A new storyline for Carpe Diem String Quartet's “An American Story,” completed in July 2026, was created for CDSQ's new first violinist, Sam Weiser.
This latest path, along with the original four movements created in 2021, was performed as part of the quartet's 20th anniversary series. It was originally envisioned as an in-person concert with audience participation driving the path the music and stories took. However, as it was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancellation of live performances necessitated the musicians' decision to reimagine the piece presented online as an all-virtual work.This summer's concert series brought the opportunity to perform the music as originally intended. (Intro begins @ 40:35, with music starting at 46:00)
Each member of the quartet - violinists Charles Wetherbee, Marisa Ishikawa, and Samuel Weiser, violist Korine Fujiwara and cellist Ariana Nelson - researched ancestors and their journeys to the United States. Each musician drafted a story tree for their ancestor, that develops between “choices;" stopping points at which viewers can select (on-screen) options to determine how an ancestor’s story will proceed. From the story outlines, I researched historical references to create rough storyboards for each narrative (and all the possible story outcomes), using family photos and details wherever possible (more on previous movements here).
The quartet played and recorded each musician’s piece, which I then synced up to the scenes I had boarded and animated. For the live performances, only selected sections were played, leading to a different outcome each time.
Scenes are drawn in Adobe Animate and compiled in After Effects with various textures.