Baruch Performing Arts Center presents:

Pianist Yael Weiss

32 Bright Clouds: Beethoven conversations around the world

32 Bright Clouds commissions new works from 32 countries of conflict and secluded areas spanning the globe, all united through musical themes from Beethoven

Streaming from October 1 - October 18

Music by Beethoven and premieres by Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Aslıhan Keçebaşoğlu, Adina Izarra, and Saed Haddad

Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 pm EDT

Exclusive concert followed by live at home conversation with Yael Weiss immediately after the concert

“remarkably powerful and intense… fine technique and musicianship in the service of an arresting array of music”— Anne Midgette, The New York Times

Baruch PAC presents the Israeli-American pianist Yael Weiss performing music by Beethoven alongside newly commissioned works from her groundbreaking project "32 Bright Clouds". The recital, recorded at Klavierhaus in New York, is accessible online from October 1 (9 AM EDT) through October 18 (9 PM EDT). Complete details at this link. This performance is part of the Freda and Aaron Silberman Recital Series.

Commemorating Beethoven’s 250th birth anniversary Ms. Weiss has commissioned composers from 32 countries of conflict and unrest - from Ghana, Iran, and Jordan, to the Philippines, Syria, and Venezuela - all united by musical themes from Beethoven. Each new composition in "32 Bright Clouds", is inspired by one of Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas, and the entire cycle of new works is unified by a single “peace motif” from Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Yael Weiss performs music by Beethoven together with the newly commissioned works inspired by him, for Baruch Performing Arts Center. The program will stream online from October 1-18, with a special version including the concert and a live conversation with Ms. Weiss and a number of the composers on October 6. Her performance, presented by BPAC, features a world premiere by Bongani Ndodana-Breen from South Africa, as well as New York premieres by Saed Haddad (Jordan), Aslihan Keçebasoglu (Turkey), and Adina Izarra (Venezuela). Complete program details below.

These composer's works are each dedicated to specific turmoil in their respective countries. Bongani Ndodana-Breen's work, Isiko: An African Ritual for ancestral intercession is dedicated to Uyinene Mrwetyana and other victims of femicide - the intentional killing of women or girls because they are females - in South Africa, from Jordan, Saed Haddad's Nuages funèbres reflects his concern for the limitations of peace agreements, and the challenges in creating a deep and meaningful peace in the world, Adina Izarra's Arietta for the 150 is dedicated to the 150 young people whose lives were taken during the 2017 Peace demonstrations in Venezuela, and Aslihan Keçebasoglu's Ninni is dedicated to victims of the 2013 Gezi Park Protests in Turkey.

CALENDAR LISTING

Baruch Performing Arts Center presents:

October 1 at 9 AM - October 18 at 9 PM

Yael Weiss

32 Bright Clouds

Watch online via Baruch PAC's website

Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 pm EDT

Exclusive concert followed by live at home conversation with Yael Weiss immediately after the concert

Program

Beethoven: Sonata No.27 in e minor, Op. 90

I. Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck

II. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetrage

Saed Haddad (Jordan): Nuages funèbres (Funereal Clouds) (2018)

(In response to Sonata No. 27. A reflection on the challenges of creating a deep and meaningful peace in the world)

Aslihan Keçebasoglu (Turkey): Ninni (Lullaby) (2019)

(In response to the Sonata No. 28. Dedicated to the victims of the 2013 Gezi Park Protests in Turkey)

Beethoven: Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101

I. Etwas Lebhaft und mit der Innigsten Empfindung (Allegretto, ma non troppo)

Beethoven: Sonata No. 29 in A Major, Op. 106, “Hammerklavier”

I. Allegro

Bongani Ndodana-Breen (South Africa): Isiko: An African Ritual for Ancestral Intercession (2019, World Premiere)

(In response to the Sonata No. 29. Dedicated to Uyinene Mrwetyana and other victims of femicide in South Africa)

Adina Izarra (Venezuela): Arietta for the 150 (2018)

(In response to the Sonata No. 32. Dedicated to the 150 young people whose lives were taken during the 2017 Peace demonstrations in Venezuela.)

Beethoven: Sonata No. 32 in c minor, Op. 111

I. Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed appassionato

II. Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile

Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 pm EDT

Exclusive concert followed by live at home conversation with Yael Weiss immediately after the concert T

This performance is part of the Freda and Aaron Silberman Recital Series.