The Louis Moreau Institute presents a new season of new music

Photo by Dennis H. Miller

The Louis Moreau Institute is back in the Crescent City for its third season of concerts presenting modern and contemporary classical music to local audiences. The mission of the arts organization, named after 19th century New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, is to provide a platform for New Music in the city with high quality performances by a group of accomplished musicians. The two concerts will feature six artists from across the country, with four of them embodying the up-and-coming Ulysses String Quartet.

The first concert “American Extremes” is at the Marigny Opera House on Friday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. The featured works, all of which are known for their exacting demands on the musicians, include Igor Stravinsky’s “3 Pieces for String Quartet” and Steve Reich’s groundbreaking “Different Trains” for string quartet, taped speech, and sound effects. Also in the concert are two works written in 2000: “Concert Étude” for solo horn by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the New Orleans premiere of “Quartetto No. 3” by acclaimed composer Mario Davidovsky. Tickets are $20 for general admission, and $10 for students.

Their following presentation “Hungarian Melodies” is Tuesday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Dixon Recital Hall in the Dixon Annex at Tulane University. Performances will include Béla Bartók’s masterpiece “String Quartet No. 4” and György Ligeti’s inventive and immensely satisfying Horn Trio. This concert is free and open to the public.

More information on the Louis Moreau Institute and interviews with the featured artists is available on the organization’s website.