Événement

Academy String Quartet: Deep Roots

Music is connected to our innermost selves. It can spring from deep inside the individual musician or from a rich cultural history. The Academy String Quartet plays excellent music with deep roots in this concert.

The 8th quartet of Dmitri Shostakovich is one of the most important works of the 20th century. It is a spiritual journey, a soulful exploration of the tragedy of World War II, of our response to evil. The 8th quartet pays tribute to the suffering of European Jews through the use of traditional Jewish melodies. Shostakovich puts himself at the center of the problem by building the entire work around the series of notes D, E flat, C, B - which in German is D Es C H: D for Dmitri, SCH for Shostakovich.

Adolphus Hailstork writes many of his pieces out of the African-American experience. His one-movement work for string quartet, Variations on Swing, Low, Sweet Chariot, treats the spiritual tune in various surprising ways.

Lighter, happier emotions will be expressed when bassist Gino Faraci joins the Academy Quartet for arrangements by founding member Warren Davidson of songs and dances from Croatia, Serbian songs from Kosovo, and tango tunes. Dr. Davidson has spent many years performing and teaching music from Slavic nations and, in recent years, has been a devotee of Argentine tango. Dancers welcome!

The Academy Strings Quartet, active since 2006, is violinists Jorie Butler-Geyer and Leah Givelber, violist Warren Davidson, and cellist Robin Hasenpflug. Bassist Gino Faraci also joins the Academy Quartet.