Saturday, September 20, 2025 7:30 p.m.
- The Phoenix Gallery Waterbury, VT
Sunday, September 21, 2025 4:00 p.m.
- Main Street Landing Film House, Burlington, VT
Sliding Scale Suggested Ticket Price, youth are free
Tickets are found at sevendaystickets.com

Join TURNmusic as we celebrate the 75th Birthday of Vermont composer Erik Nielsen. The TURNmusic string quartet (Mary Rowell, Brooke Quiggins, Elizabeth Reid, and John Dunlop) will be joined by Dan Liptak on Clarinet for a concert of Nielsen's string quartets and quintet.

"For several years, I have had in mind a musical performance idea that was very important to me. In my head, it was called The String Quartet Project. I wanted to pair some of my large-scale works for the ensemble with a brand new quartet written especially for the occasion. But first, I had to find an ensemble willing and able to take on such a project. Fortunately for me, my friend and long-time colleague Anne Decker immediately said yes when I proposed the idea of having the TURNmusic quartet perform the program, for which I will be eternally grateful.

I already knew that, besides the new quartet, I wanted to have on the program my 2002 Clarinet Quintet, originally a commission from the National Symphony Orchestra and my 2007 String Quartet #2, a commission from the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph to help mark their centennial. However, I needed another piece to open the second half of the program. I reached back to 2001 to my single-movement That Silent Land. It would pair very well with the final work, my new third string quartet, subtitled Three Brothers, since That Silent Land was written in memory of my late older brother, Karl, and the new work is dedicated to Karl and my late younger brother, Lars.

Both multi-movement works on the first half of the program contain a great deal of musical and emotional variety. That Silent Land is quite intense and my third quartet covers a lot of ground in its four movements. I like to think that there is enough balance of hope, humor, intensity, sadness, whimsy and spirituality to engage and satisfy the listeners. We’ll see!"

Erik Nielsen