Duke University’s Music Graduate Student Association (MGSA), in collaboration with Music Composition Ph.D. student Erich Barganier, proudly hosted the acclaimed Orange Road Quartet for a weekend of enriching string quartet workshops and an exhilarating evening concert featuring brand-new compositions by the university's music composition students. This event continued to show the impact of Duke Music's graduate students, as they independently coordinated this concert without the assistance of departmental funding or through an existing course.
On March 16th, the Orange Road Quartet spent the afternoon working closely with six talented student composers — Erich Barganier, Ethan Foote, Josue Collado Fregoso, Monthati Masebe, Ronja Mokranova, and Chris Williams — on new string quartet works. These collaborative sessions culminated in a captivating free evening concert in Nelson Music Room, where Orange Road premiered these compositions to a diverse and enthusiastic audience from both the Duke and Durham communities.
The evening's concert showcased the quartet's remarkable artistry and the impressive creativity of Duke’s music composition students. The collaboration not only highlighted the vibrancy of contemporary music but also demonstrated the power of student-led initiatives in shaping the future of music at Duke.
Founded in 2021 as The New Sounds Quartet during their residency at the University of South Carolina, Orange Road Quartet is made up of Miguel Calleja and Holly Workman on violins, Nicky Moore on viola, and Jordan Bartow on cello. Their mentors include Ari Streisfeld, co-founder of the internationally renowned JACK Quartet. Today, Orange Road is enjoying a new chapter as the Cuker and Stern Quartet in residence at The New School, where they continue to be mentored by the members of the JACK Quartet, carrying forward the artistic inspiration ignited by their cherished mentor, Ari Streisfeld.