92nd Street Y
November Performances

Saturday, November 2, 8 PM
Jonathan Biss & Miriam Fried
Kaufmann Concert Hall, New York City
Pianist Jonathan Biss and his mother, violinist Miriam
Fried, join for a program comprised of violin and piano sonatas of Janáck,
Schumann, and Beethoven.
Monday, November 4, 7:30 PM
CONTACT! An Evening with Esa-Pekka Salonen and musicians
from the New York Philharmonic.
92Y partners with the New York Philharmonic for CONTACT!,
the New York Philharmonic’s new-music series -- three concerts at SubCulture,
92Y's new downtown venue.
November 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17
Hagen Quartet
Complete Beethoven Cycle
The Hagen’s rare New York City appearance with a
six-concert series at 92Y marks its first occurrence performing the complete
cycle of Beethoven’s quartets in North America.
Tickets are available at
www.92Y.org/concerts or
212-415-5500. For more information, visit
www.92Y.org.
--Ashlyn Damm, Kirshbaum Demler & Associates
Steven Fox Leads
Program of Rarely-Heard Russian Composers November 15-19, 2013
Atherton, San Francisco, and Berkeley, CA
Steven Fox, hailed as "one of New York City's most
promising young conductors," (WQXR) joins Philharmonia Baroque for a
program including rarely-heard works by the first generation of Russian
composers. Four concerts take place at San Francisco's SFJAZZ Center (November
15), First Congregational Church, Berkeley (November 16 & 17), and the
Center for Performing Arts, Atherton (November 19). Tickets are priced from $25
to $93.
Although Mikhail Glinka has often been called the father
of Russian music, he was hardly the first Russian to compose in classical
forms. This program includes seminal works from the pre-Glinka generation,
including Maksym Berezovsky's Symphony in
C major, believed to be among the first Russian symphonies; Yevstigney
Fomin's Dance of the Blessed Spirits
from Orpheus, one of the first operas
written in Russian; and suites from Dmitry Bortniansky's operas Alcide and Le fils rival.
Tanya Tomkins --whose recording of the Bach Cello Suites was hailed as
"genius" by Gramophone
magazine--joins Philharmonia as soloist in Johann Facius's Concerto for Violoncello in D minor. And Glinka, with whom most
histories of Russian music begin, is featured with three arias sung by the
English soprano Anna Dennis, who makes her Bay Area debut.
Recognized for his leadership in returning the first
generation of Russian classical composers to prominence, Steven Fox is artistic
director of the New York Clarion Society and the founder of Musica Antiqua in
Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Friday, November 15 at 8:00 PM
SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, CA
Saturday, November 16 at 8:00 PM
First Congregational Church, Berkeley, CA
Sunday, November 17 at 7:30 PM
First Congregational Church, Berkeley, CA
Tuesday, November 19 at 8:00 PM
The Center for Performing Arts, Atherton, CA
Tickets are priced $25 to $93, available through City Box
Office:
www.cityboxoffice.com or call (415) 392-4400.
--Ben Casement-Stoll, Philharmonia Baroque
AOP Chosen to
Participate in Professional Development Program Led by Brooklyn Academy of
Music (BAM) and the Devos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center
American Opera Projects presents the world-premiere opera
"As One" at the BAM Fisher in 2015.
The Brooklyn Academy Of Music (BAM) has announced American
Opera Projects (AOP) among the participants in the BAM Professional Development
Program (BAM PDP) led by BAM and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the
Kennedy Center. The companies for this session are of mixed disciplines ranging
from opera to theater to dance. AOP's participation in the program will
culminate in 2015 with the World Premiere of As One, an original music theater
work to be created by composer Laura Kaminsky, librettist Mark Campbell, and
filmmaker Kimberly Reed.
The BAM PDP is a 9-month program that utilizes the
strengths of both institutions to provide professional development training and
deeply discounted theater and rehearsal studio rental to an annual selection of
qualifying Brooklyn non-profit arts organizations. Through the program,
supported by Brooklyn Community Foundation and The New York Community Trust,
BAM and the DeVos Institute strive to help arts organizations expand their
skill base, increase their institutional capacity, and build necessary
foundations for their long-term success. The second cycle of the program began
this fall and culminates with each Brooklyn-based company presenting a
self-funded production in the BAM Fisher Fishman Space within the year
following the training portion.
As One, AOP's world premiere production for the BAM PDP,
chronicles a transgender person as she emerges into harmony with herself and
the world around her are portrayed with compassion, candor, and humor. The work is being written expressly for
acclaimed singers mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and baritone Kelly Markgraf, who
will share the role of the protagonist. They will be joined by the renowned
Miró Quartet. An interactive film will be created by Kimberly Reed that serves
as the production's background. As One will be AOP's second world premiere at
the BAM Fisher following Out Cold/Zippo Songs (Phil Kline, composer) which was
presented as part of BAM's 30th Next Wave Festival in October 2012.
--Matt Gray, American Opera Projects
Pianist and
Composer Conrad Tao Commissioned by Dallas Symphony Orchestra to Composer Piece
for John F. Kennedy Memorial Concert
On November 21-24, 2013, 19-year-old pianist/composer
Conrad Tao will premiere his new composition The World Is Very Different Now, performed by the Dallas Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden. The piece is part of a concert
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963, and The
World Is Very Different Now was commissioned especially for the event by
the DSO with support by the National Endowment for the Arts and TACA.
This past June, Conrad released his debut album Voyages on Warner Classics (formerly EMI
Classics), and oversaw the successful launch of his own UNPLAY Festival, a
three-day event which he conceived and curated.
The title of Tao’s The
World Is Very Different Now is taken from a speech given by President Kennedy.
The composer explains: “The World Is Very
Different Now is ultimately about memory. I wanted to explore the way this
assassination was an event associated with a myriad of specific and individual
memories; it is one of those epoch-making events where everyone remembers
‘where they were.’ Those hyper-real, unique memories intersect with historical
narrative, the writing of which is in many ways a process of memory-formation
as well. I wanted to write a piece that explored the reverberations of these
many memories and experiences. I was curious to see if those remains could
articulate something interesting, and at least a little unfamiliar, about both
the assassination and the quote from JFK's inaugural address that gives the
work its title.”
The concert is sponsored by Bickel & Brewer Foundation
and also features Darius Milhaud’s short work Murder of a Great Chief of State, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica, and violinist Joshua Bell performing the Violin Concerto by Sibelius.
For more information about Conrad Tao:
http://conradtao.com/
--Andrew Ousley, Warner Music Group
Ensemble:
Périphérie: Distinctive Chamber Ensemble Presents Vivid Program of Music of the
21st Century
Saturday, October 26, 2:00 p.m., at Weill Recital Hall,
Carnegie Hall, New York City.
Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY)
presents the New York City debut of Ensemble: Périphérie, a bold new ensemble
created to invite audiences to recognize and be stimulated by the music of our
time. Ensemble: Périphérie’s program will feature music by founding composers
Joseph Dangerfield and Luke Dahn, as well as Louis Karchin, Irina Dubkova, and
David Gompper - all written between 2001 and 2013. The concert takes place on
Saturday, October 26 at 2:00 p.m. at Weill Recital Hall.
Ensemble: Périphérie is inspired by the great French
composer Henri Dutilleux, who died this past May, who said: “For me the only
new music would be music that a composer of genius successfully created on the
periphery of all the movements of our time and in the face of all current
slogans and manifestos.” Comprised of a group of like-minded artists from
across the country, Ensemble: Périphérie intends to commission new works from
both emerging and established composers. The core ensemble, appearing with
DCINY, includes Charles Akert, cello; Ginny Armstrong, percussion; Martha
Councell–Vargas, flute; Michelle Crouch, soprano; Ann DuHamel, piano; Stephen
Fine, viola; Yasmin Flores, clarinet; violinist Tricia Park; with Joseph
Dangerfield conducting selected works.
The program includes
Calder
Cadences (2012/13), inspired by works by sculptor Alexander Calder, by Luke
Dahn (b. 1976). Dahn, whose music has been performed by groups such as the
Moscow Conservatory Studio for New Music, matches the four movements to four of
Calder’s major works. Described by
The New Yorker as a composer of
“fearless eloquence,” Louis Karchin’s (b.1951) music has been recently heard at
Tanglewood’s Contemporary Music Festival. His 2012 work,
Four Songs on Poems of Seamus Heaney, the Nobel Prize-winning Irish
poet, features soprano Michele Crouch.
Widely-performed Russian composer Irina Dubkova’s (b. 1957)
I Hear the Sound that has Fallen Silent
(2005), is part of a Triptych entitled
In
the Soft Moonlight.
Butterfly Dance
by David Gompper (b. 1954) is based on an American Hopi Indian tune. Gompper's
compositions have been performed at major venues from New York to Vienna.
The Wild, by Joseph Dangerfield (b.
1977), based on the Barnett Newman abstract expressionist painting of the same
name, is being premiered by the ensemble on tour this year. Described by
Fanfare as “highly compelling” and
“exuberant,” Dangerfield’s music has been heard internationally. A Fulbright
Scholar to the Russian Federation and the Netherlands, Dangerfield is a
recipient of the Aaron Copland Award (2010), among other honors. For more information:
www.ensembleperipherie.com.
Tickets:
www.carnegiehall.org or 212-247-7800 or in person
at the Carnegie Hall Box Office
--Shira Gilbert PR
Crissy Broadcast in
San Francisco: A Spatial Symphony for Hundreds of Musicians on Crissy Field
Lisa Bielawa, composer & Artistic Director
Free Performances: October 26 at 10am and 4pm &
October 27 at 12 p.m., Crissy Field, San Francisco, CA
Newly added: Roundtable Discussions on October 26
1-2 p.m.: “Orchestras and Engagement”
2-3 p.m.: “The Making of Airfield Broadcasts”
Chapel at Fort Mason Center, off Bay Street at Franklin,
San Francisco
Free and Open to the Public
Composer Lisa Bielawa’s Crissy Broadcast turns Crissy
Field in San Francisco, part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area,
into a vast musical canvas in three free performances on Saturday, October 26
at 10-11 a.m. and 4-5 p.m., and Sunday, October 27 at 12-1 p.m. The hour-long
massive, spatial symphony will involve more than 800 musicians, including
orchestras, bands, choruses, and experimental new music groups, performing for
thousands of music lovers (and unwitting park-goers). In addition, two
Roundtable Discussions, free and open to the public, will be held on Saturday,
October 26 at 1-2pm (Orchestras and Engagement) and 2-3pm (The Making of Airfield
Broadcasts) at Fort Mason Center’s Chapel, located off of Bay Street at
Franklin.
A diverse roster of professional, student, and amateur
performing ensembles will bring Crissy Broadcast to life. The groups
participating include the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (Crissy
Broadcast Lead Professional Ensemble), San Francisco Girls Chorus, San
Francisco Symphony’s Community of Music Makers, Chamber Chorus of the
University of California, Golden Gate Philharmonic, Great Wall Youth Orchestra
of Laney College, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Lowell High School
Orchestra, Aptos Middle School Band, Presidio Middle School Panther Band,
Sacred Heart Cathedral Orchestra, Berkeley High Band and Orchestra, and the
Ruth Asawa/San Francisco School of the Arts.
Crissy Broadcast is part of San Francisco native Lisa
Bielawa’s Airfield Broadcasts project. In May, she created Tempelhof Broadcast
in Berlin on the historic airfield-turned-public-park Tempelhof Field in
partnership with the Berlin Parks Department (Grün Berlin GmbH) and under the
patronage of the U.S. Embassy. Approximately 5,000 people attended the three
performances of Tempelhof Broadcast. Die Welt am Sonntag reported: "The result . . . was impressive. A loosely knit
texture of sound, oscillating between classic and modern music, noise and
avant-garde. The audience which happened to be caught in the performance by
accident was compelled; throughout the whole piece groups of listeners strolled
back and forth between the individual ensembles. They paused, kept a respectful
distance, or came closer, drawn by their curiosity . . . Finally, all kinds of
people mingled together, with dogs or ice-cream cones, with rollerblades and
skateboards, moving among the musicians."
The goal of Airfield Broadcasts is to interpret and
celebrate public spaces, allowing listeners to draw their own meaning and
experience from them. Bielawa hopes that the project will have a palpable and
sustainable impact on the city. She says, “I would like to see Airfield Broadcasts
bring about new partnerships, new vitality, and new relationships between arts
and civic institutions, between different generations and economic strata,
between arts or music lovers and totally non-arts-identified park-goers
enjoying a surprise encounter with music as a ‘happening’ in the middle of
their familiar and beloved city.”
Marc Kasky, Director for Civic Engagement for Crissy
Broadcasts, explains further, “As these events unfold in parks that have
complex histories, one purpose of the project is to interpret these sites – to
help people get a sense of the unique attributes of their own urban
environment, and the breadth and inclusivity of the culture of these places.”
--Christina Jensen PR
American Bach
Soloists Complete Their 24th Consecutive Season
On September 21, ABS held its eleventh annual gala,
“Silver Soirée” celebrating twenty-five years of American Bach Soloists’
continued presence in the field of early-music across Northern California. This
year’s event was co-chaired by former board member Jan Goldberg and Kaneez
Munjee, along with Development Consultant Camille Reed, Development & Donor
Relations Associate Carmen Flórez-Mansi, and Executive Director Don Scott
Carpenter.
For more information, click
http://americanbach.org/
New CD: ABS & Mary Wilson!
Mark your calendars now! December 3 is the official
release date of ABS’s newest CD release: Handel: Laudate pueri Dominum
featuring Mary Wilson. This recording, ABS’s first since 2009, celebrates the
joyous meetings of American Bach Soloists, under the direction of Jeffrey
Thomas, with one of their most cherished collaborators, the sensational
American soprano Mary Wilson.
December with ABS
December will be a busy month for ABS! On December 11
& 12, ABS presents its annual performances of Handel’s Messiah at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. On Saturday, December
14, the group returns to St Stephens for An ABS Christmas. Wrapping up the
intense schedule of events, ABS will perform Messiah at the Mondavi Center in Davis on the afternoon of December
15. It will be an exciting, music filled time and we look forward to seeing
you!
Introducing Carmen Flórez-Mansi
We are pleased to welcome Carmen Flórez-Mansi to the ABS
family, as she will be working with development and donor relations. Carmen
joined the team shortly before the Silver Soirée gala and contributed greatly
to the success of the event. She is a native of New Mexico and holds degrees
from Immaculata College in Philadelphia with additional study at the University
of New Mexico. Carmen lives in Napa with her husband, Tom, and her two sons,
Thomasluke and Estevan.
--American Bach Soloists
Cal Performances
Presents An Afternoon of Romantic Masterpieces with Pianist Paul Lewis, Sunday,
November 3, at 3 p.m. in Hertz Hall, Berkley, CA
With a program of Romantic masterpieces including Modest
Mussorgsky’s imposing Pictures at an
Exhibition and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano
Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (“Moonlight”), Grammy
Award-winning pianist Paul Lewis returns to Cal Performances on Sunday,
November 3, at 3:00 p.m. in Hertz Hall. Lewis last performed at Cal
Performances in 2010, devoting his program to the late piano music of Franz Schubert.
With his return visit, Lewis moves more deeply into Romantic pianism. His
program also includes Beethoven’s Piano
Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27, No.
1; three late piano works by Franz Liszt; and Ferruccio Busoni’s
transcriptions of two Chorale Preludes
by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Lewis is the winner of three Gramophone Awards and is internationally regarded as one of the
leading pianists of his generation. In 2010 Lewis became the first pianist to
perform the complete Beethoven piano concertos in one season. In 2011, he
embarked on a two-year project to perform all of Schubert’s late piano pieces.
His award-winning discography for Harmonia Mundi includes the complete
Beethoven piano sonatas and concertos, as well as the major works from
Schubert’s last six years. Gramophone
said of the recordings, “Time and time again you marvel at the confidence and
sureness of Lewis’s playing, combined with the finesse and musicality he has
always displayed. It’s the kind of playing, in fact, where comparisons cease to
matter.”
Lewis’s recital career takes him all over the world to
perform in venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera
House, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Toppan and Oji halls in
Tokyo, Chan Center Vancouver, and the Royal Festival and Wigmore halls in
London, where he has performed more than 60 times alone. He has collaborated
with many of the world’s leading conductors, including Sir Colin Davis, Bernard
Haitink, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Sir Mark Elder, and performed with such
orchestras as the London, Boston, and Chicago symphonies, the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Oslo and Los Angeles philharmonics. Lewis has
also toured with the Mahler and Australian chamber orchestras.
Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of
Music and Drama before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. Along
with his wife, the Norwegian cellist Bjørg Lewis, he is artistic director of
Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire,
England.
Ticket information:
Tickets for Paul Lewis on Sunday, November 3, at 3:00 p.m.
in Hertz Hall start at $32.00 and are subject to change. Tickets are available
through the Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988; at
www.calperformances.org; and at the door. Half-price tickets are available for
UC Berkeley students. For more information about tickets and discounts, go to
www.calperformances.org/buy/discounts.php or call (510) 642-9988.
--Christina Kellogg, Cal Performances
One World Symphony Presents Sixth Annual Halloween
Program: Temptation
Sung Jin Hong, Artistic Director and Conductor
Bettina May, Burlesque Artist
One World Symphony Vocal Artists
Camille Saint-Saëns: from Samson et Dalila
Paul Hindemith: from Marienleben
(1948)
Giacomo Puccini: from Suor
Angelica (1918)
Kaija Saariaho: Douleur
(Torment) (2002)
Franz Schubert: Gretchen
am Spinnrade
Two Performances:
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
8:00 p.m.
Holy Apostles Church
296 Ninth Avenue at West 28th Street
Manhattan
$30 Students/Seniors with ID
$40 General
Costumes encouraged!
Throw away that raw vegan flaxseed cookie and indulge in
something more... sensuous. Discordant musical passages explore the boundaries
of tonality and represent the restless conscience while others caress the
senses with their soft waves of melody. Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila envelops us in decadent
sound as the temptress Dalila lures Samson away from his people. In Puccini's Suor Angelica, the nun's dulcet melodies
embody her enchantment with worldly pleasures. Be transported by contemporary composer
Saariaho, who stretches the limits of tradition with her eerie music that draws
you in like a moth to the flame. Go ahead, have your cake and eat it too.
--Adrienne Metzinger, One World Symphony
West Edge Opera
Halloween Concert Update
West Edge Opera announces additional singers and program
information for "Something Wicked," its inaugural concert, on
Saturday, October 26 at 7:30 pm, of a series of holiday-themed presentations at
the Piedmont Center for the Arts, 801 Magnolia Avenue in Piedmont.
Previously announced singers Eileen Meredith and Benjamin
Bongers will be joined by mezzo-soprano Donna Olson and bass-baritone Wayne
Wong for a program to include selections from The Tales of Hoffmann, Sweeney
Todd, Faust, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in
Maschera, Ruddigore, and more –
all choices that revolve around the supernatural, weird, devilish, or creepy
elements of the plots. Pianist Kristin Pankonin accompanies the singers.
Tickets, at $25 for adults and $15 for kids under 18,
available online at
www.westedgeopera,org or by telephone at (510) 841-1903. Each
ticket includes chocolate and a glass of wine or a soft drink. For more
information, go to West Edge Opera’s website at
www.westedgeopera.org.
--Marian Kohlstedt, West Edge Opera