Tonight’s performance has been made possible by the generosity of Cecile and Rick Ervin.
We are delighted to welcome PUBLIQuartet in their WWCMF debut. This program features selections from the quartet's ongoing What Is American project, which inspired a GRAMMY®-nominated album of the same name. This wide-ranging set of works will explore the resonances between contemporary, blues, jazz, free and rock-inflected music — all of which trace their roots back to the Black and Native American music that inspired Antonin Dvorak’s “American” String Quartet.
The program will include re-imaginations of music by Ornette Coleman, Ida Cox, Alice Coltrane, Betty Davis, Duke Ellington, Tina Turner, and Fats Waller alongside recent works by Vijay Iyer and Henry Threadgill; also on the program is a new work by Jeff Scott, commissioned with the support of a 2024 Chamber Music America Artistic Projects grant. Interrogating these traditions of our nation’s complex history, PQ attempts to connect the dots, illuminating the past, present, and future of American concert music.
All works will be announced from the stage.
Artists: PUBLIQuartet: Hamilton Berry, cello; Rubén Rengel, violin; Nick Revel, viola; Curtis Stewart, violin