Bridge Piano Quartet – Sunday, July 1 at 4 pm
Bridge Piano Quartet
Cynthia Baehr, violin; Eleanor Angel, viola; Kristen Garbeff, cello; Kumiko Uyeda, piano
W. A. Mozart Piano Quartet in E-flat major, K. 493
Frank Bridge Phantasy for Piano Quartet, H. 94
Chad Cannon Gateway: Stories from Angel Island World Premiere
The Bridge Piano Quartet is honored to present the world premiere by noted composer Chad Cannon’s Gateway: Stories from Angel Island for piano quartet, narrator, butoh dance, and electronics. Chad Cannon’s numerous commissions and collaborations include the Czech Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Essex Museum, Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, Farallon Quintet, and with this world premiere—the Bridge Piano Quartet. Also a cultural activist, Chad Cannon has collaborated with young artists in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the U.S. (among other countries) as founder of the Asia/America New Music Institute. When the Bridge Piano Quartet approached Chad with a commission to write a work focused on the struggles faced by immigrants and refugees, Chad straightaway decided on an idea to incorporate the poetry etched on the walls by Chinese immigrants who were detained at Angel Island immigration center, which for much of the early 20th century served as a detention and deportation center in a prison-like atmosphere. The Bridge Piano Quartet introduces this new work as a timely reminder of unjust socio-political policies within the current immigration crisis. The program also includes Mozart’s enduring Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493 and the British composer Frank Bridge’s (who is one inspiration for our name) Phantasy for Piano Quartet, H. 94, a work completed in 1910 and which won the Cobbett Chamber Music Competition.