Baruch Performing Arts Center announces its Fall 2020 concert season
Five diverse chamber music programs by world class artists, including Alexander String Quartet, Israeli Chamber Project, pianist Yael Weiss and cello-marimba duo Stick and Bow
These exclusive online performances are available to audiences around the world
Baruch Performing Arts Center at Baruch College continues its innovative programming with an exciting array of chamber music concerts streamed online in Fall 2020. These programs are part of Baruch PAC’s season of theater, music, opera, film and talks.
Highlights include:
Cello and marimba duo, Stick and Bow celebrate Latin American Heritage month with works by Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla, and more.
Pianist Yael Weiss in a program that pairs premieres by composers from South Africa, Venezuela, Jordan and more with the Beethoven sonatas that inspired them - from her groundbreaking "32 Bright Clouds" commissioning project.
Israeli Chamber Project celebrates American immigrant composers from Korngold to Shulamit Ran.
Two programs by Alexander String Quartet include George Walker’s Lyric for String Quartet and an in-depth exploration of Beethoven’s quartets.
The acclaimed chamber opera dwb (driving while black), which documents the anxiety of an African-American parent whose child is approaching driving age.
Details are below.
All performances will be easily accessible via Baruch Performing Arts Center's website, and are viewable by the global audience at a pay-what-you-will admission price. Each program will stream for multiple days.
Baruch Performing Arts Center
Fall 2020 Chamber Music
All performances are offered pay-what-you-will via Baruch PAC’s digital portal, and will be available for multiple days following the premiere.
Premiere: September 25, 2020
Stick and Bow
Cello and Marimba Duo in a program of Latin American music
Concert program streams from Sept. 25 (9 am) – Sept. 30 (9 pm) EDT
Live conversation with the artists on Sept. 30 at 6:30 pm EDT
In celebration of Latin American Heritage month, Montreal-based cello and marimba duo Stick and Bow perform works by Astor Piazzolla, Hector Villa Lobos, Julio De Caro, and more. This performance is co-presented with Baruch College's Institute for the Study of Latin America (ISLA).
ISLA’s mission is to actively promote and nurture the interdisciplinary study of Latin America – its languages, literature, arts and cultures; its politics, societies, and economies; its geography and environment – on the Baruch campus.
Premiere: October 1
Pianist Yael Weiss
"32 Bright Clouds"
Concert program streams from Oct. 1 (9 am) - Oct. 18 (9 pm) EDT
Live conversation with pianist Yael Weiss and composer Adina Izarra via limited access Zoom session (Oct 6, time TBA)
Yael Weiss (“remarkably powerful and intense” – New York Times) performs a new program from her global music-commissioning project, "32 Bright Clouds: Beethoven Conversations Around the World". This groundbreaking project commissions new works from 32 countries of conflict and secluded areas spanning the globe, all united through musical themes from Beethoven. This performance will feature a world premiere by Bongani Ndodana-Breen (South Africa), and New York City premieres by Saed Haddad (Jordan), Aslıhan Keçebaşoğlu (Turkey) and Adina Izarra (Venezuela). This performance is part of the Freda and Aaron Silberman Recital Series.
Premiere: October 23
dwb (driving while black)
Chamber Opera by Susan Kander (music) and Roberta Gumbel (soprano/libretto) with New Morse Code (Hannah Collins, cello & Michael Compitello, percussion)
Performance streams from Oct. 23 (9 am) - Oct. 29 (10 pm) EDT
Post-screening live talk TBA
“Singers are storytellers,” says soprano/librettist Roberta Gumbel (“silver voiced…” – The New York Times), “but rarely do we get the opportunity to help create the stories we are telling.” Collaborating with composer Susan Kander (“A composer of vivid imagination and skill” — Fanfare) and the cutting-edge duo New Morse Code (“Clarity of artistic vision and near-perfect synchronicity..” – icareifyoulisten.com), this brief, powerful music-drama documents the all-too-familiar story of an African-American parent whose “beautiful brown boy” approaches driving age as, what should be a celebration of independence and maturity is fraught with the anxiety of driving while black. Running time: 50 minutes.
Premiere: November 2
Israeli Chamber Project
"American Immigrants"
Concert program streams from Nov. 2 (9 am) - Nov. 8 (9 pm) EST
Live conversation with the artists on November 7 at 1:00 pm EST
The award-winning Israeli Chamber Project returns to BPAC with a program featuring music by American immigrants - Erich Korngold, Gity Razaz, and Shulamit Ran. Whether fleeing war-torn Europe in the 1930s and 40s or dreaming of possibilities in today’s world, these composers became enmeshed in the cultural fabric of their adoptive country, enriching it in the process. The program also includes works by Copland, Bernstein, and Gershwin. Presented with the Baruch College's Sandra Kahn Wasserman Jewish Studies Center.
Premieres: November 16
Alexander String Quartet
Beethoven @ 250
Two concerts stream from Nov. 16 (9 am) – Nov. 29 (9 pm)
BPAC String Quartet-in-Residence, the Alexander String Quartet, will offer two streaming recitals this Fall in the continuation of their Beethoven’s 250th birthday celebration.
The first recital is a tour traversing Beethoven’s early, middle and late quartets. This in-depth exploration combines shared insights from over 30 years of playing these beloved works, including selections from String Quartets Op. 18, No. 1, Op 59, No. 2 and Op. 135.
Music Web International called the Alexander’s performances of the Beethoven cycle “uncompromising in power, intensity and spiritual depth.”
The second recital pairs Beethoven’s monumental String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 with American composer George Walker’s Lyric for String Quartet. Walker, the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music, wrote the Lyric in response to the death of his grandmother. Its theme echoes the “Heiliger Dankgesang” (Holy Song of Thanksgiving) movement from Beethoven’s Op. 132.
Baruch Performing Arts Center
Baruch Performing Arts Center (BPAC) is an active presence in the heart of Manhattan. Located just east of the Chelsea neighborhood, BPAC presents world class Classical music, Jazz and Pop, in addition to theater, dance, literary and discussion programs. BPAC is the New York home of the Alexander String Quartet and presents a rich chamber music season including ensembles such as the Israeli Chamber Project and Cantata Profana, artists such as pianists Sara Davis Buechner and Michael Brown, cellist Joshua Roman, baritone Brian Mulligan, and violinist Tessa Lark.