Our program Upward Spirals highlights four incredible journeys of artists looking back, while charging forward — featured here in three short contemporary works alongside one well-established masterpiece. Family Photos, from young Iranian-American talent Kian Ravaei, was formed in equal parts by memories as commonplace as summer evenings at a Southern California carnival as visits to Tehran to see family; Lei Liang’s Gobi Gloria explores formative family experiences through Mongolian ‘Long Song’ tradition; while Paul Wiancko’s Lift is a joyous tapestry of the author’s musical background — weaving Classical, Jazz, Folk, and Hip Hop into a single high-energy voice. Finally, Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet stands as an impressionist triumph — full of revolutionary textures and colors, masterfully contained in older structures and influenced by his mother’s Basque heritage. ~ Leo Eguchi

PROGRAM

Family Photos | Kian Ravaei (b. 1999) ~ 11 minutes

Gobi Gloria | Lei Liang (b. 1972) ~ 11 minutes

Lift: Part III [Glacial - Maniacal - Lift] | Paul Wiancko (b. 1983) ~ 8 minutes

String Quartet in F Major | Maurice Ravel (1875—1937) ~ 30 minutes