Back to Press ReleasesCutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival
Victoria Bond, Artistic Director
Cutting Edge Concerts' 22nd season features music by Philip Glass, Paul Chihara, Hannah Lash, Amy Beth Kirsten, Victoria Bond and more
February 11, 18, & 25, 2019 at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia in New York City
"...a gift to New Yorkers thirsty for new sounds" - Time Out New York
Victoria Bond's Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival celebrates its 22nd Season with three programs in February 2019 at Symphony Space.
Inspired by Pierre Boulez's series, "Perspective Encounters", the composer and conductor Victoria Bond founded Cutting Edge Concerts in 1998. With more than two decades of concerts, Cutting Edge Concerts has presented over 300 new works by nearly 200 composers. Each program highlights the music of living composers, all of whom attend the concert. Along with performances by world-class ensembles and soloists, each program features on-stage discussions between host Victoria Bond and the composers. CEC has been called "a full-throttle commitment to contemporary music" by Chamber Music America.
February 11, 7:30 pm | Cutting Edge Concerts: Dream Forms
New York-based di.vi.sion piano trio (Kurt Briggs, violin; Matt Goeke, cello; Renee Cometa Briggs, piano) performs Steven Burke's Dream Forms (composed for the di.vi.sion trio), inspired by clairvoyant, lucid and epic dreams. Additional works include Victoria Bond's Other Selves, commissioned by the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival as a ballet based on sculptures by Marjorie Michael; and "Piano Trio No. 2" by Jim Lahti.
February 18, 7:30 pm | Cutting Edge Concerts: New Visions of Cherished Classics
Acclaimed Philip Glass interpreter, pianist Paul Barnes joins forces with Scott Hosfeld (viola), Maria Newman (violin), and Laura Hamilton (violin) for Glass's Byzantine chant-inspired work Annunciation Quintet. The first half also includes the NYC premiere Victoria Bond's Simeron Kremate as well as Maria Newman’s Pennipotenti.
The evening also features a workshop performance of The Adventures of Gulliver, a new opera based on the classic Jonathan Swift tale, with music by Victoria Bond, libretto by Stephen Greco and design and direction by Doug Fitch. The cast includes:
Daniel Klein, baritone; Ariadne Graf, soprano; Sean Christensen, tenor; Yoojin Lee, mezzo-soprano; David Charles Tay, tenor; Jonathan Hare, baritone; and Mark Peloquin, piano.
February 25, 7:30 pm | Cutting Edge Concerts: The Poetry of Places
The Horszowski Trio (Jesse Mills, violin; Paul Wiancko, cello; Rieko Aizawa, piano) is joined by clarinetist Alan Kay, flutist Elizabeth Mann, and soprano Sophia Maekawa for a performance of Paul Chihara's Amatsu Kaze ("heavenly wind"). The work is based on seven Haiku, and Chihara's songs are happy, sad, sexy, witty, and always very lonely.
The evening also features pianist Nadia Shpachenko performing selections from her recently released CD, “The Poetry of Places” - works composed for her by Lewis Spratlan, Harold Meltzer, Hannah Lash, Amy Beth Kirsten, Jack Van Zandt, Victoria Bond, and James Matheson.
Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival concerts are on Mondays, February 11, 18, and 25, 2019 at 7:30 pm at Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street in Manhattan). Tickets are $20 in advance ($30 day of show) and are available online.