8:30pm.

You can watch the livestream HERE.

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On September 20 at 8:30 PM, Constellation’s Frequency Series presents the Formosa Quartet in a genre-defying program featuring the world premiere of Stridulation, a new work for string quartet and narration created by critically acclaimed Chicago cellist/composer Katinka Kleijn. Part of the Formosa Quartet’s American Mirror Project, which explores questions of history, identity, and the meaning of "America" through personal reflections collected from local communities, Stridulation offers different angles of juxtaposition between these collected texts and the concepts of reflection and mirroring, utilizing sonified words and rhythm of speech, internal processes for improvisation, composed sound forms, and the physicality of vibration and amplification. Stridulation takes its inspiration from crickets — some of Earth's first sound communicators — and the fascinating periodicity of their song: how it affects our physical ear canal and psyche, how their files and scrapers resemble the bow and string of a string instrument, a vocal chord and its breath, and how their nightly song can offer a sonic bird's-eye perspective. Amid diverse reflections about America, the crickets return each night — periodic, impartial, ancient. 

The evening concludes with A Formosa Quartet Set, a shape-shifting collection of FQ's folk, pop, jazz, and poetry arrangements alongside original compositions. Curated especially for each performance, the Set is like a flight of desserts after a main course, inviting you to tap your toes, "let down your hair," and enjoy the string quartet medium in somewhat less-conventional contexts. The tunes? They're announced from the stage. Come for the world premiere. Stay for the surprises.

FORMOSA QUARTET

David Bernat, violin

Jasmine Lin, violin

Matthew Cohen, viola

Deborah Pae, cello

https://www.formosaquartet.com/the-quartet