Amernet String Quartet | Divine Art Recordings

Métier is the new-music label of the Divine Art Recordings Group, based in Vermont, USA, and in the UK. Its recent albums of new string quartets by English composers Robin Stevens and Edward Cowie has helped to kindle a new interest in the contemporary work in this genre and February will see the release of a new recording by the Amernet String Quartet of String Quartets 1-3 by Cuban composer Orlando Jacinto García, who has lived in the USA since 1961.

The three quartets presented here express in a variety of ways the overarching nature of García’s writing, originating in part from his association with Morton Feldman. In the pop world, perhaps ‘ambient’ would be the tag applied but would do a disservice to the complexity and depth of García’s writing; this is not music that clashes and bangs but invites one to float in the suspended, elongated tones which shimmer and evolve; using pauses, contrasts between dissonance and consonance, repeated rhythmical patterns, García creates a meditative soundworld where time is barely relevant.

Orlando Jacinto García — Orlando Jacingo García © Orlando Jacingo García | CARTA

Through more than 200 works composed for a wide range of performance genres including interdisciplinary, site specific, and works with and without electronics for orchestra, choir, soloists, and a variety of chamber ensembles, Orlando Jacinto García has established himself as an important figure in the new music world. The distinctive character of his music has often been described as “time suspended- haunting sonic explorations”: qualities he developed from his studies with Morton Feldman among others. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1954, García migrated to the United States in 1961. In demand as a guest composer, he is the recipient of numerous honours and awards from a variety of organisations and cultural institutions including the Rockefeller, Fulbright, Knight, Dutka, Civitella Ranieri, Bogliasco, and Cintas Foundations, the State of Florida, the MacDowell and Millay Colony, and the Ariel, Noise International, Matiz Rangel, Nuevas Resonancias, Salvatore Martirano, and Bloch International Competitions. Most recently he has been the recipient of 4 Latin Grammy nominations in the best Contemporary Classical Composition Category (2009-11, 2015). With performances around the world at important venues by distinguished performers, his works are recorded on New Albion, O.O. Discs, CRI /New World, Albany, North/South, CRS, Rugginenti, VDM, Capstone, Innova, CNMAS, Opus One, Telos, and Toccata Classics. García is the founder and director of the NODUS Ensemble, the Miami Chapter of the International Society for Contemporary Music, the New Music Miami ISCM Festival, and is a resident composer for the Miami Symphony Orchestra. A dedicated educator, he is Professor of Music, Distinguished University Professor, and Composer in Residence for the School of Music at Florida International University.

The Amernet String Quartet is currently Ensemble-in-Residence at Florida International University; it is one of the most acclaimed ensembles of its generation and has been praised for its intelligence, expressivity, ravishing sound, and commitment to both new music and the classics since its inception. Its members are Misha Vitenson and Avi Nagin, violins; Michael Klotz, viola and Jason Calloway, cello.