Program:
Antonin Dvořák - String Quartet no. 10 in E flat Major “Slavonic”
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Dumka (Elegia): Andante con moto — Vivace
III. Romanza: Andante con moto
IV. Allegro assai
intermission
Paul Wiancko - American Haiku
I. Far Away
II. In Transit
III. Home
Jessie Montgomery - Strum
Danish String Quartet selections
Friction Quartet:
Otis Harriel, violin
Kevin Rogers, violin
Mitso Floor, viola
Doug Machiz, cello
Program Notes
Antonín Dvořák, String Quartet No. 10, Op. 51
When Antonín Dvořák wrote his String Quartet in E Flat Major in 1879, he was enjoying a period of long-deserved success. After many years of working to get a foothold as a composer, he had finally received his big break in the form of a contract with the publisher Fritz Simrock, thanks to a recommendation from his friend and mentor Johannes Brahms. One of the first pieces to come from this relationship, published in 1879, was a set of Slavonic Dances. These piano duets in the style of his native Bohemia were immensely successful and catapulted both Dvořák and Czech music to international recognition. Their success spurred commissions for further “Slavonic” pieces, and Dvořák soon found himself exploring ways to bring his national voice into larger, more formal genres. It was in this context that the violinist Jean Becker, leader of the Florentine Quartet, asked Dvořák to compose a new string quartet “in the Slavic style.” The result was Dvořák’s tenth string quartet, often nicknamed the “Slavonic” Quartet.
The opening Allegro ma non troppo is a warm bath of sound, waves of pure sonic comfort ebbing and flowing underneath the carefree opening theme. Moments of rhythmic vitality insert themselves as the movement goes on, seamlessly transitioning between bittersweet nostalgia, playful excitement, and hopeful ease. The second movement, Dumka (Andante con moto—Vivace), is one of Dvořák’s earliest uses of this Slavic dance form that later became a staple of his chamber and orchestral works. The melancholic initial lament, underscored by the cello’s twanging pizzicato drumbeat, gives way to a lively dance based on the same motif. The alternation between slow and fast sections defines this form, and after a few cycles the movement evaporates into thin air. Next comes the true slow movement, a Romanza that blossoms with yearning. Silences are interspersed between the opening chords, a halting heartache of harmony. As the movement finds its confidence, captivating melodies emerge from the simplest fragments of motivic material. Though hints of intensity threaten to emerge, we are always brought back to safety, and the movement ends with a descent to peaceful sleep. The energetic finale wakes us from this dream with a scurrying rondo, flying arpeggios and offbeat accents recalling a rustic dance. The group gathers together for a unison declaration that turns into a secondary theme, and a slightly slower middle section provides a moment of reflection. The energy nearly runs out on multiple occasions, but it is merely a feint, and it jumps back into a raucous sprint to bring the piece to a close.
—Program notes by Mitso Floor
Paul Wiancko, American Haiku
It could be said that Paul Wiancko’s fascination with haiku runs in the family. His father, while working as a filmmaker in Japan, became fascinated with the Haiku form, and believed that no Haiku had ever been accurately translated into English. The 5-7-5 syllabic meter was, in his eyes, too simplistic for the deeply emotional nature of authentic Japanese Haiku in which each character could have multiple meanings. A single Japanese Haiku could be a treatise on life itself. After seeking to write a book translating Haiku, Wiancko senior met Wiancko’s mother, a Japanese woman who helped him in the process of translating the poetry. Later, growing up in California, Paul Wiancko’s Japanese American heritage became increasingly important to him as he grew both as a man and musician. Wiancko was enchanted with traditional Appalachian music as well as Japanese folk music. His American Haiku is an attempt to reconcile these vastly different aesthetics: an effortless fusion of the broad earthiness that is Appalachian music, with the tender, sparse rhythms of Japanese folk song. What he found is that these two seemingly disparate styles blend together seamlessly. Both draw their roots from the natural world. American Haiku offers its listener an elegant rapprochement of two cultures all the while delving into the emotional depths of the three-part Haiku in its three movements: I. Far away, II. In Transit, III. Home. Each movement brings with it percussive rhythms coupled with rich, spacious chords recalling vast, rugged mountain ranges over intricate plucky melodies. The blending of viola and cello also play a crucial role in the composition’s harmoniousness, with the cello and viola overlapping in range and texture allowing the viola to weave poignant melodies over the cello’s foundation. In many ways, American Haiku is a treatise on the life of Wiancko and his journey into his own roots, showing that the universal language of music is perhaps the clearest way to translate the depths of Haiku.
—Program notes by Nicole Martin
Jessie Montgomery, Strum
Strum is the culminating result of several versions of a string quintet I wrote in 2006. It was originally written for the Providence String Quartet and guests of Community MusicWorks Players, then arranged for string quartet in 2008 with several small revisions. In 2012 the piece underwent its final revisions with a rewrite of both the introduction and the ending for the Catalyst Quartet in a performance celebrating the 15th annual Sphinx Competition.
Originally conceived for the formation of a cello quintet, the voicing is often spread wide over the ensemble, giving the music an expansive quality of sound. Within Strum I utilized texture motives, layers of rhythmic or harmonic ostinati that string together to form a bed of sound for melodies to weave in and out. The strumming pizzicato serves as a texture motive and the primary driving rhythmic underpinning of the piece. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, the piece has a kind of narrative that begins with fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration.
—Jessie Montgomery
Danish String Quartet selections
The foremost purveyors of Nordic folk music, the Danish String Quartet describes themselves thus: “We are three Danes and one Norwegian cellist, making this a truly Scandinavian endeavor. Being relatively bearded, we are often compared to the Vikings. However, we are only pillaging the English coastline occasionally.” Their recordings of traditional and original folk tunes have captivated audiences around the world since the release of their album Wood Works in 2014. These two selections come from their latest album, Keel Road.
From ECM Records:
The Danish String Quartet’s new album is a “retracing of musical pathways across the North Sea, a journey through the sounds of traditional music from Northern Europe, taking us from Denmark and Norway to the Faroe Islands, and to Ireland and England.” It follows on from Last Leaf, the Danish String Quartet’s much-loved 2017 release, which was Classical Album of the Year at NPR and a best of the year selection at publications from the New York Times to Gramophone. Keel Road underlines the group’s statement that “folk tunes are not just a part of our repertoire, but an important element of our identity as musicians.” Subtly integrated into the flow of the recording, alongside the traditional material, are original compositions by Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, eloquently expressive in a folk idiom. In total, the journey illuminates musical affinities as well as distinctions, for while folk music “represents local traditions and local stories, it is also the music of everywhere and everyone.”
Bios
Friction Quartet, lauded for performances described as "terribly beautiful" (San Francisco Classical Voice), "stunningly passionate" (Calgary Herald), and "exquisitely skilled" (ZealNYC), is dedicated to modernizing the chamber music experience and expanding the string quartet repertoire. The quartet achieves its mission by commissioning cutting-edge composers, curating imaginative concert programs, collaborating with diverse artists, and engaging in interactive educational outreach.
Friction made their debut at Carnegie Hall in 2016 as participants in the Kronos Quartet Fifty for the Future Workshop. They returned in March of 2018 to perform George Crumb’s Black Angels as part of “The 60’s” festival and their performance was described as, “one of the truest and most moving things I’ve ever heard or seen.” (Zeal NYC)
Since forming in 2011, Friction has commissioned 43 works for string quartet and given world premiere performances of more than 80 works. They developed the Friction Commissioning Initiative in 2017 as a way to work together with their audience to fund specific commissions. The $14,000 raised to date has helped Friction commission a total of 12 new works, including six by young composers between the ages 16 and 21. They were awarded a 2019 Intermusic SF Musical Grant to develop a participatory educational program with composer Danny Clay that is designed to be accessible and sensory-friendly. The project is slated to premiere in the Fall of 2020 at the Pomeroy Recreation and Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco. Friction’s past grants include a grant from Chamber Music America that was used to commission a piano quintet from Andy Akiho, which debuted in November 2016, as well as project grants from Intermusic SF and Zellerbach Family Foundation supporting special projects involving the performance of commissioned works.
While Friction has garnered international attention as commissioners and interpreters of new music, they are also devoted to performing masterworks of the string quartet repertoire at the highest level. They won Second Prize in the 2016 Schoenfeld Competition, they were quarter-finalists in the 2015 Fischoff Competition and placed second at the 2015 Frances Walton Competition
Friction has held residencies at the New Music for Strings Festival in Denmark, Interlochen Arts Camp, Lunenburg Academy of Music in Nova Scotia, Napa Valley Performing Arts Center, Old First Concerts, San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, and was the first ensemble in residence at the Center for New Music.
Friction Quartet is dedicated to building new audiences for contemporary music through interactive musical enrichment programs. They are participating for the third consecutive year in the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program, visiting over 60 public schools annually. They are Ensemble Partners with Young Composers & Improvisors Workshop, workshopping and premiering new works written by young composers in the Bay Area. They have also given presentations at Oakland public schools through KDFC’s Playground Pop Up program. In collaboration with Meridian Hill Pictures, they created a short documentary, titled Friction, that profiles their early educational outreach in Washington DC’s Mundo Verde Public Charter School. Their presentations regularly utilize Doug’s adventurous arrangements of Pop songs alongside excerpts from standard string quartet repertoire to help young audiences build connections to musical concepts.
Friction appears on recordings with National Sawdust Tracks, Innova Records, Albany Records, Pinna Records, and many independent releases. They released their full-length debut album, resolve, in 2018 through Bandcamp. Friction has appeared on radio stations such as NPR, KALW, KING-FM, and KUT, among others.
Friction’s video of the second movement of First Quartet by John Adams was named the #2 video of the year in 2015 by Second Inversion. John Adams shared this video on his own homepage and called it “spectacular.” Their video for Andy Akiho’s In/ Exchange, featuring Friction and Akiho, was also chosen by Second Inversion for their Top 5 videos of 2016. The video was also featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today.
Friction Quartet takes risks to enlarge the audience’s understanding of what a string quartet can be using arrangements of pop music, digital processing, percussion, amplification, movement, and additional media. Their multimedia and interdisciplinary projects have received critical acclaim. In 2017 they produced Spaced Out, an evening-length suite of music about the cosmos that utilizes surround sound electronics and includes a Friction Commission written by Jon Kulpa. The San Francisco Classical Voice called it “accessible, yet surreal.” No matter where their musical exploration takes them, they never lose sight of the string quartet’s essence– the timeless and endlessly nuanced interaction of four analog voices.
Paul Wiancko is an acclaimed composer and cellist. The Washington Post describes Wiancko as “a restless and multifaceted talent who plays well with others”—a reference to his substantial collaborations with artists like Max Richter, Chick Corea, Norah Jones, Arcade Fire, and The National. “Even with this chronically collaborative spirit,” the Post continues, “Wiancko maintains a singular voice as a composer.” In 2023, Paul was named Director of Chamber Music at Spoleto Festival USA.
As cellist of the internationally-celebrated Kronos Quartet, Wiancko regularly appears on the world's foremost stages—including Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, and the Sydney Opera House. Wiancko first collaborated with the Kronos Quartet in 2018 when he was invited to compose a piece for 50 For The Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, and soon after toured with the quartet as guest cellist. Upon officially joining the group in 2023, violinist and Kronos artistic director David Harrington stated, "We look forward to soaring into the future with the catalytic, super-charged vitality of Paul’s playing. It will be so much fun to explore the vast world of music together with Paul.”
A serial chamber musician, Wiancko is a founding member of the viola and cello duo Ayane & Paul, as well as Owls, a quartet-collective dubbed a “dream group” by The New York Times. He has shared the stage with many of today’s most prominent artists, including Richard Goode, Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma, Terry Riley, Caroline Shaw, and members of the Emerson, Guarneri, St. Lawrence, and JACK quartets. From 2009 to 2011, he was cellist of the Harlem Quartet, with whom he performed and taught extensively throughout the US, Europe, South America, and Africa.
Wiancko’s own music has been described as everything from “dazzling” and “compelling” (Star Tribune) to “joyous, riotous” and “delicate” (NY Times). NPR writes, “If Haydn were alive to write a string quartet today, it may sound something like Paul Wiancko's LIFT”—a work that “teems with understanding of and affection for the string-quartet tradition” (NY Times) and is featured on the Aizuri Quartet’s Grammy-nominated album, Blueprinting. Wiancko is a recipient of the S&R Foundation’s Washington Award for composition, and was named one of The Washington Post's “22 for ‘22: Composers and Performers to Watch.” He has served as composer-in-residence at Spoleto Festival USA, Music from Angel Fire, Portland Chamber Music Festival, Caramoor, and the Banff Centre, and has composed works for the St. Lawrence, Kronos, Aizuri, Parker, Calder, and Attacca Quartets, yMusic, Alisa Weilerstein, Alexi Kenney, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and many others.
In addition to a full performance and composition schedule, Wiancko is a dedicated teacher, mentor, and advocate for music education at all levels. He has taught at the St. Lawrence Chamber Music Seminar, Festival del Lago, and the Banff Centre, and is regularly invited to give masterclasses at institutions including Stanford, Peabody, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Wiancko’s commitment to supporting future generations of performers and composers has led him to assist in the development of forward-thinking programs like Evolution Classical at the Banff Centre and the Green Lake Chamber Music Institute.
Jessie Montgomery is a GRAMMY® Award-winning composer, violinist, and educator whose work interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness. Montgomery is an acute interpreter of 21st-century American sound and experience. Her profound works have been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful, and exploding with life,” (The Washington Post) and are performed regularly by leading orchestras, ensembles, and soloists around the world. In June 2024, Montgomery concluded a three-year appointment as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence. She was named Performance Today’s 2025 Classical Woman of the Year.
Montgomery’s music contains a breadth of musical depictions of the human experience—from statements on social justice themes, to the Black diasporic experience and its foundation in American music, to wistful adorations and playful spontaneity—reflective of her deeply rooted experience as a classical violinist and child of the radical New York City cultural scene of the 1980s and 90s. In response to Montgomery’s GRAMMY®-winning work, Rounds (2021), San Francisco’s NPR station KQED stated: “this is what classical music needs in 2024.” A founding member of PUBLIQuartet and a former member of the Catalyst Quartet, Montgomery is a frequent and highly engaged collaborator with performing musicians, composers, choreographers, playwrights, poets, and visual artists alike.
At the heart of Montgomery’s work is a deep sense of community enrichment and a desire to create opportunities for young artists. During her tenure at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she launched the Young Composers Initiative, which supports high school-aged youth in creating and presenting their works, including regular tutorials, reading sessions, and public performances. Her curatorial work engages a diverse community of concertgoers and aims to highlight the works of underrepresented composers in an effort to broaden audience experiences in classical music spaces.
Montgomery has been recognized with many prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year. Since 1999, she has been affiliated with the Sphinx Organization in a variety of roles, including Composer-in-Residence for the Sphinx Virtuosi, its professional touring ensemble. Montgomery holds degrees from The Juilliard School and New York University and is currently a doctoral candidate in music composition at Princeton University. She serves on the Composition and Music Technology faculty at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.
For more information visit www.jessiemontgomery.com