This program will be added as the opening concert in an expanded Sierra Chamber Society six-concert series in 2020-21, exact date TBD.
On Sunday March 15, 2020 at 3 PM, the Sierra Chamber Society will present the world premiere of its commission of “Contrapassos for Soprano and String Quartet,” a new work by American composer Robert Sirota in collaboration with librettist Stevan Cavalier, who is the Sierra Chamber Society’s pianist and director. The premiere will feature the Naumburg award-winning Telegraph String Quartet, with soprano Abigail Fischer, whom the New York Times calls “luminous” and the Boston Globe “mesmerizing. A past president of the Peabody Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music, Sirota now composes full-time. Recently Sirota was celebrated in a program dedicated his work at Merkin Hall in New York City, launching a year of international premieres and performances called “Sirota@70.” Sierra Chamber Society director and Mr. Sirota's librettist in the new work it has commissioned, Stevan Cavalier fell in love with Mr. Sirota’s music during the Sierra Chamber Society's West Coast premiere of his third string quartet, “Wave upon Wave,” which was commissioned by the Naumburg International Chamber Music competition for the Telegraph String Quartet as part of its prize as first place winners. "Wave upon Wave" received its East Coast premiere at Carnegie Hall to rave reviews, and the Sierra Chamber Society presented its West Coast premiere several months later. Dr. Cavalier calls Sirota’s work “visionary.” “Robert writes in a dedicated manner for specific individuals, often those he knows will be performed the Telegraph String Quartetorming it. This results in especially canny and committed performances that speak with authenticity and power to a broad array of listeners. I am truly honored to have collaborated with this esteemed and brilliant musical creator.” The Telegraph String Quartet will feature Ms. Fischer in Arnold Schoenberg’s rarely performed, late tonal work of German Romanticism, his String Quartet Op. 10 No 2, noted for its inclusion of poetry by the German Expressionist Stefan Georg. The Telegraph String Quartet will conclude with Beethoven’s favorite string quartet, the colossal No. 14 Op. 131 in C-sharp minor, about which Schubert famously commented, “After that, what is left for the rest of us to write?”