New Ways of Looking at old Things
featuring
Overlook Quartet
Monica Davis, violin Yezu Woo, violin
Angela Pickett, viola Laura Metcalf, cello
Tanya Birl-Torres
Choreographer and Storyteller
Music Program
Gabriela Smith, Carrot Revolution
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, String Quartet no.1 "Calvary"
Shanan Estreicher, I Laughed So Hard I Cried
Trevor Weston, Juba
Eleonor Alberga, String Quartet no. 2
at the
Landcraft Garden Foundation
4342 Grand Ave, Mattituck, NY 11952
Saturday, July 5th, 2025, at 6:00pm
Presentation
This unusual and exciting program presented by the Overlook Quartet opens with the dazzling work by Gabriela Smith. She refers to a Cézanne quote: “The day will come when a single, freshly observed carrot will start a revolution.” Gabriela decided immediately to call her piece Carrot Revolution. She envisioned the piece as a celebration of that spirit of fresh observation and of new ways of looking at old things, such as the string quartet – a 250-year-old genre – as well as some of older musical influences (Bach, Perotin, Gregorian chant, Georgian folk songs, and Celtic fiddle tunes). The program's closing piece, Jamaican composer Eleonor Alberga's String Quartet n. 2, takes listeners on an emotional journey through her creative mind and the cohesive, dynamic art of the string quartet.
This program features the storyteller Tanya Birl-Torres along with the Overlook Quartet for an exploration of ancestral storytelling, and the cultural and artistic knowledge shared through oral traditions, a reading of a new folktale, and an activity including the audience to foster a deeper community connection and add to the sensory experience.
New Ways of Looking at old Things
featuring
Overlook Quartet
Monica Davis, violin Yezu Woo, violin
Angela Pickett, viola Laura Metcalf, cello
Tanya Birl-Torres
Choreographer and Storyteller
Music Program
Gabriela Smith, Carrot Revolution
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, String Quartet no.1 "Calvary"
Shanan Estreicher, I Laughed So Hard I Cried
Trevor Weston, Juba
Eleonor Alberga, String Quartet no. 2
at the
Landcraft Garden Foundation
4342 Grand Ave, Mattituck, NY 11952
Saturday, July 5th, 2025, at 6:00pm
Presentation
This unusual and exciting program presented by the Overlook Quartet opens with the dazzling work by Gabriela Smith. She refers to a Cézanne quote: “The day will come when a single, freshly observed carrot will start a revolution.” Gabriela decided immediately to call her piece Carrot Revolution. She envisioned the piece as a celebration of that spirit of fresh observation and of new ways of looking at old things, such as the string quartet – a 250-year-old genre – as well as some of older musical influences (Bach, Perotin, Gregorian chant, Georgian folk songs, and Celtic fiddle tunes). The program's closing piece, Jamaican composer Eleonor Alberga's String Quartet n. 2, takes listeners on an emotional journey through her creative mind and the cohesive, dynamic art of the string quartet.
This program features the storyteller Tanya Birl-Torres along with the Overlook Quartet for an exploration of ancestral storytelling, and the cultural and artistic knowledge shared through oral traditions, a reading of a new folktale, and an activity including the audience to foster a deeper community connection and add to the sensory experience.
Description
We invite the audience to arrive at 5:00pm to visit the garden and enjoy the beauty of the natural landscape.
The concert is a 6:00pm outdoors on the main lawn of the Landcraft Garden. You will find chairs on the lawn to listen to the concert. It is highly recommended to bring a hat to cover yourself from the sun while waiting for the sunset and to enjoy listening to the music.
The Overlook
Animated by a shared expansive view of the chamber music experience, the “breathtaking”, “paradigm-shifting” (New York Music Daily) string quartet, The Overlook, curates vibrant, unexpected programs that transform sometimes unfamiliar music into unforgettable experiences that audiences crave hearing again.
Based in New York City, the quartet, comprised of violinists Monica Davis and Yezu Woo, violist Angela Pickett, and cellist Laura Metcalf has been presented in performances and residencies around the country, highlighting the work of living composers, with recent collaborations including performing with NY Philharmonic clarinetist Anthony McGill at Fotografiska NY’s inaugural Unfiltered Festival, an immersive experience playing in the life size sculptural installations of artist, Linda Sormin at MassMOCA, and bringing joyful energy to a performance of a meditative work for string quartet and improvising musician with jazz legend, Joe Lovano.
The quartet formed in 2020 from a simple need to make and share music with others during the pandemic shutdown. The longtime friends, some of New York’s most accomplished string players, gathered to play outdoors in parks and on street corners in Upper Manhattan and their community stopped to listen. Through these casual outdoor performances, they built a following in person and online, connected with local businesses, composers and residential enclaves - eventually partnering with neighborhood cultural centers for their first official performances. They witnessed firsthand the power of music to unite and inspire.
Building lasting relationships with composers and consistently championing new works, engaging with collaborators across disciplines, and sharing with their local community, The Overlook captivates audiences with a more relevant chamber music experience.
Tanya Birl-Torres, coreographer and storyteller
Tanya Birl-Torres (Choreographer, Intimacy Director, Cultural Consultant) is a multi-hyphenate artist and proud mother of two. She is honored to be making her Goodman Theatre debut with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Select collaborations include How I Learned What I Learned (OSF), Twelfth Night (The Public Theater), The Red Letter Plays (The Signature Theater), As You Like It (The Guthrie Theater), 2023 MAP fund, NoMAA and CitizensNYC grantee and NewYorker4NY honoree featured as “Women breaking glass ceilings & exercising their voice in NYC & beyond.”
Animated by a shared expansive view of the chamber music experience, the “breathtaking”, “paradigm-shifting” (New York Music Daily) string quartet, The Overlook, curates vibrant, unexpected programs that transform sometimes unfamiliar music into unforgettable experiences that audiences crave hearing again.
Based in New York City, the quartet, comprised of violinists Monica Davis and Yezu Woo, violist Angela Pickett, and cellist Laura Metcalf has been presented in performances and residencies around the country, highlighting the work of living composers, with recent collaborations including performing with NY Philharmonic clarinetist Anthony McGill at Fotografiska NY’s inaugural Unfiltered Festival, an immersive experience playing in the life size sculptural installations of artist, Linda Sormin at MassMOCA, and bringing joyful energy to a performance of a meditative work for string quartet and improvising musician with jazz legend, Joe Lovano.
The quartet formed in 2020 from a simple need to make and share music with others during the pandemic shutdown. The longtime friends, some of New York’s most accomplished string players, gathered to play outdoors in parks and on street corners in Upper Manhattan and their community stopped to listen. Through these casual outdoor performances, they built a following in person and online, connected with local businesses, composers and residential enclaves - eventually partnering with neighborhood cultural centers for their first official performances. They witnessed firsthand the power of music to unite and inspire.
Building lasting relationships with composers and consistently championing new works, engaging with collaborators across disciplines, and sharing with their local community, The Overlook captivates audiences with a more relevant chamber music experience.
Tanya Birl-Torres, coreographer and storyteller
Tanya Birl-Torres (Choreographer, Intimacy Director, Cultural Consultant) is a multi-hyphenate artist and proud mother of two. She is honored to be making her Goodman Theatre debut with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Select collaborations include How I Learned What I Learned (OSF), Twelfth Night (The Public Theater), The Red Letter Plays (The Signature Theater), As You Like It (The Guthrie Theater), 2023 MAP fund, NoMAA and CitizensNYC grantee and NewYorker4NY honoree featured as “Women breaking glass ceilings & exercising their voice in NYC & beyond.”
This is a production of
Rites of Spring Music Festival
in collaboration with
Landcraft Garden Foundation
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Huntington Arts Council.
