Lakewood Cultural Center Presents ETHEL's Documerica

"ETHEL's Documerica," presented by the Lakewood Cultural Center at 7:30 p.m. on March 13, is a multimedia concert that melds multiple-screen video projections with original music by some of today's top composers, performed with electrifying virtuosity by the indie-classical quartet ETHEL. The projections showcase evocative imagery from "Project Documerica," a massive archive of photographs commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1970s, soon after the agency was established in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution. Through new music, ETHEL explores this compelling snapshot of a tumultuous era that powerfully connects to today's environmental and social issues.

"ETHEL's Documerica" features new music by ETHEL members and commissioned composers who represent the diversity of America, including Mary Ellen Childs, Ulysses Owens Jr., Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate and James Kimo Williams. Hailing from different regions, backgrounds and generations, and influenced by a variety of musical practices, genres and forms, each contributes a distinctive voice to the program. The music is in constant dialogue with the projections in an arc that is by turns urban, rural, pastoral and gritty.

ETHEL is Ralph Farris, viola; Kip Jones and Corin Lee, violins; and Dorothy Lawson, cello. Established in New York City in 1998, ETHEL quickly earned a reputation as one of America's most adventurous string quartets. The band continues to set the standard for contemporary concert music and is known for its enlivened playing, blending uptown conservatory musicianship with downtown genre-crossing.

Tickets start at $22 and are available at 303-987-7845, Lakewood.org/LCCPresents or the Lakewood Cultural Center Box Office, 470 S. Allison Parkway (Wadsworth and West Alameda Avenue).

In ETHEL's spirit of collaboration, the Lakewood Cultural Center will feature a group exhibition of visual artists whose work interprets the ways in which people's lives and sense of place are shaped by the environment. The exhibition "We, the People of the Land: A Story of People, Place and Space," is on view in the center's galleries now through March 31.

The Lakewood Cultural Center Presents 2019-2020 season is generously supported by the SCFD, a unique funding source serving hundreds of metro Denver arts, culture and scientific organizations; Colorado Creative Industries; and the National Endowment for the Arts.