GROOVE - getting it on since 1728

We love to weave together the past and present in surprising ways, and our concert November 18th at the 560 Music Center celebrates this with toe-tapping goodness.

More about this program: 

Representing the rich musical history of  the Caribbean, Jamaican composer Peter Ashbourne opens the program with his lively string quartet Jamaica Folk.

Blake Hernton

St. Louis composer, performer and educator Blake Hernton, also known as Concert Black, incorporates elements of classical, jazz and hip-hop in his “new-age instrumental” style. Chamber Project St. Louis will give the World Premiere of expanded versions of music from his debut EP “Concert Black” as part of our Commissioning Project, now in its seventh year! 

The only confirmed portrait of Vivaldi by François Morellon la Cave

Nearly 300 years ago Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi compiled a set of concertos for the flute, perhaps the first significant set of music for this predecessor of the modern flute that was being developed in Europe.  Vivaldi wrote an astonishing amount of music in his lifetime, and the flute concerto “La notte” is one of his most popular pieces.  A driving rhythmic element is one of the main characteristics of his sound, linking it to the more modern works on this program and linking us back to what the people of Venice were listening to 300 years ago.

Grammy award-winning American composer Libby Larsen’s Barn Dances is a piece we performed frequently in our first years as an ensemble. Inspired by specific steps in cowboy dances, each movement of this music for flute, clarinet and piano expresses a playful take on this uniquely American music. 

Directly inspired by the traditional folk music of the Romanian ensemble Taraf de Haidouks, St. Louis composer Christopher Woehr arranged this wildly expressive, complex and rhythmically oriented music for clarinet and string quartet in 2012. Bringing back an audience favorite for our 15th Season, Roma Suite will bring GROOVE to a rousing conclusion.