Friction Quartet + Religious Girls [don’t be a stranger series #5]
Friction Quartet will perform works by Andy Akiho, Max Stoffregen and Davide Verotta, followed by a set from local experimental pop heroes Religious Girls.
Friction Quartet, whose performances have been called “terribly beautiful” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “stunningly passionate” (Calgary Herald) and “chillingly effective” (San Francisco Examiner), exists to expand the string quartet repertoire and audience for adventurous contemporary music. Joshua Kosman (San Francisco Chronicle) declared that Friction Quartet is “an artist who should be discovered” and described their performance as “high-octane music making…a fine blend of rhythmic ferocity and tonal flair.” John Adams shared Friction’s video of the second movement of his first string quartet on Facebook and Twitter and called it “spectacular.”
Since forming in 2011, Friction has given 63 world premiere performances and commissioned 30 works for string quartet. They opened for Kronos Quartet, in Kronos’s “Under 30″ series. Friction received a Chamber Music America grant to commission a new piano quintet from Andy Akiho to be performed with Jenny Q Chai. They also received a grant from San Francisco Friends of Chamber music to commission a new work from Mark Winges. Friction was selected as one of eleven artists featured in the SF Bay Guardian’s 2014 On the Rise issue. Their recording of David Conte’s second string quartet was just released on Albany Records.
Religious Girls is a three piece experimental pop band from Oakland, CA. Current members include Nicholas Cowman, Christopher Danko and Luis Gutiérrez.