Overlook Quartet - New Way of Looking at Old Things

Monica Davis, violin Yezu Woo, violin

Angela Pickett, viola Laura Metcalf, cello

Tanya Birl-Torres

Choreographer and Storyteller

​Music Program

Gabriela Smith, Carrot Revolution

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, String Quartet no.1 "Calvary"

Shanan Estreicher, I Laughed So Hard I Cried

Trevor Weston, Juba

Eleonor Alberga, String Quartet no. 2 

This unusual and exciting program presented by the Overlook Quartet opens with the dazzling work by Gabriela Smith.  She refers to a Cézanne quote: “The day will come when a single, freshly observed carrot will start a revolution.” Gabriela decided immediately to call her piece Carrot Revolution. She envisioned the piece as a celebration of that spirit of fresh observation and of new ways of looking at old things, such as the string quartet – a 250-year-old genre – as well as some of older musical influences (Bach, Perotin, Gregorian chant, Georgian folk songs, and Celtic fiddle tunes).  The program's closing piece, Jamaican composer Eleonor Alberga's String Quartet n. 2, takes listeners on an emotional journey through her creative mind and the cohesive, dynamic art of the string quartet.

This program features the storyteller Tanya Birl-Torres along with the Overlook Quartet for an exploration of ancestral storytelling, and the cultural and artistic knowledge shared through oral traditions, a reading of a new folktale, and an activity including the audience to foster a deeper community connection and add to the sensory experience.