The yearlong Ithaca College Concerts season “Extreme Chamber Music” will continue on Friday, February 2 with a concert featuring the Grammy-winning Turtle Island String Quartet and the Assad Brothers Guitar Duo. Titled “String Theory,” the performance will begin at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. Master classes with both ensembles are slated for 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3, in the Hockett Family Recital Hall and Nabenhauer Recital Room.
In addition to performing separately, the ensembles will together play music that members of the respective ensembles have composed or arranged especially for their fellow performers. Selections will include Chick Corea’s “No Mystery,” Astor Piazzola’s “Verano Porteno,” some Balkan folk music arranged by Clarice Assad, and original compositions “African” by Sérgio Assad and “Darkness Dreaming” by David Balakrishnan.
Individual ticket prices are as follows:
* Children, senior citizens, and Ithaca College students—$11
* Ithaca College alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators; Friends of Ithaca College; other students—$19
* General public—$22
Tickets are available at the Ticket Center at Clinton House, (607) 273-4497 or (800) 284-8422.
In 2006—21 years after its inception—the Turtle Island String Quartet won Best Classical Crossover Album with “4 + four,” a collaboration with the Ying Quartet. Deriving its name from creation mythology found in Native American folklore, Turtle Island has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings. By fusing the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary American musical styles and devising a performance practice that honors both, the ensemble has redefined the state of its art.
Turtle Island has made forays into folk, bluegrass, swing, be-bop, funk, R&B, rock, hip-hop as well as music of Latin America and India, and the group’s repertoire consists of hundreds of ingenious arrangements and originals. In addition to over a dozen recordings on labels such as Windham Hill, Chandos, and Telarc, Turtle Island has recorded soundtracks for major motion pictures along with TV and radio credits for “The Today Show,” “All Things Considered,” and “Prairie Home Companion.”
Brazilian-born brothers Sergio and Odair Assad have set the benchmark for all other guitarists by creating a new standard of guitar innovation, ingenuity and expression. Their exceptional artistry and uncanny ensemble playing come from both a family rich in Brazilian musical tradition and from studies with the best guitarists in South America. In addition to setting new performance standards, the Assads have played a major role in creating and introducing new music for two guitars. They have worked extensively with such renowned artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Fernando Suarez Paz, Paquito D’Rivera, and Dawn Upshaw.
The Assads’ repertoire includes original music composed by Sergio Assad and his reworkings of folk and jazz music as well as Latin music of almost every style. Their standard classical repertoire includes transcriptions of the great Baroque keyboard literature of Bach, Rameau and Scarlatti as well as adaptations of works by such diverse figures as Gershwin, Ginastera and Debussy. Their programs are always a compelling blend of styles, periods and cultures.
For more information about both groups, visit www.ithaca.edu/music/guestartists. For more information on Ithaca College Concerts, call (607) 274-3717.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20070129102433739