The Golden Hornet String Quartet  plays Reflections, excerpted from Orientalism (String Quartet) at their String Quartet Smack Down VIII event.

Golden Hornet’s String Quartet Smackdown is a bracketed, NCAA basketball style tournament competition which brings original four-minute string quartet compositions head-to-head in front of a live, participatory audience. It’s like NCAA March Madness for the ears!

Every Fall, composers from around the globe are invited to submit through an open, no-cost entry process. Following submission, a diverse panel of judges selects sixteen compositions to be performed live at the String Quartet Smackdown, which takes place in February at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX.

A professional string quartet performs the pieces LIVE* for the in-person and/or virtual audience. This performance is broken into four rounds:

Round 1 (Round of 16): One minute of all sixteen pieces
Round 2 (Quarterfinals): Two minutes of eight pieces
Round 3 (Semi-finals): Three minutes of four pieces
Round 4 (Finals) : Full four minutes of two pieces

The audience uses their cell phones or a mobile app to vote, and their responses appear live on screen. The winner of each bracket moves on in the tournament! (*In 2021, the pieces will be pre-recorded prior to the livestream to minimize technical disaster.)

In a riotous – and usually very close – finish, the audience determines the String Quartet Smackdown champion!