The Grammy Award winning Catalyst Quartet will perform at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Ford Center. The quartet was founded in 2010 by the Sphinx Organization, an institution promoting artistic excellence and increased representation in the arts.
The Catalyst Quartet is a string quartet featuring Karla Donehew Perez and Abi Fayette on violin with Paul Laraia on viola and Karlos Rodriguez on cello. The quartet is dedicated to “redefining and reimagining the classical music experience,” by designing their projects with the “unifying power of music” in mind.
Kaitlyn Busby, a sophomore music education major from Waynesboro, Miss., observed the unity she saw in videos of their performances.
“I immediately noticed the beautiful facial and bodily expressions they use,” Busby said. “I can tell each member has such a strong connection with each other which makes their music so strong.”
The quartet is globally renowned for its perfect synchronicity, clarity and rhythmic vitality. They have toured extensively, playing sold-out shows in venues across the United States and participating in international engagements in Argentina, Canada, Columbia, Cuba, England, Puerto Rico, Mexico and more.
Their debut album, the Bach/Gould Project, is their arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations released in April 2015. They worked collaboratively with celebrated cellist and Bach interpreter Pieter Wispelwey on this project. The arrangement was first presented at Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh, England, and his project was the first four-voiced version of the Goldberg Variations for a string quartet to be fully realized.
The Catalyst Quartet’s largest ongoing project is titled “UNCOVERED.” This is a multi-volume set of albums first released in February 2021. As the title suggests, this project aims to uncover and bring attention to works by underrepresented composers. The most recent volume of this project was released in 2023. Thus far, the UNCOVERED project has explored the works of composers Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, William Grant Still, Florence B. Price, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson and George Walker.
Busby appreciated the quartet’s rendition of Florence B. Price’s works.
“I am particularly fond of their work on pieces by Florence Price. I find it so important to highlight the work of a Black woman who was composing in the early 1900s,” Busby said. “I am very grateful that they are bringing such beautiful music written by composers of color into the mainstream of classical music.”
Like Busby, McKenley Coleman, a sophomore music major from Jonesboro, Ark., recognized the significance of educating audiences about the work of Black composers.
“We as musicians owe a lot to Black composers and artists,” Coleman said. “They laid the groundwork for a lot of the music we all enjoy today.”
