Join International House, the UChicago Department of Music, and UChicago Presents to welcome Quatuor Diotima for a lunchtime conversation!

The University’s Ensemble-in-Residence, Quatuor Diotoma, participates in a lunchtime discussion, including a small performance by the acclaimed string quartet. The presentation, titled “The Illusion of Folklore,” explores why Janacek, Bartok and Ligeti (also Britten and Stravinsky) did not limit themselves to an arrangement of popular culture, either their own or those of others. The question of the right of the composer to create new material from all cultures in his or her own language is also discussed, along with a nod to the polemics around Robert Lepage and his production of “Kanata” with Ariane Mnouchkine.

The Quatuor Diotima is one of the most in-demand chamber ensembles in the world today; it was formed in 1996 by graduates of the Paris national conservatory (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris).

The quartet’s name evokes a double musical significance: Diotima is at once an allegory of German romanticism – Friederich Hölderlin gives the name to the love of his life in his novel Hyperion – and a rallying cry for the music of our time, brandished by Luigi Nono in his composition Fragmente-Stille, an Diotima.

This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided. 

This event is co-sponsored by the International House Global Voices Performing Arts Series, the University of Chicago Department of Music, and UChicago Presents.