Continuum Chamber Collective Presents: Postcards from Home

The Continuum Chamber Collective is excited to return for the 3rd annual Art in Conversation concert at James Cohan Gallery with this year’s program titled “Postcards from Home”. This concert comprises multiple American stories about how migration affects the ritual of homecoming through works by Rebecca Clarke, Jessie Montgomery, Jie Yang, and Zhou Long. Each member of the collective will shine in different pairings of string duos and finish off as a quartet with Eight Chinese Folk Songs. Alongside the gallery’s exhibition, “From One Place to Another”, this concert reflects on how the idea of home has affected the development of American art and culture.

All composers on this program have once called New York City home, despite living many places through their lifetimes. The Zhou Long quartet and Jie Yang sonata reflect on issues of migration across the US and China as both Chinese-Americans were displaced from their families at the end of the Cultural Revolution. Dr. Zhou won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for music and has been jointly Grammy nominated for a piece co-written by him and his wife. Zhou is currently a Distinguished Research Professor of Composition at University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Jessie Montgomery and Rebecca Clarke are two violinist-violist-composers whose voices also emerged through major historical events on both ends of the 20th century. Clarke identified as Anglo-American and was visiting the US at the outbreak of World War II, remaining in New York City until she passed away at 93. The Rebecca Clarke Society was founded in 2000 and serves to uncover and perform her unpublished works. Montgomery grew up in Manhattan’s Lower East Side to a family of artist-activists during the political movements of the 1980s. She has continued to call NYC home while maintaining residencies with orchestras across the country. Montgomery is this year’s 2024 Grammy Award Winner for Best Classical Composition.

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The Continuum Chamber Collective was founded in 2020 between friends hungry for connection. Continuum takes pride in their dynamic programming, balancing contemporary and underrepresented works alongside well-loved classical repertoire. Continuum has commissioned and performed a world premiere of the, “Could Only Be Fantasy” by Akshaya Avril Tucker, written for oboe, violin, viola, and cello. Additionally, Continuum gave the New York City premiere of Lisa Heffter’s Carbon Fiber String Quartet and Jie Yang’s Sonata for Violin and Cello.

Continuum focuses on intimately connecting with audiences that they bring to unconventional performance spaces. Composed of versatile leaders in performance and education alike, Continuum members collectively perform in professional ensembles, hold faculty positions at the collegiate level, and maintain fellowships at major orchestral institutions. Continuum served as faculty artists during their string quartet residency at the ArtsAhimsa Chamber Music Festival in Lenox, MA. Continuum has also performed extensively throughout the DMV, New York City, and Southeast Michigan.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Alexandria History Museum at the Lyceum, 201 South Washington Street, Alexandria, United States