Momenta Quartet featuring a World Premiere by Christopher Stark

Featuring the music of Debussy, Carrillo, Dutilleux, and Stark.

Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin

Alex Shiozaki, violin

Stephanie Griffin, viola

Michael Haas, cello

PROGRAM:

Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013): Ainsi la nuit (1976)

I. Nocturne - Parenthèse I

II. Miroir d'espace - Parenthèse II

III. Litanies - Parenthèse III

IV. Litanies II - Parenthèse IV

V. Constellations

VI. Nocturne II

VII. Temps suspendu

Christopher Stark (b. 1980): Winter Music (2016) *world premiere 

Intermission

Julián Carrillo (1875-1965): Dos Bosquejos ("Two Sketches," 1927)

I. Meditación

II. En secreto

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): String Quartet in g minor, op.10 (1893)

I. Animé et très décidé

II. Assez vif et bien rythmé

III. Andantino, doucement expressif

IV. Très modéré - En animant peu à peu - Très mouvementé et avec passion

BIO:

Praised by the Washington Post for "an extraordinary musical experience" and by the New York Times for its “diligence, curiosity and excellence," the Momenta Quartet is celebrated for its innovative programming, juxtaposing contemporary works from widely divergent aesthetics with great music from the past. Momenta has premiered over 80 works and collaborated with over 100 living composers while maintaining a deep commitment to the classical canon. In the words of The New Yorker’s Alex Ross, “few American players assume Haydn’s idiom with such ease.”

In recent seasons, Momenta has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery, the Rubin Museum, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, Bargemusic, Le Poisson Rouge, the Stone, and Roulette. In addition to its long-standing affiliation with Temple University, Momenta has performed and lectured at Cornell, Columbia, and Yeshiva Universities; Williams, Swarthmore, Haverford, Bard-Simon’s Rock, and Bates Colleges; the Mannes and Eastman Schools of Music and Boston Conservatory. Festivals include Music at Gretna, Cooperstown, Cincinnati College-Conservatory’s Accent12 Festival, and artist residencies at Yellow Barn and the Avaloch Farm Music Institute. The quartet has performed in Hawaii, England, Singapore, and Indonesia, and has received grants from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, New Music USA, the Aaron Copland Fund, Brooklyn Arts Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Momenta has recorded for Centaur Records, Furious Artisans, MRS Classics, PARMA, New World Records, and Albany Records; and has been broadcast on WQXR, Q2 Music, WWFM, Music for Internets, Austria’s Oe1, and Vermont Public Radio. The quartet's debut album, MOMENTA, will be released on Albany Records in 2015.

The Momenta Quartet’s 2014-2015 season is made possible through the generous support of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Amphion Foundation, New Music USA’s Cary New Music Performance Fund, and the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

 “[They] unleashed a veritable firestorm of intensity… Momenta inhabited every note in an impassioned reading that combined brilliant virtuosity with the utmost sympathy and unity of intent.”

                -Patrick Rucker, The Washington Post (January 11, 2015)

“A paragon of the concert-going experience: excellent music that was entirely fresh and new, played with skill and élan… Momenta’s playing throughout the concert was superb.”

                - George Grella, New York Classical Review (September 20, 2014)

“Word of the Momenta Quartet’s diligence, curiosity and excellence is definitely out.”

                -Steve Smith, The New York Times (January 9, 2013)

Watch a feature on Chris Stark's compositional process. CLICK HERE