The fun-loving Criers perform March 31 (Hearne, Becenti) and April 2 (Sanlikol). Yoon S. Byun photograph
By Keith Powers
It’s no surprise that A Far Cry program entitled “Hearth” began at home.
“I became a mother right before the pandemic,” says violinist Miki Cloud, longtime Crier and curator of this weekend’s upcoming repertoire. “I spent a lot of time, listening to music as we played. When I made a list, I realized they were all by women of color. That really spoke to me, and in a sense this program is a love letter to the culture makers, often unsung, who are women of color.”
The performances of “Hearth” kick off March 16 in Brockton’s Fuller Craft Museum, and repeat March 18 in Jamaica Plain and March 19 at Longy. “Hearth” features half-a-dozen works from multiple traditions—“covering the gamut from old to newer ones,” Cloud says. Works by Montgomery, Santillan, Diabaté, Wu Man, Negrón, Esmail and Lanzilotti are included. Several of the pieces emerged from Kronos Quartet’s Fifty for the Future commissioning initiative, which promotes new works and makes the scores and parts available for free online.
The Criers have always been active, not only in the area but on tour. The self-conducted string collective, formed in 2007, has performed monthly not only in JP and at Longy, but in Jordan Hall, and in venues north and south, in New York, Washington, and elsewhere. It’s a strong collective commitment to audience building, and enthusiastically exploring and expanding the repertoire.
The concert on the 16th at the Fuller Craft Museum also involves a brewery—“more like a party, and less like church,” Cloud says. “We’re trying to build a community, and a different concert audience,” she says. “It’s an incredible space, more intimate, and this is a powerful program.”
Cloud spoke about Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté’s “Tegere Tulon,” one of the pieces that originated with the Kronos initiative. The work extends a Malian tradition of hand-clapping songs—a vernacular tradition that goes back generations, being revisited. For Cloud, all of the works she chose for the program have a similar spirit.
“The more I sat with these pieces,” she says, thinking as well about her own Asian heritage, “the more I acknowledged art and cultural work that has been rendered anonymous. Most of us carry this core, another kind of learning, an immense and rich culture. It’s an interesting journey, learning how to live with it.
“In a sense, Hearth evokes the many aspects of culture that are carried across generations,” Cloud says, “giving us a sense of home and purpose. There’s a fire on the hearth, and you have to keep giving to it. It’s a metaphor for the kind of work we do.”
The Criers performances of “Hearth” have passed. You can still hear the entire ensemble March 31 for “Glittering World,” with music by Ted Hearne and Juantio Becenti, at Jordan Hall, and then an album release party April 2 in BUR’s CitySpace, for Mehmet Ali Sanlikol’s chamber opera A Gentleman of Istanbul.
Fima cancels, more Criers, Hub New Music, Bell/Trifonov: Chamber Music Events, March 30–April 4
Oh no—the magnificent Yefim Bronfman was supposed to play Schubert, R. Schumann, Salonen and Chopin March 31 in the new Groton Hill Music Center, for the Concord Chamber Music Society’s gala. But the pianist fell ill, and the event has been postponed. A spate of cancellations due to illness lately: the opening of White Snake’s “Fractured Mosaics” (Covid in the cast), Yannick with Philly O at Carnegie Hall (a high viral-load dose of Lohengrin performances in March probably the culprit).
Here’s what is happening this weekend: Arneis Quartet heads to First Church Boston March 31, for Soo Yeon Lyuh’s “Yessori” and Beethoven (Op. 130, with). A Far Cry hosts an album release party April 2 in BUR’s CitySpace for Mehmet Ali Sanlikol’s chamber opera A Gentleman of Istanbul.
Hub New Music gives a free program April 1 in East Cambridge’s Multicultural Arts Center, music of Negrón, Meyer, Liu. Part of the Celebrity Series’s Neighborhood Arts programs. Boston Children’s Chorus takes inspiration from anti-segregation activist Ruth Batson in a program at the Gardner Museum April 1.
Chameleon Arts Ensemble plays Debussy, Grime, Fauré, Clearfield and Fe. Mendelssohn April 1 and 2 at First Church in the Back Bay. Sphinx Virtuosi—25th anniversary—comes to the Gardner Museum April 2. The Needham Concert Society hosts an estimable piano quartet April 2 at Carter Memorial United Methodist Church.
First Monday at Jordan Hall continues with Ligeti (Trio for French Horn, William Purvis) and Schubert (D. 887, Borromeo) April 3. Joshua Bell and Daniil Trifonov come to Symphony Hall April 4 thanks to the Celebrity Series, performing a sonata program of Beethoven, Prokofiev and Franck.