Infinity Saxophone Quartet
Sunday, October 12, 2025 at 2 p.m. in the SITE Auditorium
Founded in 2025 by retired CT Music Educator Rich Szulczewski, The Infinity Saxophone Quartet is a lively, eclectic group incorporating jazz standards, contemporary classical, big band, folk, ballads, and classic popular music. Featuring soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, they play everything “from Beethoven to Queen, with a whole lotta fun in between.”
Masterwork as well as small ensemble composers will be featured. The program will serenade the audience with classical works such as “Moonlight Sonata” and “Waltz of the Flowers”, an Irish Folk Dance, a tone painting depicting a city skyline, “Elements” of Fire and Water, a Ragtime piece, a lively Tango, and well-orchestrated jazz standards.
Much of the program will be enhanced by drum set percussion as the group rounds it out and amps it up with classic hits from Glen Miller, Duke Ellington, and Simon and Garfunkel. In addition, a special rendition of “Birdland” and a unique arrangement of a well-known Queen song are sure to be fan favorites. Come and experience an afternoon of musical entertainment with The Infinity Saxophone Quartet.
Location
Mount Carmel Campus
275 Mount Carmel Avenue
Hamden, CT 06518
Uncaged: Illuminating Afghan women artists through music & dance
An evening of music, movement, and visual art that brings hidden stories to light presented in conjunction with the Quinnipiac Theater Program.
Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 2 p.m. at the Black Box Theater
In Afghanistan, where music and art are forbidden, women have been silenced and pushed out of society. Some Afghan women refuse to be silenced. Four women in particular have connected with UK composer Sadie Harrison, Hartford CT based string ensemble Cuatro Puntos, and Middletown CT ballet company Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet (ECB) to bring their stories to life through music and dance. The score commissioned by Cuatro Puntos is based on the artworks and poetry by commissioned female Afghan artists and poets. These artworks were transported out of Afghanistan through an organization called Beyond Skin, a Northern Ireland-based intercultural arts collective working to build peace and social cohesion. All of the artworks will be on display at the performance.
Cuatro Puntos Ensemble is ensemble-in-residence for Cuatro Puntos, an organization in Hartford, Connecticut dedicated to intercultural dialogue through the writing, performance, and teaching of music. Fanfare Magazine has described them as having “a great depth of sound”. Cuatro Puntos Ensemble collaborates with local, national, and international guest artists to produce genre-defying and culturally significant concert programing and album recordings. They have performed extensively throughout the United States as well as in Bolivia, Brazil, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Afghanistan. The ensemble aims for the highest in artistic excellence while centering underrepresented, silenced, and persecuted performing musicians and composers.
Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet is a professional dance company comprised of artists whose goal is to create spaces where art can help nourish and enrich communities. Ekklesia empowers movement by utilizing a full spectrum of emotional and physical vocabulary to explore the intersections of theology, dance, and social justice, addressing issues such as poverty, inequality, and human suffering in order to promote healing and deep human connection.
Location
Quinnipiac Theatre Arts Center
515 Sherman Avenue
Hamden, CT 06518
icarus Quartet
Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 2 p.m. at the Black Box Theater
The half piano/half percussion icarus Quartet, Winner of the 2019 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition and praised by the Wall Street Journal for their “virtuosity, precision and unflagging energy,” will present their “Eclectic Electric” program of recent commissions. As the name suggests, this set list has something for everyone – sampled lo-fi hip hop beats, merengue music driven by a Dominican güira, and at one point eschews all of icarus’ acoustic instruments in exchange for two synthesizers, a drum machine, and a MIDI mallet keyboard as chamber music meets Electronic Dance Music.
Having recently toured with Béla Bartók’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion and three companion pieces commissioned for and written expressly for the group by compositional titans Martin Bresnick, Viet Cuong, and Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon, iQ explores the other end of their spectrum of aesthetic while championing early career composers whose voices fit beautifully within the Quartet’s sensibilities. Five of the six works comprising “Eclectic Electric” are the culminating results of icarus’ iQ Tests program, an annual call for scores that draws applications from students at premiere institutions around the world, leading to the selection of two iQ Test Scholars who each receive a paid commission, mentorship from a renowned composer, a season-long residency with the ensemble, live performances, and a professionally produced music video. Alumni of this program have achieved continued success, garnering commissions from ensembles and organizations such as the Cabrillo Festival, Sandbox Percussion, the Barlow Endowment, the New York Youth Symphony, and the Albany Symphony.
Upcoming projects for icarus Quartet include the commercial recording of “Bartók Rebórn,” touring Ruby Fulton’s multimedia Wilderness Suite with images and data from geographer Teresa Cavazos Cohn and videos by eight independent filmmakers, and an evening-/album-length collaboration with composer/steel pan virtuoso Andy Akiho.
Praised by the Wall Street Journal for their “virtuosity, precision, and unflagging energy,” the half piano/half percussion icarus Quartet has toured domestically and abroad, won the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and given new life to old masterpieces as well as the future of their instrumentation. Whether championing the music of Béla Bartók and their recent companion work commissions from Martin Bresnick, Viet Cuong, and Jennifer Higdon, engaging with human/environmental relationships in a multimedia production with composer Ruby Fulton and eight video artists, or collaborating with Andy Akiho for his next evening/album-length creation, icarus’ work and classical-meets-arena rock concerts are always pushing boundaries and offering immersive experiences for their audiences around the world.
Location
Quinnipiac Theatre Arts Center
515 Sherman Avenue
Hamden, CT 06518
