Programs

Formosa Quartet’s American Mirror program…

encourages our audience to examine common and sometimes narrow assumptions about American music. What defines music as “American”? What does American music sound like? What do American composers look like? This program is colored by the vivid sounds of disparate American eras and landscapes, and by the peoples who are integral to but often overlooked in American society. Some of the pieces will be drawn from well-known repertoire while others will likely be unfamiliar. Inspired by Derrick Skye’s American Mirror — a piece that represents the ongoing amalgamation of cultures in the U.S., including refugees, immigrants, enslaved peoples, and Indigenous peoples who have always called this place their home — our program takes our audience on a journey through the complex, rich history of American music, thus holding a mirror to the sound of America today.

The Formosa Quartet has presented variables of its “American Mirror” program at Hume Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Freer Gallery at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, Art of Élan, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, and the Moores Opera House in Houston.

PROGRAM:

DERRICK SKYE American Mirror Part I
DANA WILSON Mirror for String Quartet and Narration
—
AMERICAN ROADMAP*
DERRICK SKYE American Mirror Part II

*A selection of iconic songs that shaped American popular music and culture arranged by some of today’s most celebrated composers. Selections do not appear on printed program and will be announced from the stage.

The Formosa Quartet Set…

is an assortment of shorts from the FQ’s collection of folk, pop, jazz, and poetry arrangements. Curated especially for each concert, our Set is like a flight of desserts after a main course, offering a chance for audiences to “let their hair down”, tap their toes, and enjoy the string quartet medium in somewhat less-conventional contexts. Poetry inspired by a French grammar book? A #1 pop song from Mexico, Turkey, Nigeria, Ukraine, or Taiwan, translated into quartet-speak? That 40’s tune your grandparents danced to? A musical salute to jazz bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen? Join us for this ride through nostalgia, groove, and whimsy!

PROGRAM:

Please note: The Formosa Quartet Set is often a segment included in a larger string quartet program. Think of it as taking the place of one continuous string quartet piece!

*Selections do not appear on printed program and will be announced from the stage.

HAYDN Quartet Op 77 No 1 in G major [OR] BEETHOVEN Quartet Op 18 No 1 in F major
A FORMOSA QUARTET SET*
- Minor Swing (arr. Grappelli/Jasmine Lin)
- Autumn in New York (arr. Wei-Chieh Lin)
- Dana Wilson: Shakatong
- Nunca es Suficiente (arr. Clancy Newman)
- Dana Wilson: Apart
- Shine (arr. Grappelli/Jasmine Lin)
—
BRAHMS Quartet in A minor

UNPOPPED

PROGRAM 1:

HAYDN Quartet Op 77 No 1 in G major
CLANCY NEWMAN Pop-Unpopped: #1 Songs from Around the World
—
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op 18 No 1 in F major

PROGRAM 2:

BACH Art of the Fugue, Contrapuncti 1-4
GYӦRGY KURTÁG 12 Microludes for String Quartet, Op. 13, Hommage à Mihály András
CLANCY NEWMAN Pop-Unpopped: #1 Songs from Around the World
—
BEETHOVEN Quartet Op 18 No 1 in F major

This program revolves around a new work commissioned by the Formosa Quartet from cellist and composer extraordinaire Clancy Newman. Mr. Newman’s work will comprise a set of six pieces inspired by these hit tunes from around the world and test the boundaries of “string quartet” playing:

  1. Ariana Grande: 7 Rings (USA)

  2. Natalia Lafourcade: Nunca Es Suficiente (Mexico)

  3. Melek Mosso: Keklik Gibi (Turkey)

  4. Kazka: Plakala (Ukraine)

  5. Davido: Assurance (Nigeria)

  6. Jolin Tsai: Ugly Beauty (Taiwan)

More Suggested Combinations

MENDELSSOHN Quartet Op 13 No 2 in A minor
GABRIELLA SMITH Carrot Revolution (2015)
—
SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet No 9

BEETHOVEN Quartet Op 18 No 1 in F major
DINUK WIJERATNE Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems (2015) [OR] GYӦRGY KURTÁG 12 Microludes for String Quartet, Op. 13, Hommage à Mihály András
—
SCHUBERT Quartet “Death and the Maiden” in D minor, D 810

Cello Quintets with Peter Wiley

BACH Art of the Fugue, Contrapuncti 1-4
BOCCHERINI String Quintet in C major, Op. 25 No. 4
—
GLAZUNOV String Quintet Op. 39

After rewarding past collaborations at the Smithsonian, Columbia University, and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, we are once again joined by legendary cellist Peter Wiley in a program virtuosic cello quintets.

Our relationship with Peter goes back to the previous millennium, when some of us worked closely with him at the Marlboro Music Festival and Curtis Institute of Music. Equally close were our relationships with Peter’s Guarneri Quartet colleagues, David Soyer and Michael Tree. Such history and sense of kinship infuses this quintet collaboration with a deep trust and emotional bond, not to mention a priceless collection of no-holds-barred jokes.

Viola Quintets with Hsin-Yun Huang

MENDELSSOHN: String Quintet Op. 87 in B-flat Major
BRITTEN: Phantasy in F Minor for String Quintet
—
BRAHMS: String Quintet No. 1 Op. 88 in F Major

Don't miss this jewel of a program featuring the Formosa Quartet in collaboration with the extraordinary and world-renowned violist Hsin-Yun Huang.

Two glorious widely beloved works, composed at the pinnacle of Mendelssohn's and Brahms' compositional maturity, bookend the program. Sandwiched in between is a subtle, taut, lyrical work by the 19-year-old Britten, written while he was still enrolled at the Royal College of Music. The program achieves an exquisite balance between fiery vitality and reflective revelation while illuminating the rich beauty of the viola string quintet.