Friction Quartet, recipient of the 2012 Berkeley Piano Club Emerging Artist Award, has established a reputation for edgy programming and exhilarating performance. Ever since Friction Quartet’s performance at the 2012 Hot Air Music Festival, where Examiner.com’s Stephen Smoliar hailed the quartet’s performance of John Adams’ String Quartet as “with energetic gusto” and with “no shortage of wit,” Friction has been inundated with requests from composers throughout California to perform their new works for the string quartet medium. Through artistic collaboration in varied mediums, the commissioning of new works, crossing into genres outside of classical music, adding movement to performances, and incorporating mixed medias, Friction Quartet creates a progressive and inviting concert atmosphere that attracts audiences of all ages and interests.
Friction Quartet’s residency at the Culver Center of the Arts includes an exciting public master class where UCR student composer works will be read and workshopped. Not only are these sessions an invaluable resource for student composers, but also offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative process for general audiences. Here, new playing techniques are tested, phrasing and dynamics evaluated, and interactive electronics, a hallmark of the UCR Music Department’s digital composition program, are fine-tuned. In this environment, the group will have a direct dialogue with composers that transcend the printed notes on the page.
More info: http://www.frictionquartet.com