With Strings Attached - SFChoral Artists meet Alexander String Quartet May 7, 2011

"Ravishingly seductive and beautiful"
Paul Chihara, composer, about Clair de Lune, his new love song for chamber choir and string quartet, inspired by French Impressionism

For this groundbreaking collaboration of San Francisco Choral Artists with The Alexander String Quartet, major new commissioned works by sought-after American composers Paul Chihara, Michael Gandolfi, and Veronika Krausas are paired with the romantic outpourings of Brahms's Quartets Op. 92 (in a lush new transcription for chamber choir and string quartet) and Beethoven's stately and tender Elegischer Gesang. San Francisco Choral Artists' Artistic Director Magen Solomon, a strong advocate for bringing new music to the concert stage, is thrilled to work with the composers: "All of them have been incredibly excited about the opportunity to write for chamber chorus and string quartet - a non-standard, but beautiful combination. And I see happy coincidences: there are elements in Krausas' piece, and elements in Chihara's piece, that, in their own way, mirror elements of the Brahms Quartets."

"When I think about San Francisco I think about ballet, and since Verlaine's Clair de Lune (Moonlight) poem is also about dancing, it was inevitable I would pick this." Paul Chihara (a former composer-in-residence for the San Francisco Ballet) has had a unique connection with French Impressionism ever since he was a student in Paris and discovered the music of Ravel, Poulenc, and Debussy through his teacher Nadia Boulanger. Recently, he has been writing music with the same titles as Debussy's works (Arabesques, 2009; Images, 2008; An afternoon on the Perfume River, 2005). So for this special commission, it was only fitting to refer to Debussy's most popular composition - Clair de Lune. "But," stresses Chihara, "it is more about Verlaine's poem than about Debussy's music"

Meet composers Chihara, Gandolfi and Krausas 45 minutes before the start time of each concert.

Official Website: http://www.sfca.org