Out of the dozens of new pieces that will receive premieres in the Bay Area this season, one of the least noted, but potentially most exciting is the Calder Quartet introducing Christopher Rouse's third string quartet at Stanford Lively Arts on Wednesday. Rouse was last in the Bay Area for the 2008 premiere of his Concerto for Orchestra at the Cabrillo Festival and that work earned him Musical America's Composer of the Year award.
You may also have seen the PBS telecast of his ballet, Friandises. And while orchestral commissions keep filling his inbox, Rouse's deeply personal, high-energy musical language also suits the string quartet medium. The Calder Quartet, co-founders of the Carlsbad Music Festival, is a fantastic California-based group that seems game for anything. Their concerts have rarely been called boring, and tthis performance might have you on the edge of your seat.