December 13, 2015

Second Sunday at Six concert with collaborative string combo The Ayuda Quartet and impressionistic guitar duo Matt Gold/Jim Tashjian. Sound by Jon Monteverde.

Guitarists Matt Gold (SUN SPEAK) and Jim Tashjian (Miss Remember, District 97) joined forces for a set of improvisations alongside some of their favorite songs. Expect textural improvisations and impressionistic music.

Matt Gold is a guitarist and composer based in Chicago. His work pulls from diverse traditions of electric and acoustic music. Matt has given his guitar a good strum or two in venues around the country and has performed on television and radio too. His main project is the guitar + drums duo SUN SPEAK. The duo has been praised for "combining the restrained virtuosity and microscopically intimate precision of a string quartet with the gentle playfulness and wide-open feel you hear in small-group jazz." (Chicago Reader) Their second album, "Sacred Rubble" (ears&eyes records), was released in fall 2015.

Visit Matt Gold's website.
Visit Jim Tashjian's website.

Also available: a Matt Gold Transistor performance (as SUNSPEAK) from January 9, 2015.

The Ayuda Quartet came together as friends in the Civic Orchestra and embarked together on the idea of forming an unconventional string quartet. Through the integration of music traditions past and present, the Ayuda Quartet blends deft classical artistry with refined modern pop sensibilities. The quartet strives to redefine the role of chamber music in today's world.

With their love of chamber music and art, the quartet launched the Flow Concert Series in the summer of 2015. Flow brings music from the concert hall to small spaces in celebration of the intimacy of music and art. The series is deliberately intimate, taking place in modest spaces, specifically designed to highlight the personal, emotional and intrinsic connection between the listener and the performers. Flow performances include poetry, visual arts and dance in combination with a set of musical pieces and songs.

The Ayuda Quartet have a growing demand in the studio as well, recently collaborating with Grammy-winning producer David Hodges and most recently with America's Got Talent finalist Sharon Irving, collaborating on her debut release. The arrangements are by John Arndt, a Grammy-nominated producer/arranger based in Chicago.

The Ayuda Quartet is Rita Andrade (viola), Myra Hinrichs (violin), Liz Oar (cello) and Danielle Seaman (violin). For this performance, Ayuda Quartet will be playing some tangos by Astor Piazzolla and some classical repertoire, with vocals by Hannaniah Whitley.

For this Transistor set The Ayuda Quartet performed tangos and Christmas music.

Also available: an Ayuda Quartet Transistor performance from November 8, 2015.

Also check out the Ayuda Quartet’s interview and performance on Transistor Radio’s Depth of Field (Episode #9)!