Season wrap up from Syb5

Dear Friends,

We’ve been keeping busy at Sybarite5!  

Last season we broke some records of our own…

We premiered 25 new works for string quintet, launched a new album of premieres dubbed Outliers to #1 on the Billboard Classical Charts, and made radical new music collaborations with Silkroad co-artistic director Shane Shanahan and Iranian santour virtouso Ehsan Matoori. Wrapping up the season was summer tour that culiminated with Sybarite5 as a concerto soloist with full Orchestra and even joining Dennis DeYoung and the music of Styx for a crazy new-music meets rock and roll encore at the Lancaster Music Festival for 8,000 people! That's was unexpected, and so much fun! 

Sybarite5's 17-18 seasonal activities included a 11 state tour, and an expanded experimental residency at the Cell Theatre in NYC. Artistic programming for the US Tour and the residency consists of new and recent music for string quintet. Contemporary music by living composers is a defining element of the US Tour, and it is the specific focus of the residency at The Cell.

Here are a couple of video hightlghts:

My Desert, My Rose by Aleksandra Vrebalov at the cell: 

Sybarite5 with santour virtusoso Ehsan Matoori at the cell: 

Sybarite5 encore with Dennis Deyoung of Styx:

Sybarite5’s 2018-2019 US Tour includes 38 appearances throughout the United States from September 2018 through August 2019. Plans include formal and informal performances, workshops, and educational activities. Residencies feature performances of newly commissioned works alongside established repertoire, educational events in which students create original music, public discussions, open rehearsals, workshops for older students on developing performance and arts leadership skills, and online digital documentation with videos of performances. We can hardly wait!

In the 2018-2019Tour, a significant repertoire focus will be the works included in the recently released Outliers album. "Outliers" is the summation of over a decade of commissioning and includes works by several notable emerging and mid-career American composers. Highlights of the project include Andy Akiho, Revolve (2012), Eric Byers, Pop Rocks (2013) & Sarabande (2014), Shawn Conley, Yann’s Flight (2013), Mohammed Fairouz, Muqaddamah (2014), Dan Visconti, Hitchhikers Tales (2006-2012), Michi Wiancko, Blue Bourée (2014) and Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin, Gi-gue-ly (2015).

In addition to the works in the Outliers project, Sybarite5 will be touring a new program called Endeavor:

Recently dubbed "the millennial Kronos," Billboard Chart-topping Sybarite5 is continually creating new works and bringing unique musical combinations to audiences. Endeavor is an eclectic mix of Sybarite5’s recent commissions and premieres from composers Jessica Meyer, Brandon Ridenour, Steven Snowden, William Britelle, and 2017 Pulitzer finalist Michael Gilbertson. These new works join up with the group’s favorite newly inspired selections, including tunes from Marc Mellits, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and even the soulful side of John Coltrane.

Educational Programs
Sybarite5’s educational outreach activities serve students from kindergarten to college, with a focus on the process of music composition and arts entrepreneurship. 2018-2019 residency programs include:

• EVOLUTION OF AN ENTREPRENEUR :
  A discussion about what it means to be an artistic entrepreneur in the 21st century. Topics covered include Marketing & Branding, Networking & Audience Cultivation, Curating your Presence: online, in person, & physical materials, Management & Business Models, Album Production/Music Distribution & Merch!, and Life on the Road.
• MUSIC WE PLAY:
  Discussion Session of Composers- How to write for each instrument and string ensembles. Other topics may include extended techniques, orchestration, commissioning, and deadlines.
• HOW IT WORKS!
   (Grades K-6): Introduction to the instruments and their roles including the extended techniques used in many of the pieces

Residency at The Cell
Sybarite5 has been in residence at The Cell Theatre in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City since 2009. The residency has allowed the group to premiere challenging new works and take risks on lesser-known composers.

In 2018-2019, Sybarite5 plans to reboot its Composagrams project at The Cell, which launched to a standing room only debut in 2017. Developed by Ray Lustig, “Composagrams” are hyper-miniature works of approximately 15-60 seconds in duration, inspired by videos on the social media platform Instagram. The 2018-2019 Composagrams project will feature world premieres by ten newly emerging composers. 

Can’t wait to see you at a show soon!  

-Louis & the Sybarite5 gang.