Shenandoah New Music

The Bergamot Quartet is fueled by a passion for exploring and advocating for the music of living composers. Founded in Baltimore in 2016, Bergamot Quartet strongly believes in the creation of art and amplification of voices during this cultural watershed moment. In a program exploring different cultures and techniques, the ensemble presents an irreverent, breathless crash-course through modern manifestations of consonant tonality.

PROGRAM

Tania León: Esencia
Ledah Finck: Stars Fall in the Valley
Caroline Shaw: Punctum
Sky Macklay: Many Many Cadences
Charles Peck: Arcade

New This Year: Digital Programs!

Shenandoah Conservatory is launching digital programs for the 2021/22 season! We’re always looking for ways to improve your audience experience and provide more ways to connect with our students, faculty and guest artists from around the world. The digital program is best viewed on your mobile or tablet device.

View Digital Program

PROGRAM NOTES

This program bares musical building blocks in two ways, the technical and the cultural. Tania León says of her work Esencia that it “reflects influences of classical genres in the Carribean and Latino America”, as well as “the ‘here and now’ while I composed the piece”. Macklay’s Many, Many Cadences is just what the title says: a huge collection of simple tonic cadences (though the rhythm is anything but simple), swirling around and around in a thrillingly oversaturated array of consonance. Finck’s piece, like Esencia, uses textures and melodies clearly sourced from her upbringing in Appalachia and refracted around her here and now. Shaw’s Punctum and Peck’s Arcade use the strings in ways that energetically play off Macklay’s cadences; the three pieces together present an irreverent, breathless crash-course through modern manifestations of consonant tonality.

ACCESSIBILITY

Accommodations for disabilities may be arranged by contacting the Box Office at least three days prior to the performance.

Photos courtesy of artist