On Sunday, June 25th, at the Sammons Center for The Arts, the newly-formed Heritage String Quartette will present its debut concert featuring compositions by Dallas composer and musician Roger Boykin. The event is scheduled for 3:00 PM and features four young string players from the DFW Area, all former students at the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where Boykin taught for 16 years.
The compositions to be performed were composed by Boykin from March 2020 through December 2022 when the world was gripped in the Covid-19 pandemic, which limited public performances by musicians and artists worldwide. The upcoming concert is labeled “The Covid Quartets.” Boykin turned his talents to composing music rather than playing music. He composed more than 40 string quartets during the three years of Covid 19. A number of these will be performed by the quartet on this occasion, followed by a set of jazz standards featuring Boykin’s trio.
Roger Boykin, known primarily as a jazz musician, has had compositions performed by the Dallas Wind Symphony, The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and numerous jazz groups. He studied orchestration and arranging at Bishop College, UNT, and San Francisco State College. He is also a former Artistic Director of the jazz concert series at the Sammons Center.