Jesse Morrison opened our season last year with a solo recital and returns in a new guise with cellist Clare Bradford presenting repertoire that spans a century, from Rebecca Clarke’s Two Pieces (1920) to Tanner Porter’s Under This Breath (2020).  Centering the program is American Haiku by Paul Wiancko, California-based composer and current Kronos Quartet cellist.  This 2014 work explores his heritage and identity, combining American and Japanese folk influences with his classical music training.  The duo has chosen inspired accompanying works that are “standalone explorations of the percussive, folk, and lyric elements in Wiancko’s work.

The heart of this program is Paul Wiancko’s ‘American Haiku’ for viola and cello. This piece is full of rich textures and colors that explore a unique musical language, bridging the gap between tonality, and more esoteric ‘contemporary’ classical music. The pieces we have chosen on this program to accompany ‘American Haiku’ zoom in more closely as standalone explorations of the percussive, folk, and lyric elements in Wiancko’s work. These other works feature composers Rebecca Clarke, José L. Elizondo, Jessica Meyer, Tanner Porter & Caroline Shaw.

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