Purple Martin String Quartet: A Music for Food Concert

The magic of chamber music performance continues when Music for Food Tallahassee presents the Purple Martin String Quartet playing quartets by Philip Glass and Robert Schumann. This concert is the second “Music for Food” Tallahassee event, a musician-led initiative to fight hunger in our communities. The members of the Purple Martin String Quartet are local professional musicians in our community, performing to raise funds that will go directly to our local food pantry partner, Second Harvest of the Big Bend. The musicians are Carrie Olds Holden and Ken Davis on violin, Miriam Tellechea on viola, and Zlatina Staykova on cello.

The Philip Glass String Quartet Number 3 was written in 1985 and was composed as music for Paul Schrader’s film about the life of author, playwright and self-styled, latter-day Samurai, Yukio Mishima. The film, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, uses scenes for quartet shot in monochrome that are used to depict childhood flash-backs. Glass wrote this piece knowing that the string quartet might later be performed separately from the movie and in the concert hall.

Robert Schumann wrote only three quartets which he composed in just two months in 1842 following a period of depression. He often idolized his wife Clara in his works, and these pieces were first performed as a present for her on her 23rd birthday. The Purple Martin String Quartet will play the first of these three quartets. Schumann’s writing is lush and emotional and audience members will find that the music evokes a vocal quality to which they can connect emotionally.

Music for Food is a musician-led initiative for local hunger relief. Music for Food concerts raise resources and awareness in the fight against hunger, empowering any musicians who wish to use their artistry to further social justice. Please visit www.musicforfood.net to learn more. The Tallahassee Music for Food chapter is proud to present these concerts to our community, with the next concerts planned for September 8, 2019 and January 12, 2020. These performances are a continuation of the ongoing “Building Bridges with Beethoven” series featuring violinist Corinne Stillwell performing with advanced Florida State University College of Music students. Please visit Music for Food Tallahassee for more information.

Special thanks to The Unitarian Universalist Church of Tallahassee (UUCT) for providing the venue for this performance.