MUSIC
Cassia Streb / Sandstone Quartet
Between Home and Away
Saturday, December 6, 2025, 7:30PM
Lorraine Boccardo Theater
We are gathering in the spirit of a salon. Each of these composers transforms familiar materials into something newly alive. I invite you to join us—to listen, reflect, and rediscover what it means to be at home in music.
— Cassia Streb
How do we find a sense of musical belonging—through the sounds of home, or the songs of faraway places? Between Home and Away explores this question through three masterworks for string quartet by Antonín Dvořák, Florence Price, and Amy Beach—each illuminating the dialogue between identity, influence, and imagination.
Dvořák’s beloved “American” Quartet (composed in 1893) captures the composer’s wonder at the musical landscape of the New World, weaving echoes of spirituals and Native American melodies into radiant chamber textures. Florence Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint (1950) reclaims those same spiritual roots from within, transforming familiar tunes like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot into intricate, joyful counterpoint. And Amy Beach’s Quartet for Strings in One Movement (1929) turns outward once more, drawing inspiration from Inuit melodies to create a bold and luminous sound world.
Together, these works invite us to listen beyond borders—to hear how music bridges distance and how, through attentive listening, we come to understand one another.
Performance to be followed by a reception with the artists.
Performers
Felix Hernandez-Jones, violin
Adrienne Andisheh, violin
Cassia Streb, viola
Kevin Mills, cello
Curated by Cassia Streb
Los Angeles–based violist, composer, and curator Cassia Streb brings her spirit of exploration to Kayenta in this new chamber music series. Trained in the classical tradition and deeply inspired by the natural world, Streb’s curatorial approach bridges past and present, honoring tradition while seeking new ways to listen.
