American Panorama

String Quartet Concert at Archway Gallery

Antonin Dvorak wrote his “American” String Quartet while spending the summer in Spillville, Iowa. He infused his traditional writing with the musical onomatopoeia of his new surroundings: the call of the tanager and the burbling water of the Mississippi River. Just over a century later, the similar trope of geographical inspiration continues its voyage, this time with Sally Beamish’s String Quartet No. 2 “Opus California”. Much like its namesake, Beamish narrates the warmth and allure of the Sunshine State. Gwyneth Walker’s “Traveling Songs,” which celebrates folk music from across the States, concludes the triptych.