Calder Quartet & Sō Percussion

The Performing Artists Series is underwritten in part by The Reading Eagle and WEEU 830 AM.

"This was as musically wild an evening as I ever had..." New Haven Advocate

What does a percussion quartet and a string quartet sound like together? Come find out in this wild concert with two of the fastest rising chamber quartets in contemporary classical music. The program will feature works for the separate quartets as well as several new masterworks for both groups combined.

The Calder Quartet:

...named after famous sculptor Alexander Calder, this string quartet continues to expand its unique array of projects by performing traditional quartet repertoire as well as partnering with innovative modern composers. The quartet has worked with and performed with pivotal modern composers such as Terry Riley, Christopher Rouse and Thomas Adès to indie rock bands including The Airborne Toxic Event, Vampire Weekend and party rocker Andrew WK.  In 2009 the group won the ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award in recognition of its exciting programming and collaborations.

Recent highlights include performances at New Haven's International Festival of Arts and Ideas; Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Green Umbrella Series, in concert with Grammy-winning pianist Gloria Cheng at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Performance highlights in the 2010-2011 season include the group's Carnegie Hall debut, the Washington Performing Arts Society, The Calder Quartet toured across North America with Andrew W.K. and The Airborne Toxic Event this past year and has been featured on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, the Late Show with David Letterman, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel, and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Sō Percussion:

...called an “experimental powerhouse” by the Village Voice, “astonishing and entrancing” by Billboard Magazine, and “brilliant” by the New York Times, So Percussion’s innovative work with today’s most exciting composers and their own original music has quickly helped them forge a unique and diverse career.

Sō Percussion has performed their unusual and exciting music all over the United States, with concerts at the Lincoln Center Festival, Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Stanford Lively Arts, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and many others. With an audiences comprised of "both kinds of blue hair... elderly matron and arty punk" (as the Boston Globe described it), Sō Percussion makes a rare and wonderful breed of music that both compels instantly and offers rewards for engaged listening.