IDEAS: Common Threads - Performed by Mivos Quartet

Presented in partnership with Lei Lab and ArtPower at UC San Diego.

Compositions by
Daniel Cui
Ana Diaz De Cossio
Sivan Silver-Swartz
Haihui Zhang

Mivos Quartet:

The Mivos Quartet is devoted to bringing incredible new string quartet music, in all its variety, to diverse audiences worldwide. Since its founding in 2008, the quartet has performed and closely collaborated with established and emerging composers representing a broad range of demographics and compositional aesthetics. Mivos commissions and premieres new music for string quartet, while also sustainably nurturing the repertoire by offering repeat performances of new works in their regular touring season. The quartet strives for deep, meaningful collaborations with composers for each new work and project. Beyond building the string quartet repertoire, Mivos expands the capabilities of the ensemble by regularly working with guest artists from varied, overlapping traditions and genres. The quartet curates concert programs that they would want to hear - pieces of music that complement each other and offer audiences a rich, powerful and meaningful listening experience.

Recent works commissioned and written for Mivos include pieces by Ambrose Akinmusire, Joël-François Durand, Mary Halvorson, Sarah Hennies, Andile Khumalo, Lei Liang and Alex Mincek. Future premieres will include the composers David Bird, Julie Herndon, Ville Raasakka, Ronnie Reshef and Evan Johnson. In addition to new composed works, the quartet regularly presents multimedia projects and performs improvised music. Mivos has worked closely with diverse artists including as Patrick Higgins (Zs), Sam Pluta, Ned Rothenberg, Timucin Sahin, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, Kate Soper and Saul Williams, Ongoing artistic collaborations include projects with Sofia Jernberg, Ambrose Akinmusire (Origami Harvest and honey from a winter stone), guitarist Nadav Lev, 2019 MacArthur Fellow Mary Halvorson (Amaryllis, Belladonna), and 2020 MacArthur Fellow Cécile McLorin Salvant (Ogresse).

Mivos has performed to critical acclaim at Aldeburgh Music (UK), Carnegie Hall (USA), Lincoln Center (USA), Elbphilharmonie (Germany), Shanghai New Music Week (China), Música de Agora na Bahia (Brazil), Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), Lo Spirito della musica di Venezia (Italy), Skaņu Mežs (Latvia), Festival Internacional Chihuahua (México), Wien Moderne (Austria), Hong Kong Arts Center, and the Library of Congress (USA). In recognition of their work in championing new music, the quartet has received the Interpretation Prize at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, as well as the 2019 Dwight and Ursula Mamlok Prize for Interpreters of Contemporary Music.

In addition to their performance season, Mivos is committed to the education of young composers and string players. The quartet is regularly the ensemble-in-residence at summer festivals including the Darmstadt Summer Courses (Germany), the Vienna Contemporary Composers Festival (Austria), VIPA Festival (Valencia, Spain) and Sounds of Now Vienna (Austria). The quartet has conducted workshops at Berklee School of Music, Boston University, Duke University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Columbia University, Harvard University, MIAM University (Turkey), Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Shanghai Conservatory (China), UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UW Seattle, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (Singapore). Along with their work at educational institutions, Mivos grants the Mivos/Kanter String Quartet Composition Prize, a yearly award to support the work of emerging and mid-career composers residing in the USA, and the I-Creation prize, an award for composers of Chinese descent worldwide.

Their recent album “Steve Reich: The String Quartets” on Deutsche Grammophon, described as “essential listening” (Morning Star), is the first complete album of Reich’s masterpieces, with all backing tracks recorded anew by Mivos. Other recent albums feature the music of JG Thirlwell (Cantaloupe Music), Lei Liang (New World Records) and Mary Halvorson (Nonesuch). Mivos can also be heard on releases with KAIROS, New Focus Recordings and Tzadik labels.

The members of Mivos are violinists Olivia De Prato and William Overcash, violist Victor Lowrie Tafoya, and cellist Nathan Watts. Mivos operates as a non-profit organization based in New York City, dedicated to performing, commissioning, and collaborating on music being written today.

www.mivosquartet.com

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