Colin is delighted to return to the stage with the award-winning Veronika String Quartet to present Michael Daugherty’s Bay of Pigs for guitar and string quartet.

The composer writes, “Bay of Pigs for classical guitar and string quartet (2006) is a three-movement elegy for Cuba, past and present. In the first movement, “havana dreams,” I have composed bittersweet, brooding music for Cuba before the revolution, as remembered by Cuban exiles around the world. Fidel Castro (b. 1926), who commanded the revolution in 1959, has been dictator of Cuba since that time. The second movement, entitled “water fall,” evokes the turbulent seas surrounding Cuba. Here thousands of refugees have fled by boat and battles have been won and lost, including the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles. The ominous and angry rhythms of the final movement, “anthem,” echo the revolutionary chanting of Fidel Castro and the guerilla ghost of his communist ally, Che Guevara.”

Veronika String Quartet launched itself into the international arena early on, taking top prizes at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Shostakovich International String Quartet Competition, and Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition. Since then, this foursome has appeared in important halls in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Madrid, Jerusalem, New York, Chicago, and in Germany, France, and the Netherlands, as well as throughout the United States. The Veronika String Quartet has been heard abroad at the festivals of Evian, Lucerne, and Aldeburgh, and in prestigious North American venues of Ravinia, Music Mountain and Roundtop. Noteworthy collaborations have included those with members of the Amadeus, American and Fine Arts quartets, and with guest artists Ruth Laredo, Richard Stolzman, and Lawrence Leighton Smith.

Two performances:

December 17, 2017

2:00 PM at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Music Room, 30 West Dale Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
7:30 PM at the Ascension Episcopal Church, 420 West 18th and Grand, Pueblo, CO 81003