The Pursuit:
Our latest full-length album, What Is American, is in the can, and we’re aiming for a June 2022 release with your help!
Following up on our GRAMMY-nominated album Freedom and Faith, What Is American is intended as both statement and question - A Call - to ponder the kaleidoscope of composers and diverse genres that make up America’s rich musical history.
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Featuring MIND | THE | GAP recompositions that draw upon PQ members’ individual family lineages, What Is American explores the resonances between contemporary, blues, jazz, free and rock-inflected musics - all of which trace their roots back to the Black and Indigenous musics that inspired Dvorak’s “American” String Quartet. Interrogating the traditions of our nation’s complex history, PQ attempts to connect the dots, illuminating the past, present, and future of American Art Music.
The Pledge:
Your backing will support :
- recording, mixing, and mastering of the album by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio (Mt. Vernon, NY)
- nationwide promotion of the album
- distribution, licensing, pressing, and other release-related costs - we’re excited to be collaborating again with the label Bright Shiny Things on this project!
About PQ
PUBLIQuartet is a GRAMMY®-nominated improvising string quartet whose contemporary repertoire blurs genres and highlights American multiculturalism.
PUBLIQuartet is recognized as one of the most interesting and innovative ensembles in the field, having received the 2019 Visionary Artists Award from Chamber Music America, the 2015 award for Adventurous Programming from ASCAP/CMA, and The Sylvia Ann Hewlett Adventurous Artist Prize at the 2013 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition.
PUBLIQuartet has held artist residencies at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, and National Sawdust in Brooklyn, and has performed at Lincoln Center, Detroit Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, and The Barns at Wolftrap. Their 2016 appearance on The Colbert Report “Requiem for a Debate” - in which they improvised a live soundtrack to the third presidential debate - not only received over a million views, but saw the Washington Post declaring them "the winner...indubitably."
PUBLIQuartet’s ingenuity extends to their educational initiatives, which focus on allowing participants to embrace their inner creator. Original workshops include improvisation and composition workshops; a collection of original works for small ensemble commissioned by Carnegie Hall that invites performers and audiences to explore individuality and belonging through improvisation; and PUBLIQ Access, an initiative created to support emerging composers. PUBLIQuartet is committed to creating an inclusive performance space, supporting living composers of varying genres, and expanding the classical canon.
Founded in 2010, PUBLIQuartet is based in New York City.
