COLOR THEORY: PRISM Quartet and Sō Percussion
PRISM — dubbed “one of America’s finest saxophone quartets for three decades” by The New Yorker — partners with the groundbreaking Sō Percussion to present new works combining saxophones with a breathtaking range of percussion instruments.
WHAT IS “COLOR THEORY?”
Color Theory is a music project inspired by science and the visual arts. In the 1670s, Sir Isaac Newton discovered the origin of color by shining a beam of light through a prism, splitting it into the colors of a rainbow. Throughout the centuries, visual artists have developed a body of knowledge (color theory) about mixing pigments to create color combinations that provoke powerful emotional responses. PRISM and Sō, in their first-ever collaboration, are using the idea of “color” as a framework to explore the spectra that make up instrumental sound and pioneer new possibilities of orchestration.
The program includes the jazz/rock-influenced “Blue Notes and Other Clashes” by Steven Mackey and a new arrangement of Donnacha Dennehy’s “The Pale.” Mackey, who previously composed masterful works for both ensembles separately, created the first octet combining saxophone and percussion quartets. In his program notes, Mackey describes “Blue Notes” as a search for “unusual hues” and “fascination with the right wrong notes – the note that hurts so good” to achieve “some sort of crippled grace, and rough beauty.” Dennehy’s work is a musical imagining of the area encompassing Dublin called the Pale, where British rule was at its strongest in the 14th century. According to Dennehy, “they even protected this area with ditches and fences to keep the barbarous, thuggish Irish out—the great unwashed were, as the phrase became, ‘beyond the pale.’” Also on the program: Sō performs Suzanne Farrin’s “A Diamond in a Square,” and PRISM performs “Night Music” by Emma O’Halloran, “Tarnish” by Nina C. Young, and “Fearful Symmetries,” by John Adams, arr. Tim McAllister.
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BEHIND-THE-SCENES PHOTOS
Behind-the-scenes photos: concert
Behind-the-scenes photos: recording session
COLOR THEORY BOOKING INFORMATION
PRISM Quartet
Matthew Levy, Executive Director
PRISM Quartet, Inc.
(215) 438-5282
matt at prismquartet dot com
So Percussion
Rob Robbins, President
Alliance Artist Management
(212) 304-3538
rob at allianceartistmanagement dot com
PROGRAM
Blue Notes and Other Clashes (2016) by Steven Mackey (b. 1956)
PRISM Quartet and So Percussion
The Pale (2003/16) by Donnacha Dennehy (b. 1970)
PRISM Quartet and So Percussion
Fearful Symmetries (1988) by John Adams (b. 1947), arr. Tim McAllister+
PRISM Quartet
Tarnish (2019) by Nina C. Young (b. 1984)
PRISM Quartet
Night Music (2014) by Emma O’Halloran (b. 1985)+
PRISM Quartet
A Diamond in a Square (2019) by Suzanne Farin (b. 1976)
So Percussion
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Original support for Color Theory was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Additional support came from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University; New Music USA; the National Endowment for the Arts; and Conn-Selmer, Inc.
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Steven Mackey
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Suzanne Farrin
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Donnacha Dennehy
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Nina C. Young
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John Adams
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Emma O'Halloran
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Timothy McAllister, Zach Shemon, and Josh Quillen
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Matthew Levy, Taimur Sullivan, and Jason Treuting
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