Carnegie Hall Citywide at Madison Square Park: JACK Quartet

Madison Square Park
Oval Lawn

This July, in conjunction with Rose B. Simpson’s exhibition Seed, Carnegie Hall plans a stunning range of free outdoor concerts on the Oval Lawn of Madison Square Park as musicians take the stage. Join us for an evening performance by the Grammy Award–nominated JACK Quartet.

The New York Times calls the JACK Quartet, “one of contemporary music’s indispensable ensembles,” renowned for expansive programming of twentieth- and twenty-first century string music. Planned in collaboration with the Cuban-born visionary composer Tania León, the program features music by American composers who redefine string quartet repertoire. Ruth Crawford Seeger’s String Quartet 1931 reimagines rhythm and harmony, still sounding fresh almost a century later. Gabriella Smith’s Carrot Revolution (2015) is a thoroughly modern patchwork of “wildly contrasting influences,” weaving  elements including J. S. Bach, Celtic fiddle tunes, and The Who. Amy Williams’s new work, Tangled Madrigals, offers a contemporary interpretation of medieval hockets—a dazzling technique in the hands of a string quartet—while the pioneering George Lewis stretches the quartet to its virtuosic limits in a 2022 JACK commission.

To know before you go:

• Picnic blankets and lawn chairs are encouraged.
• Stroller Parking is not available, so please consider leaving strollers at home, if possible.
• Accessible Seating will be available but limited (first come – first served).