Artistic excellence and innovative event design are showcased on June 5

The University of South Carolina School of Music’s SAVVY Chamber Showcase is the nation’s first chamber music competition to evaluate both artistic excellence and innovative event design. Vying for a $10,000 grand prize, four finalist ensembles perform a showcase concert in Richland Library’s new auditorium on June 5. This year’s featured finalists are Real Vocal String Quartet (Berkeley, CA), Projeto Arcomusical (Dekalb, IL), BIK Ensemble (Montreal), and The Living Earth Show (San Francisco).

The SAVVY Chamber Showcase concert takes place Monday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Richland Library Main, 1431 Assembly Street, Columbia, SC. It is free and open to the public to attend.

In addition to the $10,000 grand prize that includes a residency at the School of Music, the winning ensemble gets full tuition scholarships to attend The SAVVY Arts Venture Challenge – an experiential entrepreneurship workshop for musicians, performing artists and educators.

The four finalist ensembles:

Berkley, California-based Real Vocal String Quartet (RVSQ) began with violinist Irene Sazer's inspiration to combine her musical passions: chamber music, improvising, composing and singing. With violinist Adrianna Ciconne, violist Darcy Rindt, and cellist Vanessa Ruotolo, Sazer's vision sparked the creation of a collaborative ensemble that freely mixes and ultimately transcends genres. RVSQ's broad repertoire embraces the diverse influences of all four players, from classical, jazz and rock, to songs and styles from West Africa, Brazil and rural America.

Projeto Arcomusical, from Dekalb, Illinois, is a world music sextet reimagining the Afro-Brazilian berimbau, a single-string percussion instrument, through a repertoire of unique and powerful concert chamber music. Performance highlights include a featured recital at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention and a three-week Brazilian tour in July 2015 that took the ensemble to six locations in the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia.

BIK Ensemble from Montreal, Canada, commissions and creates works that are both daring and accessible. These three exceptional artists continuously challenge the view of musicians as performers by having them go beyond their instruments to inhabit dramatic roles. They create a mode of presentation in which the expressiveness of contemporary music is made palpable to broad audiences.

San Francisco-based Living Earth Show is a megaphone and canvas for some of the world’s most progressive artists. Comprised of electric guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson, the ensemble uses the traditions of classical and experimental music as tools to allow artists of all disciplines to create their most ambitious works and respond to the world in which they live.

More information about the SAVVY Chamber Showcase.
More information about Spark: Carolina’s Music Leadership Laboratory.