Friday, March 7, 2025 at 9pm
Doors Open at 8:15
General Admission: $15
Cash Bar provided by Rumor Brewing
David Lang Love Fail
Quince Ensemble
Liz Pearse soprano
Kayleigh Butcher mezzo soprano
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett soprano
Carrie Henneman Shaw soprano
Quince Ensemble is a treble voice quartet dedicated to changing the paradigm for contemporary vocal chamber music. Described as “the Anonymous 4 of new music” by Opera News, Quince continually pushes the boundaries of vocal ensemble literature. By performing almost exclusively the music of living composers, and actively commissioning works with a broad and curious aesthetic ear, we seek to create a landscape of contemporary vocal music that is embodied, complex, and expressive, with the musical boldness and virtuosity that is often reserved for instrumental groups.
“Why is it that people still like the story of Tristan und Isolde? ‘The greatest love story ever!’ But why? Of course, there is excitement, drama, love, lust, shame, death, dragons. I think the real reason why is because the love of Tristan und Isolde begins by accident – they drink a love potion. It is almost a laboratory experiment into what love might be like without any of the complications of how real love begins or works – without the excitement, embarrassment, frustration, guilt, or competition present in the courtships of ordinary people.”
So writes David Lang on why he wove together love fail (2012), into a tapestry of many versions of the 800-year old story. His libretto (with some help from Google Translate) draws from sources such as Lydia Davis, Marie de France, Gottfried von Strassburg, Béroul, Thomas of Britain and Richard Wagner.
“I compiled the oddest incidents from these versions of their romance, took out all the names or technological information that would make the texts seem ancient, and put them next to stories by the contemporary author Lydia Davis. These stories are oddly similar to the Tristan stories – they are also about love, honor, and respect between two people, but they are much more recognizable to us.”
The resulting 15 movements over 50 minutes for four female voices and sporadic instruments feel more like an elegant contemplation of the timeless subject than an over-the-top Romantic bombast; more Bay Ridge than Bayreuth. Perfect, in fact, for the debonair, post-austere voices of Quince Ensemble.