PROGRAM JUNE 4, 2013
The
Three Truths
(2012) Matthew Welch
Anne Rhodes, soprano and Jeffrey
Gavett, baritone
Autumn
Etude (2002) Scott L. Miller
New
York premiere
Spoken-word, video and electronic
sound
Video performance
featuring Felip Costaglioli, speaker
Ron Gregg, video
She:
An Opera of Adventure
(2009) Mark Thome
World
premiere
Lost Dog New Music Ensemble
Nicole Pantos, soprano and Blake
Friedman, tenor
Ode to Cambridge/Student's Drinking
Song/Chess Game
Don't Trust Glances
Ustane's Lullaby
The Wasteland of Time
Have I Come Too Late?
Leo's Epiphany
Intermission
O
Mensch Gib Acht (2011) Matthew Greenbaum
Aria from Rope and Chasm
Video performance, Re'ut Ben
Ze'ev, mezzo-soprano
Generalissimo
(2013) Reinaldo Moya
World
premiere
20>>21
with
Douglas Williams, bass-baritone and Michael Kelly, baritone;
Mary Mackenzie, soprano and Solange Merdinian, mezzo-soprano
All music licensed for
performance by BMI
CAST & ENSEMBLES
The Three Truths
Music and Libretto by Matthew Welch
Directed by Louisa Proske
Costumes by Seth Bodie
Anne Rhodes, soprano
Jeffrey Gavett, baritone
Amelia Lukas, flute
Vasko Dukovski, clarinet
Brendon Randall-Myers, electric guitar
Manon Hutton-DeWys, piano
Joe Tucker, percussion
Conductor: Paolo Bortolameolli
Autumn Etude
(video projection)
Music by Scott L. Miller
Felip
Costaglioli, Text and Spoken-Word Performance
Ron
Gregg, video
She: An Opera of Adventure
Music by Mark Thome
Libretto by Rex and Blair Stewart
Based on the
novel She: A History of Adventure by
H. Rider Haggard
Nicole Pantos - Ayesha, Ustane
Blake Friedman - Leo, Job
Lost Dog New Music Ensemble
Garth Edwin Sunderland, Artistic Director
Christine Perea, flute
Vasko Dukovski,* clarinet
Britton Matthews, percussion
Jacob Rhodebeck, piano
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Emily Brausa, cello
Conductor - David Štech*
*Guest Artist
O Mensch Gib
Acht (video
projection)
Music and video animation by Matthew Greenbaum
Libretto from Nietzsche's Also Sprach
Zarathustra
Re'ut Ben Ze'ev, mezzo-soprano
Generalissimo
Music by
Reinaldo Moya
Libretto by Jess Foster
Douglas Williams - Miguel Angel
Michael Kelly - Junior
Mary Mackenzie - Pelele
Solange Merdinian – Camila
Ensemble 20>>21
Yael Manor, Artistic Director
Itay Lantner, flute
Vasko Dukovski, clarinet
Yael Manor, piano
Samuel Budish, percussion
Nilko Andreas*, guitar
Francesca Anderegg, violin
Brian Snow, cello
Conductor: Vince Lee
*Guest Artist
BIOS
20>>21
collaborates with today’s emerging composers to curate deep concert
experiences. Repertoire for each concert reflects the featured composer’s
influences and draws connections between music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The members of 20>>21 are accomplished musicians who are passionate for
sharing new music with new audiences. In each performance, members of
20>>21 and the concert’s featured composer explain the personal and
musical significance of the pieces chosen. Following each concert, audience
members are invited to meet the musicians and featured composer to ask
questions and share feedback. 20>>21 had a successful inaugural season of
2011-12 featuring composers Angélica Negrón, Gilad Cohen, Clint Needham, and
Aleksandra Vrebalov. Audience members praised the ensemble for exciting
repertoire, helpful discussion, and a gentle introduction to new music. Season
2012-13 included a featured concert with the American Composers Alliance in
February and this premiere of scenes from Reinaldo Moya's new opera Generalissimo.
AMERICAN
COMPOSERS ALLIANCE is a BMI-affiliated music publisher with a history dating to
1937. ACA was the first publisher for John Cage and many other notable 20th
century composers, and continues its mission into the next era as we all grapple
with both electronic and paper score distribution issues. ACA is also a
membership organization and custodian for historical scores and papers, and as
a nonprofit organization, raises funding for and supports concerts and
recordings of music from the ACA catalog.
FRANCESCA
ANDEREGG (violin), praised for her "exceptional performances" and
"fiery interpretation,” delivers sensational accounts of both contemporary
and classical repertoire. She has collaborated with the leading musicians of
the concert stage, including Itzhak Perlman, Pierre Boulez, and the musicians
of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. She had her Carnegie Hall debut in 2008, and
has appeared in all of New York's acclaimed venues. In 2010, Ms. Anderegg
was awarded the Lenore Annenberg Fellowship in the Performing Arts, a major career
grant. Her solo debut CD, containing music by Elliott Carter, George Perle, and
Arnold Schoenberg, was recently released on Albany Records. For more,
visit www.arielartists.com.
NILKO
ANDREAS GUARIN (guitar) - After capturing the First Prize at the Artist
International Competition in New York, Colombian-born Nilko Andreas has quickly
established himself as one of the leading classical guitarists of his
generation. As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed in over 15
countries around the globe, on such stages as New York’s Carnegie and Strathmore Halls.
Upcoming performances include a European tour with violist Firmian Lermer, the
premier of a guitar concerto by Ricardo Calderoni at Carnegie Hall in Nov. 2013,
and Concerto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo with the Shenzhen
Philharmonic in China. www.nilkoandreas.com
PAOLO BORTOLAMEOLLI (conductor) is a
graduate both of the Arts Faculty of Universidad de Chile where he studied
conducting with Professor David del Pino Klinge and from Pontificia Universidad
Católica where he studied Piano with Professor Frida Conn. He studies at
theYale School of Music, under the guidance of Maestro Shinik Hahm. He has
studied with leading conductors in master classes, including Neeme Järvi, Pavo
Järvi and Leonid Grin at the Järvi Summer Festival and Academy where he
conducted concerts with the Pärnu City Orchestra and Estonian National Youth
Orchestra; with Jorma Panula at El Escorial in Madrid, and with Peter Gülke at
the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In Chile he was the Principal conductor of a Youth
Orchestra for the last 3 years and Assistant conductor of the Orquesta USACH.
He has performed along with the Orquesta de la Universidad de Concepción and
the National Symphonic Orchestra of Perú. He is also involved with new music
and has a regular collaboration with the composers of Yale School of Music.
SAMUEL
BUDISH, (percussion), recently received his master's degree from the Juilliard
School, where he also earned his bachelor's degree. Originally from New Jersey,
he is a versatile musician with upcoming engagements including a concert of
premieres with the North/South Consonance, an appearance at the Boston Early
Music Festival, a ten day tour with the folk-rock group Balto, and a concert at
the MoMa sculpture garden.
VASKO DUKOVSKI (clarinet), Macedonian-born
multi-instrumentalist virtuoso and diverse stylistic performer of the highest
caliber, Vasko has established himself as one of New York's most sought after
instrumentalists of his generation. A master of the clarinet, Dukovski also
plays Saxophones, Armenian Duduk, Balkan Pan Pipes, Bag Pipes, Chinese Hu Lu Si
and various Middle-Eastern percussion instruments. An avid performer and
advocate of contemporary classical music, Dukovski has collaborated with some
of today’s leading composers such as John Corigliano, John Adams, Gunther
Schuller, Yehudi Wyner, Georg Friedrich Hass, Helmut Lachenmann, Philippe Hurel
and many more. He has premiered over one hundred works with various new music
ensembles.
JESSICA
FOSTER (libretto) is a graduate of the University of Iowa Playwrights’ Workshop
with her M.F.A. in playwriting. While there she received the IRAM award for
outstanding work on her festival play "Proficient," and she also received
an Outstanding TA Award from the University. Jess’s play "Mourning
Sun" had a reading as part of the White Horse Theater American Women
Series in New York, a play that she developed with the support of Fusion
Theater in Albuquerque. Her plays "Freezer Dreams" and "One
Man’s Trash" have both been presented in the University of Iowa’s Gallery
series.
BLAKE
FRIEDMAN (tenor) is the recipient of an Encouragement Grant from the Schuyler
Foundation for Career Bridges 2013 competition, and was named a Top 10 finalist
in the Arkadi Foundation Classical Idol Competition at Lincoln Center’s Bruno
Walter Auditorium. Praised for his “climactic high notes” by Q on Stage, Mr.
Friedman has most recently appeared with Bronx Opera singing Rodolfo in
Puccini’s La Bohème, and this summer will join Ash Lawn Opera to cover their
upcoming production. Mr. Friedman holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from the
Eastman School of Music, and a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of
Music.
MATTHEW
GREENBAUM is a composer and video animator ad a professor of composition at
Temple University. Awards, fellowships and commissions include the Serge
Koussevitzky Music Fund/Library of Congress, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable
Trust, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Meet the Composer, the Fromm
Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund and
the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Penn Council on the Arts. His
works are published by The American Composers Alliance and Tunbridge Music.
Recordings are available from Furious Artisans, Antes and CRI. An all-Greenbaum
recording is available on the Centaur label. Greenbaum's works with video
include ROPE AND CHASM for mezzo and video animation; AUTOMAT for video animation/electronic
music, and BITS AND PIECES, for tenor sax and video animation. ROPE AND CHASM, for
mezzo and video animation, is an evening-length setting of excerpts from
Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra. It was premiered by Network for New
Music in Philadelphia by Re'ut Ben Ze'ev. "O Mensch, Gib Acht" is an
excerpt from that performance.
MANON
HUTTON-DEWYS is an American pianist, praised in Musical America for her
“sensitive dynamic shadings and subtle use of rubato,” She has performed in
some of classical music's best known venues, including Weill and Zankel Halls
at Carnegie Hall, the Salle Cortot in Paris, Symphony Space, and Bargemusic.
Hutton-DeWys has appeared as a soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra and
with the Bard College Orchestra. She holds degrees from Mannes, Bard
College, and Simon’s Rock College. She is currently a doctoral student at
the City University of New York Graduate Center and a student of Thomas
Sauer. Hutton-DeWys is on the piano faculty of Greenwich House Music
School and is a member of the executive board of the Piano Teachers Congress of
New York. www.manonhuttondewys.com
MICHAEL KELLY (baritone),winner of the Joy
in Singing Competition and recipient of the Debut Artist Recital at NY's Merkin
Hall, is a busy recital and concert singer having performed all over the United
States and Europe. This season, he made
major symphony debuts with the Kansas City Symphony and The Cleveland
Orchestra, and is featured on 3 soon to be released recordings with the Fireworks
Ensemble of David del Tredici’s A Field
Manual on the E1 label, Schubert’s Winterreise
for Albany Records and a compilation of Benjamin Britten’s songs for GPR
Records. He was recently heard in
Charpentier’s Orphée with BEMF, with Mark Morris Dance Group in Four Saints in Three Acts at BAM and Socrate at the Mostly Mozart Festival,
as Aeneas in Dido
and Aeneas in San
Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and in recitals at New York's Trinity Church and
with SongFusion, a recital series of which he is co-founder.
ITAY LANTNER (flute)
performs regularly in solo, chamber music and orchestral concerts throughout
the United States, Israel, Italy, Germany, Spain and France. He has performed
in distinguished venues such as Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, Auditorio Nacional
de Música, and the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv. Mr. Lantner holds a Master of
Music degree from the Yale School of Music, where he won the Chamber Music
Competition twice. As an orchestral musician, Mr. Lantner worked with
conductors Zubin Mehta, Peter Oundjian and Reinbert de Leeuw. He has appeared
with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra and
currently serves as a flutist with the New York Chamber Soloists.
VINCE
LEE (conductor) is described as “powerful” and “hefty” by the New York Times,
and is quickly rising as one of today’s
top emerging talents. Known among his contemporaries for his dynamic
performances and his razor-sharp ear, Mr. Lee’s diverse musical background
provides him a level of flexibility that is unique in the industry. During his
three years with the Cincinnati Symphony, he revolutionized his role as
Assistant Conductor for the orchestra. His numerous concerts with the CSO
received critical acclaim, and his Young People’s Concerts found unprecedented
levels of success, combining elements of increased interactivity with high
artistic standards.
LOST DOG NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE (founded in 1995) has performed in New York,
California, Texas, Spain, and Germany. The core ensemble is comprised of flute,
clarinet, piano, violin, and ’cello, with occasional guest artists, and is led
by Artistic Director Garth Edwin Sunderland. As the resident chamber ensemble
of the Astoria Music Society, Lost Dog presents 3-4 programs every season,
performing in Manhattan and Queens. Lost Dog is dedicated to the advancement of
contemporary music by performing challenging and adventurous repertoire,
providing performance opportunities for emerging and under-represented composers,
and by commissioning new works. Over the past 10 seasons, Lost Dog has
presented over 50 World Premiere performances of music by American composers,
as well as many US and East Coast premieres. Prominent performances include a
dance-theatre presentation of Peter Maxwell Davies’ Vesalii Icones,
Helmut Lachenmann’s Allegro Sostenuto, and collaborations with
Sequenza 21 and Random Access Music. Members of the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble
include some of the most admired and sought-after musicians in New York City,
including CHRISTINE PEREA, flute; JACOB RHODEBECK, piano; BRITTON MATTHEWS,
percussion; MIRANDA CUCKSON, violin, and EMILY BRAUSA, cello.
AMELIA
LUKAS (flute) performs with “a fine balance of virtuosity and poetry” (NY
Times) and has “a buoyancy of spirit that comes out in the flute, a just
beautiful sound” (Boston Globe). Lauded for her skilled interpretation of new
music and “considerable technique” (NY Times), she is a member of the American
Modern Ensemble, the Nouveau Classical Project, Ensemble Sospeso, and Trio
Kavak. Amelia directs the “scintillating” and “impeccably curated” (TONY) Ear
Heart Music series at Roulette, and acts as music advisor to High Concept
Laboratories. She holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the
Royal Academy of Music.
MARY ELIZABETH MACKENZIE (soprano), described by the New York Times
as “a soprano of extraordinary agility and concentration” has captured the
attention of audiences as a passionate performer of contemporary music. She has
worked with Pierre Boulez, John Harbison, Richard Danielpour, and James
Primosch and works closely with young composers to develop new works for voice.
Contemporary opera premieres include Héctor Parra’s Hypermusic: Ascension
at the Guggenheim Museum, and Jonathan Dawe’s Cracked Orlando and Così
faranno tutti at Columbia University. Ms. Mackenzie has appeared with
the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ekmeles, The Juilliard School’s AXIOM
Ensemble and New Juilliard Ensemble, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Fulcrum Point
New Music Project, the Metropolis Ensemble, and the Talea Ensemble.
YAEL
MANOR (piano), praised for her “breathtaking and powerful performances”
regularly collaborates with composers and is a frequent performer of national
and world premieres. As the Artistic Director of 20>>21, she works to
ensure that each concert encourages open dialogue and understanding between audience
members, performers, and composers. Yael has performed on some of the most
prestigious stages in the United States including: the Kimmel Center, the
Miller Theatre, the Dekelboum Concert Hall, Symphony Space, Merkin Concert
Hall, and Carnegie Hall. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the
Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and currently lives and teaches
in New York City. Please visit www.yaelmanor.com for more info.
SOLANGE MERDINIAN (mezzo-soprano) has garnered an international
reputation for her versatility and interpretation as a recitalist, chamber
musician, and opera singer in repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary.
Recent highlights in 2013 include a
critically-praised “tour de force” debut role of Maria in
Piazzolla’s tango-opera Maria de Buenos Aires with the Lexington
Philharmonic; and also with Opera Hispanica at (Le) Poisson Rouge in NYC;
Argentinean solo debut recital in Cordoba, and at the Britten-Pears Festival in
Aldeburgh, England with their baroque opera program. Ms. Merdinian
continues her world tour with the Philip Glass Ensemble in a production of the
landmark opera Einstein on the Beach as directed by Robert Wilson,
composed by Philip Glass, and choreographed by Lucinda Childs. She is the
co-founder and co-artistic director of the “New Docta International Music
Festival” which brings world-class classical artists to Cordoba, Argentina to
nourish the souls and nurtures Latin American’s young talents.
SCOTT
L. MILLER (composer) is a professor of music at St. Cloud State University,
Minnesota, and the recipient of a 2013 McKnight Composer Fellowship. He
composes electroacoustic, orchestral, chamber, choral and multimedia works
frequently performed at venues and in exhibitions throughout North America and
Europe, including the Contemporary Music Festival at the Ostrava Creative
Center and Janácek Conservatory, Mladé Pódium International Festival of Young
Artists, the 12th International Festival of Electroacoustic Music in Brno, the
Leipzig Neue Gewandhaus, and at Galerie EXPRMNTL, in Toulouse. Miller's music
has been described as 'not for the faint-hearted listener' (Juliet
Patterson, mnartists.org) and 'inspiring real hope & optimism for the
future of electroacoustic music.'
In
Autumn Etude, the spoken-word in the video features two voices, one in English,
the other in Catalan, two languages in which the speaker Felip writes and
performs. Felip creates a different artistic voice not only by changing the
content of what he is saying, but especially by changing the language he
chooses to say it in. It is not unlike changing an instrument during a
performance. This work was created with support from the American Composers
Forum through the 2001 McKnight Composer Fellowship Program. Scott Miller was a
2001 recipient of a Fellowship grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. In
addition, Miller’s work is supported in part by a grant from the National
Endowment for the Arts. Parts of the English poem “Autumn Etude” are published
in French as "Automne Étude" © 2003 Les Éditions L'Arrière – Pays.
"Atlantida: Ultima Ronda" © 2003 Jardins de Samarcanda. Used by
permission.
REINALDO MOYA (composer) is a
Venezuelan American composer whose music is inspired by the complex and
boundless canvases of the great Latin American novels. His music can be thought
of as folk music from the magical, imaginary landscapes depicted in these
books. Seemingly opposite aspects of reality coexist in his music: the simple
and the complex, the familiar and the unexpected, the beautiful and the ugly,
the magical and the everyday.
Moya began his musical studies as a violinist
in his native Venezuela’s El Sistema. As a founding member of the Simón Bolívar
Youth Orchestra, Moya toured extensively through North and South America, as
well as Europe, under world-renowned conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel,
Giuseppe Sinopoli, and Claudio Abbado. Since moving to the United States in 1999, Moya shifted his
efforts to composition and began a search for a personal musical language for
expression. He graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University studying
violin with Laura Kobayashi and composition with John Beall. Moya moved to New York City to begin his graduate studies at The
Juilliard School in 2006. In the following year, Mr. Moya’s String Quartet was
premiered by the Attacca Quartet at the Museum of Modern Art. This performance
was reviewed by the New York Times as “Admirable… with subtly delineated
sections.” The Da Capo Chamber Players performed his Crónica de una Muerte
Anunciada in October, 2010 at Merkin Hall in New York City. Bruce Hodges of
International Concert Review called the work “startlingly effective… a striking
evocation of Márquez’s tragic subject, filled with jittery motifs and
underlying dread”. He has received commissions
from Trio 180 (University of the Pacific) and the New York Choreographic
Institute. His opera Generalissimo, based on the life of a fictional Latin
American dictator, is currently in development with playwright Jessica Foster.
The
story of Generalissimo revolves around the darkly twisted logic of a Latin
American dictator who seizes power at the expense of others. Is he a
charismatic hero or a murdering tyrant? The lead character, Miguel Angel,
confronts himself in a series of flashbacks on his tormented life.
Mr. Moya is the recipient of a
Van Lier Fellowship, and the Aaron Copland Award from the Copland House. He is
a graduate of Juilliard doctoral program, where his teachers included Samuel
Adler and Robert Beaser. He is an Instructor in Music at St. Olaf College in
Minnesota, and is on the composition faculty at The Interlochen Arts Camp.
NICOLE
PANTOS (soprano) has collaborated 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 an 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, and in various regions of Germany,
Switzerland and Italy. 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.
BRENDON
RANDALL-MYERS is a composer, guitarist, and improviser. He co-founded the
punk-inflected composing/improvising group Grains, and was a fellow in guitar
at the Bang on a Can summer festival in 2012. He has been commissioned by many
organizations and performers such as Alien Box Man, Sqwonk, Nonsemble 6, Mobius
Trio, and flutist Esther Landau. He grew up homeschooled in rural West
Virginia, attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Pomona College, and spent three
years living and working in San Francisco. He is currently pursuing an MM in
composition at the Yale School of Music.
ANNE
RHODES (soporano) combines coloratura agility and bel canto lyricism with
extended vocal techniques and a warm chest voice to sing a broad range of
experimental, classical, and improvised music. Drawing heavily upon her
classical training, Rhodes also incorporates her knowledge of jazz, South
Indian voice, overtone singing, and shape-note singing into creative
improvisation, ensemble work, and collaboration with composers. Based in New
Haven, she performs regularly in Connecticut, Boston, and New York City. Rhodes
has premiered works by Alvin Lucier, Anthony Braxton, Charlie Looker, Matthew
Welch, Adam Matlock, James Ilgenfritz, Nathan Bontrager, Neil Leonard, Taylor
Ho Bynum, Jessica Pavone, Andrew Dewar, Mikael Karlsson, Aaron Seigel, Kyle
Brenders, David Jensenius, Sabrina Schroeder, and many others. She performs as
part of the duo Bruxism, with composer/ multi-instumentalist Carl Testa. She
has appeared at such venues as Issue Project Room, Firehouse 12, Roulette, and
The Stone, and has performed and recorded as a featured soloist with the hip-hop
duo Mirror Boiyz, and recorded a duo album with Anthony Braxton.
BRIAN SNOW (cello) pursues an active performing career in New
York City, where he is a member of Newspeak Ensemble, the Omni Ensemble, and
the Praxis String Quartet. Praised by the Boston Globe for his “…pugnacious,
eloquent, self-assurance…”, Brian has appeared as a soloist with the Riverside
Orchestra (New York City), the Longy Chamber Orchestra, and Crescent City
Symphony (New Orleans). He has performed with Mark Morris Dance Group, Alarm
Will Sound, ACME, Fireworks Ensemble, the Emerson String Quartet, and Meredith
Monk, and appears on recordings with a variety of artists. Brian has won top
prizes at the Paranov, Emerson String Quartet, and Longy concerto soloists
competitions.
DAVID
ŠTECH (conductor) is the resident conductor of the Astoria Symphony, and staff
conductor at Amore Opera and New York Lyric Opera. He has held assistant
conductor and coaching positions at Capitol Heights Lyric Opera, Opera in the
Ozarks, the Opera Theater of Lucca, Italy, and the International Vocal Arts
Institute. Mr. Štech is on the accompanying and coaching staff of the
prestigious Manhattan School of Music, where he often conducts premières of
student composers. He has conducted
the North Shore Chamber Orchestra (Illinois), the New Symphony Orchestra
(Bulgaria), Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic (Czech Republic), Oakland Youth
Orchestra, Chicago Youth Orchestra.
REX STEWART and BLAIR
STEWART (libretto) are
twins and have been collaborators since early childhood. As well as the
libretto for She: An Opera of Adventure, they have co-written short
stories, poetry, and theater reviews, as well as a one-act play, which received
a grant from the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation in Richmond, Virginia. Blair
and Rex originally began working on the libretto for She: An Opera of
Adventure while in high school. Blair majored in both English literature
and philosophy at Eastern Washington Univ., and earned an MA in English
literature from Central Washington Univ. He lives in Seattle and is a member of
the Conception Arts Collective. Rex earned his BA and MATESL degrees from
Eastern Washington Univ. He is a world traveler and has taught English in many
countries. He currently works for Asia University in Tokyo and is the
Editor-and-Chief of its CELE Journal.
MARK
THOME (composer) is a composer, arranger and orchestrator who resides in the
Pacific Northwest of Washington State. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree
at the Evergreen State College. An accomplished clarinet and saxophone player,
Mark has performed with numerous groups including the Tacoma Symphony, Tacoma
Concert Band, the Jazz Senators big band, Native Blue jazz sextet, Barnum and
Bailey Circus and in the pit of many musicals. He has composed and arranged for
a variety of performing groups ranging from jazz combos, jazz ensembles,
concert band to chamber ensembles, full orchestra and opera. Mark currently has
compositions and arrangements published with UNC Jazz Press, Walrus Music, and
ACA, and was a prizewinner in the 2009 Humboldt State University Brass Chamber
Music Workshop Composition Competition. He is staff arranger for Student
Orchestras of Greater Olympia and is currently working as the arranger for
"The Clarinet Monsters", an orchestral crossover experience
that blends classical and jazz featuring clarinetist Jeff Brooks with
symphony orchestra and jazz quartet. Included in the "Clarinet
Monsters" program will be the music of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Jeff
Brooks.
JOE TUCKER (percussion), a multi-faceted performer,
drummer/ percussionist and Detroit native has recently transplanted to NYC. Joe
has maintained a rigorous gigging schedule including orchestral concerts, jazz
sets, premieres of chamber and solo works, and drumming off- Broadway. He is
also a founding member of the contemporary Pierrot sextet, Innovox, and is
currently studying under Matt Ward, Michael Lipsey, and David Cossin at Queens
College.
MATTHEW WELCH - “A composer
possessed of both rich imagination and the skill to bring his fancies to life”
(Time Out New York), is a composer and bagpipe virtuoso who holds two degrees in Music Composition, a BFA from Simon
Fraser University (1999), and an MA from Wesleyan University (2001), and has
studied with Barry Truax, Rodney Sharman, Alvin Lucier and Anthony Braxton.
After locating to New York City in 2001, he has worked with a host of other
artists such as John Zorn, Julia Wolfe, Zeena Parkins, and Ikue Mori. The
eclectic breadth of his interests in Scottish bagpipe music, Balinese gamelan,
minimalism, improvisation and rock converge in compositional amalgams ranging
from traditional-like bagpipe tunes to electronic pieces, improvisation
strategies and fully notated works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles,
orchestra and non-western instruments. Since 2002, Mr. Welch has been running
and composing for his own eclectic ensemble, Blarvuster, whose repertoire the
New York Times has claimed as “border-busting music; original and catchy.” Mr.
Welch has recorded for the Tzadik, Mode, Cantaloupe, Leo, Porter, Muud, Avian,
Newsonic and Parallactic record labels.
DOUGLAS
WILLIAMS (bass-baritone) made his European opera debut last season in
Alessandro Scarlatti’s Tigrane at the
Opéra de Nice. He is frequently recognized for his theatrical abilities in
music. The New York Times has called him a “powerful singer” with “a superb
sense of drama.” He has worked with the conductors Sir Neville Marriner, John
Nelson, Helmut Rilling, Stephen Stubbs, Sir David Willcocks, and many
others. In concert Douglas has appeared
with the Houston Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and the baroque orchestras
Tafelmusik and Les Talens Lyriques in venues such as the Paris Salle Pleyel,
the Frankfurt Alte Oper, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and the Washington
National Cathedral. He has collaborated with the Pulitzer Prize-winning
composer Charles Wuorinen on the 2011 premiere of his work It Happens Like This at Tanglewood and the Guggenheim Museum.
Douglas will join the Mark Morris Dance Group onstage next season in a new
production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea
in Berkeley and Boston.
******
Additional
program notes: the composers will be speaking about their pieces during the
concert. Texts will be provided in a separate document.
Photos from the concert:
Reinaldo Moyarehearsal for Generalissimo - June 2013
Matthew Welch, composerwelcomes the audience
Solange Merdinianmezzo-soprano
Mary Mackenziesoprano
Douglas Williams, bass-baritoneas the General
Anne Rhodes, sopranoin The Three Truths by Matthew Welch
Anne Rhodes, sopranoas the robot RX-1
Generalissimo
