In 2018, Sybarite5 will premiere a new version of their most popular touring

program, Everything in Its Right Place, with full orchestra. Recently the quintet gave

the world premiere of BEATBOX—the first concerto for string quintet and orchestra, written by acclaimed American composer Dan Visconti.

Sybarite5 is deeply committed to education and outreach as well as performance.

In addition to presenting master classes and workshops for over 60,000 students

ranging in age from five to twenty-five, the group has brought its popular program,

So You Think You Can Compose, to colleges and universities, including Luther

College, Penn State, Samford LTiversity, and New College. The program gives

students firsthand experience writing for string quartet.

Upcoming Events of the SeventySixth Season of The William

Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot

Belin Concerts

Unless otherwise noted, all programs 

take place in the West Building,

West Garden Court.

Daniel Bernard Roumain, violin

Yayoi Ikawa, piano

Redemption Songs & Sonatas

February 4, 3:30

Curtis on Tour

A Celebration of Leonard Bernstein

February 11, 3:30

Trio con Brio Copenhagen

To Travel Is to Live

Music by Grieg, Gade, Mendelssohn, 

and Tchaikovsky

February 18, 3:30

Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello

Noreen Polera, piano

Music by Albeniz, Brahms,

Schumann, and others 

February 25, 3:30

Admission to the National Gallery ofArt

and all of its programs is free of charge,

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the performance is not

allowed. Please be sure that all portable 

electronic devices are turned off.

The department of music produced 

these program notes. Copyright © 2018

Board ofTrustees, National Gallery of

Art, Washington

Concerts are made possible in part

through the generosity of donors to

the National Gallery ofArt through

The Circle. Reserved seating is available

in recognition of their support. Please

contact the development office at

(202) 842-6450 or circle@nga.gov for

more information.

Cover Henri Rousseau, Tropical Forest

■with Monkeys (detail), 1910, National

Gallery ofArt, Washington,John Hay 

Whitney Collection

nga.gov/music

76TH SEASON OF CONCERTS

JANUARY 28, 2018 / NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
Program

Sybarite5

Sami Merdinian and Sarah Whitney, violins

Angela Pickett, viola

Laura Metcalf, cello

Louis Levitt, bass

Celebrating Outliers andAmerican VanguardArt

JANUARY 28, 2018/3:30

WEST BUILDING, WEST GARDEN COURT

The program will be announced from the stage.

The Ensemble

“Their rock star status...is well deserved.Their classically honed technique mixed 

with grit and all out passionate attack transfixes the audience....”That is how the

Sarasota Herald-Tribune described Sybarite5, the first group of its kind to win the

Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Sybarite5 has riveted audiences

throughout the United States, forever changing the perception of chamber music 

performance. From the moment their bows hit the strings, this quintet of talented,

diverse musicians takes the audience on an exciting ride that engages the senses and

redefines the rules.

Dubbed the “Millennial Kronos,” Sybarite5 offers a commanding performance

style and eclectic repertoire from Bowie to Radiohead and Akiho to Assad. The

quintet’s debut album, Disturb the Silence, quickly reached the top ten on the Billboard

charts. The group’s follow-up album, Everything in Its Right Place, was released at 

Carnegie Hall to critical acclaim. Sybarite5 recently completed its latest album,

Outliers, featuring all new works from American composers, soon to be available.

With their dynamic view on twenty-first-century entrepreneurial musicianship,

the group has conducted their Evolution of an Entrepreneur residencies and workshops at major institutions and conservatories, including the Curtis Institute ofMusic

and the New England Conservatory. Sybarite5 was the featured ensemble in the 2016

American Composers Forum National Competition at (Le) Poisson Rouge, and the 

group maintains a residency at “the cell” in New York City, a nonprofit collective for 

artists to incubate and present their work. At the cell, Sybarite^ is experimenting with

new sounds and programming with technology, such as Jakub Ciupinski’s works for 

Sybarite5 + Hacked Theremins, as well as pursuing global collaborations resulting

from their work at the Silkroad Global Musician Workshop.

Highlights of recent seasons have included coast-to-coast performances in

forty-three states, from the Library of Congress and St. Paul’s Schubert Club to the

Anchorage Concert Association and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, as well as

concerts in their home of New York City at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center,

National Sawdust, the Apple Store, and the 92nd Street Y. In addition to their own 

groundbreaking, portable music festival— Forward Festival— Sybarite5 has appeared

at Ravinia, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, WolfTrap Opera, Interlochen

Center for the Arts, Music in the Mountains, and numerous leading festivals. International appearances have included Canada’s Tuckamore Music Festival, Argentina’s

New Docta International Music Festival, and Japan’s Osaka Festa.