Ciompi Quartet

Saturday, March 26, 2022 | 8:00 pm

Baldwin Auditorium

RSVP for this free event HERE.

American composer Christopher Theofanidis found inspiration in a twelfth-century Sufi allegorical poem for his 2018 Conference of the Birds, a work that combines music and poetry to illuminate a seeker’s journey toward God. Ciompi Quartet, Duke University’s resident quartet comprised of faculty members, will lead listeners in this quest through seven mythical valleys, each represented by a short movement inspired by the flocking movements of birds. The program opens with selections from Janacek’s On an Overgrown Path, a collection of works that began their life as musical reminisces of Janacek’s childhood ramblings in the Czech Republic before expanding and taking on new significance after the premature death of his daughter. The same composer’s String Quartet No. 1, titled “Kreutzer Sonata” after Tolstoy’s novel about the famous Beethoven sonata, also deals heavily with the macabre specter of death, before the evening brightens and closes with Haydn’s String Quartet in B-flat Major, nicknamed “Sunrise” after the way in which the opening violin melody ascends and peeks over a horizon of lush chordal accompaniment.

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Current Duke Performances COVID-19 regulations

Program

“Together they felt and shaped the ever-changing moods and characters of the work, passing the ball among themselves and inspiring one another with their lively music making.”