“Ethel and Loggins-Hull shape performances that are keenly alive to each sound world. The composers, including Loggins-Hull, can only be thrilled with the results.” – Gramophone
“The works differed from each other in form and feel, but were all played with commitment and dexterity.” – The Strad
“a striking and timely reflection on courage and resilience in the face of difficulty…offering stunning musical interpretations across a wide range of styles.” – I Care If You Listen
In celebration of the Courage, Patience and Resilience that arise in people in times of great difficulty, ETHEL, the genre-defying string quartet, joins forces with Allison Loggins-Hull, composer, flutist, producer, and Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow to the Cleveland Orchestra. Together, they have elicited brand new commissions from four brilliant composers: Migiwa Miyajima, Xavier Musik, Sam Wu, and 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Leilehua Lanzilotti. Passionate, committed, hopeful and inspiring, each contributes to an experience which surpasses the sum of its parts.
The centerpiece of the program is Loggins-Hull’s own NEA-commission, Persist, after which the program is named. In the composer’s words, “Persist is inspired by concepts of perseverance, motivation, and positive outlook. I often find myself thinking about the efforts of my relatives and ancestors, and what they went through so that I could be who I am today: a musician, a composer, an independent woman. I imagine what their lives could have been like had they not been subjected to disenfranchisement, segregation, or slavery. When I am having my most difficult days, I remember these ancestors for clarity and perspective. I feel extreme gratitude for the fire they’ve lit inside of me and for their spirit that lives through and within me. Their guidance is with me every day”.
