The String Orchestra of Brooklyn‘s annual String Theories Festival focuses on music for strings written in the 21st century. This year’s festival opens with a double bill of chamber ensembles that push the boundaries of traditional chamber music to include influences of jazz, noise, and metal.

Gabriel Zucker presents the first full performance of his England suite. A wide-ranging set of compositions grounded in chamber music but with elements of improvisation, folk song, and live electronic manipulation, Zucker originally conceived of the suite while living in the UK. The music comprises a portion of Zucker’s Leftover Beats From The Edges Of Time, a nearly two-hour epic work for his large ensemble The Delegation. Portions of the suite were premiered in a solo recital at Weill Hall in 2017; this concert marks the work’s first complete performance.

Featuring:
Gabriel Zucker: piano
Joanna Mattrey: viola
Meaghan Burke: cello
Yuma Uesaka: clarinet
Nolan Tsang: trumpet
Kate Gentile: drums

SEVEN)SUNS includes:
Amanda Lo: violin
Earl Maneein and Fung Chern Hwei: violin and viola
Jennifer DeVore: cello

SEVEN)SUNS is a string quartet that plays dystopian music rooted in the language of avant metal and hardcore. Our repertoire is drawn from works by the members of the group, re-imagined string quartet versions of metal and hardcore songs, as well as music from the Western art music tradition that we decide fits our sound/time/place.

Gabriel Zucker is a pianist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist from New York, whose work combines maximalist compositions with the progressive improvisation of New York’s creative music scene. His music has received two ASCAP composition awards, and was awarded 4.5 stars in Downbeat. A Yale graduate and Rhodes Scholar, Zucker has performed throughout New York at such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Jazz Gallery as well as in 18 countries around the world.