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ABOUT SYBARITE5
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| Louis Levitt, Sarah Whitney, Laura Metcalf, Sami Merdinian and Angela Pickett
Photo by Brian David Braun
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SYBARITE5’s eclectic repertoire and dynamic performance style is turning heads throughout the music world. In describing a concert by SYBARITE5, Stephen Brookes of The Washington Post expressed it best, “In a program of serial high points, there were too many to mention.”
This past season, the group visited 16 states and the US Virgin Islands in addition to appearances in Newfoundland, Japan and Argentina. Other recent performance highlights include SYBARITE5’s Carnegie Hall debut at Zankel Hall on the CAG series and performances at Washington Performing Arts, Library of Congress, Aspen Music Festival, UC San Diego, University of Arizona, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, University of Nevada/Reno, Chautauqua Institution, and Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival. Closer to home, the quintet has performed in New York at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Tishman Auditorium, Bohemian National Hall and at such diverse locations as Galapagos Artspace, the Apple Store, the Museum of Sex, the Core Club, the cell and the Cutting Room. The group has also performed on the CBS Early Show and for his Holiness the Dalai Lama. SYBARITE5 is one of the first groups engaged at SubCulture, one of New York City’s most up-and-coming venues.
Formed at the Aspen Music Festival, SYBARITE5 was the first string quintet admitted to the Aspen Advanced String Quartet Studies program, where the group worked with Earl Carlyss of the Juilliard Quartet, bassist Edgar Meyer and the Cavani, American and Ying Quartets. At the 2011 CAG Competition, SYBARITE5 was awarded the Sylvia Ann Hewlett Adventurous Artist Prize, which was used to commission new pieces for Radiohead Remixed and to produce Everything in its Right Place.
Recordings
The quintet’s debut EP disc Disturb the Silence, featuring music by Radiohead and Piazzolla plus two original works written for SYBARITE5, was released in spring 2011 and quickly reached the top ten on the Billboard charts. The group’s follow-up CD, Everything in its Right Place, is a continuation of the Radiohead Remixed Project and was released at Carnegie Hall in November 2012 on the CAG Records label.
Ongoing and New Projects
Ongoing projects include curating their own series at NYC’s the cell, the Radiohead Remixed Project,
The Shuffle Effect and New Music IDOL (featuring a series of short newly-commissioned works by student composers in collaboration with university composition departments). New projects include: a commissioned suite with six movements, each by a different composer; the launch of their very own musical festival, the Forward Festival, in Sarasota, FL; and, in the spring of 2015, the premiere the world’s first ever concerto for string quintet and orchestra, entitled BEATBOX, by the acclaimed American composer Dan Visconti.
Music Education and Community Engagement
Devoted advocates of music education and community engagement, the quintet’s innovative new program New Music IDOL brings the energy of American Idol to colleges and universities by partnering with composition departments to create and showcase new student works. This unprecedented model transforms classical music composition into something relevant and interactive for audiences, composers and performers.
“…expect an experience that will satisfy your inner rock star and your secret Mozart.”
– Arizona Daily Star
To learn more, visit:
www.SYBARITE5.org
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