What a Hoot

Owls, a New York-based string quartet collective, wooed the audience at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall with their original, visceral performance, part of UCSB Arts and Lectures.

The entertaining foursome, which unusually included two cellists rather than two violinists – Gabriel Cabezas and Paul Wiancko, violist Ayane Kozasa, and violinist Alexi Kenney – expertly translated folk, Jazz Baroque, minimalism, and new music into their distinct instrumentation

The seven-piece program featured works by Chick Corea, Paul Wiancko, François Couperin, and Terry Riley, among others.