The free concert takes place Friday, January 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the USC School of Music Recital Hall. Arrive early for this popular series as seats fill to capacity.

Two of contemporary music’s most notable performers perform on the first Southern Exposure concert of 2018 – University of South Carolina music faculty Rachel Calloway, mezzo-soprano, and Ari Streisfeld, violin. Calloway has most recently appeared with Opera Philadelphia, the Amernet String Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, and at JazzFest Sarajevo singing the music of John Zorn. Streisfeld was a longtime member of the JACK quartet, and has played at venues including Wigmore Hall (London), La Salle Pleyel (Paris), and Teatro Colon (Argentina). In Duo Cortona, the couple demonstrates that voice and violin make for a lyrical and surprisingly versatile pairing. 

In addition to performing works written for Duo Cortona, Calloway and Streisfeld are joined by members of USC’s premier percussion ensemble in concertos by two of the 20th century’s most important composers. György Ligeti’s song cycle Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel (With Pipes, Drums, and Fiddles) is inspired by both Hungarian folk music and the avant-garde; Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra is a colorful synthesis of Eastern and Western musical traditions.

Artist Exposure

This Southern Exposure concert features visual art by Columbia-based artist Frankie Wolf in the USC Music Library, School of Music second floor, during the weeks surrounding the concert.