisation has been presented throughout the United States, Brazil, Europe, and the Middle East. With her talents sought-after by artists and organizations worldwide, the multi-talented musician continues to attract new audiences both onstage and off.

Clarice Assad Triple Concerto

Tesla Quartet_2021-22 Biographies.pdf

Tesla Quartet—Photos for Public Download.zip

Tesla Quartet

string quartet

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Finzi&nbsp;–&nbsp;Five Bagatelles, Op. 23 (arr. Christian Alexander) Corigliano&nbsp;–&nbsp;SoliloquyHeredia – Jus in Bello– Intermission –Mozart&nbsp;–&nbsp;Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581 &nbsp;The Tesla Quartet is joined by clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein in this program of clarinet quintets that span over 200 years. Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Quintet in A Major serves as the foundation of this collaboration and was the first piece Alex and the Teslas ever played together. Such was the chemistry and ease of collaboration during these first performances that the five musicians decided to record an album together comprising a variety of works for clarinet and string quartet.Published in 1945, Gerald Finzi’s Five Bagatelles were written over a span of 25 years. While they were originally conceived for clarinet and piano, this arrangement by Christian Alexander takes advantage of the ability of the quartet to sing, creating a rich texture around the clarinet that can transform from a somber chorus to a boisterous conversation.John Corigliano’s Soliloquy, originally the slow movement of his Clarinet Concerto, is dedicated to the memory of his father, violinist John Corigliano, who served as concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for 23 years. The delicate and spare texture of this work expresses the desolation at the loss of a loved one.The newest work on the program, Argentinian composer Carolina Heredia’s Jus in Bello is a reaction to the political and social upheaval in Venezuela and the repression of its citizens that has been going on since 2014. &nbsp;“I am so delighted to have the wonderful combination of the Tesla Quartet and clarinetist Alex Fiterstein performing my “Soliloquy”. This is a very special piece for me, as it is taken from the slow movement of my clarinet concerto, which was written in memory of my father, John Corigliano. He was the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and died a year before the concerto premiered with that orchestra. Alex has the ability to spin the long lines this piece demands, and the Tesla Quartet can provide the suspended atmosphere of clarinet, solo violin, and hushed chordal background to complete the picture.”— John Corigliano

Tesla Quartet | Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet

Clarinet Quintets

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Stacy Garrop –&nbsp;Rites for the AfterlifeMichael Gilbertson –&nbsp;Kinds of LightNiloufar Nourbakhsh&nbsp;–&nbsp;Firing Squad–&nbsp;Intermission –Theo Chandler –&nbsp;Seed to SnagJeff Scott –&nbsp;Homage to Paradise Valley&nbsp;(poetry by Marsha Music)Akropolis Reed Quintet’s 4th album, Ghost Light, released on April 9, 2021 and already hailed by&nbsp;The Wire, U.K. as “audibly driven by real excitement and a sense of adventure,” is now available as a touring program specifically designed to aid presenters in creatively reopening their venues to live audiences with an intentional sense of community. Mirroring the live stream concert that Akropolis delivered on the album release date, the event will be staged by Akropolis with intimate lighting and include a ghost light from the presenting venue, or another in the community.&nbsp;Featuring five original works commissioned by Akropolis, Ghost Light is a meditation on life, death, and rebirth “performed with faultless detail and refreshing artistry” (I Care if You Listen). The program shines a light on the ghosts all around us and grapples with the issues of mortality and our personal and collective history. Living, learning, and growing in their own bubble for the last 12 months, Akropolis has developed their own, reignited purpose: to bring world class music to everyday people through human connection. As you endeavor to do the same in your community, Ghost Light provides an ideal setting with diverse works from composers Stacy Garrop, Michael Gilbertson, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Theo Chandler, and Jeff Scott, including original poetry by Detroit artist and historian, Marsha Music.

Art & Film

Ghost Light

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Marc Mellits – Splinter Steven Snowden&nbsp;–&nbsp;Sprocket– Intermission –David Biedenbender –&nbsp;Refraction John Steinmetz – Sorrow and Celebration for Reed Quintet and AudienceMechAnimals is a collaborative program created by the internationally-recognized Akropolis Reed Quintet and Detroit-based metal fabrication artist and Kresge Arts Fellow, Juan Martinez. The collaboration was born from the question, “How can we continue to innovate and change our world, but still connect with each other?” The program’s featured work Sprocket, funded in part by a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts ArtWorks grant, is composed by Steven Snowden for Akropolis and features a rideable percussion bicycle designed and built by Martinez with automated, pedal-powered percussion instruments including an accordion and glockenspiel. The MechAnimals concert program also features Akropolis commissions centered upon the paradox of nature and machine epitomized by Martinez’s acclaimed series of sheet metal animal bicycles. Each work balances mechanical rhythms and lyrical harmonies, including “Goat Rodeo” and “Death Metal Chicken” from David Biedenbender’s Refraction, and in closing, a work for reed quintet and audience participation by John Steinmetz entitled Sorrow and Celebration from Akropolis’ third album The Space Between, hailed as “pure gold” by the San Francisco Chronicle.Akropolis and Martinez are committed to engaging the general public in a multi-day, outdoor community residency that accentuates the togetherness found throughout communities around the country. Juan will travel to location with two of his metal animal bikes <a href="https://vimeo.com/271480743" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">seen here</a>, as well as the percussion bike designed for Sprocket. These bikes will be available to be ridden by the public with Juan’s personal guidance in a public gathering space most suitable. Akropolis will be present to give short, strolling pop-up performances of Sprocket and other short selections. Martinez will also lead a kids and family workshop wherein participants create musical instruments out of scrap materials sourced from the locale. The formal MechAnimals concert can be performed inside our outside. Akropolis frequently delivers educational outreach at K-12 schools and colleges and is available to deliver these events as well.This project began as part of Akropolis’ 2019 “<a href="https://akropolisquintet.org/together-we-sound/">Together We Sound</a>” festival in Detroit with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, and High Wire Lab. Sprocket will be premiered on June 6th, 2019 at the Wasserman Projects in Detroit, with an outdoor pop-up event featuring Martinez’s animals at the Dequindre Cut Freight Yard gathering space on June 8th.For more information or to book the Akropolis Reed Quintet, please contact Matthew Kulas at <a href="mailto:matthew@arielartists.com">matthew@arielartists.com</a> or 617.213.0378.

Akropolis Reed Quintet: Juan Martinez Project

MechAnimals

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra_2021-22 Biographies.pdf

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra—Photos for Public Download.zip

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

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Note: Paragon has one of the world’s largest libraries of historic American orchestral music, and the particular pieces played on each of Paragon’s concert programs are subject to change to reflect this unique resource.Meet Me at the Fair! is a two-hour spectacular musical celebration of the world’s fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Musical “exhibits” rotate, but works by Offenbach, Joplin, Moses-Tobani, and Sousa are the core attraction, performed by Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, the official orchestra and conductor of the U.S. Pavilion of the 1992 World’s Fair. Music played a key role in the success of all these international festivals, launching both hit songs and the illustrious careers of many American musicians (including Scott Joplin and Sousa). This new PRO program reunites stirring world’s fair hits with the continuous projections of magnificent fairground images. There is audience participation (on “Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis”), and as a finale, the Orchestra accompanies the Moving Picture Travelogue – historic world’s fair films by Thomas Edison &amp; company. All is propelled forward with evocative narration by conductor Rick Benjamin.

Meet Me at the Fair!: Music from the Great World's Fairs

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There are hundreds of concertos for one piano, dozens for two pianos, but how many people can name a one-piano four-hands concerto?Here’s a brand-new addition to the almost nonexistent repertoire: Argentinian-born American composer Pablo Ortiz will write a piano duet (one-piano four-hands) concerto for ZOFO and chamber orchestra. Instead of using piano benches the pianists will sit on Cajóns, changing quickly between playing these Latin-American box percussion instruments and the keyboard.Length: 15 minutesInstrumentation: Version 1: One-piano four-hands and Chamber Orchestra (Strings only). The pianists will each sit on a Cajón. They will play on the Cajóns as well as on the keyboard. Version 2: One-piano four-hands and string quintet (2 violins, viola, cello, double bass). The pianists will each sit on a Cajón. They will play on the Cajóns as well as on the keyboard.

Pablo Ortiz Piano Duet Concerto

Thalea String Quartet_2021-22 Biographies.pdf

Winners of the 2021 Ann Divine Educator Award from the Fischoff Competition, the Thalea String Quartet has been recognized internationally for their innovative approach to education and community engagement. The quartet has developed a wide-range of programming, including presentations for young people with special sensory needs and activities for lifelong learners.&nbsp;

PerformancesThe Thalea String Quartet believes that exposing new audiences to chamber music is one of the most important facets of our work as a quartet. The Thalea has performed for students around the world, from California to China, in classroom, assembly, and small group settings. Building unique and engaging musical experiences for people of all ages is one of the quartet's core values. In addition to demonstrating the rich history of the string quartet repertoire, recent educational programs have been designed to explore topics such as non-verbal communication skills, diversity in Western Classical music, and American history.&nbsp;WorkshopsFor a more “hands-on” learning experience, The Thalea String Quartet offers a variety of workshops for music students of all ages. The Quartet's “Instant Composition” workshop invites students to create original string quartet compositions using graphic scores, story-telling, and teamwork.&nbsp;Masterclasses/ClinicsThe Thalea String Quartet offers masterclasses and clinics for music classes, school orchestras, and instrumental ensembles of all levels. Thalea masterclasses for K-12 students introduce students to the basics of chamber music. Placing special emphasis on listening, non-verbal communication, and rehearsal strategies, the Quartet encourages young students to discover their individual artistic voices in a supportive and fun environment.&nbsp;Offerings for Young People with Special Sensory NeedsIn April 2018, the Thalea helped launch a string program to provide opportunities for music education to individuals with autism of all functionalities. The Quartet worked with pianist Steven Prutsman and Autism Fun Bay Area to create a unique curriculum where children and adults with autism learn violin, viola or cello together with their caregivers. The Thalea String Quartet continues to serve audiences with special sensory needs through teaching and sensory-friendly performances.

K-12 In-Person Offerings

Hello Haydn!All of the Thalea String Quartet's offerings for K-12 students can also be presented virtually. The Thalea's virtual programming can also be supplemented with a variety of original virtual content including their online video series Hello Haydn!Created in 2020 in partnership with the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Hello Haydn! sought to address the challenges of virtual teaching artistry in the midst of a global pandemic. Consisting of a series of five short videos with corresponding response activities, the program invites students to explore the different roles found within a string quartet. These fun, engaging videos use a classic work by Joseph Haydn to demonstrate how four unique individual voices come together to create chamber music magic!This modular program can be adapted to almost any educational setting. In its first iteration, the videos were supplemented with virtual visits from the members of the Thalea String Quartet. The Quartet's follow-up video series Bringing Music to Life! was commissioned by Chamber Music Tulsa in 2021 and was presented to every fourth grader in Tulsa, OK through the Any Given Child Program.&nbsp;Virtual Chamber Music SeminarIn fall of 2020, the Thalea and Austin-based CHAMPS collaborated on a ground-breaking virtual chamber music seminar that brought together young musicians from across the United States and Canada. The seminar dove deep into two fantastic string quartet works and discussed the most important elements of successful string quartet playing, including communication, listening, and teamwork. It was a total blast! At the end of the course, each student created a unique multitrack video that allowed them to perform alongside members of the Thalea String Quartet.

K-12 Virtual Offerings

LecturesIn addition to educational performances, the Thalea String Quartet has presented a number of lecture presentations at collegiate institutions across North America. They have spoken on a number of topics, including diversity in Classical music, discovering and developing your personal artistic voice, and inter-personal communication. They have appeared at Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia), University of Northern Colorado (Greeley), and the Wayne State Medical School, where they presented to first year medical students alongside the Emerson String Quartet.WorkshopsFor collegiate composers, The Thalea's “48 Hour Composition Workshop” challenges young composers to create new works for string quartet in only two days! This week-long workshop includes workshopping sessions, open rehearsals, and a final marathon performance of all the composers’ pieces. The Quartet also offers workshops and discussion sessions on diversity/equity/inclusion in Classical music, and has lead multiple sessions with graduate students at the University of Maryland.&nbsp;MasterclassesCollegiate level masterclasses and clinics encourage young musicians to fearlessly commit to their individual musical voice while supporting and inspiring their colleagues. The Thalea invites students to delve deeply into each musical score, developing their interpretive skills and specific way to communicate their personal and collective musical ideas.&nbsp;Virtual OfferingsAll of the Thalea String Quartet's university offerings are available in virtual form.

University Programs

The Thalea String Quartet believes that the joy of music can be shared with learners of all ages. The quartet offers specific, hands-on programming for adult amateur musicians and lifelong music lovers.&nbsp;Virtual Sight-Reading PartyLet the Thalea be your tour guides through a variety of masterpieces and underappreciated classics of the string quartet. Offering performance tips, historical context, and tricks of the trade, the Quartet invites musicians and music lovers of all ages to play along, follow the score, or just enjoy this virtual sight-reading party. The first iteration of this program, presented in February 2021, was a huge success. This activity can also be offered in-person.&nbsp;Adult Chamber Music SeminarModeled after the CHAMPS Virtual Chamber Music Seminar, this adult seminar currently in development invites adult amateur musicians to dive deep into a specific work of the string quartet canon. With emphasis on contemporary works by diverse composers, this asynchronous course offers adult string players the opportunity to continue to develop their technique, artistry, and collaborative skills.

Lifelong Learners

Thalea String Quartet—Photos for Public Download.zip

Thalea String Quartet

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The Thalia String Quartet continues their collaboration with pianist and Eighth Blackbird founder Lisa Kaplan in performances of Andy Akiho's monumental piano quintet, Prospects of a Misplaced Year. Composed in 2016, he piece is a thrilling blend of driving percussion, colorful timbres, and cinematic atmosphere.Born in Motown, Lisa Kaplan is a pianist specializing in the performance of new work by living composers. Kaplan is also the founding pianist of the four-time Grammy Award-winning sextet Eighth Blackbird. She has won numerous awards, performed all over the country and has premiered new pieces by hundreds of composers, including Andy Akiho, Chen Yi, Derek Bermel, Jennifer Higdon, Amy Beth Kirsten, David Lang, Nico Muhly, George Perle and Steve Reich. Kaplan has had the great pleasure to collaborate and make music with an eclectic array of incredibly talented people, including Mario Batali, Jeremy Denk, Bryce Dessner, Philip Glass, Glenn Kotche, Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Billy), Gustavo Santaolalla, Robert Spano, Dawn Upshaw, and Michael Ward-Bergeman, to name a few. Recently she has greatly enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to do some composing and arranging for Eighth Blackbird. Kaplan is a true foodie, gourmet cook, avid reader, crossword and Scrabble addict, enjoys baking ridiculously complicated pastry and loves outdoor adventures. She has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, braved the Australian outback, stared an enormous elephant in the face in Tanzania’s Ngorogoro Crater, and survived close encounters with grizzly bears in the Brooks Range of Alaska.

Prospects of a Misplaced Year

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“Speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues” — Dr. Seuss, The LoraxPeter Sculthorpe&nbsp;–&nbsp;String Quartet No. 18Jeffrey Nytch&nbsp;–&nbsp;Song of the LoraxLaura Schwendinger&nbsp;–&nbsp;Creature Quartet, Hymn for Lost CreaturesChristopher Cerrone – New workAugusta Read Thomas – Renewable EnergyWith this project we aim to commission and promote new music that brings issues of climate change into focus. For many of us, the destructive actions taken by human society for centuries have ramifications that we are beginning to see in our day-to-day lives. It is also a crisis of conscience for us who recognize how our own individual actions do little to curb the encroaching danger. A global conversation is beginning to take place that has the potential to galvanize our political, intellectual and scientific will in an effort to limit the damage we have done to our planet. As a modern string quartet committed to promoting new works, we would like to add to that conversation a meaningful emotional component.Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe addresses climate change in his String Quartet No. 18, reflecting on the topic from the perspective of his homeland. The ingenious mixture of insect sounds and birdsong with indigenous melodies charts a course through nature from life to decay and a hopeful resolution of peace and reconciliation.Jeffrey Nytch’s Song of the Lorax, inspired by the landmark work by Dr. Seuss, will take the audience on a journey of mourning, a reflection on happier times in the life of the forest, and an arresting finale depicting the destruction of the forest and its ultimate disappearance altogether.Laura Schwendinger’s Creature Quartet, Hymn for Lost Creatures is dedicated to wildlife and depicts various endangered, extinct, or mythical creatures, like the Javan Rhino, Dodo, and Yeti. Accompanying the music are beautiful animations of each creature by visual artist Pauline Gagniarre.<h2>Part 1: Commissions</h2>The concept for our initial program will comprise three new pieces, each expounding upon a particular aspect of climate change. Taken together, the three pieces create a topical progression that not only highlights the damage we have done and how we feel about it, but also hopes to inspire a solution. Over time we hope to add additional new works in order to have a rich and varied collection of quartets that express the many personal points of view surrounding this topic.At the start is Jeffrey Nytch’s Song of the Lorax, a haunting lament he is currently writing on the subject of deforestation and habitat loss. The conceit is a eulogy for a famous douglas fir tree on Vancouver Island known colloquially as Big Lonely Doug. The project is a collaboration between the University of Colorado at Boulder, along with the Altius, Orava, and Tesla Quartets, who will each premier the piece in different cities in the 2020-21 concert season. In addition to the musical work, Nytch is also overseeing a sound installation, lighting design, and educational discussion that make this a multidisciplinary experience from start to finish.One of the lasting impacts of deforestation is the increasing concentration of carbon-dioxide in our atmosphere, a leading cause of global temperature rise and the increasingly inclement weather that has already done great damage to our civilization. A piece by Christopher Cerrone, meant to explore the anxiety and apprehension we experience in reflecting upon this uncanny weather, is among those we are commissioning for this project.Our most important goal for the project, however, is to inspire within all of us a sense of optimism and hope for a future in which we can face the challenges of climate change on a societal level. Enter Augusta Read Thomas and her piece Renewable Energy. Across the composition’s 21-24-minute duration, the work will unfold a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcases the musicians of the Tesla Quartet in a virtuosic display of rhythmic agility, counterpoint, skill, energy, dynamic range, clarity, and majesty. Throughout the kaleidoscopic journey, the work will pass through many lively and colorful episodes, painting the picture of water, wind and sunlight renewing their energy.<h2>Part 2: Call for Scores</h2>In addition to commissioning works specifically for the Tesla Quartet to premiere, we will be devoting our annual Call for Scores to the topic of Climate Change. Open to composers from all over the world, the project aims to provide performance opportunities to composers for either newly or previously written works for string quartet. Our evaluation process is blind, so we don’t know the winner until we’ve made our final selection. For the 2020 installment we ask composers to submit a work for string quartet that addresses climate change.

Recomposing Climate Change

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With more than 700 screenings across 48 States and 7 countries, PRO is one of the world’s foremost silent film accompanists. From Hollywood (American Cinematheque) to Chicago (Ravinia Festival) to New York (Lincoln Center), PRO leads the way in designing, producing, and performing silent film programs for contemporary audiences. Paragon also has one of the world’s finest collections of more than 900 original film scores (c. 1898-1928), adding unmatched historical depth and interest to its screenings.&nbsp;The Clown PrincesOur most popular two-hour silent film program of featuring a “variety pack” of three short, complete comedies, one each by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd, accompanied by their original 1910s/20s orchestral scores. See&nbsp;<a href="https://paragonragtime.com/programs-and-bookings/film-programs/">here</a>&nbsp;for the current list of films.&nbsp;Chaplin – A Dog’s Life (New Program!)&nbsp;A two-hour silent film program of Charlie Chaplin’s 1918 featurette&nbsp;A Dog’s Life, with Rick Benjamin’s new reconstruction of the original score. The big city adventures of the Tramp, with his trusty “thoroughbred mongrel,” scraps. Charming!&nbsp;Fairbanks – The Mark of ZorroA two-hour silent film program of the original&nbsp;Zorro, Hollywood’s very first action-adventure movie! Douglas Fairbanks thrills audiences with swordplay, romance, and just a bit of comedy. Features the spectacular original Spanish flavored 1920 orchestral score.&nbsp;Keaton – The GeneralA two-hour silent film program of Buster Keaton’s 1927 masterpiece&nbsp;The General, a “story of love, laughs, and locomotives,” is a Civil War railroad epic inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase. World famous, and rightly so, featuring the original 1927 orchestral score.&nbsp;Chaplin – The KidA two-hour silent film program of Chaplin’s first full-length feature,&nbsp;The Kid. The Tramp adopts an abandoned child, and the two set off on a series of adventures. Sweet and funny, with touches of high drama featuring the original 1921 orchestral score.&nbsp;&nbsp;Keaton – Steamboat Bill, Jr.A two-hour silent film program of Keaton’s late-era,&nbsp;Steamboat Bill, Jr.&nbsp;features Keaton as the hapless son of a Mississippi riverboat captain trying to learn the family business. Extremely funny, with a fantastic cyclone finale! Features the original 1928 orchestral score.

Silent Film

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Beethoven&nbsp;–&nbsp;Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer”Janáček&nbsp;–&nbsp;String Quartet No. 1, “The Kreutzer Sonata”– Intermission –Dvořák&nbsp;–&nbsp;Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 87 The Kreutzer Affair is an immersive theatrical concert program created by the Tesla Quartet with pianist David Kaplan, exploring how music was captured into words and then rebottled into music again.The program’s point of inspiration is the Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major by Ludwig van Beethoven, known simply as the “Kreutzer” Sonata. The piece is fiery and transcendent, written “in the style of a concerto,” and brought controversy almost from its inception. Originally written in 1803 for the renowned violinist George Bridgetower, Beethoven rescinded his dedication after a drunken argument and gave the honor instead to Rodolphe Kreutzer. Never mind that the great violinist despised and refused to play the piece—it would thereafter be known by his name.Fast forward a century later, and the towering Russian writer Leo Tolstoy writes a controversial novella eponymous with the violin sonata, in which the music serves as a vehicle for both its plot and its message. The emotional and physical violence of the story bristles, and the story was immediately banned when published in 1889.Finally, we arrive at Leoš Janáček, the poignant and visionary Czech composer, whose First String Quartet recaptures Tolstoy’s searing narrative into the form of music, masterfully rendering the passion, contradiction, and tragedy of the novella.In a continuous seventy minute performance, the Tesla Quartet and David Kaplan interweave the three movements of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata and Janáček’s String Quartet No. 1 with dramatic excerpts from Tolstoy’s novella, recited by the musicians themselves.After intermission, the quartet and pianist join for a musical palette cleanser: Dvořák’s beloved Piano Quintet in A Major, a piece that fuses German musical form with Czech spirit and language. David Kaplan is managed by <a href="https://www.bluoceanarts.com/david-kaplan">Blu Ocean Arts</a>.

Tesla Quartet | David Kaplan, piano

The Kreutzer Affair

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An upcoming theatre piece by Berlin-based Nico and the Navigators featuring the Thalea String Quartet. The piece, which will premiere in Berlin in December 2022, is a full-length theatrical and musical reworking of T.S. Eliot's landmark modernist work The Waste Land. A hundred years since its publication, Eliot's poem remains more relevant than ever, addressing the ongoing climate crisis, continuing violent conflicts around the world, and the rise of global pandemics. Collaborators:NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS were founded in 1998 by Nicola Hümpel and Oliver Proske at the Bauhaus Dessau. As resident artists at Berlin’s Sophiensæle between the years of 1999 and 2005, they developed a production series themed “Menschenbilder.” The visually powerful performances brought about a string of successful stagings and established them on the global theatre landscape. In 2016, “Wo Du nicht bist,” with compositions by Franz Schubert, marked their first step into the world of music-theatre. Performances followed based on the works of Händel, Bach and Rossini. In 2012, the premiere of “Mahlermania” was performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin to coincide with the launch of their new stage, the “Tischlerei.” The premiere of “Their Days are Numbered,” an interpretation of Elias Canetti’s drama, was performed in collaboration with composer, Detlev Glanert, at the Residenztheater for the Munich Biennale for Contemporary Music Theatre in May 2014. “The hour we knew too much of each other” brought the ensemble back to its roots and premiered as an independent production at the Kampnagel theatre in Hamburg in May 2015 and was afterwards shown at the Radialsystem Berlin. In April 2016, Nicola Hümpel, together with Nico and the Navigators, staged Philippe Boesman’s “Reigen” at the Oper Stuttgart. The piece belongs to the “almost unrivaled series of premiere’s” that made Stuttgart to the “Opera-house of the Year” 2015/16.

The Wasted Land

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The ZOFOMOMA live concert experience unfolds as an aurally and visually stunning walking tour through a virtual museum of modern art. Against an ever-changing backdrop of contemporary paintings, 15 new ZOFO-commissioned compositions are revealed throughout the 72-minute continuous performance. Composer Terry Riley praised the performance, saying, “It is just what the world needs now.”In a nod to Mussorgsky, this 21st century “Pictures at an Exhibition” leads viewers and listeners from one gallery to the next accompanied by a re-imagined Promenade Theme by ZOFO’s Keisuke Nakagoshi. For this cutting-edge project ZOFO solicited new works from top composers around the globe, and requested each to select a painting representative of his or her culture as a springboard to the creative process. The result is a rich tapestry of sights and sounds reflecting the cultural, musical and artistic diversity of our world community.&nbsp;PROGRAMIntroductionLe Bassin d’Argenteuil, composer: Gilles Silvestrini (1961, France), artist: Claude Monet &nbsp;Promenade 1The Arrival of Implacable Gifts, composer: Carl Vine (1954, Australia), artist: James Gleeson&nbsp; &nbsp;Promenade 2Dancing with the Torah at Mount Meron, composer: Avner Dorman (1975, Israel), artist: Reuven Rubin &nbsp;Promenade 3SM34, composer: Paweł Mykietyn (1971, Poland), artist: Wojciech Fangor&nbsp; &nbsp;Promenade 4Spring Morning in Baku, composer: Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (1947, Azerbaijan), artist: Sattar BahlulzadePromenade 5Will You Come to My Dream? (Detail from&nbsp;Landscapes), composer: Lei Liang (1972, China), artist: Huang BinhongPromenade 6Untitled Skeleton, composer: Jonathan Russell (1979, USA), artist: Stormie Mills&nbsp; &nbsp;Promenade 7Street Solace, composer I Wayan Gde Yudane (1964, Indonesia), artist: I Made BudhianaPromenade 8Sacred Chichibu Peaks at Spring Dawn, composer: Kenji Oh (1981, Japan), artist: Yokoyama Taikan&nbsp; &nbsp;Promenade 9Wendung, composer: Cécile Marti (1973, Switzerland), artist: Verena Marti-BuchmannPromenade 10Inspector’s Scrutiny, composer: Sahba Aminikia (1981, Iran), artist: Nicky Nodjoumi&nbsp; &nbsp;Promenade 11Untitled Etching 3,&nbsp;composer: Gabriel Prokofiev (1975, UK), artist: Robert Fry &nbsp;Promenade 12Night Sea (for Agnes), composer: Samuel Adams (1985, USA), artist: Emily Davis AdamsPromenade 13Paisaje, composer: Pablo Ortiz (1958, Argentina), artist: Eduardo Stupía &nbsp;Promenade 14Viajeros, composer: Keyla Orozco (1969, Cuba), artist: Douglas Pérez CastroIntroduction and Promenades: Keisuke Nakagoshi, inspired by Modest MussorgskyZOFOMOMA has been made possible through generous funding and support from the Van Dyke Family Foundation.

ZOFOMOMA