News

Ashmont Hill Chamber Music Presents the Praxis String Quartet

Dorchester, MA - Ashmont Hill Chamber Music will present a concert by the Praxis String Quartet, joined by a bass clarinetist, on Sunday, November 7th at 3 p.m. at the Parish of All Saints in Peabody Square, Dorchester. Violinists Esther Noh and Courtney Orlando, violist Arthur Dibble, and cellist Brian Snow, with guest bass clarinetist Ken Thomson, will perform a range of music, from Haydn and Ravel to two contemporary American works.

Founded in 1985 to present accessible and affordable chamber music concerts to the residents of Dorchester and its surrounding communities, Ashmont Hill Chamber Music has been hailed for its "…tradition of gutsy, risk-taking programming" (Patriot Ledger). For November 7th, Artistic Director Rachel Goodwin has worked with Praxis to plan a program ranging from traditional to modern, including Joseph Haydn’s “Sunrise” String Quartet Op. 76, No. 4, Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, and two works by contemporary American composers: Be In (1991) by Evan Ziporyn, and String Quartet(2000) by David Schober.

“We are thrilled to host the very first concert that this dynamic, young quartet will give in Boston, and they are presenting a program that includes the breathtaking Ravel quartet, one of Haydn’s masterpieces, and two pieces by young composers that show their dedication to works of our time” said Artistic Director Rachel Goodwin.

Praxis, a New York City-based string quartet formed in 2009, performs contemporary, experimental, and traditional string quartet repertoire. Early next year, they will record Queens College professor David Schober’s string quartet, originally commissioned by the Walter M. Naumburg Foundation. The members of Praxis perform in numerous and varied ensembles, from Alarm Will Sound, Signal, and Newspeak to the Brooklyn Philharmonic. They hold degrees from Juilliard, the Eastman School of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook.

AHCM Awarded Grant by National Endowment for the Arts

Dorchester, MA - Ashmont Hill Chamber Music (AHCM) has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help fund its latest community music initiative, Music, Poetry and American Identity. Supported under the NEA’s American Masterpieces grant program, AHCM’s project will feature a concert highlighting the music of early modernist composer Ruth Crawford Seeger and the poetry of Carl Sandburg that inspired her, the development of a curriculum based on Seeger’s music, themes and references, and the establishment of related educational residencies at Boston Latin School and the Codman Academy Public Charter School. The residencies will culminate in a poetry slam, and AHCM artists-in-residence, partnering with the Huntington Theatre Company, will perform at the national Poetry Out Loud competition, a collaboration of the NEA, the Poetry Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

“This is a big step forward for Ashmont Hill Chamber Music. Dorchester residents have always known how good our musicians are; it's great to have that quality recognized nationally,” said AHCM Board President John Berg. Founded in 1985 to present accessible and affordable chamber music concerts to the residents of Dorchester and its surrounding communities, Ashmont Hill Chamber Music has been hailed for its "…tradition of gutsy, risk-taking programming" by The Patriot Ledger. AHCM Artistic Director and pianist Rachel Goodwin has worked for years to showcase the music of Ruth Crawford Seeger, a highly accomplished yet underappreciated early 20^th century modernist composer.

NEA’s American Masterpieces grants for chamber music sponsor projects across the United States that combine concerts of American chamber music with educational activities to increase communities’ familiarity with the art form. In addition to the music of Ruth Crawford Seeger and the poetry of Carl Sandburg, the Music, Poetry and Identity concert will include Leon Kirchner’s Trio No. 1, Samuel Barber’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6, Alec Wilder’s Piece for Oboe and Improvisatory Percussion, and a selection of songs by Barber, Crawford Seeger, and Charles Ives.