The Ciompi Quartet are joined by members of Kyo-Shin-An Arts for a concert encompassing works by Eastern and Western composers. Opening the concert is Debussy’s Quartet in G Minor, op. 10, inspired by an Indonesian gamelan that the composer heard at the Paris Exposition of 1889. This is followed by Pulitzer Prize-winning Chinese American composer Zhou Long’s meditative Poems from Tang for string quartet, inspired by four poems from China’s Tang dynasty. BBC Music Magazine praised “the sparkling colors of Zhou Long’s unique sound world.” Three musicians from the Kyo-Shin-An Arts collective join the Ciompi for the final work on the program, James Nyoraku Schlefer’s Dream Corner, written for string quartet and Japanese Sankyoku — an ensemble that includes shakuhachi (bamboo end-blown flute), koto (thirteen-string zither), shamisen (three-string lute), and voice.

Debussy: String Quartet in G Minor, op. 10
Zhou Long: Poems from Tang (commissioned by the Ciompi Quartet)
James Nyoraku Schlefer: Dream Corner, for Japanese Sankyoku and String Quartet