Bartok’s Monster: Directed by Dan Rothenberg, featuring the Daedalus Quartet

March 20-21, 2026 at Swarthmore College

A collaboration with the “insightful and vibrant” (New York Times) Daedalus Quartet and award-winning object-theater creator Sebastienne Mundheim. Pig Iron co-founder Dan Rothenberg directs an unconventional lecture-demonstration exploring the folk-origins of Béla Bartók’s music – illuminated by Mundheim’s paper sculptures and a team of movement artists. A music history lesson devolves into something much darker as the search for the wellspring of Bartok’s inspiration leads to a kind of madness.

University of Pennsylvania’s exceptional quartet-in-residence plays a programme of Bartók, his contemporaries, and his influences, drawing inspiration from acclaimed memoirist Jay Kirk’s Avoid the Day: A New Nonfiction in 2 Movements. 

PERFORMANCES

March 20 at 7pm
March 21 at 2pm & 7pm

Lang Performing Arts Center
Swarthmore College
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore PA 

Seating is limited.  All performances are free and open to the public.  No reservations – seating is on a first-come basis. 

Photo Credit: Gene Smirnov