Beo opens their first concert at the Ibagué Festival in Colombia with a short, fun, and flashy work! La Noyee, composed by Yann Tiersen for the movie Amelie, was arranged by our own Jason Neukom and is often used by Beo as an encore. Featured on this program will be Shostakovich’s incredibly moving and semi-autobiographical String Quartet No. 8, op.110. Not much needs to be said about this work, one of Shostakovich’s most famous pieces.

People, a work by Sean Neukom, offers no narrative context other than the title. Sean says, “The work starts with rain and sound effects created by the violins. The viola and cello introduce a languished, fragmented melody. The melody slowly builds to a state of triumph and optimism. How it ends is, in a way, up to the listener. You could be tricked into thinking the quartet is using digital effects throughout the work, but it’s all done through acoustic techniques.” People is a recent composition from a crossover show being developed by Beo, set to premiere in the spring of 2023.

Closing the program will be Mictlán, one of the movements from Gabriela Ortiz’s string quartet titled Altar de Muertos. Mictlán is the place of the dead, or underworld, in Aztec mythology. Expect incessant and unrelenting rhythms accompanied with percussion played by the quartet that ends in a breathless and fiery fury!

For more information, please visit https://ibaguefestival.com/