NEW MUSIC TUESDAY | Composer Alistair Coleman – Apollo 11 ‘Moonshot’ Quartet [WORLD PREMIERE]

The Abeo Quartet performing the world premiere performance of composer Alistair Coleman‘s ‘Moonshot‘ for String Quartet

The Juilliard School-based Abeo Quartet performing the world premiere performance of American composer Alistair Coleman‘s ‘Moonshot‘ for String Quartet - inspired by the 50^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Recorded live on the 3rd of October, 2019 – at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, in Washington D.C.

“Two years ago, I had a chance to visit the new Glenstone Museum, a private collection of post-war American art outside of Washington, DC ... of all the works I viewed there, I was especially enamored with a triptych of date-paintings by Japanese-American artist On Kawara ..." Alistair has told The Violin Channel

"Each of the three canvases had a date meticulously painted: July 16, 1969, July 20, 1969, and July 21, 1969 ... the dates looked familiar, but it didn’t take me long to realize these dates were the milestones of the Apollo 11 mission ..." the recent Juilliard School graduate has said.

“After my visit to Glenstone, I wrote a letter to the founders of Glenstone to tell them about my vision to compose a string quartet inspired by the Kawara, and to propose premiering the piece at the museum ... their curatorial team agreed and generously commissioned the piece to be performed on the one-year anniversary of the opening of the museum ..." he has said.

"I hope this piece will help listeners build their own relationship with these paintings, the history of Apollo, and the fleeting moments of unity and reflection that emerged from this watershed moment in human history.”

ABEO QUARTET | ALISTAIR COLEMAN | 'MOONSHOT' FOR STRING QUARTET | 2019 WORLD PREMIERE