Watch: PUBLIQuartet Releases Live Concert Video of New Album WHAT IS AMERICAN Filmed At National Sawdust

The GRAMMY Award-nominated PUBLIQuartet has released a new live concert video of their new Billboard chart-topping album, What is American, a nominee for the GRAMMY Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Filmed live at Brooklyn's National Sawdust on November 11, 2022, the film features the PUBLIQuartet in winning arrangements of Dvořák, as well as of Tina Turner's "Black Coffee" and the Ornette Coleman tunes "Law Years" and "Street Woman;" Vijay Iyer's string quartet "Dig the Say," inspired by James Brown; Rhiannon Gidden's At the Purchaser's Option; Roscoe Mitchell's CARDS 11.11.20; and PUBLIQuartet's own Fifth Verse, with lyrics by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

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What is American, released June 17, 2022 on Bright Shiny Things (BSTC-0171), explores the resonance between contemporary, blues, jazz, free and rock-inflected music - all of which trace their roots back to the Black and Indigenous music that inspired Dvorak's "American" String Quartet. Interrogating these traditions of our nation's complex history, PUBLIQuartet attempts to connect the dots, illuminating the past, present, and future of American concert music. What Is American is ultimately a call to ponder the kaleidoscope of composers and diverse genres that make up America's rich musical history.

About PUBLIQuartet

Applauded by The Washington Post as "a perfect encapsulation of today's trends in chamber music," and by The New Yorker as "independent-minded," the GRAMMY-nominated PUBLIQuartet's modern interpretation of chamber music makes them one of the most dynamic artists of their generation. Dedicated to presenting new works for string quartet, PUBLIQuartet rose on the music scene as winner of the 2013 Concert Artists Guild's New Music/New Places award, and in 2019 garnered Chamber Music America's prestigious Visionary Award for outstanding and innovative approaches to contemporary classical, jazz, and world chamber music. PQ's genre-bending programs range from 20th century masterworks to newly commissioned pieces, alongside re-imaginations of classical works featuring open-form improvisations that expand the techniques and aesthetic of the traditional string quartet.

PUBLIQuartet has served as artist-in-residence at top institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Sawdust and has appeared at a wide variety of venues and festivals, from Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Their latest album, the GRAMMY-nominated Freedom and Faith, debuted atop the Billboard Classical Charts in May 2019. The 2019-2020 season brings a diverse array of programs to venues across the United States and abroad, including an appearance at the String Quartet Biennale in Amsterdam.

PUBLIQuartet's commitment to supporting emerging composers inspired their innovative program, PUBLIQ Access, which promotes emerging composers and presents a wide variety of under-represented music for string quartet--from classical, jazz and electronic, to non-notated, world and improvised music. Other unique projects include MIND|THE|GAP, a series of group-composed works developed by PQ to generate interest in new music while also engaging traditional classical music audiences. These unique creations range from "Bird in Paris" (Claude Debussy meets Charlie Parker) to more recent extended works including "What Is American?" (an exploration of Dvorak's beloved "American" String Quartet) and Sancta Femina (based on themes by three medieval and baroque female composers).

Founded in 2010, PUBLIQuartet is currently based in New York City. Learn more at www.publiquartet.com

What is American Tracklist

Fifth Verse*
1. Prelude

MIND | THE | GAP: What Is American
Improvisations on Antonín Dvořák's String Quartet No. 12, Op. 96 "American"
2. Allegro ma non troppo"
3. Lento
4. Molto vivace
5. Vivace ma non troppo

Rhiannon Giddens
6. At the Purchaser's Option (arr. PUBLIQuartet)

Fifth Verse*
7. Page of Her Story

MIND | THE | GAP: Pavement Pounding Rose
8. Improvisations on "Honeysuckle Rose" by Fats Waller
A'Lelia Bundles, narrator

MIND | THE | GAP: Free Radicals
9. Improvisations on "Law Years" and "Street Woman" by Ornette Coleman

Fifth Verse*
10. Land of the Free

Vijay Iyer - Dig the Say
11. I. carry the ball
12. IIa. this thing together
13. IIb. up from the ground
14. III. to live tomorrow

Fifth Verse*
15. Interlude

Roscoe Mitchell
16. CARDS 11-11-2020

MIND | THE | GAP: Wild Women
Improvisations on:
17. "Black Coffee" by Tina Turner
18. "They Say I'm Different" by Betty Davis
19."Er Ra" by Alice Coltrane
20. "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues" by Ida Cox

*Fifth Verse music composed by PUBLIQuartet, lyrics by Oliver Wendell Holmes

About National Sawdust

National Sawdust believes that artistic expression empowers us all to create a more joyful and just world.

The organization curates and produces music and artistic works rooted in curiosity, experimentation, innovation, and inclusivity.

National Sawdust presents its work by engaging communities of artists and audiences at its state-of-the-art Williamsburg home and on its digital stage. Learn more at www.nationalsawdust.org.

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