CONCERT REVIEW:
https://www.sfcv.org/articles/review/hear-now-music-festival-spotlights-works-fresh-composers
Violinists Sarah Thornblade, Mona Tian, Adrianne Pope, and Sara Parkins taking the stage to perform Extraordinary Instruments at the 2025 Hear Now Festival
Sunday, April 13 at 2220 Arts + Archives, 5:00pm Instrumental Chamber Music with Lyris Quartet and Brightwork Ensemble
Extraordinary Instruments (2017)
Violin Quartet: Four violinists and their voices
Written for Lina Bahn, Carolyn Stuart, Janet Sung, and Livia Sohn of Modern Violin Ensemble (MoVE)
“Something that gives the most common man the most uncommon of freedoms. When ordinary hands can possess such an extraordinary instrument, that symbolizes the full measure of human dignity and liberty.”
-Charlton Heston, NRA convention 2000
Extraordinary Instruments is a work that calls into question the morality and sustainability of American gun culture as it is today. The gun debate in America is amongst its most polarizing. Charlton Heston’s words “dignity,” “liberty,” and “extraordinary instrument” have profoundly different meanings from one American to the next, and Extraordinary Instruments is meant to be a space for Americans to question these meanings for themselves.
Tommy Dougherty 