Music & the Arts
October 6, 2025 • 1:15 pm Comments Off on JACK Quartet Celebrates Helmut Lachenmann at 90
To celebrate the 90th birthday of German avant-garde composer Helmut Lachenmann, the JACK Quartet perform his three string quartets in a single evening at Columbia’s Miller Theatre – and reflect on their long association with his radical sound world. My interview with the ensemble for The Strad:
Filed under: JACK Quartet, string quartet, The Strad
March 18, 2025 • 12:21 am Comments Off on Pierre Boulez Tribute at Boulez-Saal
Here is my essay on the JACK Quartet’s 20 March program at the Boulez-Saal in Berlin in honor of the Pierre Boulez centenary.
When they initially met as participants in the Lucerne Festival Academy, the members of the JACK Quartet forged a connection with Pierre Boulez, the Academy’s founder, that left a lasting impression. Tonight’s program pays homage to their mentor by juxtaposing excerpts from his landmark Livre pour quatuor with works that resonate with the excitement and idealism that the young Boulez channeled into this radical reimagining of the string quartet.
Filed under: JACK Quartet, Pierre Boulez, Pierre Boulez Saal
October 21, 2019 • 11:27 am Comments Off on JACK and John Luther Adams at the Crypt Sessions
If you happen to be free tonight in New York, the JACK Quartet will introduce John Luther Adams’s new string quartet, Lines Made by Walking, at the Crypt Sessions in its East Coast premiere. It’s a fantastic exploration of the medium. Here’s my review of the world premiere, which the JACKs gave a few months ago at Tippet Rise.
Filed under: JACK Quartet, John Luther Adams, string quartet, Tippet Rise
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MEMETERIA by Thomas May