Nicky Sohn and the Isidore String Quartet perform at DACAMERA's opening night this Friday.
IT’S OPEN SEASON for Houston’s fine-arts community. Next up: On Friday, Sept. 29, at the Wortham Center, DACAMERA opens its 36th season with the Houston debut of Isidore String Quartet, one of the hottest young quartets performing and touring today.
The program, titled Awakenings, includes Mozart’s Quartet No. 19 in C Major, nicknamed "Dissonance" due to the first movement’s slow, spooky and harmonically ambiguous introduction; Mendelssohn’s regal Quartet No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 44., No. 3, the third from a set of three quartets he dedicated to the Crown Prince of Sweden; and Time’s Dialogue, a new, commissioned quintet by Houston-based composer Nicky Sohn, featuring DACAMERA artistic director Sarah Rothenberg on piano.
Born in Seoul, Korea in 1992, Sohn was the sole classical composer among Houston CityBook’s Cool 100, but her star was certainly rising before then. She has received commissions and enjoyed performances by some of the world’s preeminent performing arts institutions, including Stuttgart Ballet, National Orchestra of Korea, St. Louis Symphony, Aspen Philharmonic, and New York City Ballet. Here in Houston, Sohn is composer-in-residence of Houston’s 16-member, conductor-less Kinetic Ensemble string orchestra. Kinetic premiered her violin concerto Home, inspired by the stories of previously unhoused graduates of The Women’s Home, featuring soloist Mary Grace Johnson and dance choreography by Kayla Collymore.
For Time’s Dialogue, Sohn was inspired by the 1957 recording of “Bye, Bye, Blackbird” by the legendary trumpeter and band leader Miles Davis; both the tune itself, along with Miles’ immediately identifiable approach to playing and improvising with a melody, were touchpoints for Sohn in the creation of her own “dialogue” with the recording as well as the two quartets on the Awakenings program, each composed by Mozart and Mendelssohn when they were in their late 20s. “I’m usually the youngest composer to be programmed, but I’m going to be the oldest composer to be performed on this concert,” says Sohn.
Sohn cites jazz as a major influence on her compositional output and hears it as a uniquely “organic way of making music that sounds like a conversation.” Conversational textures abound throughout Time’s Dialogue, which whizzes by in less than six minutes, with intervallic and harmonic content from “Bye, Bye, Blackbird” embedded in the individual and combined parts like strands of musical DNA. It doesn’t feel like “jazz,” but Miles never liked that word anyway, and reveled in doing the unexpected, which is another thing Sohn admires about the man. “He always came up with new styles of music,” says Sohn. “He was always looking for new ways of expression.”
Sohn also alludes to but doesn’t elaborate on, coming to terms with some painful personal experiences this past spring that led her to listen to sadder, blues-infused music in the vein of classic Miles. “Music is such a powerful tool for expression where I can be as abstract or as specific as I want,” says Sohn. “It’s almost like keeping a diary.”
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H-Town Is Pouring It On for Queen Bey's Renaissance Tour. Here Are Our Favorite Tribute Cocktails
Sep. 19, 2023
HOMETOWN HOT STUFF Beyoncé returns Sept. 23-24 for her Renaissance world tour, and H-Town is laying out the red carpet. Don’t have a ticket to the show? Toast, sip, and get fired up anyway with Bey themed cocktails galore. Here’s where!
Axelrad
"Pure (Hot) Honey"
Midtown hotspot Axelrad is pouring up the Pure (Hot) Honey with tequila, hot honey, grapefruit,lime and grapefruit bitters. They’re open after the concert on Saturday until 2am and on Sunday until midnight. It should cost a billion to look this good — but the cocktail is only $11.
Bar Louie
Bar Louie's Diva cocktail
Pull up a chair for the pink Diva martini Sept. 24 at this bar with multiple locations including The Woodlands. Snag happy-hour drink specials from 4-7pm along with half-off all bar bites. Its kitchen stays open until 2am if you want to swing by after the show.
Blossom Hotel
The 'Cuff It' cocktail
During the tour weekend, the hotel's rendezVu bar — located near NRG — will offer three cocktails inspired by Beyoncé. "Break My Soul" stars peach schnapps, pineapple juice and tequila, while "Cuff It" is sweeter with blackberry syrup, Grand Marnier and a blackberry swizzle stick. "Crazy in Love" features vodka, forest fruit tea and Aperol. Cheers!
Dish Society
The Phantom
The Phantom Lemonade mocktail is easily upgraded to celebrity status with your choice of liquor. Cool, black and sparkly with a cheerful yellow garnish mirroring a bumblebee, the drink is a fitting tribute the popstar legend.
Hyatt Regency Houston
This Downtown hotel will feature a Renaissance-themed bar with cocktails such as "I Got Hot Sauce in my Bag" and "Becky with the Good Hair." Join the fun from 3-11pm on Sept. 23 and dress the part for a selfie station and nonstop Bey music.
Incanto and Simone on Sunset
"Beautiful Nightmare" cocktail at Incanto (photo by Pixel Studios)
Both establishments will dispense the dark and moody Beautiful Nightmare cocktail on concert weekend. The complex and fragrant concoction is inspired by Beyonce’s hit “Sweet Dreams” and includes dark rum, crème de violette, sweet vermouth and lime, crowned with a gold leaf.
Lucille's
"Queen Bey" (photo by Jenn Duncan)
Kick off the celebratory weekend in style at this Museum District favorite. Bey-focused cocktails are many including the beautiful “Queen Bey” with cognac, limoncello, orange bitters and a brown sugar rim. Or consider the fueled-up “Everybody on Mute” made with gin, cucumber syrup, lime prosecco and silver glitter — it’s not just for “All the Single Ladies!”
Musaafer
Musaafer's Beyoncé lemonade (photo by @the_imani_experience)
Glistening Bey Lemonade created by beverage director Afzal Kaba is a lively libation inspired by Beyonce’s favorite things and to honor her birthday month. The cocktail features Don Julio tequila infused with lemon and shaken with organic honey, limoncello and edible glitter. It’s topped with prosecco and a cowboy hat and each imbiber will receive a disco ball necklace to wear. Available Sept. 18-24.
The Original Ninfa's
"Disco Limonada"
Both Ninfa’s locations are pouring two Bey-inspired drinks. The ultra-boozy Disco Limonada features melon liqueur, gin, tequila and housemade fresh lemonade. While the equally strong Blue Ivy stars Aguasol tequila, Caribbean pineapple liqueur, banana liqueur, pina colada mix and freshlime juice.
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