2021/2022 Subscription Series
Delgani I
Echoes of Song
Our season begins with an homage to the human voice, featuring folksong-inspired works from around the world. A set of Antonín Dvořák’s Cypresses, opens the program, which continues with a quartet by Reza Vali, a composer dubbed the “Iranian Bartók” for his use of Persian microtonal scales. The program concludes with folksongs by African-American composer Florence Price and Sergei Prokofiev’s quartet inspired by Kabardinian Themes.
Portland | Salem | Corvallis | Eugene | Virtual
October 2021
Delgani II
Wind in High Places
John Luther Adams’ The Wind in High Places sets the stage for themes of natural wonder, searching, and exaltation. Composed in northern Alaska, the piece evokes a bare, vast, and rocky landscape using only open strings and natural harmonics. Benjamin Britten’s first quartet begins in these upper sororities, before plunging earthbound in this vivacious work filled with human drama. Beethoven’s Op. 132, written near the end of his life, concludes the program. Its slow movement, the “Holy Song of Thanksgiving,” represents Beethoven’s deep gratitude for recovery from a nearly fatal illness.
Portland | Salem | Corvallis | Eugene | Virtual
January 2022
Delgani III
Leyendas
Our third program travels between Spain and Latin America, featuring Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas, a six-part work inspired by the folk music and instruments of the Peruvian Andes. The program opens with an early quartet by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, known in his day as the “Spanish Mozart.” Another Spaniard, Joaquín Turina, stunningly evokes the experience of a bullfighter in La Oración del Torero. The program concludes with Alberto Ginastera’s first quartet, an Argentinian modernist masterpiece.
Portland | Salem | Corvallis | Eugene | Virtual
March 2022
Delgani IV
Dance of Joy
Our season finale continues Delgani’s partnership with Boston composer Elena Ruehr, whose seventh quartet was commissioned and premiered by Delgani in 2020. In this program we feature Ruehr’s vibrant third quartet, which boasts an eclectic array of influences, from Hildegard von Bingen to African dance rhythms. Celebrated quartets by Haydn and Brahms open and close the program, concluding our season with joy in a post-pandemic world!
Portland | Salem | Corvallis | Eugene | Virtual
May 2022