Please join us Sunday, April 22nd when the Chamber Music Society of Louisville presents the Momenta Quartet in their first Louisville appearance, U of L School of Music, Comstock Hall at 3 PM.
The youthful Momenta Quartet has premiered over 100 works, and collaborated with over 120 living composers. They are the creators and producers of the Momenta Festival, now in its fourth year, advancing new works and new composers in a series of four concerts, each in different venues around Manhattan. A dynamic voice for new music, première is a term frequently seen in this young string quartets programs and reviews.
The New York City-based quartet came into being in November 2004 when Stephanie Griffin, violist, was asked to present a commemorative concert and invited friends to play the engagement. The rehearsals and performances were so satisfying that the players decided to form a quartet. A residency through the composition department at Temple University ensued and the Momenta Quartet was formed. Through this residency, Momenta gave two annual concerts highlighting the talents of Temple University student composers alongside 20th-century masterworks and works from the classical canon. This start provided the basis for a mission to become passionate advocates for emerging composers. “The Momenta… has drawn notice for its wide range, championing contemporary work while maintaining a hold on classic Viennese fare. Few American players assume Haydn’s idioms with such ease.” Says Alex Ross with The New Yorker. The Momenta Quartet will open the Louisville program with Haydn’s Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4, “Sunrise” and then a shift to the future takes place.
October 2017 saw the Momentas world premiere of Claude Baker's String Quartet #3, a Barlow Commission, dedicated to the Momenta Quartet and inspired by Liszt's Italian-themed "Années de Pèlerinage; This will be the first performance of this work in Louisville. Prolific composer Claude Baker is professor of composition at Indiana University and has Louisville ties as a former Faculty Member of the University of Louisville School Of Music.
A delightful inclusion of modern Latin American music is offered with Mexican microtonal composer Julian Carrillo’s Dos Bosquerjos. Argentinian-born composer and conductor Sebastian Zubieta observed, “Carrillo took it upon himself to revolutionize all of Western music with messianic zeal. Again, I find that the main interest in this music lies not on the unusual intervals and tunings, but on the variably repetitive and static development of the musical discourse.”
“Carrillo wrote 13 string quartets,” said Stephanie Griffin, violist for Momenta, “and when we first discovered Carrillo’s music, only two of those quartets were published.” The third quartet, Dos Bosquejos is one of Carrillo’s first microtonal pieces. It was written in 1928, when the composer was beginning to break away from the Beethoven-esque genre of his earliest work.
The Momenta will close their first Louisville appearance with Benjamin Britons Quartet No. 3, “Death in Venice”. This was Britten's last completed major work written during his final illness in 1975, in which he explores his psychological connection to Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice. Britten traveled to Venice where he composed the final movement, giving it the title La Serenissima.
Founded in 1938, the Chamber Music Society of Louisville is Kentucky’s oldest chamber music organization, now celebrating its 80th season. In addition to sharing internationally renowned ensembles with the Louisville area, the Society also sponsors the Macauley Chamber Music Competition, devoted to developing the skills of young artists in the Kentuckiana area and cultivating a lifelong love of chamber music. The Society is a non-profit organization, operating with the support of an all-volunteer staff and its longtime partner, the University of Louisville School of Music.
Tickets may be purchased at the door, or in advance, online, at: http://louisvillechambermusic.eventbrite.com/. General Admission tickets are $40.00(regular), $35.00 (seniors) with student tickets available for $5.00 (age limit applies). A pre-concert talk will precede the performance at 2 PM in the School of Music, adjacent to Comstock Hall.