Each year, the Cypress String Quartet selects two works from the standard quartet repertoire and commissions (the “call”) a third work (the “response”) based on inspiration from the two older works. By integrating the new music with the familiar, Call & Response explores how newly composed music weaves older works into its sounds, while reflecting trends and ideas of current times—a new composition is born!
The resulting Call & Response program is performed in San Francisco and surrounding areas for students of all levels and background and members of the community. The few weeks before each Call & Response performance, the Cypress String Quartet performs in-class presentations attended by the composer when possible. These outreach efforts deepen students’ interest and learning of chamber music and related themes. Scholarship tickets enable many of these students to attend the public performance free of charge, thus bringing together a concert community of varied ethnicity, age, and economic background.
The outreach presentations, pre-concert lectures and other activities that surround the series bring music into the community and introduce audiences to composers’ thought processes. With this series, the Cypress String Quartet creates a public forum where a broad group of people can come together and share in the universal meaning of music. Parents, teachers, families, and students attend evening performances to witness the world premiere of the new composition.
Program: Kurt Rohde was commissioned by the Cypress to create a piece based on inspiration from Haydn Quartet Op. 77 No. 2, and the Bartók Quartet No. 6. This year the Call & Response concert will take place at 8:00pm on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. It is at this concert where all three pieces will be performed and Rohde’s Gravities will make its world premiere. There will be a pre-concert lecture by the composer at 7:30pm. Tickets for general public admission are $15 and $7 for students with ID. Tickets will be given to students from outreach schools who present their voucher.
Outreach: Be part of the experience! Teachers interested in this program are encouraged to contact the Cypress’s Education Director, Kim Bigelow, to schedule an outreach visit by the Quartet to their class or school in the two weeks prior to the concert. Teachers and students from outreach schools will have the opportunity to receive vouchers for free tickets to the performance on March 15.
* NOTE: Scheduling takes place the summer before each Call & Response concert.
Generous supporters of Call & Response 2008 include The Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, The San Francisco Foundation, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Performing Ensembles Program.