Bowerbird is pleased to present New Thread Quartet’s album release show featuring “A Little Night Music,” and Tori Cheah’s Walk for a Shell from their new album, Saxifraga.

While Irish composer Emma O’Halloran was living in Miami, she listened to the ocean waves at night for comfort and reflection. Her Night Music ripples and whirls like the sea with a nod to Latin music and Miami Sound Machine, the mixtape that kept O’Halloran company during that year abroad. LA-based Kay Rhie composed Night Blooms for mixed trio following her father’s death in 2019. Adapted for saxophone quartet, the piece tells the story of his final days in the hospital. As she watched his breathing machine expand and contract, Rhie was reminded of flowers that bloom at night and how “many first-generation immigrants probably dreamed of beautiful ‘blooms’ during the quiet hours when not too many people took notice.” Helena Tulve’s Öö, which is “night” in Estonian, sets an unsettled atmosphere of impending doom. The concert concludes with Walk for a shell, which Tori Cheah describes as a reference to a pilgrimage wherein one applies time and effort across a distance in an offering of respect for forces greater than oneself.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

New Thread Quartet was formed with the mission to develop and perform impactful new music for the saxophone, and to provide high level ensemble playing to feature today’s compositional voices. In 11 seasons, the quartet has commissioned and premiered over 45 new works by composers such as Amy Beth Kirsten, Richard Carrick, Ben Hjertmann, Ebun Oguntola, Scott Wollschleger, Kathryn Salfelder, Taylor Brook and Emily Koh.

Based in New York City, New Thread has performed at Carnegie Hall, Roulette, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Morgan Library, Bang on a Can Summer Festival Benefit, and Monadnock Music. The quartet has performed, toured and recorded more than 30 important works for saxophone quartet including Kati Agócs’ Hymn in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall; Marilyn Shrude’s Evolution V and energy flows nervously… in search of stillness, as part of a 75th Birthday Celebration Concert at the Dimenna Center featuring Lost Dog Ensemble and the Momenta Quartet; Erin Rogers’ Urban Composites at the World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews, Scotland; and the premiere recording of Elliott Sharp’s seminal work Approaching the Arches of Corti for 4 soprano saxophones, recorded with Grammy-winning engineer, Judith Sherman, now available on New World Records. New Thread released its debut album Plastic Facts in 2018 on New Focus Recordings and in 2020 recorded three works on [word]plays, an album by Emily Koh now available from Innova Recordings.

New Thread has a track record of working closely with composers in a workshop environment during the formation of new works. The quartet strives for multiple performances of newly commissioned works in an attempt to bring new music to different audiences as often as possible. New Thread’s annual self-presented Explorations Series showcases works by emerging composers, adding exciting new voices to the saxophone canon.

New Thread has conducted masterclasses, residencies, and performances for student saxophonists and composers at Peabody Conservatory, University of Virginia, Berklee Conservatory, Bronx Community College, Aaron Copland School (Queens College), Montclair State University, and New York University. A strong community supporter, New Thread attends NASA Regional and Biennial conferences across the US. The quartet encourages young composers to create new works for saxophones through an open submission policy, conducting reading and feedback sessions throughout the year. New Thread is a presenting partner of Composers Now.

Ensemble members are Jonathan Hulting-Cohen (soprano saxophone), Noa Even (alto saxophone), Erin Rogers (tenor saxophone), and Zach Herchen (baritone saxophone).

www.newthreadquartet.com/