October 10thOctober 11th

"If you can walk you can dance, if you can talk you can sing"

We can all do it and we all love it, so join us in celebrating songs and dances from around the world. In this program curated by Mitso Floor, Friction Quartet presents a joyous and diverse selection of songs, from beautiful and delightful songs written by Carlos Paredes, Antonin Dvorak, and Kenji Bunch to whirlwind dances written by Astor Piazolla and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh.

Also included are two pop songs you might be familiar with that show off the arranging skills of Friction's own Mitso Floor and Doug Machiz.

December 12thDecember 13th

Form follows function, or function follows form?

Curated by Doug Machiz, Friction Quartet presents three colorful, creative and monumental collections that defy classification. John Adams’Book of Alleged Dances bursts with zany grooves and shocking virtuosity. Clarice Assad’s Canções da America shimmers and hypnotizes as it tactfully weaves South American folk music with traditional string quartet writing. Piers Hellawell’s Family Group with Aliens (a Friction commission) is a mind blowing set of nested pieces - like a Russian Doll, each successive movement is a miniaturized version of the main movement.

You may want to come to both performances as the order and form of the movements is left up to us; it will be unique each time!

March 20thMarch 21st

Rhythm; one of the most basic and compelling attributes of music.

Curated by Kevin Rogers, every piece on this program has some blend of the most difficult, challenging, and delightful rhythmic play inside of it. From Thomas Adés’s brilliant use of irrational time signatures (you read that right!) to the high octane music of Trevor Weston that Friction Quartet cuts it's teeth on. Also featured is the imaginative music of Vivian Fung, merging machinery and biology, and a series of arrangements of tunes written by Tigran Hamasyan, one of the greatest Jazz pianists alive today.

Come see the full breadth of rhythmic expression and experience some Hard Times!

May 23rd May 24th

A nod to a much longer tradition.

Feel the traditions of place and a people in this concert through the winding spirituals of Jessie Montgomery's Source Code and the bright and vibrant Korean fiddling of Sarang Kim's Two Hearts (a Friction commission).

Curated by Otis Harriel this concert also features Sergei Prokofiev's Karbardino-Balkar inspired Second String Quartet, and the incredibly creative RIPEFG, written by Yevgeniy Sharlat, which features Friction Quartet's Mitso Floor on the melodica.