IN MUSIC AND IN LIFE

The Intimate Artistry String Quartet renders a breathtaking narrative using emotional embodiment, movement, and technicolor sororities! The journey begins with dynamic explorations of life’s delights and challenges through a collection of emotionally immersive musical improvisations. Conceived of by composer Sara Lydia Anne Banks and brought to life by quartet members Charlotte Munn-Wood, Lara Lewison, Lauren Siess, and Polina Bakhtina.

CONFLICTING SENSUALITY

Sara Lydia Anne Banks deconstructs her own relationship to her instrument, fighting to understand her purpose in a soundscape where the rules have changed and her usual solutions are no longer relevant. Using the Intimate Artistry improv style, Banks picks up her cello to blurt out into the ether the inner conflicts of loss, isolation, ambition, and ecstasy.

The Intimate Artistry musical language and concert format uses tension and discomfort as a locus for storytelling, inviting the listener to breathe through the raw human experiences along with the performers. The audience’s experience builds from a place of embodiment and catharsis as opposed to analysis and a preoccupation for intellectual understanding. To best facilitate this environment of empathetic embodiment, the audience is guided through some basic mindfulness exercise. In between each piece, the audience and performers share reflections of the emotional journey they experienced. That conversation then informs the next improvisation.