The ECSQ opens their first program of the new year with a wonderfully varied program. The show opens with String Quartet in One Movement by Amy Beach, the first American female composer to experience popular and critical acclaim in classical music. String Quartet No. 5 by Daniel Bernard Roumain is dedicated to U.S. civil rights leader Rosa Parks, and the piece traces Parks’ journey of struggle, survival, and lasting legacy. The program concludes with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16, the very last piece he ever wrote. Composed in a 2-month burst of activity amid health problems, his final quartet is said to have been filled with all that he learned throughout his career - a beautifully composed piece that found inspiration in works of his one-time teacher, Haydn.