Sybarite5 and Curtis Stewart, Nov 3 2025

I heard Sybarite5 at Music Mondays on Nov 3, 2025. They're a string quintet - - two violins, viola, cello, and bass. I heard them in an online concert during lockdown n 2020. I just read that review and I appeared to enjoy the 2020 concert more than this latest one. Maybe I was more eager for a satisfying cultural experience? Or maybe it was just better.

They opened with "Movement and Locations" by The Punch Brothers.

It had a great energy but the cello solo at the beginning seemed fuzzy and vague. The piece went on and I realized that they all sounded under-rehearsed, both as an ensemble and as individual players. That wasn't a good way to open a concert but thankfully the rest of the program didn't have that problem. This is puzzling because it was a piece they had played in 2020 so clearly they've been playing it for a while. Maybe it took them a while to gel.

The next piece was written by their guest artist, violinist Curtis Stewart. It was called *Seasons of Change.* He introduced the piece and said he had spent some time in Arizona during a heat wave - - they had over 100 days over 100 degrees, unimaginable. He'd been toying with the idea of doing something using Vivaldi's *The Four Seasons* and got the idea to create a piece using Vivaldi as his departure point and layering in the issue of climate change.

He recorded random people on the street talking about their experiences during the heat wave, also some medical professionals. People talking about falling on the sidewalk and getting severe burns from the heat of the asphalt, that sort of thing. These recordings were often played over the music - - thankfully there was a screen on the side showing the words, that was helpful.

The piece started with no discernable connection to Vivaldi. I wrote in my notes, "Now this is what I came for. Vibrant, exciting music played with precision and drive." But once the spoken recorded element came in the piece lost focus. I admire the urge to meld classical music with social justice but this didn't quite deliver for me, I would have preferred to just hear the music.

The Vivaldi connection came in near the middle. It sounded like the original had been slightly shredded, frayed along the edges, with the players adding screeches, pizzicatos, and knocking on their instruments. I thought it was an effective re-imagining of a too familiar piece. Later there was more recorded text, Stewart playing a solo, and string backup. I looked around at the Sybarite5 players and was puzzled because none of them were playing. The string backup was pre-recorded. It didn't sound, to me, like it had been electronically enhanced or that there were more than five players, so why not have the five people onstage playing it live? What was the point.

Later in the piece we had some mediocre poetry mixed in with the recorded interviews. The earnestness of the piece and the assault of the music made it a less than pleasant experience. I was happy when it was over.

The next piece is just what I needed - - an arrangement of the Adagietto from Mahler's 5th Symphony. It's written for a full string orchestra and harp but somehow Sybarite5 was able to make it work for five people. It's really and truly one of the most beautiful pieces I've ever heard and it was illuminating to hear it in this version. It had more immediacy, more guts and grit.

The final piece on the program was "Slow Burn" by their violist, Jessica Meyer. It had fun textures and some raucous playing. Lots of pitch bending in the slow section, which string instruments do better than anyone.

It was unclear whether or not they were going to do an encore. I was sitting on the aisle and the people next to me wanted to leave. I needed to get up to let them out so I decided to leave, too. As I was leaving I heard someone in the ensemble say, "Do you want to hear one more piece?" I answered with my feet.