British Invasion

Promotional video

Listen on Spotify

Interview with New Classical Tracks

The Program

Beatlerianas

Lennon/McCartney - Léo Brouwer

Eleanor Rigby

She’s Leaving Home

Penny Lane

Music in Four Sharps (On Dowland’s ‘Frog Galliard’)

Ian Krouse

Prisms: Six Songs by Sting

Sting - Dušan Bogdanović (19:04)

Every Breath You Take (Prelude)

Message in a Bottle (Dance)

Shape of My Heart (Ballad)

Fields of Gold (Choral)

Roxanne (Passacaglia)

Desert Rose (Dance)

Music in Four Sharps (On Dowland’s ‘Frog Galliard’)

Ian Krouse

Labyrinth (On a Theme of Led Zeppelin)

Ian Krouse

“British Invasion” brings together the Eclipse Quartet and guitarist William Kanengiser in a dynamic collaboration that explores the music of Sting, Led Zeppelin, John Dowland, and the Beatles by way of contemporary composers Ian Krouse, Dušan Bogdanović, and Leo Brouwer.

In this project, they pay tribute to a group of English musicians who conquered the musical world with their revolutionary explorations. From the Elizabethan lutenist John Dowland to the pop/rock icons Sting, the Beatles, and Led Zeppelin, these artists made a lasting impact far from the shores of their small island. Their music served as inspiration for a set of compositions for guitar and string quartet by the talented composers Ian Krouse, Dušan Bogdanović, and Léo Brouwer. It is especially appropriate that the guitar sits squarely at the center of these works, as the plucked string was the primary musical voice of these British innovators.

“None of the performances are slavish covers merely imitating the originals. The contemporary composers approach the work of the original artists with respect and love while at the same time using their classical heritage and personal voices to make new, compelling statements. They seem to have succeeded. … The result is breathtakingly fresh and emotionally touching.… Kanengiser’s expertise [is] compelling [in this] unusual music.… The guitar, or its cousin the Renaissance lute, was the primary instrument of all of the British innovators that inspired this recording and now it has inspired Kanengiser … to bring to life this felicitous collaboration. This recording is highly recommended.”

—Scott Cmiel, San Francisco Classical Voice

“Dušan Bogdanović has taken these songs into other worlds… I am thrilled with the results”

—Sting

William Kanengiser has forged a career that expands the possibilities of the classical guitar. A prize-winner in major competitions (1987 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Toronto Guitar ’81) he has toured throughout North America, Asia, and Europe with his innovative programs and expressive musicianship. He recorded four CD’s for the GSP label, playing music as diverse as Caribbean, Eastern European, and jazz. A member of the guitar faculty at the USC Thornton School of Music since 1983, he has given master classes around the world and produced two instructional videos. Most recently, he performed the U.S. premiere of “Folk Concerto” by Clarice Assad, with fellow LAGQ member Scott Tennant, and the Albany Symphony conducted by David Allan Miller.

An active proponent of new music, he recently received a grant from the Augustine Foundation for his “Diaspora Project,” commissioning seven new works focusing on issues of migration and assimilation. In 2009 he created the stage production “The Illustrious Gentleman Don Quixote” for narrator and guitar quartet, writing the stage script and adapting music from the Spanish Renaissance. It was premiered with Monty Python member John Cleese, and extensively toured with Firesign Theater founder Phil Proctor. As a founding member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, William Kanengiser has given hundreds of recitals and concerto appearances around the world. Their Telarc title “LAGQ’S Guitar Heroes” won a GRAMMY® in 2005 as the best classical crossover recording. Most recently, their recording of the title work on Pat Metheny’s “Road to the Sun” hit #1 on the Apple Music Classical chart.

The Eclipse Quartet is an ensemble dedicated to the music of  twentieth century and present day composers. The scope of their repertoire spans works from John Cage and Morton Subotnick to collaborations with the singers Beck and Caetano Veloso. Eclipse has the versatility to cross genres from works that include electronics and computer processing to the jazz compositions of Grammy award winning pianist Billy Childs.  The Quartet has performed frequently on both coasts and has participated in festivals such as the Look and Listen Festival in New York City, the Festival for New American Music in Sacramento, the Scarlatti Festival in Naples, Italy, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Festival, the Angel City Jazz Festival, and the Hear and Now Festival in Los Angeles.

The repertoire of Eclipse contains works by such dynamic composers as Roger Reynolds, Julia Wolfe, Ben Johnston, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Annie Gosfield, John Zorn, Fred Frith, Philip Glass, John King, and Lois V. Vierk. They have premiered new works by Sarah Gibson, Zeena Parkins, Carla Kihlstedt, Justin Haynes, Gernot Wolfgang, Alisson Krussmma, and David Jaffe and Fred Frith.

Eclipse has recorded the string quartets of Zeena Parkins for the Tzadik label and Morton Feldman’s epic Piano and String Quartet piece with pianist Vicki Ray on Bridge Records. In 2013 Eclipse released a disc of three works for percussion and string quartet with percussionist William Winant on New World Records as recipients of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording Grant. In 2014 the MicroFest label released Ruminations, featuring Eclipse’s recording of Ben Johnston’s Revised Standards. In 2019 Cold Blue released Separations Songs, a concert length piece by Matt Sargent for double quartet.

The Eclipse Quartet have been Artists in Residence at Mills College in Oakland California and at the historic artists’ retreat Villa Aurora in Los Angeles and University of California, Davis.