DAVID T. LITTLE* - MUSIK FÜR DEN SCHULTHEISS (Sie können nicht gegen das Rathaus kämpfen) (2006/2009) for string quartet
Zukofsky Quartet
KRISTIN KUSTER - PERPETUAL NOON (2008)
Hadar Noiberg, flute; Yael Manor, piano
JAN GILBERT - OF HELOISE: THE SONGS OF ABELARD (2010)
Justin Montigne, countertenor; Anatole Wieck, viola
RICHARD BROOKS - STRING QUARTET NO. 4 (2009)
Zukofsky Quartet
EMIL AWAD - PAISAJE (2010) for soprano, flute, clarinet, cello, and piano.
Nicole Pantos and the Kolot Ensemble
DEREK JOHNSON* - FRAGMENTS (2005) for violin and piano
Duo Diorama: MingXuan Xu, violin; Winston Choi, Piano
LOCATION: LEONARD NIMOY THALIA AT SYMPHONY SPACE; Saturday, June 19 4PM TICKETS LINK
PROGRAM NOTES
DAVID T. LITTLE*
MUSIK FÜR DEN SCHULTHEISS (Sie können nicht gegen das Rathaus kämpfen) (2006/09) for string quartet
Zukofsky Quartet
Musik für den Schultheiß is a rather sweet and formally mysterious work, composed in response to the Terpsichore by Michael Praetorius. Praetorius's real last name was Schultheiß, which, in old German, meant something close to “mayor of a small municipality.” This accounts for the German title, which I carried one step further by
adding the gently sarcastic subtitle.
The music of American composer David T. Little has been described as
“dramatically wild…rustling, raunchy and eclectic,” showing “real
imagination” by New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini, and his work
“completely gripped” New Yorker critic Alex Ross: “every bad-ass new-
music ensemble in the city will want to play him.” Fusing classical
and popular idioms to dramatic effect, Little’s music is widely
performed—including at the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Cabrillo Festivals,
and by eighth blackbird, So Percussion, the London Sinfonietta and the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. Currently completing
a PhD at Princeton University, Little teaches music through Carnegie
Hall’s Musical Connections program, and serves as the inaugural
Digital Composer-in-Residence for the UK-based DilettanteMusic.com.
Upcoming projects include the opera Dog Days (Robert Woodruff,
director; Royce Vavrek, librettist), and new works for Nadia Sirota,
Kathleen Supové, Third Coast Percussion, and the New World Symphony.
An active drummer, Little can be heard performing with the
International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and with his ensemble
Newspeak.
KRISTIN KUSTER - PERPETUAL NOON (2008) New York Premiere
Kolot Ensemble: Hadar Noiberg, flute; Yael Manor, piano
Perpetual Noon was commissioned by flutist Jennifer Nitchman, with support from the Jerome Foundation, was premiered in August 2008, at the National Flute Association Convention, Kansas City, MO.
Born in 1973, Kristin Kuster grew up in Boulder, Colorado. Her music takes inspiration from architectural space, the weather, and mythology. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Michigan in 2002. Since that time, she has been building an impressive professional career, and has become well known as an up-and-coming freelance composer in the East Coast new-music scene. Upcoming projects include the premiere of Perpetual Afternoon, commissioned for the National Flute Association's 2010 Convention Young Artist Competition, a new piece for wind ensemble, and a new work for musical theatre. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan.
JAN GILBERT - OF HELOISE: THE SONGS OF ABELARD (2008) World premiere
Justin Montigne, countertenor; Anatole Wieck, viola
Poetry texts by Judith Infante from Love a Suspect Form (2008) Used by permission.
I. Abelard: Confession, to Heloise
II. Silence Perpetual
III. Chant: In Parasceve Domini
Of Heloise: The Songs of Abelard
These three song settings are part of a larger work “Of Heloise” – settings of Judith Infante’s Love: A Suspect Form, Heloise and Abelard, a collection of fifty-four poems, published by Shearsman Books Ltd in 2008. Abelard: Confession, to Heloise and Silence Perpetual present us with the conflicts for Abelard after he left Heloise but continued writing to her for the remainder of his life. As a monk, he was entirely committed to his vision of God and Church. However, he wrote that conscientious and informed reasoning leads to a more complete understanding of God: “By doubting we come to inquiry and by inquiry we come to the truth.” Condemned twice in his life as a heretic, he died traveling to Rome to appeal his case to the Pope. Since Abelard was also a musician and poet (most of his music has been lost), I have included his words Chant: In Parasceve Domini for the third setting.
Jan Gilbert has been a member of American Composers Alliance since 1980. Her choral works include commissions from Chanticleer, the Dale Warland Singers, Ars Nova Singers, LISTEN, the American Guild of Organists, the United Nations Association International Choir, WomanVoice and many college choirs. Her work has received support from the NEA, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation and Northwest Area Foundation. She has completed several residencies at the MacDowell Colony. Originally from New York City, Gilbert is a faculty member at Macalester College, St. Paul. Recent performances include Dream Carver, premiered by the St. Paul Civic Symphony and Songs of Transformation for Choir and Persian Ney, featured on Clerestory’s “Soul’s Light” concerts in San Francisco and by Vocalizze in Lisbon this spring. Gilbert’s experimental chant settings, NightChants, were recorded on Chanticleer’s Sound in Spirit (Warner Classics).
Gilbert's vocal music has been described by critics as "innovative with an eerie and mysterious beauty" (San Francisco Chronicle), and her multimedia composition "perfectly captures the flavor of dance and the spirit of storytelling." (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
RICHARD BROOKS - STRING QUARTET NO. 4 (2009) world premiere
Zukofsky Quartet
STRING QUARTET no. 4
was composed in the winter and spring of 2009.
Although some twelve-tone techniques are used in some passages, each of
the four movements is freely atonal, with moments of tonality thrown in for
good measure. Most of the material for
each movement grows out of the initial gesture of the first: tonal, descending
tetrachords in parallel major sevenths.
The first movement suggests a traditional sonata form with
several contrasting thematic ideas presented, developed, combined and restated. The second movement is a free fantasy-style piece in a
somewhat somber mood. The third movement is a multi-sectional structure meant to
resemble a traditional scherzo. The final movement is a rhythmically vigorous finale
combining features of sonata form and rondo form. Performance materials available from the American
Composers Alliance.
RICHARD
BROOKS (b. 1942) is a native of upstate New
York and holds a B.S. degree in Music Education from the Crane School of Music,
Potsdam College, an M.A. in Composition from Binghamton University and a Ph. D.
in Composition from New York University.
From 1975-2004 he was on the music faculty of Nassau Community College
where he was Professor and Department Chair for 22 years.
From 1977 to 1982 he was Chairman of the
Executive Committee of the American Society of University Composers (now the
Society of Composers, Inc.) on which he continues to serve as the Producer of
the SCI Compact Disk Series. In 1981 he
was elected to the Board of Governors of the American Composers Alliance. After serving two terms as Secretary and
three terms as Vice-President he was elected President in the Fall of 1993 and
served until 2002; he is currently Chair of the Board of Governors. He served
as a member of the Junior/Community College Commission on Accreditation of the
National Association of Schools of Music for ten years.
He has received a major grant from the
SUNY Research Foundation (for composition), a Composer Fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts, an American Music Center grant and several
Meet the Composer awards. In 1994 he received a commission for Quintet for Oboe (Sax) and Strings from
the New York State Music Teachers National Association; premiere performance
took place at the NYSMTA Conference in Ithaca, NY in October 1994. Landscape...with Grace, commissioned
for the twentieth anniversary season of the Kent Philharmonia Orchestra in
Grand Rapids, Michigan was premiered on April 21, 1996. He has also received
commissions from Elaine Comparone and Harpsichord Unlimited, the Lark Ascending
and several individual performers. A
second commission from the Kent Philharmonia Orchestra resulted in Concerto for Trumpet/Flugelhorn and
Orchestra which was premiered in May 2006.
In 2006 he was appointed Composer-in-Residence with the Lark Ascending
and was elected New Music Champion by New Music Connoisseur magazine.
EMIL AWAD - PAISAJE (2010) for soprano, flute, clarinet, cello, and piano. Poetry of Octavio Paz
Nicole Pantos and the Kolot Ensemble
Poems from Piedras Sueltas (1955) by Octavio Paz
I. Flor
II. Dama
III. Biografia
IV. Campanas en la Noche
V. Ante la puerta
VI. Vision
Born in México, 1963, Awad is a graduate of the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music, and received his doctorate from Harvard. Awad is a former student of Babbitt, Martino, and D. Lewin. Currently, he is a professor of composition and theory, and director of graduate studies at the Universidad Veracruzana. Awad's works have been performed by the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, the Juilliard Orchestra, Harvard Contemporary Ensemble, Manhattan Contemporary Ensemble, Manhattan Symphony, and by members of the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony.
DEREK JOHNSON* - FRAGMENTS (2002-03/2005) for violin and piano
Duo Diorama
Fragments brings together a series of short character pieces originally intended for other projects. The 1st and 3rd pieces (Star Music and Blues for Anton) were first envisioned as solo piano pieces, while the 2nd and 4th pieces (A song of sorts and Fantasy) were written respectively for soprano and violin (to a poem by William Carlos Williams) and mixed quartet (clarinet, violin, cello and piano).
In re-imagining these pieces for violin and piano I had the unique opportunity to edit, re-arrange and re-compose them knowing from the start what my “raw-footage” was. As a result, I approached the project from a rather “cinematic” point of view. I’m continually fascinated by the visceral and cognitive power of film, and am eager to incorporate the techniques used in that medium (foreshadowing, use of perspective, various methods of editing) to tie together (and sometimes to un-tie) the unified and disparate elements in my own composition. Thus, my truncated little character pieces have become the protagonists in a “short film” (of sorts) without picture, played-out by two instrumentalists on the stage and cut together using a reoccurring and evolving motto in the form of the opening piano gesture and sonority. Below is a “shot-list” with thoughts and descriptions of the pieces to help the audience both gain and loose their bearings in the cognitive and viscerally charged act of listening.
Motto I
1. Star Music – How it thinks to look at the stars, interrupted by how it feels.
Motto II
2. A song of sorts (w/o words) – the hidden text revealed:
Let snake wait, under his weed, and the writing be of words.
Slow, and quick, sharp to strike, quite to wake. Sleepless. (William Carlos Williams)
Motto III
3. Blues for Anton – A nocturnal ostinato underneath wide “Webern-ian” intervals. A blues for one of my favorite stargazers.
Motto IV
4. Fantasy – A slow opening unfolds a harmonic background that is later repeated with fast music superimposed above it.
Though the tempo changes and the content is elaborated, the slow harmonic background, or frame, retains its original speed
and proportion.
Motto V: liquidation
Fragments was written (and re-written) for, and is dedicated to, Benjamin Sung and Ji-Hye Chang
Derek Johnson is a composer, electric guitarist and educator active in the world of contemporary concert music and beyond. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Canada by leading soloists and ensembles including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW and Montreal’s Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. He is a founding member in the virtuoso chamber ensemble BASILICA and a regular performer with the post-rock improvisation collective the goodhands team. Johnson has performed internationally with the powerhouse new music ensemble the Bang On A Can All-Stars in collaboration with guest artists Iva Bittova, Don Byron, Bill Frisell, Glenn Kotche (Wilco), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Steve Reich and Ryuichi Sakamoto. He has served as a faculty member in the music department of Columbia College Chicago, as an Associate Instructor of Composition at Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music and as faculty at the Bang On A Can Summer Institute. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Ball State University School of Music. Derek is an avid transcriber and is currently working in collaboration with the innovative Swedish band Meshuggah on a series of transcription books encompassing the band’s complete discography.
*Young
Composer Project guest of the ACA festival
LOCATION: LEONARD NIMOY THALIA AT SYMPHONY SPACE; June 19 4PM TICKETS LINK
GUEST ARTISTS FOR THIS PROGRAM
A new music specialist, soprano Nicole Pantos collaborates regularly with composers such as Lera Auerbach, Tom Cipullo, Vivian Fung, and Joyce Hope Suskind, among many others. Formally trained as a pianist, harpist, and flutist, Ms. Pantos brings instrumental sensibility to chamber performance. She has performed at the Christmas Tree Lighting in Rockefeller Center, the Korean Embassy in Washington, DC, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, the 14th-century landmark Nikolaikirche in Wismar, Germany, and has been broadcast on WQXR radio’s Young Artists Showcase. Last spring, Ms. Pantos sang a new music recital featuring the world premiere of Sarah Dawson’s song cycle What Power?at the Nicholas Roerich Museum, centering the program around the sounds and spirit of the American frontier. She also performed the world premieres of Suskind’s Meditations on War and Peace in the 2008 Women’s Work series at Greenwich House and Suskind’s Two Yeats Songs at the 2009 ACA Festival. Ms. Pantos holds degrees from Princeton University and Manhattan School of Music, and she is currently working toward her Ph.D. in Musicology at Rutgers University.
Justin Montigne is an accalaimed countertenor and vocalist at home in many styles and time periods of music, in solo, collaborative, and choral capacities. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, he received his Bachelor in Music from Drake University and was a student of Leanne Freeman-Miller.
He received his doctorate in vocal performance at the University of Minnesota. An active teacher, as well as performer, Justin taught voice for the University of Minnesota and in several area high schools. He also toured Minnesota and the upper midwest with the select Ted Mann Vocal Quartet, the University of Minnestoa’s Opera on the Farm Tour, and as a soloist with many area ensembles in a variety of concert appearances. Mr. Montigne’s principal teachers and coaches in the Twin Cities included Barbara Kierig, Margo Garrett, Glenda Maurice, Karl Paulnack, and Dale Johnson.
Justin sang alto for three years with the grammy-winning vocal ensemble, Chanticleer, and performed a wide variety of works with the group in venues around the United States and the world, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Disney Concert hall in Los Angeles, The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Vienna Konzerthaus.
He is equally at home in concert and on the operatic stage; his roles include the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring, the Father Confessor in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Mr. Splinters in The Tender Land, Alessandro in Il re pastore, Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, Danceny in Conrad Susa’s The Dangerous Liasons, and Ernesto in Don Pasquale.
Zukofsky QuartetComprising four individuals of outstanding solo and chamber music experience, Aaron Boyd and Cyrus Beroukhim, violins; David Fulmer, viola; and Alberto Parrini, cello--
the ZUKOFSKY QUARTET has dedicated itself to the mission of presenting masterworks of the new, as well as the old. Currently the quartet is-in-residence at Bargemusic, New York City’s premier chamber music venue, they are also the first to perform all of Milton Babbitts’s notoriously difficult string quartets in one concert. Individually, the members have participated in the Marlboro, Sante Fe, Prussia Cove, Seattle, and Ravinia festivals, and have collaborated with the Amadeus, Guarneri, Juilliard, and Orion quartets, as well as the Beaux Arts Trio.
Emerging from its
members’ shared passion for contemporary compositions, Kolot Ensemble
seeks to bring largely-unknown and new music to a wider
audience. The music performed by Kolot Ensemble encompasses early
20th century and recent compositions, with a specialization in music written by
Jewish and Israeli composers. By combining solo and chamber pieces, each
of Kolot Ensemble’s programs is a journey traveling through diverse styles and
cultural influences.
Current members
include: Hadar Noiberg, flute; Eileen Mack, clarinet; Keats
Dieffenbach, violin; Junah Chung, viola; Brian Snow, cello;and Yael Manor, piano.
Dr. Anatole Wieck teaches violin and viola and conducts the
University of Maine Chamber Orchestra. Born in Latvia, Prof. Wieck
received his early musical training in Riga and Moscow. In 1973 he
came to the United States to study at the Juilliard School of Music
in New York City where he earned his Bachelor, Master and Doctorate
degrees.
His principal teachers in Russia were Yuri Yankelevich and
Zinaida Gilels. At Juilliard he studied with Ivan Galamian, Joseph
Fuchs, Lillian Fuchs and Paul Doktor, and chamber music with members
of the Juilliard String Quartet. After graduating from Juilliard he
continued to study with composer-philosopher Iosif Andriasov. An
accomplished violinist, violist and conductor, Professor Wieck
performed and taught throughout North America, South America and Europe.
He is also on the roster of the Maine Touring Artists Program.
Since 1999 Prof. Wieck is the conductor-in-residence at
Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, Colorado. Prof. Wieck owns an
18th century viola d’amore and performs baroque music regularly
following historic performance practices.
DUO DIORAMA comprises Chinese violinist MingHuan Xu
and Canadian pianist Winston Choi. They are compelling and versatile
artists who perform in an eclectic mix of musical styles, ranging from
the great standard works to the avant-garde. It is a partnership with
a startlingly fresh and powerful approach to music for violin and
piano. Comprised of two renowned soloists who can effectively blend
their distinctive personalities together to create a unified whole, the
duo maintains an active performing and touring schedule.
Their name "Duo Diorama" captures the couple's artistic ideals.
In 19th-century Paris, the Diorama was a popular theater entertainment
that prefigured cinema. A marvelous landscape scene - one telling the
tale of some mythic event - was painted on linen and brought to life
using dramatic effects o lighting (executed using sunlight redirected
by a series of mirrors); such were the skills of its virtuoso light
artists that the Diorama's scenes would appear to take on
dimensionality and motion - to literally come alive. Duo Diorama seeks
to bring sheets of music notation to life using similar sonic
manipulations of color, feeling, and movement; thus transporting their
listeners to realms of musical drama, profound emotions and inspiring
aesthetic ideas.
Having already commissioned and premiered over 20 works in the last
few years, Duo Diorama is a leading proponent of music of living
composers. Their insightful and dynamic interpretations of music of
living composers have established the duo as a true champion of
contemporary music. They are committed to music from today’s culture
and take a very personal approach to the presentation of these works –
both those by the established modern masters and today’s emerging young
composers. Composers they have commissioned include Marcos Balter,
George Flynn, Derek Hurst, Gregory Hutter, Felipe Lara, Jacques Lenot,
Andrew List, M. William Karlins, John Melby, Robert Morris, Michael
Pisaro, Stephen Syverud, Kurt Westerberg, Daniel Weymouth, Amy
Williams, Amnon Wolman, Jay Alan Yim, and Mischa Zupko. Their many
projects include performing multi-disciplinary works involving
electronic media. By juxtaposing their performances with colorful
commentary, Duo Diorama’s unique performances emphasize the relevance
and vivacity of classical music.
MINGHUAN XU performs extensively in recital and
with orchestra in China and North America. She is also a highly
sought-after chamber musician, having collaborated with the St.
Petersburg Quartet, Colin Carr, Eugene Drucker, Ilya Kaler, and Ani
Kavafian. She delights audiences wherever she performs with her
passion, sensitivity and charisma. Xu was a winner of the Beijing
Young Artists Competition and gave her New York debut at age 18 as
soloist with the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra. Currently Assistant
Professor of Violin at Grand Valley State University, she plays on a
1758 Nicolas Gagliano violin.
WINSTON CHOI was Laureate of the 2003 Honens
International Piano Competition (Canada) and winner of France’s 2002
Concours International de Piano 20e siècle d’Orléans. He regularly
performs in recital and with orchestra throughout North America and
Europe. Already a prolific recording artist, he can be heard on the
Arktos, Crystal, l’Empreinte Digitale, Intrada and QuadroFrame labels.
Formerly on the faculties of the Oberlin Conservatory and Bowling Green
University, he is Assistant Professor and Head of Piano at the Chicago
College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
