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March 9: CUNY Composers Alliance
29 April: Avner Dorman's String Quartet No. 2, 92nd St Y
World Premieres Extravaganza, CapitalM, Cutting Room, March 21
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Xenakis Multi-Media Event
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Goliard Ensemble Concert, February 18th 2006
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3/12/2006
Music by four New York composers performed by New York�s most versatile ensemble in two great New York art spaces kicks off the 13th season of the St. Luke�s Chamber Ensemble�s Second Helpings series, acclaimed by The New York Times as �an engagingly informal way to present contemporary music.� Performed in the midst of art exhibitions at the Chelsea Art Museum and Dia:Beacon, the Dia Center�s acclaimed new outpost in upstate New York, this first program of the three-concert series features Chester Biscardi�s Piano Quintet (2005); Martha Mooke�s Circa 5 for string quartet and piano (2004); Greg Sandow�s A te, variations on an aria from Bellini�s I Puritani for cello and piano (2006); and Joan Tower�s For Daniel for piano trio (2003). The concert takes place at the Chelsea Art Museum on Saturday, April 1, at 2:00 p.m., and at Dia:Beacon on Sunday, April 2, at 2:00 p.m.
�New works of music, while usually premiered with great fanfare, often wait a long time for that second or third performance,� said St. Luke�s President and Executive Director Marianne Lockwood. �Our Second Helpings series was created to plumb the riches of all the good music being written today, and to bring the composers to talk to the audience directly � and everyone loves the experience.� Host Joan Tower, St. Luke�s Composer-in-Residence, creates an intimate and informal atmosphere by introducing the composers to talk briefly before their works are performed, and the intermission-less concert is followed by a wine reception for artists and audience.
The St. Luke�s musicians performing on the program are Margaret Kampmeier, piano; Krista Bennion Feeney and Krzysztof Kuznik, violin; Maureen Gallagher, viola; and Myron Lutzke and Daire FitzGerald, cello.
Chester Biscardi (b. 1948) wrote his Piano Quintet in memory of his father; he began the work in 2002 while in residence at the Copland House as a recipient of the Aaron Copland Award, and completed it during a residency at The MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire in 2004. To evoke this piece, the composer quotes a passage from The Odyssey (translated by Robert Fitzgerald): �I am that father your boyhood lacked and suffered pain for lack of. I am he.�
Chester Biscardi's music has been featured at the Gaudeamus Festival in Rotterdam, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in England, Moscow Autumn, Music Today-Japan in Tokyo, the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, the North American New Music Festival in Buffalo, the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, Piccolo Spoleto, the International Guitar Festival of Morelia, and the Bienal of S�o Paulo, Brazil. Performances of his music have also been sponsored by the American Composers Orchestra, the BBC-London, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Gothia Percussion Ensemble of Sweden, the Houston Symphony, the Orchestra della Radiotelevisione Italiana in Rome, and UNESCO/International Music Council.
Martha Mooke dedicated Circa 5, to her father, Arnold I. Mooke. She says of the piece, �There is a symbiotic relationship between the music, the players, and the audience with the number five, defined (in the Random House Dictionary) as a �cardinal number, four plus one.� The concept of �five� is at times literal, at times implied. Four string players plus one piano. Five sections, circle of fifths, pentatonic scales, five seconds, five beats. The Roman numeral V. The symbol of peace." The piano is played by the string players: �both violinists sit at the keyboard at various times and play, and the violist plays under the lid!
Martha Mooke (b. 1963), composer/electro-acoustic violist, a pioneer in the field of electric five string viola transcends musical boundaries by synthesizing her classical music training with extended techniques, digital effects processing, and improvisation. She is a Yamaha Artist and leading clinician on electric and alternative approaches to string playing. Founder and violist of the electro-acoustic Scorchio Quartet, Mooke has performed and recorded with David Bowie, Philip Glass, David Byrne, Moby, Lou Reed, Trey Anastasio, Ziggy Marley, Enya, John Cale, and the Orchestra of St. Luke�s to name a few. Her genre-defying recordings, Enharmonic Vision and Bowing's Caf� Mars have attracted wide critical acclaim. Mooke's catalog includes works for electric and acoustic instruments, theater, dance, film, and multimedia productions. She was honored with an ASCAP Concert Music Award for conceiving and producing the new music showcase THRU THE WALLS featuring ASCAP composer/performers whose work defies categorization. For more information, go to www.MarthaMooke.com.
Greg Sandow describes his A te, a set of variations for cello and piano based on the aria �A te, o cara� from Bellini�s I Puritani, as �a Bellini sandwich: pure Bellini, then variations, then pure Bellini.� The variations veer widely in style from minimal to rock to jazz. Sandow says, �I wrote the piece for a cellist [Adiel Shmit] who plays romantic music beautifully. That's why he and I agreed that it would be fun to use an Italian opera aria as the basis for the piece. The variations aren't strict structural variations, the way Brahms or Beethoven would have written them; they're pretty free. Sometimes they just pick up on one or two aspects or phrases of the theme, and then run off in their own direction. And sometimes they're variations of each other, rather than being variations of the theme!� � the concluding variation is �made up of fragments from some of the other variations.�
Greg Sandow (b. 1943) had an active composing career in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Four of his operas were successfully produced, by small and large opera companies, opera workshops, and schools, and ranged in style from atonal to Broadway, including a piece based on Frankenstein, and written in the style of 19th century Italian opera. When he became an active music critic in 1980, he gradually gave up composing, and went on to become a well known and influential critic, writing about both pop and classical music � for a while writing only about pop, and serving as music editor for Entertainment Weekly magazine. But when he returned to classical music in the �90s, the future of classical music became his special subject. Currently, he writes and speaks about the large issues of classical music�s future, and also serves as a consultant to major orchestras. During this time, he slowly returned to composing, with performances of new works by the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Fine Arts Quartet, and the New York City Opera�s VOX showcase of new operas.
Joan Tower says, �For Daniel was written for the wonderful Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, who have performed the work around the U.S. (including at Tanglewood). It is written in memory of my beloved nephew Daniel, who died after a very long battle with a lung disease. The premiere took place in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona, at the hall of the Friends of Tucson Chamber Music Society, the commissioners of the work � but unfortunately not in time for Daniel to hear it. He died two months earlier.�
Even as she prepares for her 70th birthday in 2008, Joan Tower is looking forward as much as she is looking back on a career that already spans over five decades. Hailed as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time" in The New Yorker magazine, Joan Tower was the first woman ever to receive the Grawemeyer Award in Composition in 1990. She was inducted in 1998 into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters, and into the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University in the fall of 2004. Joan Tower is the first composer chosen for the ambitious new "Ford Made in America" commissioning program, a collaboration of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer, the first project of its kind to involve smaller budget orchestras as commissioning agents of a new work by a major composer. In October 2005, the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra presented the world premiere of Tower's 15-minute orchestral piece. The work goes on for performances by orchestras in every state in the Union during the 2005-2006 season. Since 1972, Tower has taught at Bard College where she is Asher Edelman Professor of Music. She is composer-in-residence with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, a title she also held for eight years at the Yale/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
Recently, The New York Times said, �The Orchestra of St. Luke�s may be the most protean group in town.� The Second Helpings series continues on April 29 and 30 with a program devoted to St. Luke�s Assistant Composer-in-Residence Daniel Bernard Roumain and his influences, titled �Conversation Pieces,� and featuring not only works by Roumain, Philip Glass, and Wynne Bennett (one of Roumain�s students), but the composers in conversation with each other. On June 3 and 4, the series concludes with �Fresh Paint,� a program featuring the world premieres of St. Luke�s commissions by Joan Panetti and Barbara White, along with works by Michael Daugherty and Gabriela Frank. The Orchestra of St. Luke�s concludes its Carnegie Hall season on March 19 with a program led by Donald Runnicles featuring tenor Ian Bostridge; and the St. Luke�s Chamber Ensemble concludes its Zankel Hall series with a program with countertenor Andreas Scholl on April 11, and performs the final Brooklyn Museum concert of the season, a program of Baroque music, on May 7.
Second Helpings is made possible with generous support from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, BMI, Commerce Bank, the Gladys K. Delmas Foundation, Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Argosy Fund for Contemporary Music, and generous individuals.
The Orchestra of St. Luke�s has a long and distinguished record of commissioning new works by world-renowned composers, as well as emerging American composers of great promise. Throughout its history, it has premiered and recorded more than 100 new works by leading contemporary composers.
Since 1998, the St. Luke�s Commissioning Program has been supported generously by the Jerome Foundation. Among the highlights of commissioned works over the last four years are Roshanne Etezady's Monkeyshines; Daniel Bernard Roumain's I Never Wanted My First Communion; Unexpected Light by Jane Ira Bloom; String Quartet No. 3 (�Powell�) by Assistant Composer-in-Residence Daniel Bernard Roumain; Hovenweep by Kyle Gann; Quartet for Horn, Violin, Cello, and Piano by Michael Hersch, a recent Rome Prize winner and Vilar Fellow; and Fast BLACK Dance Machine by Daniel Bernard Roumain; and commission by Gabriela Frank that will be performed on June 3 & 4, 2006. St. Luke�s wishes to thank the Jerome Foundation for its visionary leadership and generous support of creativity in classical music.
Founded in 1974, the St. Luke�s Chamber Ensemble consists of 20 virtuoso artists dedicated to mastery of a diverse repertoire spanning the Baroque to the contemporary. The Ensemble is also the artistic core of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, America's foremost chamber orchestra and a unique musical organization that currently comprises the orchestra, the chamber ensemble, and the St. Luke�s Arts Education Program. St. Luke�s currently performs approximately 100 orchestral, chamber, and educational concerts throughout New York each year, all showcasing the hallmark collaborative spirit that has garnered consistent critical acclaim for vibrant music-making of the highest order.
The St. Luke�s Chamber Ensemble presents, in partnership with Carnegie Hall, an annual series in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and also performs a three-concert series at the Brooklyn Museum, as well as Second Helpings, a contemporary music series featuring premieres of new works commissioned by St. Luke�s, that takes place both at the Chelsea Art Museum and at Dia:Beacon in upstate New York.
The Orchestra of St. Luke�s (Donald Runnicles, Principal Conductor) evolved from the Chamber Ensemble and was founded at the Caramoor International Music Festival in 1979. In addition to being presented by Carnegie Hall in an annual series in the Isaac Stern Auditorium, the Orchestra continues a 20-year collaborative relationship with Carnegie Hall that currently includes participation in such Carnegie events as the Choral Workshop, Family Concerts, concert presentations of musical theater, and others. The Orchestra is also engaged throughout the year in a number of artistic collaborations with other New York City cultural organizations, and serves each summer as the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival. OSL musicians also participate in the St. Luke�s Arts Education Program, which integrates comprehensive in-school workshops and residencies with free performances for over 12,000 New York City school children annually.
In the 2005-2006 season, the St. Luke�s Chamber Ensemble�s annual series at Zankel Hall and the Brooklyn Museum include a Valentine�s Day program titled �A Little Night Music,� an evening of St. Luke�s musicians� favorites, and a concert with Andreas Scholl; and the Ensemble�s acclaimed Second Helpings series features programs devoted to New York composers and to Assistant Composer-in-Residence Daniel Bernard Roumain, all overseen by St. Luke�s Composer-in-Residence Joan Tower.
St. Luke�s Chamber Ensemble�s critically acclaimed recording of Bach�s Brandenburg Concertos, a two-disc set, was recently released on the new St. Luke�s Collection label. Other recent recordings include Morning, Noon, and Evening, a disc of Haydn�s Symphonies 6, 7, and 8, and From the Forest, featuring Ensemble member Stewart Rose on French horn. These are part of a stellar St. Luke�s discography that includes three Grammy Award-winning recordings as well as Mozart�s Symphonies 39 and 41 �Jupiter� with the Orchestra of St. Luke�s led by Donald Runnicles, the inaugural release of the St. Luke�s Collection.
ST. LUKE�S CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Second Helpings: �Crosstown New York�
CHESTER BISCARDI Piano Quintet (2005)
MARTHA MOOKE Circa 5 (2004)
GREG SANDOW A te (2006)
JOAN TOWER For Daniel (2003)
Saturday, April 1, 2006, at 2:00 pm
Chelsea Art Museum
556 West 22nd Street at 11th Avenue, New York City
Tickets: $15
Chelsea Art Museum members: $10
Students: $10 at the door with ID
Call: 212-594-6100 or order online at www.OSLmusic.org
Sunday, April 2, 2006, at 2:00 pm
Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries
3 Beekman Street, Beacon, New York
Tickets: $15
Dia members, students, seniors: $10
Call: 212-594-6100 or order online at www.OSLmusic.org
For directions and travel information visit www.diaart.org
Three-concert GO Pass (good for both museums): $30; $20 for museum members
posted by Coming Events
3/12/2006 12:30:00 PM
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