Aperture Duo Brings Theatrical Chamber Music to Sierra Madre

What happens when a violinist and violist step beyond the traditional concert stage? For Los Angeles-based Aperture Duo, the answer can involve speaking, singing, improvising, acting—and even arguing.

By Melanie Hooks

Featuring violinist Adrianne Pope and violist Linnea Powell, Aperture Duo brings its distinctive blend of contemporary chamber music, performance art, improvisation, and virtuosic playing to Sierra Madre Playhouse on Sunday, August 23, at 6:00 pm. The program, as wave as stone, explores the expressive possibilities of the violin and viola through works that blur the boundaries between music and theater.

The program includes two works by 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist Leilani Leilehua, a Kanaka Maoli composer, multimedia artist, curator, scholar, and educator known for expansive explorations of timbre. The program’s title comes from a book by philosopher and linguist Luce Irigaray, whose writing Leilehua incorporates into her musical work.

Also featured is Travelogue, an Aperture Duo commission by composer Erin Rogers. Written while Rogers was traveling through Europe by plane, train, and bus, the work turns the experiences of travel into an unconventional theatrical landscape. Pope and Powell speak, sing, recite, and argue as they move between the roles of train commuters and practicing musicians.

As Rogers explains, “Theatricality is built into the piece through staging, text, and actions,” with the performers navigating what she calls a variety of “notational geography.” The result is chamber music that is as much about movement and interaction as it is about sound.

The program continues with edge by Helmut Oehring, a distinctive composer who grew up as the child of deaf parents and has developed an unusually expansive approach to sound, gesture, and communication.

Other works include 434.6 by Grammy-nominated artist Andrew McIntosh, a shimmering, drone-based work, and Aure by Kaija Saariaho, written as an homage to French composer Henri Dutilleux on the occasion of his 95th birthday.

Founded in 2015 by Pope and Powell, Aperture Duo curates programs that explore new sounds, voices, techniques, and theatrical possibilities through the unusual combination of violin and viola.

as wave as stone takes place Sunday, August 23, 2026, at 6:00 pm at Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Tickets are $12–$35. For tickets and information, call (626) 355-4318 or visit sierramadreplayhouse.org.