Special Projects
Jasper and Jupiter SQ Octet collaboration
These two acclaimed quartets, joined by bonds of musical discovery, friendship and family, continue their long-lasting octet collaboration. The Quartets’ album together, released on Marquis Classics and produced by Grammy-winner Judith Sherman, features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti's Eternal Breath (2011); Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat, Op. 20 (1825); and Osvaldo Golijov's Last Round (1996).
Songs for the Next Generation
A collaboration between tenor Nicholas Phan, the Jasper String Quartet, pianist Myra Huang, and composer Vivian Fung
The proposed project is a half evening length song cycle, approximately 30 minutes, for tenor, string quartet and piano featuring tenor Nicholas Phan, the Jasper String Quartet, and pianist Myra Huang. The work will be centered around poet Claire Wahmanholm’s prize-winning poem “O,” which took second place at the Academy of American Poets’ inaugural Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize. The poem is described by the judges of the Prize as “an original and powerful evocation, using a single letter of the alphabet to name the wonders that are at risk of being no more . . . . The voice is prophetic and unrelenting: a lament, an elegy, and a clarion call to action!” “O” can be found here: https://poets.org/poem/o-0
As a complement to this poem, we propose to work with talented high school students to compose poems inspired by “O” about the fragile state of our earth’s environment, as well its effect on our next generation. Vivian Fung will then set several student poems along with “O” to form the entire song cycle. As interludes in between the songs, we envision a sound collage of student poems as read by their respective poets. Enhancing the music is the potential to add visual images to complement the evening.
INTERACTIVE COMMUNITY CONCERT
Joseph Haydn | Quartet in D Major, Op. 20 No. 4 (25’)
Patrick Castillo | An Inventory of Echoes
Terry Riley | In C
Perform alongside the Jasper String Quartet in this program designed to include musicians and music-lovers of all levels. String players of all levels can share in the joy of rehearsing and performing Patrick Castillo’s An Inventory of Echoes, a string orchestra piece written with parts for beginners, intermediate-level players, and professionals. All audience members are then invited to join for a community performance of Terry Riley’s In C, one of the first masterpieces of minimalism. The Jasper Quartet will lead a brief workshop to prepare participants to perform In C and experience the exuberance and power of communal music-making.
Nicholas Phan Collaboration
Joining forces with celebrated tenor Nicholas Phan in an ongoing collaboration, the Jasper Quartet has adapted selections of lieder for string quartet and voice. Expanding the arrangement not only offers a new perspective on these timeless works but also deepens the color and increases the drama.
Clockwise from top left: Joan Tower, Christopher Theofanidis, Lera Auerbach and Akira Nishimura
Four Seasons | Four Composers
The perpetual flux of our natural world is a universally shared source of inspiration, fascination, and beauty in art. Vivaldi wrote his genre-defining Four Seasons concertos almost 300 years ago and Piazzola, Stravinsky and others followed suit.
This inspiration as a unifying force combined with the four unique perspectives and styles of Joan Tower (Wild Summer), Christopher Theofanidis (Fragile Autumn), Lera Auerbach (Frozen Dreams), and Akira Nishimura (Spring - Azure Dragon) results in a distinctive and inspiring collective work - an artistic convergence mirroring that of the four voices in a string quartet.
Commissioned with help from Arizona Friends of Music , Chamber Music Northwest, an anonymous donor, and the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.