91Èȱ¬

Praised by the New York Times for their ‘irrepressible dramatic spirit’, 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 New Generation Artists the Calidore String Quartet are making their Proms debut. New York-based composer, vocalist and violinist Caroline Shaw is the youngest-ever recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music. 'I'm in love with harmony, and that's what has always driven me to make music,' she says.'I'm in love with radical switches from chaos to order. I love pacing, and organising, time - which I think is what people call form. I love Buxtehude, Childish Gambino, Adele and Gerard Grisey.'

Shaw's First Essay was written for the Calidore String Quartet, in the fall of 2016, amid the heat of the US presidential election. 'The first piece began as a consideration of essay-writing structures, and the way that some of my favourite writers develop ideas. Ultimately, the music became about the breakdown, deterioration and transformation of language.' Shaw has now added two pieces, Second Essay: Echo and Third Essay: Ruby, to her series for the Calidore Quartet.