Momenta Festival at Americas Society Oct. 15 & 17

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas Concert Series is pleased to host Momenta Quartet for the fourth edition of their annual festival of new music. On October 15, Momenta will perform Ocean Breakup, a program curated by violist Stephanie Griffin. On October 17, violinist Emilie-Anne Gendron curates the group's second performance at Americas Society entitled Points of Departure. Join us for two exceptional evenings with a group praised byThe New York Times for its "diligence, curiosity, and excellence."

Momenta: the plural of momentum-four individuals in motion toward a common goal. This is the idea behind the Momenta Quartet, whose eclectic vision encompasses contemporary music of all aesthetic backgrounds alongside great music from the recent and distant past. The New York City-based quartet has premiered more than 150 works, and collaborated with over 200 living composers. In the words of The New Yorker's Alex Ross, "few American players assume Haydn's idiom with such ease."

The quartet came into being in November 2004, when composer Matthew Greenbaum invited violist Stephanie Griffin to perform Mario Davidovsky's String Trio for events celebrating Judaism and culture at New York's Symphony Space and Temple University in Philadelphia. A residency through the composition department at Temple ensued, and the rehearsals and performances were so satisfying that the players decided to form a quartet. Through this residency, Momenta gave two annual concerts highlighting the talents of Temple student composers alongside twentieth-century masterworks and works from the classical canon, and repeated the programs at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. From the outset, Momenta treated all music equally, devoting as much time, care, and commitment to the student works as to the imposing musical monuments.

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