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Dvorak, Aminikia & Glass

Delve into three very different ways we can experience “Home.” Coming home, dreaming nostalgic of home, or watching in alarm as our homeland erupts in strife and division. ​

Chiaroscuro

Aminikia, Shostakovich & Reich

Embark on an unforgettable journey which seamlessly weaves storytelling and music.
Program master works including a newly commissioned piece explore the themes of light/dark, sound/silence, and text/music.

The Fertile Crescent: Folk-inspired Music from Persia and Beyond

Haydn, Aminikia, Vali & Bartok

Exotic Folk-inspired chamber music from Persia and beyond.

Romantic Ethos: Three Shades of Romanticism

Dvorak, Barber & Glass

Exploring this concept of romanticism: that raw emotion, passion, and feelings lead us to the deepest understanding of ourselves.  ​

Communitas: Coming Together to Face Chaos

Aminikia, Assadi, Ryther, Taghavi 

Communitas: a group’s unexpected joy in a shared experience.
Music brings us together. Through music we can share an experience that breaks down barriers of race, culture, politics, religion and sect to find our common humanity. The Circadian String Quartet teams up with Iranian-born santour virtuoso Hamid Taghavi in a cross-cultural exchange not to be missed. This concert explores themes of coming together and Yeganegi, or uniting in times of crisis, with music by Reza Vali, Sahba Aminikia, and Hamid Taghavi, representing two generations of Persian-American composers. Weaving through and uniting the program will be Chiaroscuros or short interludes by David Ryther based on poetry by Rumi.

Concerto Lirico

Webern, Barber & Respighi

Lapse into the deeply lyrical music of the Post- and Neo-Romantics.

Songs of Death and Rebirth

Shostakovich, Schubert

Schubert's beloved Death and the Maiden and Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 3 are masterworks which profoundly explore themes of death and rebirth. Connecting these favorites will be Chiaroscuro II, original interludes for string quartet by David Ryther which will use the poetry of Rumi to shed his characteristic mystical light on the subject.

Firebird Rising: 1909

Debussy, Bartôk, Stravinsky

A concert celebrating rebirth and renewal through the music of Claude Debussy, Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky. Join Circadian as we take you back in time to the year 1909, a year that Ford’s Model T cost $850.00, tensions were escalating on the Serbian border with Hungary, and nationalism was on the rise leading eventually to the First World War. San Francisco at this time was being rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake. In Europe, Debussy was the acknowledged leader of the avant-garde and two upstart young composers who felt his influence were making their mark. The 28 year-old Béla Bartók premiered his first string quartet which combined the harmony of Debussy, the counterpoint of J.S. Bach and the bracing rhythmic vitality of the folk music of his native Hungary. Meanwhile, the young, unknown 27 year-old Russian composer, Igor Stravinsky rocketed to fame with the premiere of the Firebird, his first full length ballet composed for the Ballets Russes in 1909 and premiered in 1910. Circadian celebrates this truly transformative time with the world premiere of our own reimagining of Stravinsky’s Firebird, arranged for string quartet, piano and percussion by our very own David Ryther, three piano preludes exuding the magic of Claude Debussy transformed for String quartet and Béla Bartók’s ground-breaking String Quartet No.1 provide rich context for the renaissance of ideas swirling around in 1909. Our exciting guests artists include violinist Roseminna Watson and pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi. This is a program not to miss!

Latin American Walkabout

Ginestera, Lena-Frank, Piazzola, Ryther

A sonic walking tour surveying the passion, natural beauty and infectious rhythms of Latin America through the music of Ginastera, Gabriela Lena Frank, Astor Piazzolla and David Ryther. Soprano Emily Sinclair joins us for Ginastera’s bold and operatic third string quartet. The audience will also be treated to a surround sound version of the Costa Rican rain forest as recreated by our very own David Ryther. In true Circadian fashion the evening will be an intoxicating mix of story, poetry and music to create a multi-valent experience which will transfix and transform you.

Mystic Circles

Aninikia, Vali, Stravinsky

Join the Circadian String Quartet for Mystic Circles, a concert program which explores the mysteries of love, sacrifice and renewal. The ensemble is joined by folk singer Lily Storm and master storyteller Nikolaus Hohmann to create an evening of wonder and sublime beauty with music by Aminikia, Vali, and ending with the Circadian String Quartet’s original reimagination of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

Chiaroscuro: Finding the Light Within the Darkness

Aminikia, Shostakovich

Allow the Circadian String quartet to take you on an unforgettable journey as we team up with master storyteller Nikolaus Hohmann and composer Sahba Aminikia to create an evening which seamlessly weaves storytelling and music. Program masterworks explore the theme of light vs. dark including Shostakovich's harrowing String Quartet No. 8, dedicated to the victims of Fascism, Steve Reich's Different Trains, which incorporates real-life interviews of WWII survivors, and a new piece for narrator and string quartet by Sahba Aminikia featuring the achingly beautiful poetry of Hafez. Connecting these pieces will be stories curated by Nikolaus Hohmann with original musical interludes by David Ryther entitled "Chiaroscuro." Through light/dark, sound/silence, and text/music, a whole experience emerges, greater than the sum of its parts.

Vita Oscura: the Personal meets the Political 

Shostakovich, Verotta, Webern

What happens when global events turn our lives upside down? How do these events intersect with our personal lives, often revealing something fundamental about ourselves? Conversely how can something deeply personal become a globally recognized statement of human expression?  Circadian String Quartet examines these questions with string quartets by Shostakovich, Davide Verrota and Anton Webern. Two of these quartets respond in a very personal way to world events.  Shostakovich’s blistering masterpiece, String Quartet no. 8 is a cathartic and harrowing response to the bombing of Dresden, World War 2, and other repressive political forces that hit close to home. Vita Oscura, a brand new commissioned work written especially for Circadian String Quartet by Davide Verotta, charts an emotional response to our present day pandemic upheavals in which rosy future projections must give way to fragile and groping reevaluations. Capping it all off is Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz, written in 1905 expressing the outpouring of love and rapture he felt as he hiked with the woman who would later become his wife. This intimate work, full of longing and tenderness becomes a universal reminder of our common humanity. 

Fanny and Felix

Mendelssohn

Circadian String Quartet tells the story of older sister Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and her younger brother Felix Mendelssohn by presenting two masterworks for string quartet-Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s dramatic String Quartet in E flat major and Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor Op. 80. Fanny and Felix were both prodigiously talented musicians but were unequally supported and encouraged in their talents due to the prevalent sexism of the time to the point that many of Fanny’s compositions were errantly attributed to Felix. That this sexist treatment did not dampen their affection and respect for one another is born out by the fact that Op. 80 was composed by Felix as a loving “requiem for Fanny.” It turned out to be Felix’s last composition. Celebrate with us the enduring musicality and strong bond of this famous sister and brother-Fanny and Felix.

Rythym and Revolution

Glass, Aminikia & Stravinsky

The Rite of Spring: Past, Present & Future

Debussy, Carson & Stravinsky

The Sound and the Fury: The Rite of Spring Re-Imagined

Debussy, Arensky & Stravinsky