Native American String Quartets

The Grand Canyon Music Festival has a close relationship with the Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP), where Native composers and guest string players enter Southwest schools to mentor students and perform their music. Often those students have received no prior training in composition and are impressively able to produce their brief original pieces in a short time; some works subsequently appear on Grand Canyon Music Festival concerts.

The Catalyst Quartet introduces four such pieces by students from NACAP: Seasonal Change and Transmutation of Sound by Timira Scott, The Lone Soldier of Ian Brown, and Fallen Point of Harley Chee.

Michael Begay’s recent Four Coyotes is played by the quartet that introduced student compositions in 2024 NACAP.

Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, who has taught in NACAP, is represented by his new works for the Dover String Quartet who play them here and on their 2025 album. The members are Curtis Institute of Music graduates; violinist Joel Link also became concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra in 2025.

Woodland Songs takes five of the forest animals of spiritual significance to the Chickasaw people of the southeast U.S. and devotes a movement to each one. Rattle Songs is by Tate’s description an orchestration and elaboration of the songs of Ulali, a women’s vocal trio whose use of Native musical traditions had a decisive influence on him.