What’s this program about?

How do composers depict forces of nature through their music? Artists have always been inspired by the natural world; it has been the subject of countless paintings, poems, novels, sculptures, and more. But music? How can someone write music that evokes the feeling of sitting by the sea or depicts movement of water or the sensation of fresh, spring weather. In this program, we feature three pieces that do exactly that. Each composer has taken a different approach to the task and the results are unique, attention grabbing, and undoubtedly beautiful.

More about the music

Angelica Negrón’s, Marejada, sets the tone for our program. Meaning “surge” in Spanish (a theme which ties all three of our pieces together), Marejada mixes string instruments with a pre-recorded track to create a meditative sensation of spending time at the seashore. Libby Larsen’s Emergence expresses different states of water by using a wide range of sounds and techniques from the string quartet. Finally, WA Mozart’s Spring Quartet is full of playfully surging melodic lines and a feeling of fresh spring air. 

Come ready to…

play with water, find your beach vibes, and recreate a spring day!

Musicians: Peter Paetkau and Emma Burge - Violins, Josue Negrete - Viola, Nicholas Johnson - Cello

What’s this program about?

Music is often called a universal language but it can also be deeply rooted in the place it was written. Is it possible for a musical work to be a representative of the culture, customs, and people of the place it was written? And how do those elements affect the way the piece sounds? All of the composers on this program wrote music with a special connection to the place it was created giving us three examples of vastly different cultures united in one concert. 

More About the Music:

Jean Marie Leclair was a French composer long before 20th century nationalism was popular. Nevertheless, regional styles of composition made for recognizably French qualities in his music compared to his Spanish or German neighbors. Guadalupe Olmedo was a Mexican composer and well respected in her time but largely forgotten once she left school to get married. Her only surviving string quartet paints a picture of life in Mexico City during her time. Sergey Prokofiev wrote his second quartet while spending a summer in the Kabardinian region (think Southern Russia close to the Black Sea). The piece is a result of a challenge by a colleague who prodded him to write something uniquely Kabardinian. After a lot of study of folk music, instruments, and local customs, the second string quartet was born.

Come ready to…

hear how a change in position affects the music, discover origin stories of music and musicians, and find the link between music and culture around the world.

What’s this program about?

All of us have traditions, customs, and values that we’ve grown up with. How do we decide as we grow and change which ones we hold on to and which ones we change? Just like our personal growth, composers must often balance a respect for music traditions of the past while adding their own voice and creating something new. In this concert, we have three composers who have taken different approaches to this balance and managed to come up with really incredible results.

More About the Music:

Florence Price was the first African-American Woman to have her symphony played by a major orchestra in the US, breaking into a tradition that was dominated by white composers without sacrificing her own musical voice. Jessie Montgomery is one of today’s biggest names in the classical music world. Her piece, Break Away pushes combines traditional written notes with improvisational elements. Carl Nielsen was a Danish composer who chose to reject the popular musical waves of his time and focused instead on what he thought were the most important parts of musical tradition.

Come ready to…

create with your hands, reflect on your own traditions, and create the biggest effect with the fewest tools!