MUSIQA Presents the LOFT Concert 'Right Here, Right, Now: San Antonio' at CAMH

Musiqa, two-time winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, presents a free, informal loft concert, Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio at the Contemporary Arts Museum onThursday, May 17 at 6:30 PM. The evening's program, which was created to complement the exhibit of the same name, features works written or inspired by the art and artists of San Antonio.

The program includes four pieces for string quartet and subsets thereof. The centerpiece of the program is Meta4 by San Antonio-born composer Robert X. Rodriguez. Each of the piece's four movements (note the recurrence of this number - thus, the title) is based on the same four-note motif, but each treats this cell differently in a matter reminiscent of a theme and set of variations; the composer evokes Monet's obsessive tendency to paint the same object (such as the Rouen Cathedral or water lilies) in ever-changing lights. Thus, the music moves from "a florid, Bach-like quasi-religious exaltation" to "a playful Sonatina" to "a lyrical intermezzo" to "a brilliant moto perpetuo finale."

Interspersed among the movements of the Rodriguez are solos and a duo for strings. Suzanne Farrin's 2007 work Time is a Cage is scored for solo violin, and is a fascinating compendium of virtuosic extended techniques - methods of playing which go far beyond how the instrument is traditionally played. The score calls for one of the instrument's strings to be tuned up slightly, which fundamentally changes the resonance of the instrument itself in a way not entirely dissimilar to the fiddle music of Appalachia. Farrin even goes so far as to specify the speed at which the violinist draws the bow over the strings and the proximity of the bow to either the bridge or fingerboard of the instrument.

A second piece for solo violin is by composer Ethan Wickman, who teaches on the music faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio. Written in 2007 for the Polish-born violinist Piotr Szewczyk, Respite consists of "an unfolding harmonic pattern" which makes its way to a "contrasting central point" before winding back, in the process playing the opening harmonic pattern in reverse. The composer writes that in this piece "the moment of repose is abandoned from whence it came."

Finally comes the world premiere of a commissioned work by Musiqa's Emerging Composer Fellow, Theo Chandler. Scored for viola and cello, "Scarred Landscape" is inspired by the artwork of San Antonio painter Richard Armendariz: Armendariz paints an image and then "scars" it with a knife, overlaying a second image. Chandler's duo translates that technique into musical terms. Armendariz's paintings will serve as a backdrop to the performers.

Musiqa's Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio

Thursday, May 17

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

5216 Montrose Blvd.

Houston, TX 77006

6:30 PM - Performance

Admission is free

On the Program:

Theo Chandler: Scarred Landscape for viola and cello (World Premiere)

Suzanne Farrin: Time is a Cage for solo violin

Robert X. Rodriguez: Meta4 for string quartet

Ethan Wickman: Respite for solo violin

Performers:

Natalie Lin and Evie Chen, violin

Sergein Yap, viola

Shino Hayashi, cello

ABOUT MUSIQA

MUSIQA is dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. Founded in 2002 and led by four composers, MUSIQA aims to enrich and inspire the community through programs that integrate contemporary music with other modern art forms. Musiqa celebrates modern creative arts through interdisciplinary concerts that highlight modern music and its connections to literature, film, dance, art, and more. With its innovative collaborations and educational programming, MUSIQA strives to make modern repertoire accessible and vital to audiences of all ages and musical backgrounds.

Major support for MUSIQA is provided by Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, the Powell Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Texas Commission on the Arts, R. Stan and Reinnette Marek, the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, the Brown Foundation, the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, the Cyvia and Melvin Wolff Foundation, Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Alice Ditson Fund, the Amphion Foundation, and the Kinder Morgan Foundation.

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