The Hope College Great Performance Series will feature the Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet alongside acclaimed jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut on Friday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.
The two-time Grammy-winning quartet returns to Hope College, but this time with Chestnut. The collaboration with Chestnut, titled “Carry Me Home,” expands the quartet’s range, and the program will include selections from a repertoire featuring works ranging from spirituals, to jazz artists such as Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, to the classical reach of J.S. Bach.
The Turtle Island Quartet — which consists of violinist David Balakrishnan, cellist Malcolm Parson, violinist Gabriel Terracciano and violist Benjamin Von Gutzeit — has been described by the New York Times as “Impeccable precision in its pitch and coordination… ebullient!”
Winner of the 2006 and 2008 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Crossover Album, Turtle Island fuses the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary American musical styles. Since its inception in 1985, the Turtle Island Quartet has performed with various artists including Grammy Award winner Billy Taylor, nine-time Grammy Award-winner The Manhattan Transfer and singer Nellie McKay.
Chestnut, who has more than a dozen studio albums in his discography, was called “the best jazz pianist of his generation” by Time Magazine. From growing up playing in a church to playing with jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea and Terrence Blanchard, he continues to integrate jazz, spiritual and classical sound into a reflection of his heritage and identity as an artist. His most recent composition is called “The Saga of the Cross.”
Individual tickets for the concert are $23 for regular admission, $17 for senior citizens and Hope faculty and staff, and $6 for students 18 and under. Tickets are available online at hope.edu/tickets as well as at the ticket office in the Events and Conferences Office located downtown in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The ticket office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at 616-395-7890.
The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets.