JACK Quartet

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Stephen Poff

JACK

Friday, May 8, Memorial Union Shannon Hall, 8 pm

This award-winning string quartet is renowned for thrilling live performances, imbuing new and old compositions with creativity and panache. Expect nothing less at these two shows, which feature Georg Friedrich Haas’ “In the Dark” String Quartet No. 3 on Thursday and the world premiere of “Creature Quartet” by UW-Madison’s own Laura Schwendinger on Friday. ALSO: Thursday, May 7, Memorial Union Play Circle, 8 pm.

press release:

The JACK Quartet are coming to Madison, bringing exciting and unusual new music classical music. Join in the fun Thursday, May 7 at 8 p.m. in the Fredric March Play Circle when they play "In the Dark,” String Quartet No. 3 by Georg Friedrich Haas, or Friday, May 8 at 8 p.m. in Shannon Hall when they present the World Premiere of  “Creature Quartet” by Laura Schwendinger, UW-Madison Professor of Composition. Purchase tickets online or call the Box Office at 608-265-ARTS (2787). Tickets can be purchased at the box office in the Wisconsin Union Theater or at Vilas Hall (entrance on East Campus Mall, 821 University Avenue). Ticket prices are as follows. “In the Dark”: General Public: $15, Wisconsin Union Members & Non UW-Madison Students: $12, UW-Madison Faculty & Staff: $13, UW-Madison Student (with ID): $10. Creature Quartet: $15. UW-Madison Student (with ID) tickets are $10.

Playing “In the Dark,” by Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas, the quartet delivers a “mind-blowingly good” show, according to the Los Angeles Times. This concert is performed in complete darkness, inviting the audience to truly listen and abandon all sense of time and space.

In keeping with the quartet’s mission to introduce new musical works, the group will present the world premiere of “Creature Quartet” Friday night. The show was composed by Laura Schwendinger, a professor of composition at our own UW-Madison. The piece includes four larger movements framed by smaller ones, in acknowledgement of different extinct, endangered or mythical creatures. This concert is accompanied by animation, created by French artist Pauline Ganiarre.

Each performance highlights the JACK Quartet’s innovative and daring techniques and their commitment to new classical music. Since attending Eastman School of Music in New York, the JACK Quartet has performed at major venues across the world, including New York’s Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall. The quartet has held workshops at universities across the country. The JACK Quartet operates as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the performance and spread of new string quartet music.

These performances are presented by the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Performing Arts Committee and supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. Media sponsor is WORT, 89.9 FM.