Sybarite5
The New York group Sybarite5 seeks to expand the string quintet repertory, as well as audiences for string quintet music, through commissions of new works and adaptations of other pieces, including those drawn from traditions outside classical music.
Sybarite5 was formed at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado in the mid-2000s decade by double bassist Louis Levitt. He was joined by violinists Sarah Whitney and Sami Merdinian, cellist Laura Metcalf, and violist Angela Pickett, and in 2008, the group became the first string quintet admitted to the Aspen Advanced String Quartet Studies program. Sybarite5 remained associated with the Aspen Music Festival, serving as the AFMS (Aspen Music Festival and School) Alumni Ensemble. In the early 2010s, the group received several major career boosts, issuing its debut EP, Disturb the Silence, in 2010 (featuring music by rock band Radiohead and tango master Astor Piazzolla) and winning several prizes at the 2011 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition. In 2012, Sybarite5 issued its sophomore album, Everything in Its Right Place, at a Carnegie Hall album release concert.
As of the mid-2020s, Levitt and Merdinian remained members of the group, joined by violinist Suliman Tekalli, violist Caeli Smith, and cellist Laura Andrade. The group has appeared in 44 of the 50 U.S. states, including at the Anchorage Concert Association in Alaska. Sybarite5 has performed at such prestigious venues as the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall in New York, and the New York concert venue, bar, and gallery Le Poisson Rouge (now LPR). Its many festival appearances include those at the Ravinia Festival outside Chicago, Wolf Trap near Washington, and Interlochen in Michigan. Abroad, the group has performed at ChamberFest Ottawa, the New Docta International Music Festival in Cordoba, Argentina, and the Osaka Fest in Osaka, Japan, among other festivals. Sybarite5's programming continues to mix newly commissioned works with arrangments of music from a large variety of sources, including jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, composer/ethnomusicologist Komitas, Piazzolla, and folk icon Pete Seeger. The group has issued several more albums, including Live from New York, It's Sybarite5 (2020), its first on the Bright Shiny Things Label. Sybarite5 returned on that label with the album Collective Wisdom in 2023.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
13 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Collective Wisdom
Chamber Music - Released by Bright Shiny Things on Oct. 20, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Movement and Location (Arr. for String Quintet by Paul Sanho Kim)
Chamber Music - Released by Bright Shiny Things on Sep. 8, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Everything in Its Right Place (Radiohead Remixed)
Classical - Released by CAG Records on Nov. 7, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Live From New York, It's Sybarite5
Chamber Music - Released by Bright Shiny Things on May 29, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Outliers
Classical - Released by Bright Shiny Things LLC on Jan. 26, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Movement and Location (Live)
Classical - Released by Bright Shiny Things on Sep. 2, 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Disturb the Silence
Chamber Music - Released by SYBARITE5 on Dec. 18, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alabama
Chamber Music - Released by Bright Shiny Things on Mar. 13, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Future Shock
Chamber Music - Released by Bright Shiny Things on Mar. 13, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Chamber Music - Released by Bright Shiny Things on Mar. 20, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo