Aryaloka String Quartet honors Black historical and contemporary composers.

Concert tickets are $20 – both live and live-streamed. To purchase tickets: bit.ly/RPASQ23

Live in-person and live streamed from the stunning Ripley Chapel at First Congregational Church, Winchester. Please join us for an inventive and dynamic evening of string quartet music with “Aryaloka String Quartet,” highlighting four of Boston’s finest string players.

The Aryaloka String Quartet of Boston was formed in the mid-2000’s by long-time colleagues and friends Beth Welty and Mark Latham, violins; Noralee Walker, viola and Sandi-Jo Malmon, cello. Aryaloka is a Sanskrit word which is roughly understood as “in the presence of the noble ones.” Thus playing the music of the great composers, from Haydn to the present, the quartet and the audience are indeed “in the presence of the noble ones.” They are dedicated to bringing the communal experience of chamber music to the wider world, in both smaller, unexpected venues as well as traditional concert halls. They especially enjoy crafting programs of classic string quartet literature while championing lesser known, neglected, or forgotten composers.

The program itself is an exciting and compelling one. It honors historical and contemporary Black composers, including

• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875- 1912), “Fantasiestücke” for String Quartet Op.5
• Florence Price (1887-1953), “String Quartet in G Major” (1929)
• Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932- 2004), “String Quartet no. 1, Calvary”
• Jessie Montgomery (born 1981), “Strum”

From Dinah Bodkin, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, 2018:

The members of the Aryaloka…reveled in the challenges they confronted, delivering a conversation in which the demands of the music dictated which instrument was the driving force at any given instant, or whether the instantaneous kinetic energy propelled the entire ensemble.

Listen to some samples:

Concert tickets are $20 – both live and live-streamed. To purchase tickets: bit.ly/RPASQ23

For more information, please visit www.fcc-winchester.org or contact Sarah Marino at 781-729-9180 or at first.congregational@verizon.net.