| Information: |
Quartet of the Avenues was composed in New York City and is based upon scenes of life in the various seasons. The first movement portrays the Market at Union Square in November after the fray of summer has dissipated. The second movement depicts the quiet solitude of the depths of winter. The third movement is the awakening of spring in the city. The fourth movement displays the frenzy of activity at a street fair in summer.
(New music online)
Jennifer Byers has composed and performed her works for a wide range of venues. Playwright, Edward Albee, for the Signature Theatre, re-concieved the music in "Sandbox" with her score for solo cello based on William Flanagan's music. Muse Africa Muse, the resident classical orchestra in Soweto, South Africa, invited Jennifer to perform her adapted works of South African traditional music for the Investiture of Dr. Walter Sisulu in the ceremony March 1992 in Venda. The Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton MA, featured "Hiawatha"for reader (actress, Margery Shaw) and solo cello, music composed from Native American influence. In Ibla, southern Sicily, as a juror for the Ibla International Piano Competition,she was awarded the IBLA Grand Prize Piano Competition commission for "Concerto Siciliano" for solo piano and orchestra.The Alabama Shakespeare Festival commissioned her to compose the score for the mainstage production of "Othello" in which she garnished praise from critics as..."atmospheric, melodic, and evocative...captures the spirit of both the period in which the production is set and that of the modern era." Her body of work includes orchestral, chamber music, vocal, sonatas for various instruments, instructional children's music, and adaptations of traditional music from Italy, Africa, China, and Native American music. A member of ASCAP, she has numerous awards for her music and is regularly sought to perform as a solo cellist on the stages of Repertory Theatres with the nom de plume, Aisha Benoir, the New York Observer calling..."the excellent Aisha Benoir." (bio courtesy of Composers Group International,New York) |