Congratulations to Orlando Jacinto García on his 2021 Latin GRAMMY® nomination for Best Classical Contemporary Composition! His nominated work is his String Quartet No. 2, “Cuatro” performed by the Amernet String Quartet on our Métier release of his String Quartets Nos. 1 – 3. See the full list of nominees here, and make sure to tune in on November 18, 2021 at 8pm EST on Univision for the awards ceremony.
The music of the Cuban-American composer Orlando Jacinto Garcia inhabits a sonic universe of its very own, one where the musical landscape is constructed in order to evoke a thorough suspension of time. The three works on the present release correspond almost precisely to the past three decades of Garcia’s career and thus present for the interpreter and listener alike a kind of survey of his development. Garcia’s mentor and teacher was Morton Feldman and the aesthetic of Feldman and his inspiration are preoccupations which color several of Garcia’s compositions.
Garcia writes music that aims to suspend time. His syntax has a personal originality that sets it apart from other composers. A special thing, serious and expressive, thoughtful; sincere, intimate and a musical world unto itself. The Amernet String Quartet perform all three quartets with care, precision, and understanding. Recommended.”
—Grego Edwards, Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review
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.
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.