Ciompi Quartet Portfolio Project 2022: Premieres by Duke Graduate Composers

Premiere performances of works by Duke graduate composers Ethan Foote and Chris Williams.

Free admission.

The Ciompi Quartet's "Portfolio Project" began in the summer of 2020, when the Quartet commissioned a unique project from four composers in Duke Music's graduate program. The parameters of the commission were unorthodox: to find a solution to the compositional and performing challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic by creating short works that could be practiced and recorded remotely by each member of the quartet.

The success of this initial project led the Quartet to commission three more works in 2021 and two additional works in the summer of 2022 from Duke graduate composers. It is these new works from last summer that will be heard on this program.

Since its founding in 1965 by the renowned Italian violinist Giorgio Ciompi, the Ciompi Quartet of Duke University has delighted audiences and impressed critics around the world. All its members are professors at Duke, where they teach instrumental lessons, coordinate and coach chamber music, and perform across campus in concert halls, libraries, dormitories and classrooms. In a career that spans five continents and includes many hundreds of concerts, the Ciompi Quartet has developed a reputation for performances of real intelligence and musical sophistication, with a warm, unified sound that allows each player's individual voice to emerge.