Join 4VSQ for Departures – their new and surprising program featuring the world premiere of the revised “String Quartet No 1” by multi-Grammy-winning composer Maria Schneider performed alongside works by Caroline Shaw, Jennifer Higdon, Laura Caviani and Fanny Mendelssohn. Read on for three ways to be a part of the live performances.
IN-PERSON CONCERT
Show up in-person at the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, MN. Get details & buy your tickets here.
LIVESTREAM CONCERT
Tune in online to watch the livestream of Departures as it happens in Minneapolis, MN. Get details and buy your tickets here.
IN-PERSON CONCERT
Show up in-person at The Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, WI. Get details and buy your tickets here.
Departures features the world premiere of revised “String Quartet # 1” by Grammy-award-winning composer, Maria Schneider.
Originally commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by Duke Performances/Duke University with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, this newly-conceived version of String Quartet No. 1 was created by Maria Schneider with and for the Four Voices String Quartet.
ABOUT COMPOSER MARIA SCHNEIDER
“…as profound as modern day instrumental music gets.”
Jon Bream, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Maria Schneider is among a small few to receive GRAMMYS in multiple genres, having received the award in jazz and classical, as well as for her work with David Bowie.
Additional honors include: 14 GRAMMY-nominations, 7 GRAMMY Awards, numerous Jazz Journalists Association awards, DOWNBEAT and JAZZTIMES Critics and Readers Polls awards, an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, the University of Minnesota, ASCAP’s esteemed Concert Music Award (2014), the nation’s highest honor in jazz, and “NEA Jazz Master” (2019).
ABOUT DEPARTURES & 4VSQ
Allison Ostrander, violin; Laurie Petruconis, violin; Susan Janda, viola; Rebecca Arons, cello
Departures is a collaboration and an adventure outside of the “Classical Canon.” 4VSQ and its members have a history of working with living composers; this program is for them a natural embrace of new music and music which is “new to the quartet.” 4VSQ was previously part of the jazz quartet + string quartet project One World Consort, which premiered a new arrangement of “Terra Madre” by jazz composer Fred Sturm. As part of OWC the quartet also worked with Argentine bandoneon virtuoso J. P. Jofre, master Celtic musician Laura MacKenzie, Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos Neto, guitarist Jesse Lewis and bassist Ike Sturm.
In their last concert (before the pandemic) the quartet performed “Credo for String Quartet” by Kevin Puts after working directly with the composer on his Pulitzer Prize-winning opera “Silent Night” and recording the opera for commercial release with Minnesota Opera (4VSQ are all members of Minnesota Opera Orchestra).
In addition to the quartet’s cross-genre collaborations, its members have diverse performing and recording credentials including: Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, IRIS Orchestra, American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Houston Ballet, Ballet West, Prince, Stevie Wonder, The Who, The Eagles, Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Josh Groban, Jonatha Brooke, Dessa, Hugh Jackman and many others.
During the COVID lockdown, 4VSQ recorded for the MN Opera’s online content, “Apart Together” including Caroline Shaw’s “Entr’acte” and “Valencia,” and a chamber arrangement with soprano of Dvorak’s “Song to the Moon” which they commissioned from composer Adi Yeshaya.
4VSQ are currently “Resident Artists” at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis.
