Beo String Quartet
Friday night, members of the Beo String Quartet will perform Saturn Dreams of Mercury, a brief trio from 2012, at the Charlotte New Music Festival. It’s one of a set of responses I composed to Italo Calvino’s final work, Six Memos for the Next Millenium, in which he sets out his artistic principles. In the chapter on his second principle – quickness – he describes himself as a “Saturn who dreams of being a Mercury,” an older man predisposed to introversion and melancholy who nonetheless aspires to the speed and agility of the young god in winged sandals. The trio counterpoises these two states, connected through dream.
Beo will also be performing new works by John Allemeier, Olivia Kieffer, Elizabeth Kowalski, Jonathan Newmark, David Schneider, and Benjamin Stevenson.
The Charlotte New Music Festival is the brainchild of Elizabeth Kowalski, who has somehow managed, through organizational talent and sheer determination, to turn her vision into an ongoing reality for, I think, five years now. I will be joining other colleagues – John Allemeier, Armando Bayolo, Lansing McLoskey, Marc Mellits and John Fitz Rogers – to work with a host of young composers over the course of two-weeks. In addition to the Beo Quartet, Loadbang and the Great Noise Ensemble will be in residence. More about the festival here.
Info about the concert here.