The Newest Concert Venue? Your Cell Phone
Spektral Quartet launches Mobile Miniatures featuring 60+ new music ringtones
from nearly 50 composers
Augusta Read Thomas, Olga Bell of The Dirty Projectors, Greg Saunier of Deerhoof, Julia Holter, Pulitzer Prize winners David Lang and Shulamit Ran among featured composers
Ringtones available worldwide Saturday, March 29 at SpektralQuartet.com
Spektral Quartet performs ringtones at Constellation launch party March 29
CHICAGO (March 18, 2014) – Chicago-based string ensemble Spektral Quartet launches itsmost fiercely original project to date: Mobile Miniatures, a ringtone project in which the Quartet commissioned 46 composers from around the country to create a total of 63 tiny new music masterpieces as ringtones, alerts and wake-up alarms for mobile devices. Through Mobile Miniatures, Spektral Quartet brings the kaleidoscopic and genre-defying sounds of Pulitzer Prize winners, Pitchfork.com chart toppers and next-gen composers into everyday life. All of the new music ringtones become available for sale worldwide Saturday, March 29 via SpektralQuartet.com for 50 cents each or $20 for the entire collection. Also on March 29, the Quartet holds a special Mobile Miniatures Launch Party complete with live performances of the mini masterpieces, beginning at 8:30 p.m. at Constellation, 3111 N. Western Avenue in Chicago.
While traditional classical music may eschew technology in performance, contemporary classical music has made it essential. A laptop is as common an instrument at a new music show as a violin. Through Mobile Miniatures, the Spektral Quartet inhabits the most indispensable piece of modern tech – the mobile phone – replacing standard mobile device sound catalogues with some of the most imaginative, provocative music being crafted today.
Contemporary classical music has enthusiastically torn down genre boundaries and the Mobile Miniatures composer roster is an expansive and artistically progressive one. Project notables include former Chicago Symphony Orchestra composers-in-residenceShulamit Ran andAugusta Read Thomas and current CSO composer-in-residence Mason Bates, Pulitzer Prize winnersDavid Lang (well known for his 2008 work the little match girl passion) andBernard Rands (known for Canti del Sole), as well as indie and avant-pop headliners like Julia Holter (whose 2013 album Loud City Songwas among Pitchfork.com’s top albums), The Dirty Projectors’ Olga Bell (gearing up for therelease of her solo album, Krai), and Greg Saunier of noise-pop superhero outfitDeerhoof. Nico Muhly, who has collaborated with Björk, Grizzly Bear and Jónsi, was in the process of launching the world premiere of his Two Boys at the Metropolitan Opera when he penned his ringtone for the Spektral Quartet. The group was especially thrilled to have jazz pioneer and MacArthur fellowGeorge Lewis join the Mobile Miniatures ranks, along with flutist and Black Earth Ensemble founderNicole Mitchell, People Places and Things saxophonistGreg Ward and Chicago Modern Orchestra Project founderReneé Baker.
The Mobile Miniatures composer roster also features Marita Bolles, Seth Boustead, Courtney Bryan, Nathan Davis, Nomi Epstein, Suzanne Farrin, Erin Gee, Tomas Gueglio, Luke Gullickson, Ted Hearne, Ben Hjertmann, Dominic Johnson, Chris Jones, Jonathan Kirk, Morgan Krauss, Jenna Lyle, Matt Marks, Mark Mellits, Marek Poliks, amicus e. quorum, Collin J. Rae, Tomeka Reid, Sarah J. Ritch, David Skidmore, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Tyshawn Sorey, Andrew Tham, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Jen Wang, Greg Ward, Liza White, Philip White, Jay Alan Yim, Katherine Young and Mischa Zupko.
For more information about the Mobile Miniature ringtone project, and to see Spektral Quartet’s Kickstarter video, visit spektralquartet.com/projects.
Launch Party and Ringtone Downloads
Spektral Quartet publicly launches the Mobile Miniatures ringtone project with an interactive exhibition and live performance at Constellation, Saturday, March 29 at 8:30 p.m. (for patrons 21+). In addition to short sets of the diminutive opuses performed by the Quartet throughout the evening, there will be an interactive gallery with iPad listening stations where guests can hear any of the 60+ ringtones, plus tableaus of vintage phones offering curated audio from artistic luminaries such as playwright Idris Goodwin, Museum of Contemporary Art curator Naomi Beckwith with poet Virginia Konchan and The Ringtone Dialectic author Sumanth Gopinath. Tickets, which are $15 and include five Mobile Miniatures downloads, are available now through Ticketfly.com.
All of the ringtones become available for sale worldwide Saturday, March 29 via SpektralQuartet.com for 50 cents each or $20 for the entire collection. Curated sets of a dozen ringtones will be available for $5.
Following the Mobile Miniatures debut at Constellation, Spektral Quartet brings them to Hyde Park with a reprisal performance for all ages at the University of Chicago’s Fulton Recital Hall, 1010 E. 59th Street, Thursday, April 3 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available at the door.
About Spektral Quartet
Founded in 2010, Spektral Quartet is comprised of Doyle Armbrust (viola), Aurelien Fort Pederzoli (violin), Russell Rolen (cello) and Austin Wulliman (violin). Since its inception, the Quartet has sought out the discourse between the masterworks of the traditional canon and those written this decade, this year or this week. Rather than simply pairing Brian Ferneyhough with Josef Haydn or Thomas Adès with Béla Bartók, though, the group offers listeners an even more elastic and absorbing experience through its Sampler Pack concert format. For these performances, shorter works and single movements are curated in a set list containing a menagerie of musical styles, spanning centuries. With its packed shows in Chicago rock venues like The Hideout and the Empty, the Spektral Quartet is committed to transforming the traditional concert format into a more inclusive, interactive audience experience. Indefatigable advocates for new music, the quartet’s debut album Chambers was praised by music critics for its illuminating portrait of the Chicago new-music scene. Now in its fourth season, the Spektral Quartet serves as ensemble-in-residence at the University of Chicago and is part of Rush Hour Series’ Back-of-the-Yards community engagement project, offering year-long music education and outreach in one of Chicago’s most under-served neighborhoods. Spektral Quartet is poised to release its second album on May 14, titled From This Point Forward, a Latin jazz collaboration with bandoneon/accordion virtuoso Julien Labro, on Azica Records.
For more information on the Quartet and its members, visit spektralquartet.com/members.
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