Fantasy and Dance - String Quartet Inspired by Uyghur Music
Heather Braun, Rose Drucker, violins
Daniel Doña, viola, Agnes Kim, cello
The Arneis Quartet Praised for their “beautiful sound” (Beijing Global Times) the Arneis Quartet is proving to be one of the finest emerging ensembles of its generation. “As a relatively young quartet, they have already achieved something it often takes years to develop: a unique, collective sound which is as warm and full of sparkle as liquid gold.” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) Playfully named after the Arneis grape—a varietal that is difficult to grow, but which yields an exquisite white wine— the Boston-based quartet was hand-picked by the St. Lawrence String Quartet for its inaugural John Lad Prize, which included debuts on the Stanford University Lively Arts series and Music on Main in Vancouver. Arneis Quartet received a fellowship at the Aspen Center for Advanced String Quartet Studies for the summer of 2012, and acted as the 2011 Young Artist Fellows for the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.
Fantasy and Dance is inspired by dance music of the Uyghur people, who are a Turkish minority group living in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. Music and dance is an important aspect to their culture and their traditional music is often lively and rhythmic. I particularly enjoy the sounds of their music and hope to explore them in this string quartet. Fantasy and Dance is not an exact imitation of their style; rather, I hope to transfer the same vibrant energy to the string quartet ensemble.
Performed at Boston University College of Fine Arts Concert Hall