JACK Quartet Digital Residency at Library of Congress
This season, the Library of Congress will feature the JACK Quartet in a digital residency. Consisting of performances, meet-the-artist events, conversations, manuscript explorations and more, the opening program of this series is scheduled for December 3, 2020 and showcases an interesting lineage of string writing centered around Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 3 and Duo for violin and piano.
Recalling JACK Quartet’s extremely ambitious and equally successful Carter string quartet marathon project in 2019, the group will reprise their performance of String Quartet No. 3 for this digital offering. Carter’s Pulitzer Prize winning composition divides the quartet into two duos, with each presenting different musical characters–sometimes alone, and sometimes together–to create what Carter described as “a sense of ever-varying perspectives of feelings, expression, rivalry and cooperation.” Continuing in the theme of duos, the quartet’s Austin Wulliman will be joined by pianist Conrad Tao for a performance of Carter’s Duo for violin and piano. An especially significant selection for this performance, Duo was commissioned by the Library’s McKim Fund, which was established in 1970 through a bequest of violinist Leonora Jackson McKim to commission and promote appreciation of music for this instrumentation.
Other works on the program include Ruth Crawford Seeger’s String Quartet, an arrangement of Rodericus’ Angelorum Psalat by violinist Christopher Otto, and two works by MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey. All Library of Congress events this season will be held virtually and free of charge. For more information and streaming, visit the link below.