New films set to timeless music: American Quartet and La Folía

Featuring the Avalon Quartet

The Avalon Quartet returns to PianoForte Chicago for a presentation of two award-winning short films performed in sync with two audience favorite pieces. The acclaimed American Quartet, directed by Jesca Prudencio and set to the poignant first movement of Antonín Dvořák’s work of the same name, is “a marvelous sci-fi short film about the power of hope and human empathy to defeat hate and division” (Rod Faulkner). The immortal La Folía melody comes to life in a visual anthology of twenty-four ultra-short vignettes, directed by Adam Grannick, that “is a reminder that, while life isn’t perfect, there’s a dancer, or an artist, in all of us. And drawing on that can unlock a little magic when we need it most” (Dance Magazine). Watch the trailers for the two films below.

La Folía and American Quartet are part of Adam Grannick’s Filmelodic series, which has been celebrated at film festivals around the world, as well as at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Richard Wagner Museum at Bayreuth, the National Opera Center, the Museum of the Moving Image, and the Brooklyn Museum. The series has also been featured in the BBC, WQXR, Dance Magazine, the Violin Channel, and Gothamist. Grannick recently created the video and animation for Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony, currently touring the country’s symphony orchestras, and has also created original projections to accompany movements 2 through 4 of Dvořák’s quartet.

The Avalon String Quartet is the first ensemble to present American Quartet with live music. Described by the Chicago Tribune as “an ensemble that invites you — ears, mind, and spirit — into its music,” the Avalon String Quartet has established itself as one of the country’s leading chamber music ensembles. The quartet’s live performances and conversations are frequently featured on Chicago fine arts radio station WFMT. They have also been heard on New York’s WQXR and WNYC, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, Canada’s CBC, Australia’s ABC, the ARD of Germany, and France Musique.

The Avalon captured the top prize at the ARD Competition in Munich (2000) and First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City (1999). In its early years, the ensemble trained intensively with the Juilliard Quartet at The Juilliard School, the Emerson Quartet at the Hartt School of Music, and the Vermeer Quartet at Northern Illinois University.

A short talkback will follow the concert.

“Dvořák’s music is a perfect underscore for this American story of love, hate and identity...” (Elliott Forrest)

“A film of hope... shot beautifully with a top-tier cast... cinematic art” (Future Conscience)

“A powerful and inventive film” (Slice of SciFi)

“The collection of many of these personal narratives suggests that there is no wrong way to experience this music” (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Blog)

“Over 12 minutes, it weaves together several stories… all ebbing and flowing as the music spins from variation to variation” (BBC)

Photo credit: Elliot Mandel (Avalon Quartet) / Nona Catusanu (Filmelodic)

Contact the host of New Films Set to Timeless Music: American Quartet and La Folía