This past Friday, the Binghamton University’s Department of Music brought art and music together with the Momenta Quartet.

Taking place in the BU Art Museum’s main gallery this past Friday at 5 p.m., the event was in conjunction with the current exhibition “Artists and Paintmakers” and featured music written by graduate student composers that was performed by the professional string quartet.

The theme of the performance was “Sounding Color,” showcasing the variety of musical genres and emotional characterizations of each piece’s sound. Auditory “Colors” produced from the graduate students’ works could range from grim blacks and dark reds to vibrant oranges and pinks, depending on the emotions being portrayed.

Momenta Quartet, consisting of two violins, a viola and a cello, has been in residence at BU and Bates College. Their goal is to advocate for emerging composers by devoting time and care to developing student’s pieces and performing them.

The event was organized by James Budinich, lecturer in music composition and music creation technologies at BU. It allowed graduate student composers who took a workshop class in composition to share pieces inspired by their own lives and ideas that evoked a medley of emotions.

Wen Wen Van Der Wende, a first-year graduate student studying music, had a movement of their work “Object Over Body” played by the quartet. The piece was inspired by feelings of emptiness after a difficult period in their life and uniquely followed a despondent flower pot who thinks about growing arms and legs. The song incorporated distinctive musical techniques to create the imagery of a crying flower pot.

Van Der Wende discussed working with “Momenta Quartet” and BU’s music composition program.

“It’s rare to have musicians of this caliber perform,” Van Der Wende said. “The program at [BU] is really excellent — they bring in professionals for all the composition students to work with and that’s pretty rare for a graduate program that goes up to masters, so I’m really grateful for the experience.”

Samane Paya, a first-year graduate student studying music, had her piece “Elegy” performed by Momenta Quartet. The piece was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s book “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” and incorporated dark imagery into the music with the use of the setar, a traditional Iranian instrument.

Paya expressed the benefits of working with a professional music group.

“This was [the] first time that I could hear my string quartet piece live by performing with a renowned string quartet,” Paya wrote. “Hearing our sounds live helps us to make the pieces better.”

BU’s music composition program features unique performance opportunities for students, allowing them to collaborate with various professional groups, including Momenta Quartet, Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble, Contemporaneous and several other ensembles and soloists that allow them to improve their pieces and become more advanced composers.

Liam Frager, a second-year graduate student studying music who had the opportunity for a movement of his piece “Celebration” to be played by Momenta Quartet this past Friday, expressed the importance of having collaborations like these on campus.

“They’re super important, at least from [the] school of music and composition standpoint,” Frager said. “This is one of the reasons I came to [BU] in the first place, because they have a huge emphasis on playing your music and getting it performed by professional musicians. I think that’s invaluable as composers because that’s the gig … [musicians are] also artists and they have things that can contribute to your work.”