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Press Releases
PUBLIQuartet Releases New Video for GRAMMY®-Nominated Album, What is American, Filmed Live at National Sawdust
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Salomon | Primo Artists | VP, Public Relations
katy@primoartists.com | 212.837.8466
PUBLIQuartet Releases New Concert Video
for Chart-Topping, GRAMMY®-Nominated Album,
What is American, Filmed Live at National Sawdust
What is American (2022 - Bright Shiny Things) is a Nominee for the
GRAMMY® Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Purchase the Album: www.brightshiny.ninja/what-is-american
Learn More: www.brightshiny.ninja/what-is-american-fyc
Physical and Digital Review Copies Available Upon Request
“My favorite classical album of the year thus far… Never overstuffed, What Is American
contains fun, eclecticism and civic engagement within the length of a single CD.”
– The New York Times
New York, NY (December 13, 2022) — The GRAMMY® Award-nominated PUBLIQuartet today releases a new live concert video of their new Billboard chart-topping album, What is American, a nominee for the GRAMMY® Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Filmed live at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust on November 11, 2022, the film features the PUBLIQuartet in winning arrangements of Dvorák, as well as of Tina Turner’s “Black Coffee” and the Ornette Coleman tunes “Law Years” and “Street Woman;” Vijay Iyer’s string quartet “Dig the Say,” inspired by James Brown; Rhiannon Gidden’s At the Purchaser's Option; Roscoe Mitchell’s CARDS 11.11.20; and PUBLIQuartet’s own Fifth Verse, with lyrics by Oliver Wendell Holmes.
What is American, released June 17, 2022 on Bright Shiny Things (BSTC-0171), explores the resonance between contemporary, blues, jazz, free and rock-inflected music – all of which trace their roots back to the Black and Indigenous music that inspired Dvorak’s “American” String Quartet. Interrogating these traditions of our nation’s complex history, PUBLIQuartet attempts to connect the dots, illuminating the past, present, and future of American concert music. What Is American is ultimately a call to ponder the kaleidoscope of composers and diverse genres that make up America’s rich musical history.
About PUBLIQuartet
Applauded by The Washington Post as “a perfect encapsulation of today’s trends in chamber music,” and by The New Yorker as “independent-minded,” the GRAMMY®-nominated PUBLIQuartet’s modern interpretation of chamber music makes them one of the most dynamic artists of their generation. Dedicated to presenting new works for string quartet, PUBLIQuartet rose on the music scene as winner of the 2013 Concert Artists Guild’s New Music/New Places award, and in 2019 garnered Chamber Music America’s prestigious Visionary Award for outstanding and innovative approaches to contemporary classical, jazz, and world chamber music. PQ’s genre-bending programs range from 20th century masterworks to newly commissioned pieces, alongside re-imaginations of classical works featuring open-form improvisations that expand the techniques and aesthetic of the traditional string quartet.
PUBLIQuartet has served as artist-in-residence at top institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Sawdust and has appeared at a wide variety of venues and festivals, from Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Their latest album, the GRAMMY®-nominated Freedom and Faith, debuted atop the Billboard Classical Charts in May 2019. The 2019-2020 season brings a diverse array of programs to venues across the United States and abroad, including an appearance at the String Quartet Biennale in Amsterdam.
PUBLIQuartet’s commitment to supporting emerging composers inspired their innovative program, PUBLIQ Access, which promotes emerging composers and presents a wide variety of under-represented music for string quartet--from classical, jazz and electronic, to non-notated, world and improvised music. Other unique projects include MIND|THE|GAP, a series of group-composed works developed by PQ to generate interest in new music while also engaging traditional classical music audiences. These unique creations range from “Bird in Paris” (Claude Debussy meets Charlie Parker) to more recent extended works including “What Is American?” (an exploration of Dvorak’s beloved “American” String Quartet) and Sancta Femina (based on themes by three medieval and baroque female composers).
Founded in 2010, PUBLIQuartet is currently based in New York City. Learn more at www.publiquartet.com
What is American Tracklist
Fifth Verse*
1. Prelude
MIND | THE | GAP: What Is American
Improvisations on Antonín Dvorák's String Quartet No. 12, Op. 96 "American"
2. Allegro ma non troppo”
3. Lento
4. Molto vivace
5. Vivace ma non troppo
Rhiannon Giddens
6. At the Purchaser's Option (arr. PUBLIQuartet)
Fifth Verse*
7. Page of Her Story
MIND | THE | GAP: Pavement Pounding Rose
8. Improvisations on “Honeysuckle Rose” by Fats Waller
A’Lelia Bundles, narrator
MIND | THE | GAP: Free Radicals
9. Improvisations on “Law Years” and “Street Woman” by Ornette Coleman
Fifth Verse*
10. Land of the Free
Vijay Iyer – Dig the Say
11. I. carry the ball
12. IIa. this thing together
13. IIb. up from the ground
14. III. to live tomorrow
Fifth Verse*
15. Interlude
Roscoe Mitchell
16. CARDS 11-11-2020
MIND | THE | GAP: Wild Women
Improvisations on:
17. “Black Coffee” by Tina Turner
18. “They Say I'm Different” by Betty Davis
19.“Er Ra” by Alice Coltrane
20. “Wild Women Don't Get the Blues” by Ida Cox
*Fifth Verse music composed by PUBLIQuartet, lyrics by Oliver Wendell Holmes
About National Sawdust
National Sawdust believes that artistic expression empowers us all to create a more joyful and just world.
The organization curates and produces music and artistic works rooted in curiosity, experimentation, innovation, and inclusivity.
National Sawdust presents its work by engaging communities of artists and audiences at its state-of-the-art Williamsburg home and on its digital stage. Learn more at www.nationalsawdust.org.
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WHO'S BLOGGING
Law and Disorder by GG Arts Law
Career Advice by Legendary Manager Edna Landau
An American in Paris by Frank Cadenhead
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