Dixon Place hosts Momenta Festival III Opening Night – Air from Another Planet Momenta Quartet
About This Show
“Air from Another Planet” at Dixon Place Theater curated by Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin, assembles six fearlessly introspective works that manipulate our sense of time and space—using the force of memory, imagination, or emotion to render what was once familiar strange and unearthly. Works include the U.S. premiere of Michael Small’s White Space; the New York premiere of Alyssa Weinberg’s Unstrung; a world-premiere version of Entrückung (“Rapture”), the mystical finale of Arnold Schoenberg’s second quartet, with theremin replacing the usual soprano; and Elizabeth Brown’s Piranesi, as well as works by Biber and Kee Yong Chong.
program
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704): Rosary Passacaglia for solo violin in g minor, C. 105 (1676)
Alyssa Weinberg (b. 1988): Unstrung for solo violin (2017)
*New York premiere
Kee Yong Chong (b. 1971): Silence Cosmos for string quartet (2005)
INTERMISSION
Michael Small (b. 1988): White Space – Meditation on Saenredam for solo violin (2015)
*US Premiere
Elizabeth Brown (b. 1953): Piranesi for theremin and string quartet (2007/12)
Written for the Momenta Quartet
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951): Entrückung (“Rapture”) from String Quartet No. 2 Op. 10 for soprano and string quartet (1907-08)
*World-premiere version for theremin and string quartet
about Momenta Quartet
Momenta: the plural of momentum – four individuals in motion towards a common goal. This is the idea behind the Momenta Quartet, whose eclectic vision encompasses contemporary music of all aesthetic backgrounds alongside great music from the recent and distant past. The New York City-based quartet has premiered over 100 works, collaborated with over 120 living composers and was praised by The New York Times for its “diligence, curiosity and excellence.” In the words of The New Yorker’s Alex Ross, “few American players assume Haydn’s idiom with such ease.”
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Credits
Violins
Emilie-Anne Gendron and Alex Shiozaki
Viola
Stephanie Griffin
Cello
Michael Haas
Theremin
Elizabeth Brown
Filmmaker
Lothar Osterburg
Photo credit:
John Gurrin