Considering this Moment: Music with Strings (Berkeley)

We are excited to finally bring you the music we had planned to present three years before in March 2020, when Covid-19 forced us to cancel our concerts. This thought-provoking program will feature music for choir and string orchestra, in collaboration with the Circadian String Quartet and additional local string players. We will bring you Zanaida Robles’ No Fairytale Here, a setting of writings by the African American suffragist Ida B. Wells that includes spoken voice; San Francisco Conservatory composer David Conte’s reverent September Sun, composed in memory of those who died in the September 11th attacks; and Eric Whitacre’s Three Hebrew Love Songs for choir and string quartet. We are also delighted to present the U.S. premiere of Karin Rehnqvist’s exuberant Day is here! for choir, soloists, and strings. Like Songs from the North, which we commissioned for our fortieth-anniversary concert in May 2018, Day is here! sets texts by indigenous poets that suggest a response to a world that is struggling with a changing climate.

Learn more: https://www.sacredprofane.org/considering-this-moment

St. John's Presbyterian Church,

2727 College Ave, Berkeley

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church,

1111 O’Farrell Ave, San Francisco

$25 in Advance

$28 At the Door

$10 Students

$60 Season Tickets: Save 20% on 3 concerts

We are formulating our season with an abundance of caution. Events for the 2021–22 season are subject to change to comply with all public health guidelines.

To ensure the health and safety of our artists and patrons, all guests must wear masks at concerts and present proof of vaccination upon entry.

Please contact us with any questions. Learn more about our safety protocol here.

CIRCADIAN QUARTET

Monika Gruber, violin

David Rhyther, violin

Omid Assai, viola

David Wishnia, cello

Bay Area based Circadian String Quartet was founded in 2013 to perform classical and contemporary repertoire of folkloric or cultural significance.

Since then CSQ has become known for bold original programming ideas that break boundaries or reach across cultures, that is why CSQ loves working with composers. CSQ is proud to have given world and U.S. premieres of exciting new pieces of chamber music written by Sahba Aminikia, Ben Carson, Toronto-based Noam Lemish, and British composer Ian Venables. They first performed Sahba Aminikia’s One Day Tehranlive on air on KPFA’s radio show “Music of the World” with Joanna Manqueros in 2015. Then in 2016 they commissioned Aminikia to write a new piece for string quartet and Narrator. The result, a glowing kaleidoscopic mixture of text by Allen Ginsburg and Hafez called The Weight of the World was premiered in 2017 at the Piedmont Arts center.

CSQ has also become known for its original transcriptions and compositions. In 2017 and 2019 their original transcriptions of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and the Firebird premiered to enthusiastic crowds and critical acclaim. In 2016 CSQ collaborated with narrator and historian Nikolaus Hohmann to tell stories from World War Two. For this project CSQ created short original pieces of music and text called “Chiaroscuros” which helped give their programs a narrative arc. Now there is a growing body of these short works which are now a regular part of all CSQ concerts.

CSQ has been quartet in residence at the Music by the Mountain Festival in Mt. Shasta, featured in the April in Santa Cruz new music festival, and the members also serve as resident teaching artistists for the Villa Sinfonia’s Zephyr Point Chamber music workshop in South Lake Tahoe.

Some of CSQ’s recent projects include their collaboration with world-class santour player Hamid Taghavi, and the upcoming premiere of “Eurydice’s Defiance” David Ryther’s new Opera written especially for Kitka Soprano, Lily Storm and CSQ. These projects highlight the breadth of CSQ’s repertoire as they continue to expand the string quartet’s possibilities.

WWW.CIRCADIANQUARTET.COM

SACRED AND PROFANE CHAMBER CHORUS is an a cappella chamber choir founded in 1977 committed to enriching and inspiring its members and the broader community by exploring the breadth of traditional and emerging choral repertoire through authentic and exemplary performances.

WWW.SACREDPROFANE.ORG

Host or Publisher Sacred and Profane Chamber Chorus