5BMF Presents The Cramer Quartet In The World Premiere Of THE SEVEN LAST WORDS PROJECT

Five Boroughs Music Festival, in partnership with the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture and Flushing Town Hall, presents the acclaimed Cramer Quartet in their premiere performances of the Seven Last Words Project.

The first concert will take place on Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 7:30pm at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in Manhattan, and the second concert will take place on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 7:00pm at the Flushing Town Hall in Queens. The Cramer Quartet consists of violinists Jessica Park and Chiara Fasani Stauffer, violist Keats Dieffenbach, and cellist Shirley Hunt.

The Seven Last Words Project is an immersive string quartet performance that interweaves seven new works by composers Jessica Meyer, Colin Jacobsen, Nico Muhly, Tania León, Reena Esmail, Paola Prestini, and Caroline Shaw with Franz Joseph Haydn's nine-movement masterpiece The Seven Last Words of Christ. Each of the new works is written as a response to a movement of the Haydn, taking the place of sermons that would traditionally be given in a church service setting. The result is a quilting of old and new, and a meditation on these seven famed phrases from a contemporary and global viewpoint.

At the Sheen Center performance on November 18, audiences will also have the opportunity to experience the show with accompanying digital projections designed by Camilla Tassi, a new and experimental component of the Seven Last Words Project and the start of an ongoing partnership with the Cramer Quartet.

Additional 2021-2022 season events presented by 5BMF include Castle of Our Skins performing their NYC debut in a program featuring Florence Price's Piano Quintet and Undine Smith Moore's Soweto for piano trio, paired with a lecture by Dr. Samantha Ege, a musicologist and Price scholar based at Oxford University; and the return of 5BMF's flagship project, the Five Borough Songbook, Volume III, comprised of 15 new songs by 15 composers, co-presented by On Site Opera and performed by vocalists from Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble.

Five Boroughs Music Festival is committed to the health and safety of patrons, artists, and staff, and continues to monitor and comply with current New York City COVID-19 guidelines and requirements. All guests aged 12 and up attending 5BMF's indoor, or indoor/outdoor hybrid, performances are required to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 at time of entry. Masks are required at all times inside 5BMF venues. 5BMF's health and safety guidelines are subject to change as federal, state, and city recommendations evolve.

Concert Information
Cramer Quartet: The Seven Last Words Project
Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 7:30pm
The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture | 18 Bleecker St | New York, NY 10012
Tickets: $30 General Admission
Link: https://5bmf.org/events/cramer-quartet/

Cramer Quartet: The Seven Last Words Project
Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 7:00pm
Flushing Town Hall | 137-35 Northern Blvd | Queens, NY 11354
Tickets: $25 General Admission, $15 Students with ID
Link: https://5bmf.org/events/cramer-quartet/

Program:
Joseph Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ
Introduzione: Maestoso ed Adagio
Sonata I: Pater, dimitte illis, quia nesciunt, quid faciunt ("Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do")
JESSICA MEYER: Father, forgive them
Sonata II: Hodie mecum eris in paradiso ("Verily, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise")
COLIN JACOBSEN: Verily
Sonata III: Mulier, ecce filius tuus ("Woman, behold your son")
Nico Muhly: Short Variation on Mulier, ecce filius tuus
Sonata IV: Deus meus, Deus meus, utquid dereliquisti me ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")
TANIA LEÓN: Lágrimas (Tears)
Sonata V: Sitio ("I thirst")
REENA ESMAIL: Varsha (Rain)
Sonata VI: Consummatum est ("It is finished")
PAOLA PRESTINI: It is finished
Sonata VII: In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum ("Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit")
CAROLINE SHAW: Seven
Il terremoto (The Earthquake): Presto e con tutta la forza

Cramer Quartet
Jessica Park, violin
Chiara Fasani Stauffer, violin
Keats Dieffenbach, viola
Shirley Hunt, cello

Camilla Tassi, projection artist