Hailed by The Los Angeles Times for “remarkable examples of virtuosity,” the PRISM Quartet returns to Ann Arbor, where it was founded more than 30 years ago, for a concert featuring music by two award-winning Michigan composers: Alexis Bacon (Michigan State University) and Christopher Biggs (Western Michigan University). The program will feature the world premiere of Biggs’ Surfaces and Essences and the Ann Arbor premiere of Forbidden Drive by Pew Fellow and PRISM’s resident composer, Matthew Levy. Forbidden Drivefeatures guest saxophonist Andrew Bishop.

PRISM will also present Fearful Symmetries by Pulitzer Prize-winner John Adams from the Quartet’s just released Paradigm Lostalbum (XAS Records).  Plus, two of PRISM's favorites, Night Music, by rising-star Emma O’Halloran, and Red Pines by Kristin Kuster, chair of the composition department at the University of Michigan .

Proceeds from the concert will benefit a residency program this year in which PRISM visits schools in Detroit and throughout Southeast Michigan for assembly performances, composition classes, learning labs, and coaching sessions. According to Damien Crutcher, the founding executive director of Crescendo Detroit, “Our motto is ‘Building character through music.’ One of our major goals is to regularly expose our kids to the best artists possible. We believe if they can see it, they can be it, which is why we are beyond excited to have the PRISM Quartet in residence with us here, in the heart of Detroit.”

CONCERT PROGRAM
Fearful Symmetries (excerpt) by John Adams, Arr. Timothy McAllister
Red Pine by Kristin Kuster
Forbidden Drive by Matthew Levy
Capriccio by Alexis Bacon
Surfaces and Essences (world premiere) by Christopher Biggs
Night Music by Emma O’Halloran

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This program is presented with generous support from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Quaker Chemical Foundation, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, and Meridian Winds.