Hinge Quartet returns to Boston Conservatory at Berklee with their new program BRIGHT. Praised as a “distinctive and progressive” ensemble (Boston Musical Intelligencer) whose performances “help modern works leap off the page” (Spectrum Culture), the Hinge Quartet is made up of Conservatory faculty Philipp Stäudlin (saxophones), Dan VanHassel (electric guitar), and Matt Sharrock (percussion) with the ever-virtuosic Keith Kirchoff (piano). Lying somewhere between a chamber ensemble and an avant-garde rock band, Hinge Quartet combines cutting-edge contemporary classical and experimental music with seamless multimedia integration.
For their 2025–2026 concert season, Hinge presents a series of concerts that each explore a single adjective. BRIGHT invites the audience to consider this word in a variety of contexts. After all, brightness can be both energizing and disorienting. When faced with darkness, a bit of light can help center our thoughts or guide us down unfamiliar paths.
BRIGHT features music by Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh, Caroline Mallonee, and John Mayrose alongside Louis Andriessen’s modern warhorse “Hout” and Klaus Lang’s engulfing “bright darkness (night).”
Program InformationRepertoire
KLAUS LANG: bright darkness. (night)
LOUIS ANDRIESSEN: Hout
ANNIE HUI-HSIN HSIEH: Effervescence
CAROLINE MALLONEE: STAIN
JOHN MAYROSE: Slipstream
Program Notes
KLAUS LANG: bright darkness. (night) (2017)
What we perceive is very often not what our senses are suggesting—in fact it is our notion of something, shaped by concepts. We are impeded in realizing our sensory perception by a learned mechanism of our mind. It’s not uncommon that our preconceived expectations, our prejudices, are exactly the opposite of what we sensorially experience. If we obviate all noises, it gets louder, if we close our eyes, it gets light. We might question what we really see when we close our eyes in order to “see nothing,” and what even is our idea of “seeing nothing” and “darkness”? The same applies for movement, too. Sometimes we can’t tell whether an object is moving or not. Is it a chord we’re listening to or a line? A layer or a process? Or is it just our mind moving? Where can we find the answers to these questions? —Klause Lang
LOUIS ANDRIESSEN: Hout (1991)
“Hout (Wood)” was written for Loos at the request of Dirk Simons. Although the whole work is in principle a strict canon, the successive voices are so close together that it is more like a unison melody with ramifications. “Ramifications” and “branches” are the same word in Dutch. This especially refers to the branches of a tree, so the use of wooden instruments—marimba and woodblocks—help explain the title of the work. —Louis Andriessen
CAROLINE MALLONEE: STAIN (2002)
“Stain” is short for sustain. In this piece, both single notes and motives are sustained. These sustained gestures, rhythms, and notes infuse the piece with color—stain it, if you will, like a deep batik pattern. Sustenance is what you live on, what you need to survive. What sustains you? —Caroline Mallonee
About the Artist
Praised as “experimental and ethereal” (T&C Media) and a “welcome addition to the new music scene” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), the
Hinge Quartet lies somewhere between a chamber ensemble and an avant-garde rock band, combining cutting-edge contemporary classical and experimental music with seamless multimedia integration and the innovative re-imagining of rock and pop songs. All four members of Hinge serve on the faculty at Boston Conservatory. Saxophonist Philipp Stäudlin has performed hundreds of concerts and premiered more than 100 works throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. A native of Friedrichshafen, Germany, Stäudlin has appeared as a soloist with numerous groups, including the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, and the Bielefelder Philharmoniker. Stäudlin has also performed with ECCE, Talea, Steamboat Switzerland, IGNM Basel, and many others. Learn more about Stäudlin.Electric guitarist and composer Dan VanHassel has appeared as a soloist/featured performer with ensembles throughout the United States. As a composer, his works have been performed all over the world by the Talea Ensemble, Dinosaur Annex, Transient Canvas, Now Hear Ensemble, Empyrean Ensemble, Ignition Duo, and Ensemble Pamplemousse, among others. Learn more about VanHassel.Percussionist Matt Sharrock has commissioned over 90 pieces and tours extensively around the world as half of the bass clarinet/marimba duo Transient Canvas. In demand as a chamber musician, Sharrock is the resident percussionist with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble and has performed with the Lydian String Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, and Dinosaur Annex, among others. Learn more about Sharrock.Pianist Keith Kirchoff has toured extensively as a soloist across the United States as well as major cities throughout Italy, New Zealand, Australia, England, Canada, Belgium, Mexico, China, and the Netherlands. He cofounded the SPLICE Institute, a weeklong program for performers and composers working with electronics, and regularly tours and performs with the SPLICE Ensemble. Learn more about Kirchoff. Ensemble
Philipp Stäudlin, saxophones
Dan VanHassel, electric guitar
Matt Sharrock, percussion
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Concer Services Staff
Assistant Director, Concert Services – Luis Herrera
Coordinator, Concert Services – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov
Performance Technology Specialist – Andrei Radu
Boston Conservatory thanks audience members for viewing this program information online. This paperless program saved 200 sheets of paper, 21 gallons of water, and 18 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
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