Events at this location

Our season begins with an homage to the human voice, featuring folksong-inspired works from around the world. A set of Antonín Dvořák’s Cypresses, opens the program, which continues with a quartet by Reza Vali, a composer dubbed the “Iranian Bartók” for his use of Persian microtonal scales. The program concludes with folksongs by African-American composer Florence Price and Sergei Prokofiev’s quartet inspired by Kabardinian Themes.

Antonín Dvořák Cypresses
Reza Vali String Quartet No. 3 (2001)
Florence Price Folksongs in Counterpoint
Sergei Prokofiev String Quartet No. 2, “On Kabardinian Themes”

The “fiercely intelligent and expressively pristine” (The New Yorker) Brentano String Quartet, CMNW’s 2021-22 Artists-in-Residence, unleash an immersive program in celebration of Stravinsky through the medium of quartet and beyond. Interlacing the legendary 20th century composer’s beautifully idiomatic compositions with poetry and works from his contemporaries and acolytes, you’ll first go on an eclectic journey deep into the world of Stravinsky. That immersive investigation will be followed by masterpieces that influenced Stravinsky including 16th century madrigals and Beethoven’s epic final quartet with its wild, kaleidoscopic finale that could almost be mistaken for Stravinsky himself. 2021/22 Artists-in-Residence

PSU, Lincoln Recital Hall
Friday, 12/3 • 7:30 pm PT
Saturday, 12/4 • 7:30 pm PT

The “fiercely intelligent and expressively pristine” (The New Yorker) Brentano String Quartet, CMNW’s 2021-22 Artists-in-Residence, unleash an immersive program in celebration of Stravinsky through the medium of quartet and beyond. Interlacing the legendary 20th century composer’s beautifully idiomatic compositions with poetry and works from his contemporaries and acolytes, you’ll first go on an eclectic journey deep into the world of Stravinsky. That immersive investigation will be followed by masterpieces that influenced Stravinsky including 16th century madrigals and Beethoven’s epic final quartet with its wild, kaleidoscopic finale that could almost be mistaken for Stravinsky himself. 2021/22 Artists-in-Residence

PSU, Lincoln Recital Hall
Friday, 12/3 • 7:30 pm PT
Saturday, 12/4 • 7:30 pm PT

John Luther Adams’ The Wind in High Places sets the stage for this program’s themes of natural wonder, searching, and exaltation. Composed in northern Alaska, the piece evokes a bare, vast, and rocky landscape using only open strings and natural harmonics. Benjamin Britten’s first quartet begins in these upper sororities, before plunging earthbound in this vivacious work filled with human drama. Beethoven’s Op. 132, written near the end of his life, concludes the program. Its slow movement, the “Holy Song of Thanksgiving,” represents Beethoven’s deep gratitude for recovery from a nearly fatal illness.

John Luther Adams The Wind in High Places (2011)
Benjamin Britten String Quartet No. 1
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132