Plan Your Evening: The Juilliard Quartet

 

View this email in your browser The Juilliard String Quartet is Almost Here! Monday, March 30 — don’t miss the exciting conclusion to our 65th Anniversary season at Carnegie Music Hall with the ensemble that started it all! It’s almost time to return to Oakland for another evening of incredible music making. Plan your evening accordingly and make dinner reservations nearby at Butterjoint, Alibaba or The Union Grill, maybe even take a stroll through the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History. Still need a ticket? Click the button below! GET TICKETS! Composer Profile: Michelle Barzel Ross Be among the first to hear a new string quartet by American composer Michelle Barzel Ross Ross is a GRAMMY™ Award-winning violinist, composer, and improviser, whose music-making has been hailed as "affecting" (The New Yorker), "gorgeous" (The New York Times), and "nobly shaped and impeccably sustained" (The San Francisco Chronicle).   Birds on the Moon was commissioned by Chamber Music Napa Valley exclusively for The Juilliard String Quartet. As the composer explains, “I conceived this piece during the winter months, and it was during my walks, peering into trees where I searched for invisible singing birds, I recorded their bird calls and transcribed them when I got home. I began to observe their patterns in flight and noticed that at sunset and sunrise their songs were the loudest.” The work is spread across five movements that flow together without interruption. Ross describes it as a “poetic labyrinth.” Certain themes are borrowed from Bach’s Prelude BWV 852 (which will also be heard on this program, immediately preceding Ross’ work), the Fuga from Beethoven’s piano sonata, Op. 110 and droning textures heard in Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132. With regard to the mysterious title of the work, Ross says, “I became obsessed with the idea of gravity  affecting each of the players differently, and the phrase ‘birds on the moon’ appeared in my mind. To my delight, this phrase revealed itself to be equal parts riddle and poetry: throughout history, philosophers, poets, amateur astronomers questioned whether birds indeed migrated to the moon in winter. And so, the title of my quartet Birds on the Moon alludes to a metaphysical and impossible journey.” March Madness (Chamber Music Edition): Test Your Knowledge! In preparation for our upcoming 2026-2027 MainStage Live season announcement (watch this space!), we’re offering hints to six of the composers whose music will be featured next season.  Respond to this email with any correct answer and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free MainStage Live season subscription!