The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill

Continuum Culture & Arts' Soup & Sound and Greenwich House Music School present

doors open at 7:15

also in the BLACK COMPOSERS UPSOUTH series at Greenwich House...

Night 1: Tuesday April 15, 7:30

Night 3: Friday, April 18, 7:30

On the second night of BLACK COMPOSERS UPSOUTH, The Hemphill Stringtet gives a rare New York performance in celebration of the release of their debut recording, The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill which releases April 4 on the label Out of Your Head.

The Hemphill Stringtet is a collective string quartet formed in 2022 to perform the music of composer and saxophonist Julius Hemphill (1938-1995). The quartet’s members—violinists Curtis Stewart and Sam Bardfeld, violist Stephanie Griffin, and cellist Tomeka Reid—have diverse backgrounds and are all distinguished improvisers.

The group’s repertoire currently consists of “Mingus Gold,” a string quartet commissioned but not recorded by the Kronos Quartet; and a selection of pieces that Hemphill wrote for the World Saxophone Quartet (edited for string quartet by Marty Ehrlich). Mingus Gold is a suite of three pieces by Charles Mingus which Hemphill put his own compositional stamp on.

The quartet aims to bring greater attention to Hemphill’s compositions and highlight his role as a major Black American composer of the late twentieth century. In his obituary, The New York Times called him “one of the most important musicians of his generation.” Additionally, the group aims to expand the role of improvisation, particularly from the African American tradition, in the string quartet instrumentation. The group is notably inspired by some of the polyphony and group improvisation practiced by the World Saxophone Quartet (of which Hemphill was a member).

The group has performed at the Berlin Jazz Festival (2022), Chicago Frequency Festival (2022), The Stone (NYC, 2023), Edgefest (Ann Arbor, 2023), and The Andrew Freedman Home (NYC, 2023).

Black Composers Upsouth is a co-production of Continuum Culture & Arts and Greenwich House Music School. Soup & Sound is a program of Continuum Culture & Arts, Inc. a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Host or Publisher Continuum Culture & Arts