String Quartet No. 1 (2005)

in four movements

Duration: 25’

The first movement of this piece was premiered by the Avalon String Quartet in May 2003 at Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY. Inspired in part by memories of my childhood in rural central New York State, it is sometimes performed alone under the title Gridley Paige Road. I added three more movements a couple of years later. The complete four-movement quartet was premiered in May 2005 by the International Contemporary Ensemble, also at Merkin Concert Hall.

In 2007 I orchestrated the first movement for string orchestra. This arrangement (Gridley Paige Road) was the Grand Prize and People’s Choice Winner in the 2007 Adagio Competition of the Fauxharmonic Orchestra. It was performed by the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra in November 2008 at Goucher College (Baltimore, MD) and at Bargemusic (New York, NY).