Brave New Works presents an evening of quartet music

January 2002 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Local contemporary ensemble Brave New Works presents an evening of quartet music on Saturday, February 9th at 8:00 p.m. at Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor. The fourth in its "Numbers Up" series, this concert kicks-off with the World Premiere of Tom Schnauber's Finds for String Quartet, a three-movement programmatic work about a musicologist and the pursuit of a fleeting tune he encounters while hiking in the woods. Next on the program is a set of character pieces by English twelve-tone and serialist composer Humphrey Searle. Fascinated by cats and unusual instrumental ensembles, Searle takes both of these delights in true form in his Two Practical Cats, a setting of TS Eliot's "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" and "Growltiger's Last Stand" written for narrator, flute, cello and guitar. The second half of the concert takes a sober, yet poignant turn with Olivier Messiaen's evocative Quartet for the End of Time for violin, clarinet, cello and piano. Written in 1940 while Messiaen was interned in a German prison camp, the Quartet was intended not to refer to his own captivity, but to be a kind of musical extension of the Biblical account of the Apocalypse, and to present the concept of the end of Time as the end of the past and future and the beginning of eternity.

Performers on this concert include violinists Maria Sampen, Steve Miahky, and Alejandra Urrutia, violist Tim Christie, cellists Andrea Yun and Katri Ervamaa, flutist Emily Perryman, clarinetist Deborah Chodacki, guitarist Matthew Ardizzone, pianist Winston Choi, and narrator Jennifer Goltz.

Founded in 1997 by Christopher Froh, Chris Younghoon Kim and Eli Shapiro, Brave New Works is an Ann Arbor-based performing organization dedicated to the work of composers across the entire aesthetic spectrum. Their mission is to foster new music through creation and performance by working with and on behalf of contemporary composers. Brave New Works also seeks to expand the audience for new music through performances, workshops and collaborations with the arts.

Kerrytown Concert House is located at 415 North Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan. More information about this concert can be found online at www.kerrytownconcerhouse.org. Tickets $10-25 ($5 students). Reservations suggested: 769-2999.