For their first-ever appearance at Old First Concerts, the talented Sierra Quartet showcases two composers whose work bursts with energy: Eleanor Alberga and Béla Bartók. Jamaican-born Eleanor Alberga’s compact, masterful String Quartet No. 2 (1994) is driven by interlocking dance rhythms and demonstrates the composer’s synesthetic approach to sound color. Discussing her influences three years earlier she said, “I played the guitar and sang with Jamaican folk singers for quite a few years, and the first composer I really fell in love with was Bartók ... because he had those things in common, he was very interested in folk music.” Hungarian-born Béla Bartók was indeed interested in Eastern European folk music, and by 1928 when he composed his formidable and fast-paced String Quartet No. 4, he was skillfully incorporating folk influences into the sonic architecture of art music, paving the way to Alberga and beyond. A quartet by Franz Joseph Haydn kicks off the program on a cheerful note. For more information, please visit www.sierraquartet.com.