TONIGHT! Cypress String Quartet Calls. Jeffery Cotton Responds

Cecily BETTER wear those boots tonight.

Those of you who went to my recital last month (and also read the program notes) know that one of the primary inspirations for composing my string quartet came from my friendship with Cecily Ward from the Cypress String Quartet. The Cypress is unique in their commitment to the existing repertoire while providing a steady stream of new commissions for the genre. Their Call and Response program is a perfect embodiment of that ethos. They commission a composer to ‘respond’ to a piece (or pieces) already in the canon, thus creating a new work which has an explicit connection to a tradition. (The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is doing something similar with theirĀ “New Brandenburg” project.)

This year’s composer is Jeffery Cotton and the premiere is tonight. I desperately want to go, but my a cappella group is having call backs at my house, so it’s kinda urgent that I’m there. Sigh.

Tonight: 5/5/2011
Cypress String Quartet
Herbst Theater (SF)
8pm (pre concert talk 7:15)