PMP ALUMNI SPECIAL PERFORMANCE

American Dream Program Notes

2023 marks 25 years of living, breathing and performing together in the organism that is the Ariel String Quartet – a milestone which happens to coincide meaningfully with the receipt of our long-awaited Permanent Residency status in the United States. Every immigration story is one of two cultures meeting, the old and the new, the known and the unknown…familiar roots taking on new meaning in an unfamiliar environment.

American Dream explores this experience musically by featuring a variety of artists from all over the world, channeling their expressivity into an intuitive and powerful narrative with a decidedly theatrical feel. Works by past and present composers who have chosen to make their home in the United States converse freely with one another in a purposefully unannounced concert half. A few carefully chosen, inspiring words provide abstract and thought-provoking context. 

This rather unfamiliar form of presentation introduces a concert experience filled with a renewed sense of open mindedness and discovery, while simultaneously redefining the communicative potential of the traditional chamber music experience and serving as a musical metaphor for the way we aspire to see others and want to be seen ourselves: free of expectations, unprejudiced and with a truly open mind and heart.