May 18, 2011
UW Contemporary Group features Quantum String Quartet, rarely performed work
An evening of music by the UW Contemporary Group will feature faculty and student talents, a rarely performed group of madrigals, and a new contemporary chamber choir. The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, in the Meany Studio Theater.
The Quantum String Quartet.Jonathan Dong
The program will include Madrigals, Books I-IV by George Crumb; Cinq Rechants by Olivier Messiaen; Perfect Storm by Shulamit Ran performed by violist Melia Watras; and String Quartet No. 3, by Alfred Schnittke, performed by the Quantum String Quartet.
A number of points will make this an interesting evening for the School of Music. Madrigals Books I-IV is rarely performed in its entirety, and has a UW connection. Crumb composed Books III and IV for the UW Contemporary Group in 1969 and the group premiered the piece in 1970.
Melia Watras.
Cinq Rechants will be performed by a newly created UW contemporary chamber group and conducted by Giselle Wyers, assistant professor of choral studies. And Rans Perfect Storm will be performed on viola by faculty artist Watras, who commissioned the piece last year with her Donald E. Petersen fellowship.
Finally, the program features a performance by the Quantum String Quartet, a group of outstanding School of Music students who won last year’s Strings and Piano Chamber Ensemble Competition.
The Quantum String Quartet is composed of violinists Kouki Tanaka and MeeAe Hong, violist David Colmenares and cellist Natalie Hall, and the ensemble is coached by Watras, violist of the Corigliano Quartet.
Tickets are $10. For more information, call 206-543-4880 or visit the School of Music online.
