MUSIC
Cassia Streb / Sandstone Quartet
Music for the Open Sky
Saturday, April 4, 2026, 7:30PM
Performance to be followed by a reception with the artists.
Lorraine Boccardo Theater
“Across centuries, composers have looked to the night sky as a place for reflection—an expanse that invites both wonder and humility. This program brings together music written more than five hundred years apart, tracing different ways composers have contemplated the heavens.”
Cassia Streb
For centuries, composers have looked to the night sky as a source of reflection and wonder. This program brings together music written more than 500 years apart, tracing different ways artists have contemplated the cosmos.
Beginning with Josquin des Prez’s haunting Renaissance lament—heard here in a new 2026 string quartet arrangement—the program moves through Beethoven’s luminous “Razumovsky” Quartet, whose slow movement was inspired by his contemplation of the stars. Contemporary works by Leila Adu-Gilmore and Laurence Crane extend this tradition, blending spectral harmony, rhythmic complexity, and fragments of Beethoven with imagery captured by NASA spacecraft and telescopes.
Together, these works invite listeners to pause, look upward, and hear the vastness of the universe translated into sound.
Performers
Felix Hernandez-Jones, violin
Adrienne Andisheh, violin
Cassia Streb, viola
Kevin Mills, cello
About Sandstone Quartet:
The Sandstone Quartet is a collective of musicians who live and work in the desert region between Los Angeles and Ivins, Utah. Formed out of a shared desire to make music that resonates with their surroundings and each other, the ensemble brings together cellist Kevin Mills, violinists Felix Hernandez-Jones and Adrienne Andisheh, and violist Cassia Streb.
Working collaboratively rather than hierarchically, the quartet selects and develops repertoire that speaks to their individual and collective experiences. Their performances emphasize attentive listening, trust, and responsiveness — qualities that reflect both their musical values and the landscape they inhabit. The Sandstone Quartet’s work embodies a deep sense of place, shaped by the quiet expanses and subtle shifts of the desert environment that connects them.