The Momenta Quartet brings an adventurous musical spirit to Hancock, pairing contemporary works with compelling music from the recent and distant past. Their appearance will mark our first connection with our MacDowell neighbors. Stephanie Griffin, the violist, along with the rest of the quartet, will premiere the work that she composed this past season while she was a fellow at MacDowell. How fitting that it will be heard for the first time under the watchful “ear” of Monadnock! The Washington Post’s Patrick Rucker wrote, “They unleashed a veritable firestorm of intensity…inhabited every note…combined brilliant virtuosity with the utmost sympathy and unity.”
The Momenta Quartet
Momenta—the plural of momentum—captures the spirit of four musicians moving toward a common goal. Based in New York City, the Momenta Quartet pairs contemporary music from across the aesthetic spectrum with compelling works from the classical canon. The ensemble has premiered more than 200 works, collaborated with over 250 living composers, and been praised by The New York Times for its “diligence, curiosity and excellence.”
Momenta has performed at the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery, and Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, and has held residencies at universities and conservatories throughout the United States. The quartet has received support from Chamber Music America and the Koussevitzky, Jerome, and Barlow Foundations.
Its recordings include Similar Motion and the critically acclaimed Alvin Singleton: Four String Quartets. Momenta is also recording the complete string quartets of Mexican composer and microtonal innovator Julián Carrillo for Naxos Records. Learn more at momentaquartet.com.
(Photos by John Gurrin & Nana Shi)