Kairos Quartet to perform at CWU

Kairos Strin Quarter performance at CWU May 12, 2008 Contact: John Michel, cellist of the Kairos, 509-306-9421, fax: 509-963-1239, email: michelj@cwu.edu Jeff Snedeker, guest hornist, 509-963-1226, fax: 509-963-1239, email: snedeker@cwu.edu ELLENSBURG, Wash. - On May 14th at 7pm, the Kairos Quartet will be performing two distinctively different but equally intriguing works: a late string quartet of Beethoven and a rare chamber music work by Chick Corea. Beethoven?s String Quartet in C# minor, Op. 131 is considered by musicians and listeners to be his greatest quartet, and the composer himself admitted to a friend that it was his favorite. The forty-minute work is divided into seven connected movements and explores extreme contrasts of expression. Richard Wagner wrote of the last movement: ?This is the fury of the world's dance ? fierce pleasure, agony, ecstasy of love, joy, anger, passion, and suffering; lightning flashes and thunder rolls; and above the tumult the indomitable fiddler whirls us on to the abyss. Amid the clamor he smiles, for to him it is nothing but a mocking fantasy; at the end, the darkness beckons him away, and his task is done.? Chick Corea, one of the most talented jazz musicians of our era, also composed in other styles. His Septet is written for string quartet, flute, horn and piano. Guest artists Hal Ott, Jeff Snedeker and Nikolas Caoile will join the members of the Karios Quartet in a performance of the last two movements of this technically difficult work. Admission is free. For more information contact John Michel at michelj@cwu.edu.