Sonic Illinois: Jupiter String Quartet with Chungliang Al Huang, Tai Ji master

The pairing of music and movement inspired this program by the quartet-in-residence at the University of Illinois. R. Murray Schafer’s String Quartet No. 6, “Parting the Wild Horse’s Mane” builds upon the series of 108 movements of the Chinese martial art Tai Ji. Joining the quartet for this work and for Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for String Quartet is Tai Ji master Chungliang Al Huang, who has been called “a master in the arts of living” and “a sage for the modern age.” A celebrated author and globally respected keynote speaker as well as dancer, choreographer, calligrapher, and philosopher, Huang and his wife, Suzanne Pierce, performed in Krannert Center’s inaugural events and were the Center’s very first artists-in-residence, and for years he has called Champaign-Urbana home. The program also features Claude Debussy’s only string quartet, and selected tangos by Astor Piazzolla, embodied by on-stage dance choreographed by Dance at Illinois professor Rebecca Nettl-Fiol.

Stravinsky: Three Pieces for String Quartet (with Chungliang Al Huang)
Schafer: String Quartet No. 6, “Parting the Wild Horse’s Mane” (with Chungliang Al Huang)
Debussy: String Quartet
Piazzolla: Libertango and Oblivion tangos

Sonic Illinois

Through Sonic Illinois, Krannert Center and the School of Music collaboratively explore the tremendous diversity of today’s vital contemporary music scene—a revival of the spirit of the University of Illinois Festival of Contemporary Arts, which was a major cultural force in the mid-20th century. Sonic Illinois, a month-long celebration of new music, honors innovative creators who challenge convention, forge pathways, and expand the creative process.