New Orleans Premiere of Gunther Schuller’s String Quartet No. 4
LPO Violist Sixto Franco with musicians from Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Orleans will give the regional premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gunther Schuller’s String Quartet No. 4 along with a world premiere by New Orleans composer Jonathan Freilich.
Sixto Franco, who has been performing with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra for the past 2 years, will be joined by Missing Piece from Chicago (Dan Galat, violinist; Kelly Quesada, cellist) and violinist Myra Hinrichs of Los Angeles as well as local guitarist Tim Robertson and local cellist Juan Horie for a program of “Third Stream” music, a genre that fuses jazz and classical music. These concerts will take place at various venues on Monday, Tuesday and Friday during the third week of April 2024.
Dan Galat, Myra Hinrichs, Seth Pae and Kelly Quesada, performing Gunther Schuller’s Fourth String Quartet in Chicago in November 2023. Sixto Franco replaces Pae for the concerts in New Orleans
“Third Stream”, which can transform from structured music to free improvisation, is a description coined by the late Gunther Schuller whose Fourth String Quartet will be given its regional premiere on these programs. Chicago-based composer Leroy Jenkins similarly worked in this genre and his Themes and Improvisations on the Blues will also appear on each of these programs.
Sixto Franco
Ambush columnist Brian Sands commissioned Schuller’s String Quartet No. 4 in honor of his parents and in memory of renowned violinist Felix Galimir, a founder of the Marlboro Music Festival and longtime Juilliard faculty member; for many years, Galimir was Sands’ downstairs neighbor in New York City. The Quartet was given its world premiere in 2002 by the Juilliard String Quartet and has subsequently been performed by the Borromeo String Quartet, among others.
The program on April 19 will feature the world premiere of Jonathan Freilich’s Propaganda Umbrella 1, a work inspired by the principles of “Third Stream”. Freilich, an esteemed musician and experienced improviser well-known from his appearances on various New Orleans stages, has crafted a sextet for string quartet, with the addition of an extra cello, and guitar. Propaganda Umbrella 1 unites elements from classical music and jazz, folk music and free improvisation all of which combine for a masterful, only-in-New-Orleans style composition.
Performances will be Monday, April 15, at The New Marigny Theater; Tuesday, April 16, at Studio St. Philip; and Friday, April 19, at the Marigny Opera House. All three concerts shall begin at 7:30pm. Tickets and further information can be found at www.sixtofranco.com and www.missingpiecemusic.com
These concerts are underwritten, in part, by the John Burton Harter foundation.
