Return of the Doppelgänger

Campbell Hall at UCSB was the place to be when the popular Arts & Lectures program staged two more major entertaining concerts.

The first was the Danish String Quartet, joined by Finnish cellist Johannes Rostamo, for the eagerly anticipated capstone to their Doppelgänger Project, which I have watched over the past three years at Campbell Hall and the Rockwood Woman’s Club.

In Part IV the Fab Four paired Schubert’s String Quartet, frequently cited among the greatest of all works of chamber music, with a new piece by renowned British composer Thomas Adès.

Part III of the project was heralded by the New York Times as “ensemble music at its purest.”

Just 48 hours later Malian Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, 42, performed singing in Bambara, a language of her native country, along with French and English songs.

She chanted biting social commentary and played stinging electric guitar solos.

Her music was clearly rooted in her international heritage.

Quite the contrast…