A short new string quartet, “Let’s Begin” commissioned by the Tesla Quartet will be premiered on their YouTube channel, Friday, July 24, 2020. Gilbert, along with 11 other composers, were commissioned through the “Alternating Currents” COVID-19 commissioning project by the Tesla Quartet in partnership with the Gabriela Lena Frank Academy of Creative Music and New Music USA to write a 3 minute string quartet based on the Andante cantabile from Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5. The video will not only include the new piece, but also an interview of Gilbert by their cellist Serafim Smigelskiy. The work’s title is in reference to the events of May and June 2020 in the United States that have now awoken more people across various demographics to the severe racial and social injustices in our country, it is a call to begin racial and social justice work anew, continuing and building upon the work that has gone on before.

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TeslaQuartet.