The music of Queen Liliʻuokalani will be celebrated in concerts by the Mana Music Quartet. The concerts will feature the songs of Hawaiʻi’s last monarch in arrangements for string quartet, including her popular Aloha ʻOe. She wrote more than 150 songs and chants, including during her imprisonment in ʻIolani Palace after the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The quartet studied Liliʻuokalani’s songbook to reimagine her music for string instruments.
The quartet features two musicians who perform with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra: violist Duane Padilla and cellist Joshua Nakazawa. The quartet’s recording of the Queen’s music won the 2021 Nā Hōkū Hanohano award for instrumental album of the year.
Nakazawa and violinist Eric Silberger spoke to Evening Concert host Craig DeSilva about why her music still touches our hearts more than 100 years after her death. They also talk about performing Czech composer Antonin Dvořák’swhich String Quartet No. 12 (“American Quartet”) that was written in 1893, the year of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
The Mana Music Quartet performs Friday, April 4 at Orvis Auditorium on the UH-Manoa campus. The concert is being presented by Honolulu Chamber Music Series. They perform again on Sunday, April 6 at Kahilu Theater on Hawaiʻi Island.
Learn more:
honoluluchambermusicseries.org
https://kahilu.org/
