Carnegie Hall

The string quartet is a “microcosm of democracy” in this visionary new program by Brooklyn Rider, “one of the wonders of contemporary music” (Los Angeles Times). The ensemble illustrates the idea through multiple centuries of music, starting with Haydn’s novel quartet writing—a reflection, perhaps, of societal shifts at play in the Age of Enlightenment. Violinist Colin Jacobsen puts his unique spin on a Civil Rights–era classic by Bob Dylan, and new commissions by Don Byron, Ted Hearne, and Angélica Negrón directly explore questions of citizenship and democracy in the 21st century. The performance concludes with Beethoven’s heroic Third “Razumovsky” Quartet, which the ensemble suggests holds the “the ultimate representation of a musical democracy” in its fugal final movement.