The Performing Arts at Hamilton continues the Classical Connections series on Friday, Feb. 27, with a performance by the Elements Quartet at 8 p.m. at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts.
The Hamilton program will feature excerpts from Elements' recent "Snapshots" project in which the quartet commissioned 15 composers to each write a 2-5 minute piece inspired by a photo they own. Like a good snapshot, each selection will capture a fleeting feeling or moment in time. The second half of the program is devoted to Beethoven.
The Elements Quartet is dedicated to communicating the excitement of chamber music to contemporary audiences of all ages. Founded in the summer of 1999, the ensemble has already won acclaim for its passionate performances and dynamic programs. The quartet's repertoire ranges from popular masterpieces to neglected treasures, and from Baroque classics to newly commissioned works by today's most celebrated composers - an eclectic and expansive view of the quartet literature that is unified by the group's keen musicianship and its fresh insights into how chamber music can connect with today's listeners.
Called "an important new ensemble" by the composer David Del Tredici, the Elements Quartet is a partnership of highly skilled musicians. In contrast to some quartets, which form when their players are students, the four musicians of the Elements Quartet enjoyed successful individual careers in major international orchestras and distinguished chamber-music ensembles before their mutual love for the quartet sound brought them together. The Quartet carries forward a long chamber music tradition, having studied with members of the Cleveland, Tokyo, Juilliard, and Guarneri quartets.
The Elements Quartet selected its name for its evocative musical and metaphysical associations. The ancient Greeks saw Air, Earth, Water, and Fire as the elements that formed the natural world. Scientists of the 20th Century defined the cosmos with the Table of Elements. Today's researchers are exploring our elements in the Human Genome Project. In a string quartet, each member contributes a unique musical, human, and creative element that knits together to form a seamless whole. All of these definitions merge to form the artistic vision of the Elements Quartet. Like the word, Elements has a multiplicity of meanings and messages, yet always seeks to find the irreducible core-the basic material that is universal to us all.
Members of the Elements Quartet are Evan Mirapaul, violin; Peter Seidenberg, cello; Jeffrey Multer, violin; and Danielle Farina, violin.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and $5 for students. All seating is general admission and group rates are available. For more information, call the performing arts box office at 859-4331 and leave a message.
