Momenta Quartet presents:
Momenta Festival VIII
September 30 - October 5
Concerts curated by each member of Momenta Quartet
Momenta Quartet presents its annual Momenta Festival September 30 and October 1 at Broadway Presbyterian Church (601 West 114th St) and October 4 and 5 at Americas Society (680 Park Ave). Admission to all concerts is free.
The eighth edition of the festival features four diverse chamber music programs each curated by a member of the quartet. With programs that blend the old and new, the "intriguing programming" (The New York Times) and "striking originality" (I Care If You Listen) of the Momenta Festival have been acclaimed by critics and fans alike.
Highlights include a diverse range of composers from Haydn to Han Lash, a world premiere, New York premieres and a performance with guest artist, pianist Amy Yang. Details are below.
"We founded this festival in 2015 as an artistic outlet for each of our individual musical interests," says Momenta violist Stephanie Griffin. "I continue to be surprised to discover new pieces and composers that my Momenta colleagues introduce me to through this festival."
Admission to all concerts is free. Programs are subject to change.
Momenta Quartet's 2023 Momenta Festival
Saturday, September 30, 7 pm & Sunday, October 1, 7 pm
Broadway Presbyterian Church
601 West 114th Street, Manhattan
Admission Free; no reservations needed
Donations to Music for Food benefit Broadway Community
Wednesday, October 4, 7 pm & Thursday, October 5, 7 pm
Americas Society
680 Park Ave, Manhattan
Admission Free, reservations required
SEPTEMBER 30 / Broadway Presbyterian Church: Looking Back — curated by Michael Haas, cello
Works spanning three centuries in which each composer was inspired by musical traditions of the past
Guest artist: Amy Yang, piano
Program:
Han Lash: Suite Remembered and Imagined
Matthew Greenbaum: More Venerable Canons
Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 No. 5
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44
OCTOBER 1 / Broadway Presbyterian Church: Earth and Ether — curated by Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin
Music that articulates the joy and pain of the human experience while also contemplating what lies beyond
Program:
Elizabeth Brown: Firmament for solo violin ^
Jeffrey Mumford: …amid still and floating depths for string quartet
Julian Anderson: Another Prayer for solo violin*
Julián Carrillo: String Quartet No. 2
^world premiere, written for Emilie-Anne Gendron
*NY premiere
OCTOBER 4 / Americas Society: Momenta à la Mode — curated by Stephanie Griffin, viola
Celebrating composers for whom modes are a veritable obsession, moving beyond building blocks to be the actual subject matter of their compositions.
Program:
Pietro Cerone: Enigma de la escala (transcribed by Sebastian Zubieta)
Julián Carrillo: String Quartet no. 12
Julián Carrillo: Capricho Para Viola
Robert Morris: Carnatic String Quartet
OCTOBER 5 / Americas Society: Szene am Bach — curated by Alex Shiozaki, violin
A nature-themed program, ”Scene by the Brook”
Program:
Eugène Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 2
Ileana Perez Velázquez: River of Life
Somei Satoh: A White Heron
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 18 No. 6
Momenta Quartet
Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin
Alex Shiozaki, violin
Stephanie Griffin, viola
Michael Haas, cello
Momenta: the plural of momentum – four individuals in motion towards a common goal. This is the idea behind the Momenta Quartet, whose eclectic vision encompasses contemporary music of all aesthetic backgrounds alongside great music from the recent and distant past. The New York City-based quartet has premiered over 150 works, collaborated with over 200 living composers and was praised by The New York Times for its “diligence, curiosity and excellence.” In the words of The New Yorker’s Alex Ross, “few American players assume Haydn’s idiom with such ease.”
Momenta has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery, Rubin Museum, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Washington University in St. Louis, Ostrava Days in the Czech Republic, and at the internationally renowned Cervantino Festival in Mexico. Momenta has recorded for Centaur Records, Furious Artisans, PARMA, New World Records, and Albany Records; and has been broadcast on WQXR, Q2 Music, Austria's Oe1, and Vermont Public Radio.
The Momenta Quartet’s 2023-2024 season is made possible through the generous support of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Amphion Foundation, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The 2023 Momenta Festival is supported by The Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund and through the generosity of many individual donors.