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Call & Response | Inspired by America
Call & Response
For over ten years, the Cypress String Quartet has presented the Call & Response program to inspire audience’s imaginations and expand chamber music repertoire.
Each year, the Quartet creates a link between the old and the new by commissioning
a composer to ‘respond’ to the ‘call‘ of the masterworks of chamber music repertoire.
Following a number of outreach presentations before students of all levels and
backgrounds and members of the community, the Cypress Quartet performs the
Call & Response Concert at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco. Scholarship tickets enable
many of the students to attend the public performance free of charge.
For the 2010 Call & Response, the Cypress Quartet have chosen to explore the
relationship between literature and music and have commissioned a new work from
noted composer Elena Ruehr to be paired on a program with Schubert’s beloved
‘Death and the Maiden’. The ‘call’ given to Ms Reuhr is to write a piece responding
to the inspiration of a work of literature, as Schubert did for ‘Death and the Maiden’.
Ms Reuhr has chosen the novel "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett as her literary inspiration.
Call & Response 2010 will be presented at Herbst Theatre. The date will be
announced in January 2010 and tickets will be on sale through City Box Office closer
to the concert.
Visit our
2009 Call & Response Concert website.
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Inspired by America
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www.inspiredbyamerica.com
“Judging
by the audience’s enthusiastic applause and lively exit conversations, it was clear that the poignantly thoughtful “Inspired by America,” by moving beyond greeting card sentimentality, more than hit the mark.” (Topeka Capital-Journal)
They’ve captivated audiences
around the world with their virtuoso performances. Now the critically
acclaimed Cypress String Quartet fuses tradition with
technology in Inspired by America, a spirited multimedia
collaboration with best selling author Jacob Needleman and Emmy Award winning
film producer Michael Schwarz. Supported by funding from the National Endowment
for the Arts, and combining live music, original film and spoken word, Inspired
by America creates an evocative, thought provoking portrait of the American
spirit.
Dr. Needleman’s
best selling book, The American Soul, forms the foundation for this 90 minute multimedia conversation. Beginning with the ideals of the Founding Fathers, the
unique spirit of America is examined in light of culturally formative
influences, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin,
Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. The impacts of the destruction of Native
American culture, slavery, and other transformational events are also explored
in the context of the promise America has represented for waves of immigrants,
and the world. Renowned documentary producer Ken Burns comments, “Needleman
takes us on an amazing spiritual journey to the very heart of those who like to
call themselves American.”
Inspired by
America’s original film segments feature insightful commentary from Dr.
Needleman set against a backdrop of American art, photographs, landscapes, film
clips and other images and forms of music reflecting the depth and diversity of
the American story, including excerpts from pieces by American jazz legend,
Charles Mingus.
Augmented by
professional sound and lighting, the Cypress provides the unifying force for the performance with some of the finest chamber music composed in the United States,
with movements from pieces such as Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Dvorak’s
American Quartet, Griffes’ Two Sketches on Native American Themes and Ives
String Quartet #1. Selections from recent Cypress original commissions from
noted contemporary American composers are also featured, including
Grammy-nominated composers Benjamin Lees and Jennifer Higdon.
Innovative
educational activities springing from the performance give people of all ages
and backgrounds multiple opportunities to deepen and extend the impact of
Inspired by America. An educational website has been developed with funding and
assistance from the Lied Center of Kansas, using the Internet to disseminate an
Inspired by America lesson plan to educators across the country.
Interdisciplinary
residency and community outreach programs are being created in conjunction with
various presenting organizations around the country, featuring university level
coursework as well as visits to K-12 schools. These activities explore the rich
interrelationship of great American chamber music to other disciplines,
including history, political science, and literature.
The Cypress Performing Arts Association has put together a very talented and
seasoned team
of professionals to produce and promote Inspired by America, including:
• Cypress String Quartet:
critically acclaimed international touring ensemble
• Michael Schwarz:
Emmy and Peabody Award winning film director/producer
• Dr. Jacob Needleman:
best-selling author/philosopher
• Jack Carpenter:
award winning stage lighting and set designer
• Mark Willsher:
sound engineer, Associate Music producer for The Lord of the Rings,
Two Towers and The
Lord of the Rings, Return of the King