The Westport Arts Center's innovative Composers Project, a series of concerts and conversations that analyze and introduce new musical compositions, continues its mission this Friday, April 4, 2008 at the Seabury Center at 8:00 p.m. This year's Artists in Residence, the Antares quartet made up of cellist Rebecca Patterson, pianist Eric Huebner, clarinetist Garrick Zoeter and violinist Jesse Mills, will discuss and perform an interesting array of pieces.
Since this chamber music group derived its name from the brightest star of the Scorpius constellation, its musical goal is to foster change and search for new concepts and meanings to old formats and works. It strives to play the standards of earlier times along with the novel and unique works of the 20th and 21st centuries. The flexibility and malleability of this ensemble allows it to either add or delete players and span much of the chamber music repertoire. With its innovative interpretation, style and technique, it became the first prize winner of the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition.
Friday's performance features Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Trio in E-flat, James Matheson's Anatomy of Melanchony, Mason Bates' Red River, Bela Bartok's Contrasts and James Matheson's Buzz. The works of James Matheson, a 2000 Guggenheim Foundation fellowship recipient, have been played by the Chicago, Seattle, and Albany Symphonies, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at the Aspen, Santa Fe and Spoleto music festivals.
