Haydn’s Op. 76 No. 1 in G Major — nicknamed “Jack-in-the-box” — opens the program with a labile mood ranging from boisterous fun to prayerful pathos. From that taste of the early days of the string quartet, we move to more recent works that continue to stretch the definition of what four string instruments can sound like. Voodoo Dolls by Jessie Montgomery features the rhythms of West African drumming overlaid with lyrical chant and improvisation. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas uses extended techniques to create the sounds of the Andes mountains: panpipes, flutes, running messengers, mourning women. Frank has described how writing the piece helped her find her voice in the composition world, where she is able to pull together South American folkloric traditions and classical techniques to create music that creates an amazing sense of place. Each of these pieces subverts expectations and exhibits its composer’s “out of the box” thinking, and our encore, Maniacal Swing, is about as far out of the staid, buttoned-up stereotypical box as one minute of classical music can get.

This is a ticketed event, but is FREE for all full-time students. Please bring your valid student ID for admission.