Violinist Sarah Plum in concert and live-streamed, May 29

Violinist Sarah Plum performs at Constellation in Chicago

May 29 concert will be live-streamed worldwide

"I can't think of a better flag bearer than Sarah Plum who is quite brilliant" — The Whole Note

The ever-adventurous violinist Sarah Plum has long been a champion of contemporary music. Her May 29 recital at Constellation in Chicago celebrates the forthcoming release of her new recording, Personal Noise (Blue Griffin Records, released June 2022).

The concert is streamed worldwide on Youtube and Facebook at 9:30 pm EDT (8:30 pm CDT), for a suggested admission of $5. Tickets to view the live-stream, or to attend in person, are available here.

The program focuses on music for violin and electronics, most of which was written especially for Ms. Plum, including works by Kyong Mee Choi, Osnat Netzer, Mari Kimura, Mari Takano, Charles Nichols, and Jeff Herriott. The highlight of the program is the world premiere of the deeds by the multi-media sound artist Laurie Schwartz. The work is for video (taken from Suffragette), spoken word sound files and improvised processed violin. Violinist Charlene Kluegel joins Ms. Plum for Mari Kimura's Sarahal.

Calendar Listing

May 29, 2022
at 8:30 pm CDT (9:30 pm EDT)

Sarah Plum, violin and viola
with Charlene Kluegel, violin and Laurie Schwartz, electronics

Constellation
3111 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL

PROGRAM

Osnat Netzer (arr. Sarah Plum): Olive Cotton for solo viola
Charles Nichols: Il Prete Rosso for violin, live electronics, and motion sensor
Jeff Herriott: after time, a resolution for violin and live electronics
Mari Takano: Full Moon
Laurie Schwartz: the deeds
Kyong Mee Choi: Flowering Dandelion
Mari Kimura: Sarahal

$15 (and $5 live-stream) tickets available here

Biography

The "adventurous indie violinist" (New York Music Daily) Sarah Plum’s career centers around championing new music, commissioning composers and bringing contemporary music to a wider audience. Her "consistently stunning” playing (Third Coast Digest) has been featured at festivals and venues worldwide, from Ankunft:Neue Musik Festival at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to the Cube at Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, and many in between.

Plum’s discography includes her 2022 release, Personal Noise, an album of works for violin and electronics written for her by Kyong Mee Choi, Eric Lyon, Jeff Herriot, Charles Nichols, Mari Takano, Eric Moe and Mari Kimura. Album releases in 2011 and 2015 feature music by Bartok, Sidney Corbett and Christopher Adler.

Sarah Plum is on the faculty at both the Music Institute of Chicago and their elite Academy program and teaches at the Zodiac Music Academy and Festival and University of Oklahoma Summer String Academy. She was Professor of Violin and Viola at Drake University from 2007-2018. Plum earned a DMA at SUNY Stony Brook, after graduate and undergraduate studies at Juilliard.

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Cutting Edge Concerts: June 12 - "Japan Songs"

Cutting Edge Concerts 25th anniversary season continues with “Japan Songs” on Sunday, June 12 at Tenri Cultural Institute

Program features chamber music with shakuhachi, including a world premiere by Victoria Bond

Presented by Kyo-Shin-An Arts in collaboration with Arts at Tenri

The world premiere of Victoria Bond’s new work Winds of ACDEGA is front and center in a program dedicated to chamber music with shakuhachi (a type of Japanese flute). Scored for shakuhachi, violin, and cello, Bond's work is inspired by the varying, diverse, and random sounds of wind chimes. "As I stood very close to the chimes, I was captivated by the unusual sounds caused by the wind’s movement," said the composer. "The randomness of which pitch sounds when, and the overtones produced, are endlessly fascinating.” The work is presented by Cutting Edge Concerts in collaboration with Kyo-Shin-An Arts and Arts at Tenri in a program called “Japan Songs” on Sunday, June 12, 2022 at 4 pm at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City.

Another highlight on June 12's concert is Bond’s Autumn Mountains for soprano, shakuhachi, violin, cello, piano. This setting of an evocative poem by Princess Nukata from an 8th century collection of classical Japanese poetry brought to Bond's mind the atmosphere of fall colors and fog. Commissioned by Kyo-Shin-An Arts the work is part of an eclectic collection of songs by Paul Moravec, James Matheson, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Jay Reise, and Douglas J. Cuomo, all based on ancient Japanese poetry. Minoru Miki’s Autumn Fantasy for shakuhachi and piano completes the program.

Shakuhachi Grand Master James Nyoraku Schlefer is joined by soprano Deborah Lifton; violinist Sami Merdinian; cellist Laura Metcalf; and pianist Kathleen Supové. Tickets are $20, available online at MUSAE.me and at the door. Tenri Cultural Institute is at 43A W 13th St. In New York City. Proof of full vaccination will be required, and ticket holders must wear masks at the performance.

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival concludes the 2022 season on October 22 with a program of vocal music, including Victoria Bond's song cycle From an Antique Land, presented in collaboration with All Keyed Up. cuttingedgeconcerts.org

CALENDAR LISTING

Kyo-Shin-An Arts in collaboration with Arts at Tenri presents

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival
Victoria Bond, founder and artistic director

Japan Songs

Deborah Lifton, soprano; James Nyoraku Schefer, shakuhachi; Sami Merdinian, violin; Laura Metcalf, cello; Kathleen Supové, piano

June 12, 2022 at 4:00 pm

Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th St.
New York, NY 10011

Tickets and details

PROGRAM

JAPAN SONGS – PART 1 (2020)
Autumn Mountains by Victoria Bond
Eight Thousand Spears by Paul Moravec
Not a Trace by James Matheson

The Winds of ACDEGA (2022) by Victoria Bond – World Premiere
Trio for shakuhachi, violin, cello

Autumn Fantasy (1980) by Minoru Miki
Duo for shakuhachi and piano

JAPAN SONGS – PART 2 (2020)
KEI’UN SONG praying for love by Aleksandra Vrebalov
In the blink of an eye… by Jay Reise
Tree of Pearls by Douglas J. Cuomo

All ticket holders must be fully vaccinated and wear masks at the performance. Proof of vaccination will be required. Unvaccinated audience will not be admitted. Tickets will be refunded in the event of illness or quarantine due to Covid-19.

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival

Inspired by Pierre Boulez's series, "Perspective Encounters", the composer and conductor Victoria Bond founded Cutting Edge Concerts in 1998. With 25 years of concerts, Cutting Edge Concerts has presented over 300 new works by more than 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.

Victoria Bond, artistic director

A major force in 21st century music, composer Victoria Bond is known for her melodic gift and dramatic flair. Her works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and opera have been lauded by The New York Times as "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding." Her compositions have been performed by the New York City Opera, Shanghai, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, members of the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater and the Cassatt and Audubon Quartets. Ms. Bond is also an acclaimed conductor, and is the principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago, and has held conducting positions with Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Opera, Roanoke Symphony, and Bel Canto and Harrisburg Operas.

Kyo-Shin-An Arts and Arts at Tenri

Kyo-Shin-An Arts is a contemporary music organization with a mission to commission music and present concerts that bring Japanese instruments – specifically koto, shakuhachi and shamisen – to Western classical music. The excellent acoustics and intimate gallery setting of the Tenri Cultural Institute create a superb setting for chamber music concerts that offer audiences the rare opportunity to experience contemporary, classic and traditional music from two cultures.

Kyo-Shin-An Arts is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; Cheswatyr Foundation; Arts at TCI, and our generous individual donors.

Arts at Tenri Cultural Institute is made possible in part with public funds from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and administered by LMCC.

Variant 6: "New Suns"

Variant 6, vocal sextet, releases New Suns on Open G Records on May 20

Debut full-length album features commissions by Joanne Metcalf, Jeremy Gill, and Benjamin C.S. Boyle, plus works by Gabriel Jackson and Bruno Bettinelli

Philadelphia-based group celebrates 21st century a cappella vocal music

On May 20, 2022 the Philadelphia-based vocal sextet Variant 6 releases their debut full-length album New Suns on Open G Records. The album celebrates a widely diverse range of styles and sounds of 21st century vocal music, with works by Joanne Metcalf, Jeremy Gill, Bruno Bettinelli, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, and Gabriel Jackson.

In celebration of the album’s release, Variant 6 performs on Chris Grymes’ Open G Series at National Sawdust in New York City on May 20; and in their hometown of Philadelphia at University Lutheran Church on May 21.

The virtuosic artists of Variant 6 perform with award-winning ensembles around the country, including The Crossing, Room Full of Teeth, Ekmeles, Seraphic Fire and others. On the release of their debut full-length album, they write “The music we offer here celebrates the virtuosic potential of voices singing together. It represents a collection of some of our favorite repertoire from our first half-decade as an ensemble.”

Highlights include works commissioned by the group from Joanne Metcalf and Jeremy Gill. Metcalf’s The Sea’s Wash in the Hollow of the Heart (written in 2020) looks to the past with overt influences from medieval music, while feeling wholly contemporary. The work is set to a poem by Denise Levertov that inspired the album’s title: “Let in new suns that beat and echo in the mind like sounds.”

Gill’s Six Pensées de Pascal (2017) is made up of a symmetrical pitch construction (two scales moving in opposite directions and meeting in the middle). Finding common ground between the poet Blaise Pascal’s Pensées that defend Christianity through a collection of logical 'proofs’, and the composer’s own Atheism, Gill says “Essentially, I allowed myself complete freedom of thought and invention within a highly—and, it must be acknowledged, arbitrarily—restricted world.”

To celebrate the album's release, the sextet performs all of the repertoire on New Suns live in concert in New York City and in their hometown of Philadelphia:

• May 20, 7:30 pm in Brooklyn: Chris Grymes’ Open G Series at National Sawdust. Tickets are $25 and available at NationalSawdust.org.

• May 21, 8 pm in Philadelphia: University Lutheran Church. Tickets are $25 ($15 students) and available here.

New Suns

Variant 6, vocal sextet
Jessica Beebe & Rebecca Myers, sopranos; Elisa Sutherland, mezzo-soprano; Steven Bradshaw & James Reese, tenors; Daniel Schwartz, bass-baritone

Open G Records
UPC: 195269 164461
Release date: May 20, 2022

Track List

Benjamin C.S. Boyle - Supplice (2019)* -
[1] Tous ce qui ce chauffaient (2:42)
[2] Et que le feu me brûle! (3:48)
[3] Couchons-nous, mon vieux, il est tard (4:42)

[4] Gabriel Jackson - Zero Point Reflection (2014) (11:57)

Bruno Bettinelli - Excerpts from Madrigali a cinque voci miste (1993)
[5] Libere e lievi (2:04)
[6] Sia calmo il mio respiro (3:45)
[7] Quando tutto all’intorno (3:15)

Jeremy Gill - Six Pensées de Pascal (2017)* -
[8] L’éloquence continue (2:43)
[9] Il faut se tenir en silence (2:31)
[10] Les hommes sont si nécessairement fous (0:54)
[11] Le silence éternel (2:46)
[12] La puissance des mouches (2:51)
[13] L’an de grâce (2:50)

[14] Gabriel Jackson - Spring (2005) - (5:07)

[15] Joanne Metcalf - The Sea’s Wash in the Hollow of the Heart (2020)* - (4:15)

*composed or arranged for Variant 6

Variant 6 Biography

Variant 6 is a virtuosic vocal sextet that explores and advances the art of chamber music in the twenty-first century. The ensemble’s work includes radically reimagining concert experiences, commissioning substantial new works, collaborating closely with other ensembles, and educating a new generation of singers.

All of Variant 6’s virtuosic artists regularly sing with the Grammy-award winning choir, The Crossing, and have performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, Bang on a Can and more.

Maya Magub "Consolations" single released today

Violinist Maya Magub releases “Consolations” on CRD Records June 3

New album includes world premiere recordings of Magub’s own arrangements of Lizst's "Consolations" for violin and piano, with the pianist Hsin-I Huang

Singles released April 22 and May 13

... polished, stylish performances — The Strad

During the global pandemic, the British-American violinist Maya Magub – like so many others – turned to music for solace. Her recording of Six Consolations by Franz Liszt (five of which were arranged by her, and recorded here for the first time), with the pianist Hsin-I Huang is on a new album, “Consolations” (CRD 3540, release date June 3, 2022). In anticipation of the June 3 album release, singles will be released on April 22 (Consolation No. 5) and May 13 (Consolation No. 3).

Ms. Magub writes: "The global pandemic gave the world reason to look for consolations. The true power of art has been drawn upon by so many. And what greater consolation than music, an art form which expresses that which cannot be expressed in words."

After recording the Liszt, the rest of the album fell into place. Ms. Magub continued to seek out music for comfort, and found some gems in her father’s collection of old sheet music. Combined, the emotional weight of the pieces - including the Meditation from Thaïs by Massenet, Handel's Largo from Xerxes, and Gonoud's Ave Maria - is even greater. They console both performer and audience through nostalgia, the violinist says.

The album was recorded separately by Magub and Huang during the pandemic lockdown. Despite this, they evolved a new process of collaboration and musical dialogue, discovering some unforeseen benefits. The close microphone placement creates the immediacy of a small, intimate concert, and through discussion and experimentation from their home studios, a true collaboration emerged. "Somehow, to our delight, we found this to be an incredibly democratic and creative process, and one with huge and often surprising rewards. This process enabled a whole new type of creative dialogue with the benefit of experimentation over time," said Ms. Magub.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

With Magub's endless inventiveness driving each movement, [Telemann's Fantasies] shine here for what they really are: free-standing, varied concentrations of beautiful melody and sonority — BBC Music Magazine

Consolations

Maya Magub, violin
Hsin-I Huang, piano

CRD Records (3540)
Album Release Date: June 3, 2022*

*Singles released April 22 and May 13

Track List

[1] Robert Schumann
Abendlied (Op. 85, No. 12) 2:56

[02] Jules Massenet
Meditation from Thaïs 5:33

[03] Sergei Rachmaniov
Vocalise (Op. 34, No. 14) 6:06

[04-09] Franz Liszt Consolations S.172/R12
No. 1 Andante con moto † 1:56
No. 2 Un poco piu mosso † 3:34
No. 3 Lento placido* 4:11
No. 4 Quasi Adagio † 3:41
No. 5 Andantino † 2:09
No. 6 Allegro sempre cantabile † 2:46

[10] Bach/Gounod Ave Maria †† 4:01

[11] Fritz Kreisler Liebesleid 4:03

[12] Kreisler/Rimsky-Korsakov Chant Hindou from Sadko 3:43

[13] Dushkin/Paradis Sicilienne 3:49

[14] George Frederic Handel Largo from Xerxes †† 3:41

[15] Felix Mendelssohn On wings of Song (Op. 34, No. 2) †† 2:42

[16] Felix Mendelssohn Songs without Words (Op. 19, No. 1) 3:54

[17] Robert Schumann Träumerei (Op. 15, No. 7) 3:22

[18] Frederic Chopin 'Raindrop' Prelude 3:08

Total Time = 65:12

*transcription, Nathan Milstein

† transcription, Maya Magub

†† revised transcription, Maya Magub

Maya Magub (pronounced MY-ah mah-GUB) is a British violinist based in Los Angeles. Her performance career has brought her to some of the world’s greatest concert halls as well as soundstages for multi-million dollar film productions.

As a solo artist Magub has performed concertos in London’s St-Martin-in-the-Fields, and Dvořák’s Romance in the Royal Albert Hall. She has given command performances for the Queen of England, the Prince of Wales, and Professor Stephen Hawking, and has played with numerous pop icons including Adele, Bono, Paul McCartney and Sting.

Ms. Magub was awarded scholarships at the Purcell School and the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating with a 1st class degree in music from Cambridge University. She continued her studies at the Vienna Hochschule and as an ESU scholar at Aspen. Pursuing her passion for chamber music, she was a founding member of the Mainardi Trio, performing and broadcasting internationally for a decade, and she has played in chamber music festivals across the globe.

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Pianist Hsin-I Huang (pronounced SHIN-ee Hwong) has performed with Chee-Yun Kim, Simone Porter, The Calidore String Quartet, and members of the LA Philharmonic. She has recorded scores for major films with music by Marco Beltrami and Ramin Djawadi.

Ms. Huang's album with violinist Blake Pouliot (Analekta Records) was nominated for “Classical Album Of The Year” at the 2019 JUNO awards and received 5 stars from BBC Music Magazine. She has appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, LA Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Grand Teton Winter Music Festival, La Virée Classique OSM, Fête de la Musique Mont Tremblant, Performance Today on public radio, Sundays Live at LACMA, South Bay Chamber Music Society, and the Innsbrook Institute.

May 13, in New York – A journey of the imagination!

CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS New Music Festival
Victoria Bond, Artistic Director

Puppet operetta How Gulliver Returned Home in a Manner that was Very Not Direct by Victoria Bond

On the program Kings, Giants & Robots: Vocal Music by Victoria Bond, Robert Paterson, and Herschel Garfein

May 13 at 8 pm at the Sheen Center

"...a gift to New Yorkers thirsty for new sounds" - Time Out New York

On May 13, Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival and Mostly Modern Projects co-present staged scenes from Victoria Bond's puppet operetta How Gulliver Returned Home in a Manner that was Very Not Direct. The production features puppets created by Doug Fitch, the renowned visual artist, designer and director, and libretto by Stephen Greco, prize-winning screen-writer and novelist, complementing the music by Victoria Bond. Fitch also directs the production.

The work is a journey of the imagination based on the classic 17th century satirical novel by Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. Told through music and animated objects, the story follows the title character as he travels to a series of strange lands.

Ms. Bond said, "Doug Fitch’s puppet creations and stage direction brings the first scene of our puppet operetta to life. I am thrilled that both he and librettist Stephen Greco are part of the creative team.”

The opera was commissioned by American Opera Projects. How Gulliver Returned Home in a Way that was Very Not Direct was supported by a Production Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation.

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival (Victoria Bond, founder and artistic director) partners with Mostly Modern Projects for this presentation. The performance features soprano Ariadne Greif, tenor Glenn Seven Allen, and baritone Jonathan Green as soloists with the American Modern Ensemble conducted by Victoria Bond. Also on the program are Herschel Garfein's King of the River and Robert Paterson's The Companion.

The performance takes place at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker St, New York, NY) on May 13, 2022 at 8:00 pm. Tickets available here.

The next Cutting Edge Concerts performance is June 12, a co-presentation with Kyo-Shin-An Arts at Tenri Center in New York. Details at CuttingEdgeConcerts.org

CALENDAR LISTING

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival (Victoria Bond, founder and artistic director) and Mostly Modern Projects present

Kings, Giants & Robots

May 13, 2022, 8:00 pm

Sheen Center
18 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10012
Tickets and details

PROGRAM

VICTORIA BOND—How Gulliver Returned Home in a Manner that was Very Not Direct (puppet operetta)

HERSCHEL GARFEIN—King of the River, text by STANLEY KUNITZ

ROBERT PATERSON—The Companion (one-act opera from Three Way),
libretto by DAVID COTE

with American Modern Ensemble
Geoffrey Andrew McDonald (Garfein and Paterson) & Victoria Bond (Bond), Conductors
Doug Fitch (Bond) & John de los Santos (Paterson), Directors

CAST

Ariadne Greif, Soprano
Glen Seven Allen, Tenor
Phillip Bullock, Baritone
Keith Phares, Baritone
Jonathan Green, Baritone

Presented by Mostly Modern Projects & Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Victoria Bond, artistic director

A major force in 21st century music, composer Victoria Bond is known for her melodic gift and dramatic flair. Her works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and opera have been lauded by The New York Times as "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding." Her compositions have been performed by the New York City Opera, Shanghai, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, members of the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater and the Cassatt and Audubon Quartets. Ms. Bond is also an acclaimed conductor, and is the principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago, and has held conducting positions with Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Opera, Roanoke Symphony, and Bel Canto and Harrisburg Operas.

May 20: Variant 6 at National Sawdust

May 20: Variant 6

vocal sextet presented by Chris Grymes’ Open G Series at National Sawdust performing music from their debut album New Suns

A celebration of 21st century vocal music by Joanne Metcalf, Jeremy Gill, Bruno Bettinelli, Benjamin C.S. Boyle and Gabriel Jackson

"luminous....perfectly calibrated and adventurous" - Broad Street Review

On May 20, 2022 at 7:30 pm the vocal sextet Variant 6 performs their debut full-length album New Suns (Open G Records) with a concert on the day of the album's release at National Sawdust presented by Chris Grymes’ Open G Series. The ensemble performs the same program again in their hometown of Philadelphia on May 21.

Variant 6’s virtuosic artists regularly sing with the Grammy-award winning ensemble The Crossing, and have performed with Roomful of Teeth, Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic and other internationally recognized ensembles.

Variant 6 performs Six Pensées de Pascal by Jeremy Gill at National Sawdust (2019)

The program represents a widely diverse range of styles and sounds of 21st century vocal music, with works by Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Bruno Bettinelli, Jeremy Gill, Gabriel Jackson, and Joanne Metcalf. Variant 6's recordings of these works are collected on their new album, New Suns (Open-G Records), which is also released on May 20.

“The music we offer here celebrates the virtuosic potential of voices singing together," wrote the members of Variant 6. "It represents a collection of some of our favorite repertoire from our first half-decade as an ensemble.”

Highlights include works commissioned by the group by Jeremy Gill and Joanne Metcalf. Jeremy Gill’s Six Pensées de Pascal (2017) finds common ground between the poet Blaise Pascal’s Pensées that defend Christianity through a collection of logical 'proofs’, and the composer’s own Atheism. “Essentially, I allowed myself complete freedom of thought and invention within a highly—and, it must be acknowledged, arbitrarily—restricted world," said Gill. Metcalf’s The Sea’s Wash in the Hollow of the Heart (2020) looks to the past with overt influences from medieval music, while feeling wholly contemporary. The work is set to a poem by Denise Levertov.

Tickets for Variant 6 at National Sawdust on May 20 at 7:30 pm (doors at 6:30 pm) are $25 for general admission and are available at nationalsawdust.org or (646) 779-8455. National Sawdust is located at 80 North 6th Street in Brooklyn.

CALENDAR LISTING

Chris Grymes' Open G Series at National Sawdust:

Variant 6 performing their debut album New Suns

May 20, 2022 at 7:30 pm (doors at 6:30)

National Sawdust
80 North 6th St
Brooklyn, NY

Program

Benjamin C.S. Boyle: Supplice (2019)*
Gabriel Jackson: Zero Point Reflection (2014)
Bruno Bettinelli: Excerpts from Madrigali a cinque voci miste (1993)
Jeremy Gill: Six Pensées de Pascal (2017)*
Gabriel Jackson: Spring (2005)
Joanne Metcalf: The Sea’s Wash in the Hollow of the Heart (2020)*

*composed or arranged for Variant 6

Variant 6

Jessica Beebe, soprano; Rebecca Myers, soprano; Elisa Sutherland, mezzo-soprano; Steven Bradshaw, tenor; James Reese, tenor; Daniel Schwartz, bass-baritone

Tickets are $25 for general admission, and are available at nationalsawdust.org or (646) 779-8455

National Sawdust's Covid protocols are at this link.

Variant 6 Biography

Variant 6 is a virtuosic vocal sextet that explores and advances the art of chamber music in the twenty-first century. The ensemble’s work includes radically reimagining concert experiences, commissioning substantial new works, collaborating closely with other ensembles, and educating a new generation of singers.

All of Variant 6’s virtuosic artists regularly sing with the Grammy-award winning choir, The Crossing, and have performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, Bang on a Can and more.

Chris Grymes' Open G Series

April 28 | Nia Imani Franklin

May 20 | Variant 6

June 11 | Music in The Constellation: An In-Person Immersive Audio Experience

Chris Grymes founded Open G Records with a philosophy to produce music that is rooted in the classical tradition, but delivered in a way that will resonate with current and future generations of music fans. Having released a half dozen recordings, Open G has expanded to include a concert series hosted at National Sawdust in Brooklyn.

About National Sawdust

National Sawdust believes that artistic expression empowers us all to create a more joyful and just world. They curate and produce music and artistic works rooted in curiosity, experimentation, innovation, and inclusivity. They present their work by engaging communities of artists and audiences at their state-of-the-art Williamsburg home and on their digital stage.

New from guitarist/composer Frederic Hand

Across Time: new album by guitarist and composer Frederic Hand

Compositions and performances span 40 years of Hand’s career

Released on ReEntrant, an imprint of New Focus Recordings, April 22, 2022

The guitarist and composer Frederic Hand was a student of the legendary classical guitarist Julian Bream, and has been the guitarist and lutenist at the Metropolitan Opera for nearly 40 years. “Across Time” (ReEntrant/New Focus, release date April 22, 2022), an album of original compositions, showcases four decades of Hand’s music. The selections demonstrate his inspirations from diverse traditions and his range of musical language.

His arrangement of Simple Gifts, the Shaker melody made famous by Aaron Copland’s masterpiece Appalachian Spring, reflects his emotional reaction upon hearing Copland’s setting for the first time.

Trilogy and Late One Night (1977) are the earliest works on this collection. They show off Hand’s compositional style, incorporating jazz rhythms and harmonies into classical forms. These tracks, originally on his album “Trilogy,” were recorded and released in 1982, and have been digitally remastered with 21st century technology.

On the other end of the timeline, Hand composed Renewal, Ballade for Astor Piazzolla and The Passionate Pilgrim in 2021. Three songs: A Poet’s Eye, I Am and There Is a Splendor, feature vocals by Lesley Hand, with texts by William Shakespeare and the Italian philosopher Marsilio Ficino. Cooper Lake was inspired by one of Hand’s favorite places to soak up the great natural beauty of the Catskills.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

Across Time

Guitar solos and songs by Frederic Hand

ReEntrant/New Focus (REN02)
Release date: April 22, 2022

TRACKS

[01] Renewal 6:48

[02] Ballade for Astor Piazzolla 4:12

[03] The Passionate Pilgrim 2:46

[04] The Poet’s Eye 2:17

[05] I Am 2:55

[06] Romantic Etude 3:21

[07] A Waltz for Maurice 4:32

[08] Simple Gifts 2:34

[09] There is a Splendor 3:28

[10-12] Trilogy
1. Moderato 4:31
2. Gently 3:17
3. Allegro 4:05

[13] Late One Night 3:56

[14] Cooper Lake 3:07

Total=51:54

Frederic Hand, guitar
Lesley Hand, vocalist
(tracks 4, 5 & 9]

Recommended tracks for Classical radio: [02] Ballade for Astor Piazzolla, [06] Romantic Etude, [07] A Waltz for Maurice, [08] Simple Gifts, [12] Trilogy: Allegro, and [14] Cooper Lake

Victoria Bond: celebrating RBG in Stockton, "Gulliver" in NYC

Composer Victoria Bond

April 2-3 in California: Stockton Symphony premieres "Ruth Bader Ginsburg: In Tune with Justice"

May 13 in NYC: Mostly Modern Ensemble performs staged scenes from Bond's puppet operetta based on Gulliver's Travels, directed by Doug Fitch

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg: In Tune with Justice
Stockton, CA

On April 2 and 3, Stockton Symphony in California presents the world premiere of a new work by Ms. Bond, drawn by the life and legacy of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: In Tune with Justice was commissioned by Stockton Symphony. It features narrative text by Jane Vial Jaffe, drawn from biographies of Ginsburg and from Ginsburg's interviews, speeches, and court cases. Victoria Bond says, "The late Justice Ginsberg was an inspiration to me, and I wanted to write a work that added music to her forceful words."

Justice Ginsburg was a passionate music lover. “If I could choose the talent I would most like to have, it would be a glorious voice,” she was known to say. “I grew up with a passion for opera...My all-time favorite is The Marriage of Figaro.”

With this tidbit of knowledge, Victoria Bond chose the overture to The Marriage of Figaro as the jumping off point for her composition. RBG's own boundless energy is mirrored by the energetic pulse of the music. Bond cleverly incorporates melodic fragments of America the Beautiful and The Star Spangled Banner, giving the composition a uniquely American flavor.

Stockton Symphony music director Peter Jaffe leads the ensemble, along with narrator Tama Brisbane, Inaugural Poet Laureate of the City of Stockton, in these world premiere performances on April 2 and 3. Tickets and details available at this link.

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Puppet operetta in New York City

On May 13 in New York City, staged scenes from Victoria Bond's puppet operetta How Gulliver Returned Home in a Manner that was Very Not Direct will feature puppets created by Doug Fitch, the renowned visual artist, designer and director, and libretto by Stephen Greco. Fitch also directs the production.

The work is a journey of the imagination based on the classic 17th century satirical novel by Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. Told through music and animated objects, the story follows the title character as he travels to a series of strange lands.

Ms. Bond said, "Doug Fitch’s puppet creations and stage direction brings the first scene of our puppet operetta to life. I am thrilled that both he and librettist Stephen Greco are part of the creative team.

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival (Victoria Bond, founder and artistic director) partners with Mostly Modern Projects for this presentation. The performance features soprano Ariadne Greif, tenor Glen Seven Allen, and baritone Peter Van Derick as soloists with the American Modern Ensemble conducted by Geoffrey Andrew McDonald. Also on the program are Herschel Garfein's King of the River and Robert Paterson's The Companion.

The performance takes place at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker St, New York, NY) on May 13, 2022 at 8:00 pm. Tickets available here.

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Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival 25th Anniversary Season

April 6, 4:30 pm: Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival in partnership with Percussia presents the world premiere of Victoria Bond's From the Atlas of Imaginary Places. The work features music inspired by Danzibar, Circe's Island and Shangri-La – all fictional places.

The program also includes music by Alexis Lamb and Dennis Tobenski. St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Jackson Heights, New York. Admission is free.

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival continues its 25th anniversary season with performances through October. Further details are on the festival's website.

• June 12, the festival partners with Kyo-Shin An Arts in a performance at Tenri Cultural Center.

• October 22, baritone Michael Kelly performs Victoria Bond's "From an Antique Land" alongside songs by Dalit Warshaw and David Del Tredici. Co-presentation with All Keyed Up.

In honor of International Women's Day, Theodore Presser Company and Carl Fischer Music Presser updated The Power of Women, their easy-to-browse catalog of repertoire featuring a multitude of works by a diverse group of women composers featuring Victoria Bond.

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Victoria Bond's album Illumination was released in fall 2021 on Albany Records. It includes world premiere recordings of her works for solo piano and piano and orchestra. Pianist Paul Barnes, one of Bond's longtime collaborators, delivers stunning performances. Buy/listen here.

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Biography

A major force in 21st century music, composer Victoria Bond is known for her melodic gift and dramatic flair. Her works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and opera have been lauded by The New York Times as "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding."

In addition to Illumination (2021), Victoria Bond's discography includes The Voices of Air (Albany, 2020), Soul of a Nation (Albany, 2018), Instruments of Revelation (Naxos, 2019), Peculiar Plants (Albany, 2010) and a recording of chamber and vocal music (Albany, 2022). Victoria Bond’s compositions have been performed by the New York City Opera, Shanghai, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, members of the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater and the Cassatt and Audubon Quartets.

The New York Times praised Victoria Bond's conducting as "full of energy and fervor." She is principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago, and has held conducting positions with Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Opera, Roanoke Symphony, and Bel Canto and Harrisburg Operas. Ms. Bond is Artistic Director of Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival in New York, which she founded in 1998, and is a frequent lecturer at the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

New album of chamber and vocal music by Margaret Brouwer

New album of works by Margaret Brouwer released on April 8 on Naxos

World premiere recordings of 21st century chamber and vocal music by the award-winning composer

(Brouwer) has a talent for taking the simplest melody and through her expansive array of compositional techniques, develop it into a polished musical gem. — ClevelandClassical

Margaret Brouwer is a composer who wears her heart on her sleeve. Her new album, “Reactions - Songs and Chamber Music”, (Naxos 8.559904, rel. April 8, 2022) is a collection of chamber music and songs that explicitly express the composer’s emotions, moods and unique view of the state of affairs of the world.

The centerpiece of the album is Declaration, for mezzo-soprano, violin and piano. This set of four songs has texts ranging from Thomas Jefferson to Brouwer herself, which address the fundamental issues and effects of violence and war and the equality of all people.

In Rhapsodic Sonata, for viola and piano, Brouwer expresses a more personal, and no less deep, emotion: the joys and difficulties of love. The most recent work on the album is “I Cry – Summer 2020” for violin and piano. It’s the composer’s response to the pandemic, isolation, loss, and racial injustice that she, and much of the rest of the world, suffered in 2020. Brouwer effectively fits all of it into this compact four minute piece.

The collection concludes with comic release, persuasively performed by Mari Sato as both violinist and narrator. “All Lines Are Still Busy" dramatizes a “please hold” moment that we all can relate to.

Most of the selections on the album were recorded in Cleveland at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where Brouwer was head of the composition department from 1996 – 2008. The recordings were made in 2021, at the height the pandemic.

Brouwer is that rarity, a contemporary composer whose music is accessible and engaging for a wide range of audiences, but whose work doesn't sound like movie music. — St. Louis Post Dispatch

Reactions
Songs and Chamber Music by Margaret Brouwer

Rhapsodic Sonata · Declaration · The Lake
I Cry - Summer 2020 · All Lines are Still Busy

with Eliesha Nelson, viola; Shuai Wang, piano;
Sarah Beaty, mezzo-soprano; Mari Sato, violin; and Brian Skoog, tenor

Naxos (8.559904)
Release Date: April 8, 2022

Track List

[01-03] Rhapsodic Sonata
I. Cáritas 10:31
II. …fair as the moon, bright as the sun… 04:47
III. Blithesome Spirit 04:54
Eliesha Nelson, viola; Shuai Wang, piano

[04-07] Declaration
I. Thorn 04:29
II. Scattering in Fear 02:30
III. …all men and women are… 01:12
IV. Whom do you call angel now 05:30
Sarah Beaty, mezzo-soprano; Mari Sato, violin; Shuai Wang, piano

[08] I Cry - Summer 2020 03:57
Mari Sato, violin; Shuai Wang, piano

[09] The Lake 11:09
Brian Skoog, tenor; Shuai Wang, piano

[10] All Lines Are Still Busy 06:19
Mari Sato, violin and narrator

Total Time = 55:18

Recommended tracks for classical radio:

[2] Rhapsodic Sonata: …fair as the moon, bright as the sun…

[7] Declaration: Whom do you call angel now

[8] I Cry - Summer 2020

Visit Margaret Brouwer's website
Bios, photos and more on Brouwer's
Digital Press Kit
Request a copy of this CD

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The composer Margaret Brouwer has been praised for her “gift for both lyricism and humor” (American Record Guide), with her music described as “utterly luminous in its beauty” (St. Louis Post Dispatch).

The 2022 recording of Brouwer’s music, “Reactions” (Naxos Classics) features performances by members of Blue Streak Ensemble, a chamber group that Brouwer founded in 2011. It is one of a dozen titles in her discography, which includes recordings of selections from her catalogue of over 200 orchestral, chamber, vocal and keyboard compositions.

Margaret Brouwer is in high demand for new works, as evidenced by the extensive list of orchestras, chamber ensembles and festivals who have commissioned and performed her music. Topping the list are the St. Louis, Seattle, Dallas and Royal Scottish symphonies and the City of Birmingham Orchestra. She was head of composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music (1996 – 2008), and her long list of awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, American Academy of Arts and Letters and Cleveland Arts Prize.

Pianist Orli Shaham joins Juilliard piano faculty

Pianist Orli Shaham joins
Juilliard piano faculty

This week, the Juilliard School announced that Orli Shaham is joining the prestigious school's piano faculty in the 2022-23 academic year. Ms. Shaham is an alumna of the school (Pre-College '93; and the cross-registration program with Columbia University '97), and for the past two years has taught at Juilliard as an interim faculty member. Pianists Soyeon Kate Lee and Shai Wosner also join the faculty.

Ms. Shaham says "I am honored and humbled to join the stellar faculty at The Juilliard School. In my years as interim faculty, I've seen firsthand how brilliant and inspiring these students are, and I'm thrilled to continue to dig into it all with them! Congratulations too to my fellow new faculty members, pianists Shai Wosner and Soyeon Kate Lee, I can’t wait to work alongside you and the rest of the Juilliard faculty and staff."

In a statement, department chair Veda Kaplinsky says that Shaham, Lee, and Wosner each "embody the ideals that are so fundamental to our mission: a passion for teaching, a keen intellect, and superb artistry. We look forward to having them join our exceptional faculty and to working alongside them." Dean David Serkin Ludwig adds that they also each "possess the rare combination of great artistry and outstanding teaching ability that defines the Juilliard faculty."

Orli Shaham, who was born in Israel and grew up in New York, is the artistic director of both the Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in Costa Mesa, California, and the interactive children’s concert series Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010. Also a regular guest host on National Public Radio’s From the Top, she’s chair of the board of trustees at Kaufman Music Center in New York City.

This season, Shaham is releasing the second and third volumes of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas. Her Mozart recording project also includes volume 1 of the Piano Sonatas and her album of Piano Concertos with St. Louis Symphony, all of which are part of her discography of a dozen titles on Canary Classics. After receiving her bachelor’s degree at Columbia University, where she participated in the Barnard-Columbia-Juilliard exchange, she pursued graduate studies in historical musicology at Columbia. She is a winner of the Gilmore Young Artist Award and the Avery Fisher Career Grant.

April: composer/singer Nia Imani Franklin @ National Sawdust

April 28: Chris Grymes' Open G Series at National Sawdust - Composer/Pianist/Vocalist Nia Imani Franklin

Music by Missy Mazzoli, Tomeka Reid, and Nia Franklin herself in a program that celebrates women composers

Performances by cellist Matt Haimovitz, pianist Rieko Tsuchida, violinist Lady Jess and more

Open G Series continues on May 20 with vocal ensemble Variant 6 and sound artist/electronic composer Greg Wilder on June 11

On April 28, Chris Grymes' Open G Series at National Sawdust presents Nia Imani Franklin in a program highlighting new music by American women. Nia Imani Franklin, named Miss America in 2019, is an enormously accomplished and versatile singer, pianist and composer.

Ms. Franklin curated the program, which includes music from her debut EP, Extended, as well as works by Missy Mazzoli, Jessie Montgomery, Tomeka Reid, and Sato Matsui. In addition to Ms. Franklin, performers include cellist Matt Haimovitz, violinist Lady Jess, vocalist Jerenae Raeford, and pianist Rieko Tsuchida.

With a mastery of styles ranging from R&B to Western classical, Ms. Franklin’s soulful and eclectic music is a true joy to hear. Her gospel singing background in church contributed to her love for music at a young age, having written her first song at the age of five. Ms. Franklin has a Bachelor of Music degree in theory and composition and a Master of Music degree in composition. Her works include opera and instrumental music.

Nia Imani Franklin

Matt Haimovitz

Lady Jess

Chris Grymes’ Open G Series at National Sawdust continues in Spring 2022 with performances by vocal ensemble Variant 6 on May 20 celebrating the release of their new album New Suns, featuring works by Jeremy Gill, Gabriel Jackson, Joanne Metcalf, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, and Bruno Bettinelli. On June 11 sound artist and electronic composer Greg Wilder presents a program that highlights the state of the art Meyer Sound SpaceMap sound system with 106 speakers, which was installed at National Sawdust this year.

Tickets for Nia Imani Franklin's performance on April 28 at 7:30 pm are $20 for general admission and are available at nationalsawdust.org or (646) 779-8455. National Sawdust is located at 80 North 6th Street in Brooklyn.

CALENDAR LISTING

Chris Grymes' Open G Series at National Sawdust:
Composer/Vocalist Nia Imani Franklin

with Matt Haimovitz, Lady Jess, Mozoot, Nia Imani Franklin, Jerenae Raeford, Victor Pablo, and Rieko Tsuchida

April 28, 2022 at 7:30 pm

National Sawdust
80 North 6th St
Brooklyn, NY

Program

Nia Imani Franklin: Afro-dite
Missy Mazzoli: Beyond the Order of Things
Tomeka Reid: Volplaning
Nia Imani Franklin: like air, rising high
Nia Imani Franklin: Burgundy in Autumn
Jessie Montgomery: Strum
Nia Imani Franklin: EndSun
Nia Imani Franklin: Manhattan Shower Thoughts
Nia Imani Franklin: Runnin' Band
Nia Imani Franklin: Ample Hills
Sato Matsui: L'Oiseau Solaire
Nia Imani Franklin: Chrysalis Extended

Tickets are $20 for general admission, and are available at nationalsawdust.org or (646) 779-8455

National Sawdust's Covid protocols are at this link.

Chris Grymes' Open G Series

April 28 | Nia Imani Franklin

May 20 | Variant 6 album release party

June 11 | Sound Artist/Electronic Composer Greg Wilder

Chris Grymes founded Open G Records with a philosophy to produce music that is rooted in the classical tradition, but delivered in a way that will resonate with current and future generations of music fans. Having released a half dozen recordings, Open G has expanded to include a concert series hosted at National Sawdust in Brooklyn.

About National Sawdust

National Sawdust believes that artistic expression empowers us all to create a more joyful and just world. They curate and produce music and artistic works rooted in curiosity, experimentation, innovation, and inclusivity. They present their work by engaging communities of artists and audiences at their state-of-the-art Williamsburg home and on their digital stage.

April 20 at Strathmore: 20 years of Defiant Requiem

"We were hungry, we were tired, we were sick. But we had something to live for."

Wednesday, April 20 in North Bethesda, MD
at The Music Center at Strathmore

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín
20th anniversary performance

Complete live performance of Verdi's Requiem, interspersed with historic film, testimony from survivors and narration tells the moving story of courageous performances by prisoners in a WWII concentration camp

Read about Defiant Requiem in The New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune and more

Praised by The New York Times as "Poignant...a monument to the courage of one man to foster hope among prisoners with little other solace," Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín celebrates its 20th anniversary with a performance at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at 7:30 pm. Complete details below.

The "extraordinarily beautiful and moving" concert/drama commemorates the courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp during World War II who performed Verdi's Requiem 16 times, as an act of defiance and resistance to their Nazi captors. Defiant Requiem is a complete live performance of Verdi's Requiem interspersed with historic film, testimony from survivors and narration that tells this tale of audacious bravery.

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín was created by Murry Sidlin, who will conduct the performance. It features soprano Jennifer Check, mezzo-soprano Ann McMahon Quintero, tenor Cooper Nolan, bass-baritone Nathan Stark; the Orchestra of Terezín Remembrance. A chorus of regional ensembles includes the American University Chamber Singers, The Catholic University of America Verdi Choir, Longwood University Camerata & Chamber Singers, University of Virginia Chamber Singers, Virginia Commonwealth University Commonwealth Singers, and the Virginia State University Concert Choir.

Since the world premiere performance twenty years ago, Defiant Requiem has had a profound and lasting impact on the communities and audiences who have experienced this powerful story live. The April 20, 2022 performance at Strathmore commemorates this twenty year milestone. The concert benefits the Foundation’s continuing efforts to honor the brave Jewish prisoners in Theresienstadt, educate future generations about why the Holocaust must never be forgotten, and foster conversations about contemporary issues including rising Holocaust ignorance and denial, antisemitism, and racism.

Ticketing information and more for Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín is available in the calendar listing below.

The Defiant Requiem Foundation also produced an Emmy-nominated documentary film narrated by Bebe Neuwirth that has been praised as a "gripping documentary" (Examiner.com), with "a very powerful message" (CNN). More information is at DefiantRequiem.org

CALENDAR LISTING

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín

Wednesday, April 20 at 7:30 pm

The Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda, MD 20852

Tickets at strathmore.org

Murry Sidlin, creator & conductor

Jennifer Check, soprano
Ann McMahon Quintero, mezzo
Cooper Nolan, tenor
Nathan Stark, bass-baritone

Orchestra of Terezín Remembrance

with a chorus of regional ensembles:

American University Chamber Singers
Daniel Abraham, director

The Catholic University of America Verdi Choir
Murry Sidlin, interim conductor

Longwood University Camerata & Chamber Singers
Pamela McDermott, director

University of Virginia Chamber Singers
Michael Slon, director

Virginia Commonwealth University Commonwealth Singers
Erin Freeman, conductor

Virginia State University Concert Choir
Patrick D. McCoy, interim director

Presented by The Defiant Requiem Foundation with the generous support of Jeff Schoenfeld and our other sponsors. Proceeds to benefit the Foundation’s ongoing educational programs and initiatives.

Jeremy Gill – world premiere performed by Parker Quartet

Jeremy Gill’s new music for the Grammy award-winning Parker Quartet is inspired by a “kaleidoscope of postmodern fairy tales”

World premiere of “Motherwhere” on April 1 with Parker Quartet with New York Classical Players, Dongmin Kim, conducting

For his new work for the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet, Jeremy Gill drew inspiration from a book described as a “kaleidoscope of postmodern fairy tales”1. Motherwhere is a concerto grosso for the Parkers and New York Classical Players, who perform the world premiere on April 1, 2022.

This book, “Night School: A Reader for Grownups,” by the Hungarian author Zsófia Bán, is a volume of short stories which range from “a meditation on the Mathematics of Randomness, to a "blog opera" based on Fidelio, to a love story found in a bottle on a Borneo beach”2. Gill was so enraptured with it that, he says, “I wanted to evoke, musically, the experience of reading her book.” He converted this literary “bag-of-tales” into 21 connected musical “bagatelles,” in a compact 24-minute work that traces the emotional thread from Motherwhereʼs absence (the first story) through the unexpected “Miraculous Return of Laughter” of the final story.

“Motherwhere” continues Jeremy Gill’s ongoing collaboration with the award-winning Parker Quartet, and is his first work for New York Classical Players.

Performance is April 1 (W83 Auditorium in New York) at 7:30 pm. Free tickets available on New York Classical Players' website.

Calendar Listing

NYCP presents the world premiere
of Jeremy Gill's

Motherwhere
Bagatelles for Strings, after Bán

April 1, 2022 at 7:30 pm

W83 Auditorium
150 W 83rd St
New York, NY

New York Classical Players
Dongmin Kim, conductor
Parker Quartet
Madeline Fayette, cello

Program

TCHAIKOVSKY: Andante Cantabile for Cello and String Orchestra
JEREMY GILL: Motherwhere: Bagatelles for Strings, after Bán (premiere)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Serenade for Strings

Free tickets available on New York Classical Players' website

Out Feb. 11: Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv's "Poems and Rhapsodies"

Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv with National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine: “Poems & Rhapsodies” on Centaur Records

February 11 release features “The Lark Ascending” by Vaughan Williams, works by Saint-Saëns and Chausson, and the American composer Kenneth Fuchs

Plus rarities by the Ukrainian composers Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky and Myroslav Skoryk

Hot on the heels of her highly acclaimed recent recordings of Mendelssohn Concertos and Haydn and Hummel Concertos, the violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv brings us a collection of programmatic works for violin and orchestra, “Poems and Rhapsodies” (Centaur CRC 3799, release date February 11, 2022).

Along with the evocative and ethereal sound of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, the recording includes the American composer Kenneth Fuchs' American Rhapsody, and works by Camille Saint-Saëns and Ernest Chausson. Solomiya Ivakhiv also recorded rarely-heard music by her countrymen, the Ukrainian composers Myroslav Skoryk and Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky. The score for Kos-Anatolsky's Poem for Violin and Orchestra, written in 1962, was lost. In 2019, Solomiya Ivakhiv commissioned Bohdan Kryvopust to reconstruct the orchestration from an early recording.

The National Symphony of Ukraine, Volodymyr Sirenko conducting, joins Ms. Ivakhiv in the recording studio, as does the American cellist Sophie Shao, who is featured in Saint-Saëns’ La muse et le poète.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

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Poems and Rhapsodies

Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin

National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Volodymyr Sirenko, conductor
with Sophie Shao, cello (on Saint-Saëns La muse et le poète)

Centaur (#CRC3799)
Release date: February 11, 2022

Read the liner notes

View Solomiya Ivakhiv's Digital Press Kit

Download cover art

Request a copy of this CD

TRACKS

Camille Saint-Saëns
[01] La muse et le poète, Op. 132 (17:24)
with Sophie Shao, cello

Ernest Chausson
[02] Poème, Op. 25 (16:43)

Ralph Vaughan Williams
[03] The Lark Ascending (16:37)

Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky
[04] Poem for Violin and Orchestra in D Minor (9:22)

Kenneth Fuchs
[05] American Rhapsody (Romance for Violin and Orchestra) (11:47)

Myroslav Skoryk
[06] Carpathian Rhapsody (6:40)

Total Time = 78:37

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Ukrainian born, American Solomiya Ivakhiv, 2021 recipient of the Merited Artist of Ukraine, is an accomplished concert violinist, chamber musician, collaborator, educator, and champion of new music. Concertizing internationally, her wide range of repertoire includes the premiere of numerous new works for violin. Dr. Ivakhiv has performed solo and chamber music at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, Curtis Institute Field Concert Hall, Italian Academy in New York City, Pickman Hall in Cambridge (MA), San Jose Chamber Music Society, Old First Concerts in San Francisco, Astoria Music Festival (Portland), Tchaikovsky Hall in Kyiv, Concertgebouw Mirror Hall, and at UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. A dedicated champion of new music, Dr. Ivakhiv has been privileged to premiere numerous new works for violin by composers Eli Marshall, David Ludwig, John B. Hedges, Bohdan Kryvopust, Yevhen Stankovych, Bruce Adolphe, David Dzubay, Leonid Hrabovsky, and Oleksandr Shchetynsky.

Out now: Mendelssohn's complete works for solo piano

Ana-Marija Markovina releases Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Complete Works for Piano Solo

12 CD box set includes sonatas, etudes, Songs Without Words, preludes, fugues, character pieces, capriccios, fantasies, theme and variations, and more

Released January 7, 2022 on Hänssler Classic

The pianist Ana-Marija Markovina has made a career out of studying and recording the complete catalogue of piano music by the composers whose work intrigues her. “A composer’s oeuvre can only be fully understood in the context of his lifetime achievement,” she wrote in the liner notes of the album. “When I engage with a composer, I need to know everything about him.” Previous sets include Markovina's recordings of complete piano works by CPE Bach, Hugo Wolf, Anton Bruckner, and Luise A. Le Beau.

On January 7, 2022, Markovina releases a massive and comprehensive set of solo piano works by Felix Mendelssohn (Hänssler Classic, HC18043), twelve discs in all. “Mendelssohn was a cosmos that opened before me. There were worlds waiting to be discovered,” she wrote.

Ana-Marija Markovina's set of recordings of Mendelssohn’s piano works runs in chronological order of composition. This approach reveals new aspects of his genius, wrote Ms. Markovina. “It shows that he was borne along in a constant flow of inspiration and composition, and would be working almost simultaneously at several different works. It also makes it possible to follow his artistic development as if in a picture gallery. We can see little Felix sitting over his fugues on his way to [writing] the oratorio.”

Ms. Markovina's box set includes sonatas, etudes, Songs Without Words, preludes, fugues, character pieces, capriccios, fantasies, theme and variations, and more. Her comprehensive survey of Mendelssohn’s piano music also includes sketches and fragments. “I have always felt the urge to see what was going on in the workshop,” she wrote. “I’ve always wanted to know how we come to be what we are, what we have become and what remains of us in the end."

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: The Complete Works for Piano Solo

Ana-Marija Markovina, piano

Featuring the complete sonatas, etudes, solo Lieder, preludes, fugues, character pieces, capriccios, fantasies, theme and variations, and more

Hänssler Classic (#HC18043)

Release date: January 7, 2022

(UPC: 8 81488 18043 5)

Read the liner notes

Download Cover Art

View Ana-Marija Markovina's Digital Press Kit

Request a copy of this CD

The Croatian-born pianist Ana Marija-Markovina, called “one of the most significant artists of her generation” by legendary pianist Paul Badura-Skoda, is a critically acclaimed musician who brings scores to life with great passion and skill.

In addition to her 2022 release on Hänssler Classics of the complete solo piano works by Felix Mendelssohn, she has become known for her recordings of the complete catalogues of selected composers, including that of Hugo Wolf, Anton Bruckner, Anton Ursbruch and the 26-CD set of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's keyboard music, which received the German Record Critics’ Award in 2014.

Her extensive concert activities regularly take her to significant venues in her adopted home of Germany and around the world, performing recitals and concertos with an impressive list of acclaimed ensembles. She is a regular face on the music festival scene throughout Europe.

Ana-Marija Markovina is equally devoted to pedagogical work, and attracts a large number of participants to her international masterclasses. Another aspect of her work is exploring the psychology of composers and the soul of their works. She is in constant exchange with scientists in the field of creativity and brain research, culminating in the publication of her book “Glücks-Spiel” in 2019.

Oud. Nyckelharpa. String Quartet. Dulcimer: "Restless Nation"

Restless Nation: The Music of Andy Teirstein out February 4* on Navona Records

Album celebrates composer's works inspired by world music traditions, featuring oud, nyckelharpa, and dulcimer with string quartet

Performers include Mivos & Cassatt String Quartets, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, master musicians Marco Ambrosini (nyckelharpa) and Yair Dalal (Oud), and Teirstein himself (dulcimer, harmonica)

• Revised Release Date

Oud. Nyckelharpa. Dulcimer. Andy Teirstein infuses his compositions with impulses – and instruments – drawn from several world music traditions. His new album, Restless Nation: The Music of Andy Teirstein (Navona NV6397, revised rel. February 4, 2022), spans the globe with chamber and orchestral music inspired by music from the Middle East to Europe to the New World, performed by a host of world-renowned musicians.

The Cassatt Quartet evokes the fiery energy of American fiddling on the title track; the intriguing Nyckelharpa (traditional Swedish fiddle) joins the Mivos Quartet for Secrets of the North; and an exotic combination of oud, dulcimer and string quartet light up Azazme Songs, composed after Teirstein’s trek with a family of Bedouins across an Israeli desert. The Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra with the composer on harmonica bring to life one of Woody Guthrie’s love letters to his future wife in Letter from Woody.

Teirstein conceived the quartet Restless Nation when he and his wife took their two children on a home-schooling expedition across America. Each movement reflects different aspects of the adventure from the children’s perspective: the open road, the sounds of insects and night animals, rambunctious and reflective moments, wilderness, and the journey home. Teirstein's longtime collaborator, the Cassatt String Quartet, commissioned, premiered and recorded the work.

The folk influences in Secrets of the North and Azazme Songs are evident in the instrumentation and modalities, as played by the Mivos Quartet with two master soloists, Marco Ambrosini on nyckelharpa and Yair Dalal playing the oud (a lute-like instrument prominent in Middle Eastern music). Secrets of the North is inspired by a short story by Isak Dinesen, The Sailor Boy’s Tale in which an old Sami woman turns into a hawk and helps a boy. Azazme Songs was composed after Teirstein joined a four-day trek with Yair Dalal and a Bedouin family across the Aravah desert in Israel. At each meal, ouds and violins were taken down from the camels, and the travelers played “Hjennies,” old tunes the camel drivers sing to themselves on their journeys across the Aravah. Azazme Songs is not intended as authentic transcription, but as the musical offering of a beginner, whose impressions were gleaned from listening around the fire after walking across an ancient landscape. Teirstein joins Dalal and Mivos on Appalachian lap dulcimer, which evokes the sound of the Bedouin Sumsumia, a strummed psaltery-like instrument.

Letter from Woody is inspired by a love letter, which Teirstein discovered in the Woody Guthrie archives. From A Hobo’s Lullaby to Love You Down to Your Feet, Guthrie woos his future wife, Marjorie Mazia. The composer plays harmonica, joining the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Petrdlík.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

Restless Nation: The Music of Andy Teirstein

with Mivos Quartet, Cassatt String Quartet, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Andy Teirstein (Harmonica, Hammer dulcimer), Marco Ambrosini (Nyckelharpa), and Yair Dalal (Oud)

Navona Records (NV6397)
Revised release date: February 4, 2022

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View track listing

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Read Andy Teirstein's bio

Learn more about Andy Teirstein

Bios, photos and more on Teirstein's Digital Press Kit

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Composer Andy Teirstein's music has been described by The New York Times as “magically atmospheric,” “glimmering, restless,” and “tumultuously exuberant.” A student of Leonard Bernstein and Henry Brant, Teirstein has composed film scores for BBC and PBS, the operas Winter Man and A Blessing on the Moon, and movement theater pieces including The Wild (La MaMa E.T.C.) and The Vagabonds inspired by William Blake. The Village Voice wrote that his music “seems to speak in celestial accents of some utopia whose chief industry is dancing,” and he composes often for choreographers, including Stephen Petronio, Donald Byrd, and Liz Lerman. As a performer, he has appeared with Paul Simon, Pete Seeger, and The Vanaver Caravan. He has acted in the Broadway show Barnum, the TV series Search for Tomorrow, the film Sophie’s Choice, and Woody Sez, an off-Broadway show about Woody Guthrie.

Restless Nation

Cassatt String Quartet (Muneko Otani, Violin; Jennifer Leshnower, Violin; Ah Ling Neu, Viola; Elizabeth Anderson, Cello)

[01] I. My Eyes Were Hungry
[02] II. Flora and Fauna
[03] III. Recess
[04] IV. Goree Island
[05] V. Of Rocks and Rivers
[06] VI. The Way Home

Secrets of the North
Suite for String Quartet and Nyckelharpa

Marco Ambrosini, Nyckelharpa; The Mivos String Quartet (Olivia De Prato, Violin; Lauren Cauley Kalal, Violin; Victor Lowry Tafoya, Viola; Mariel Roberts, Cello)

[07] Gamel Vals
[08] Polska
[09] Vita Märrn
[10] Fiery
[11] Driven
[12] Sarabanda
[13] Dance
[14] Jarvovalser
[15] Escape

Azazme Songs
Suite for String Quartet, Oud and Dulcimer

Yair Dalal, Oud; Andy Teirstein, Dulcimer; Mivos String Quartet (Olivia De Prato, Violin; Lauren Cauley Kalal, Violin; Victor Lowry Tafoya, Viola; Mariel Roberts, Cello)

[16] Sheregi
[17] Hjenni
[18] The Naboteans
[19] Dance of the Camel Drivers

Letter From Woody

Andy Teirstein, Harmonica; Janacek Philharmonic

[20] Pastures of Plenty
[21] Hobo’s Lullabye
[22] The Growling Old Man and Woman
[23] I Love You Down to Your Feet
[24] The Scribbling Will Remain

Shea-Kim duo: "The Sound and the Fury"

Award-winning Shea-Kim duo's new album: intimate works for violin and piano by Dvorak, Grieg, and Janacek

"The Sound and the Fury" is released November 12 on Blue Griffin Recording

The award-winning Shea-Kim duo - violinist Brendan Shea and pianist Yerin Kim - have been performing together for over a decade. They have toured across North America, Europe and South Korea, and have won gold medals at the Manhattan International Music Competition and the Ackerman Chamber Music Competition. On November 12, 2021 their new album, The Sound and the Fury, is released on Blue Griffin Recording (BGR593).

All of the works on The Sound and the Fury - Dvorak's Mazurek Op. 49 B.89, Grieg's Sonata for piano and violin No. 3, and Janacek's Sonata for violin and piano - are infused with folk melodies from each of the composers' home countries, and allow both instrumentalists to display their virtuosity.

Dvorak was inspired by Pablo Sarasate's the incredible technique, and dedicated the Mazurek to him, which has become a favorite concert showpiece. Grieg's third violin sonata stands out as one of his few works in the German Romantic style, and much larger in scale than his other sonatas. The piece was one of the composer's favorite works, and he often performed the piano part himself when the opportunity arose. Janacek composed his only violin sonata on the eve of World War I. The composer later wrote that he “could just about hear the sound of steel clashing in [his] troubled head.”

Yerin Kim and Brendan Shea wrote in the liner notes of the album that these selections reflect their personalities. "Between the deep, majestic fjords of Edvard Grieg, the emotional turbulence of Leos Janacek, and the joy and love of Antonin Dvorak, we found a program that reflects the full spectrum we see in ourselves, and our stories."

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

The Sound and Fury
Shea-Kim duo

Brendan Shea, violin
Yerin Kim, piano

Blue Griffin Recording (BGR593)
Release date: November 12, 2021

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TRACKS

ANTONIN DVORAK
[01] Mazurek, Op. 49 B.89
Allegro [6:44]

EDVARD GRIEG
Sonata for piano and violin No. 3 in C minor, Op.45
[02] I. Allegro molto ed appasionato [8:46]
[03] II. Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza [6:20]
[04] III. Allegro animato - Prestissimo [7:41]

LEOS JANACEK
Sonata for violin and piano
[05] I. Con moto [5:16]
[06] II. Ballada [4:50]
[07] III. Allegretto [2:39]
[08] IV. Adagio [4:45]

Total playing time: 47:07

About the Artists

Violinist Brendan Shea and pianist Yerin Kim formed the award winning Shea-Kim duo in 2014. The pair has toured across North America, Europe, and South Korea, and regularly appears at music festivals from Annapolis to Anchorage.

The duo are founders and directors of a sensory-friendly concert series that brings high quality chamber music to children and adults with autism in New York, St. Louis, and South Bend, Indiana. They are also co-founders of the Chamber Orchestra Intensive at Indiana University. In addition to “The Sound and the Fury”, Shea-Kim duo released a live concert album from a performance in Seoul, South Korea in 2016 on the Ark Studio label.

Shea-Kim duo was awarded gold medals at the Manhattan International Music Competition and the Ackerman Chamber Music Competition. In addition to their performance activities, Ms. Kim is Assistant Professor of Piano at the Central Washington University and Mr. Shea is concertmaster of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. Previously, Shea was the violinist of the Euclid quartet and Professor at Indiana University, and both Kim and Shea served on the faculty at the University of Notre Dame.

Pianist Sergei Kvitko: "Mozart. Post Scriptum"

Pianist/Producer Sergei Kvitko's Mozart recording released on November 5 on Blue Griffin label

Piano Concerto K. 466 and world premiere recordings of new editions of Rondos K. 382 and K. 386

With Madrid Soloists Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Tigran Shiganyan

masterful, intuitive playing — Fanfare Magazine

Sergei Kvitko, critically acclaimed pianist, composer/arranger, and internationally sought-after producer and sound engineer, wears all of these hats on his new production “Mozart. Post Scriptum,” his fresh, personal and occasionally irreverent take on Mozart masterpieces for piano and orchestra. The album is released on November 5, 2021 on Blue Griffin Recording (BGR 597).

The cornerstone of the recording is Concerto in D Minor No. 20, K. 466 with new cadenzas by Kvitko that are full of surprises and pianistic fireworks. The album also features the world premiere recordings of Kvitko’s own special editions of Mozart’s Rondos in D Major K. 382 and A Major K. 386 for piano and orchestra. The scores include new additions in orchestration, ornamentation, articulation and dynamic markings, both bringing them closer to Mozart’s manuscripts and expanding on the composer’s original ideas.

Kvitko writes: "I wanted the entire CD of these frequently recorded works to be full of surprises – from the very first track to the final chord of the last track on the CD. I hope that the spirit of Mozart’s genius is smiling down auspiciously on my Post Scriptum to his masterworks."

His musical partner for this endeavor is Madrid Soloists Chamber Orchestra, a premiere Spanish ensemble comprised of musicians of the highest caliber from across Europe, Asia and the Americas, led by artistic director and concertmaster Gabor Szabo and conducted by Uzbekistani maestro Tigran Shiganyan.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

Kvitko has built a record company renowned for many fine things. ... refined musical ears, a rich and vibrant quality of recording production and an integrity of engineering that is increasingly hard to come by these days — The Whole Note

MOZART. Post Scriptum
Sergei Kvitko, piano

Madrid Soloists Chamber Orchestra
Gabor Szabo, artistic director
Tigran Shiganyan, conductor

Blue Griffin Recording (BGR579)
Release date: November 5, 2021

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View Sergei Kvitko's Digital Press Kit
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TRACKS

[01] Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in D Major, K. 382 11:13
[02] Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in A Major, K. 386 10:32
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466
[03] I. Allegro 14:52
[04] II. Romanze 10:39
[05] III. Rondo. Allegro assai 08:37

Biography

Sergei Kvitko’s career follows simultaneous paths as pianist, composer/arranger, and recording engineer, producer and owner of the Blue Griffin Recording label. As a pianist, he has earned critical acclaim for his "natural, appealing musicality and sensual understanding of piano tone” (The Chronicle-Herald). Active as a recitalist and soloist, Mr. Kvitko continues to perform across the United States, Europe and Asia, including critically successful recitals at Carnegie Hall.

Kvitko’s decades-long reputation as an internationally sought-after classical recording engineer and producer was recognized with a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Classical Album. Albums produced and engineered by Sergei Kvitko have been cited as "superbly well recorded” (International Record Guide, UK), “vividly detailed, vibrant sonics” (Gramophone, UK), and “warm and immediate sound” (The Strad).

Sergei Kvitko was born in Russia and began studying music at the age of six. His formal studies culminated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University, where he studied with Ralph Votapek.

Out today: "Illumination: Piano Works by Victoria Bond"

Illumination: Piano Works of Victoria Bond performed by Paul Barnes released on Albany Records October 1

Includes world premiere recording of Illuminations on Byzantine Chant

Album celebrates Bond's and Barnes' 25+ years of collaboration

[Victoria Bond's works are] "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding." — The New York Times

Pianist Paul Barnes and composer Victoria Bond have enjoyed a creative partnership spanning over 25 years. Their collaborations include Illuminations on Byzantine Chant for solo piano (2021), and two piano concertos: Ancient Keys (2002), and Black Light (1997). These works are collected on the new album, "Illumination: Piano works by Victoria Bond", performed by Paul Barnes, released on October 1, 2021 on Albany Records (TROY 1880).

Barnes first introduced Bond to the communion hymn "Potirion Sotiriu" when they were recording her piano concerto Black Light in 1997. A professional chanter in the Greek Orthodox Church, Barnes hummed the chant's melody to Bond, who was struck by its profundity and purity. Thus began a long and fascinating journey of discovery for the composer. "I wanted to explore how this melody related, not only to the mystical chants of the Christian Church, but also to my own Jewish background," says Bond. Her music for solo piano based on distinctive Byzantine chants, as well as the Jewish Passover chant Tal, is the three-movement Illuminations on Byzantine Chant. This album contains the world premiere recording.

As a fitting bonus, Barnes displays his skill and talent as a professional chanter, performing each of the hymns referenced in Bond's compositions.

Rounding out the album are two piano concertos by Bond. "Black Light" (1997) takes inspiration from African American music, Ella Fitzgerald, and a Jewish hymn. The recording features Barnes with the Philharmony “Bohuslav Martinu", conducted by Kirk Trevor. "Ancient Keys" (2002) was commissioned by Barnes and Trevor and is heard here with the Slovak Radio Orchestra. The work is also based on the Potirion Sotiriu hymn. Bond composed it while in residence at Brahmshaus in Baden-Baden, Germany, where, she said, "I could feel Brahms’ presence and his mighty legacy as a beacon leading me on."

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

“[Paul Barnes is] ferociously virtuosic” — San Francisco Chronicle

Illumination: Piano Works of Victoria Bond

Paul Barnes, piano

Kirk Trevor, conductor
with the Philharmony “Bohuslav Martinu"
and Slovak Radio Orchestra

Albany Records (TROY 1880)
Release date: October 1, 2021

Read the liner notes
View Victoria Bond's Digital Press Kit
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TRACKS

Victoria Bond Illuminations on Byzantine Chant* (2021)
1. Potirion Sotiriu (1999) [8:50]
2. Simeron Kremate (2019) [8:51]
3. Enite ton Kyrion (2021) [6:11]
Paul Barnes, piano

4. Ancient Keys (2002) [17:01] Paul Barnes, piano | Slovak Radio Orchestra - Kirk Trevor, conductor
Black Light (1997)
5. I. Aggressively driving [8:58]
6. II. Forcefully [6:41]
7. III. Presto [3:49]
Paul Barnes, piano | Philharmony “Bohuslav Martinu” Kirk Trevor, conductor

Byzantine Chant (Traditional)
8. Potirion Sotiriu [1:01]
9. Simeron Kremate [1:39]
10. Tal [0:35]
11. Enite ton Kyrion [1:01]
Paul Barnes, chanter

*world premiere recording
Total time=64:01

A major force in 21st century music, composer Victoria Bond is known for her melodic gift and dramatic flair. Her works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and opera have been lauded by The New York Times as "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding."

In addition to Illumination (2021), Victoria Bond's discography includes Soul of a Nation (Albany, 2018), Instruments of Revelation (Naxos, 2019), and a recording of chamber and vocal music (Albany, 2022). Victoria Bond’s compositions have been performed by the New York City Opera, Shanghai, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, members of the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater and the Cassatt and Audubon Quartets.

The New York Times praised Victoria Bond's conducting as "full of energy and fervor." She is principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago, and has held conducting positions with Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Opera, Roanoke Symphony, and Bel Canto and Harrisburg Operas. Ms. Bond is Artistic Director of Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival in New York, which she founded in 1998, and is a frequent lecturer at the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

Praised by the New York Times for his “Lisztian thunder and deft fluidity,” and the San Francisco Chronicle as “ferociously virtuosic,” pianist Paul Barnes has electrified audiences with his intensely expressive playing and cutting-edge programming. Celebrating his 25-year collaboration with Philip Glass, Barnes commissioned and gave the world premiere of Glass’s Piano Quintet “Annunciation.” Barnes also commissioned Ancient Keys by Victoria Bond as well as Simeron Kremate, co-commissioned by the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and the SDG Music Foundation in Chicago. Barnes is Marguerite Scribante Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music. He teaches during the summer at the Vienna International Piano Academy and the Amalfi Coast Music Festival.

In great demand as a pedagogue and clinician, Barnes has served as convention artist at several state MTNA conventions, and was recently named ‘Teacher of the Year” by the Nebraska Music Teachers Association. Barnes latest recital A Bright Sadness: Piano music inspired by Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Native American chant features a contemplative and cathartic program of piano works inspired by the mystical world of chant.

Out today: Canadian Brass - "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen

New from Canadian Brass: Canadiana

Album featuring some of the most beloved Canadian songwriters released on Nov. 12

Single released on Sept 28: Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

Listen to "Hallelujah"/pre-order album at this link

[Canadian Brass] .... still sounding fresh, still attracting young virtuosos and, above all, still having fun with the music. —Tom Huizenga, NPR

The new recording by Canadian Brass - the most celebrated and enduring brass quintet in history - is the iconic ensemble's first ever all-Canadian album. Canadiana is released on November 12, 2021 (Linus Entertainment, 270596), adding to their impressive catalogue of over 130 recordings.

On September 28, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" will be released as a single. This track represents a reunion of sorts, with a host of former members of Canadian Brass joining the quintet for this treasured tune.

On Canadiana, Canadian Brass celebrates the popular Canadian artists that the group loves to listen to, and has impressed them through their career. Canadiana includes songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Drake, H.E.R., Shawn Mendes, Rush, Bruce Cockburn, Deadmau5, k.d. lang, and Lara Fabian.

"While we were busy practicing our repertoire and honing our craft, we were also listening to these incredible songs as they were released. We now have the incredible opportunity to play these songs ourselves. This recording project gave us a chance to explore the music generated by the great artists that have been around us throughout our performing career."

The ensemble enlisted their trumpet player and in-house arranger Brandon Ridenour to breathe new life into the selected works. Additionally, the album features Grammy award winning Attacca Quartet member Nathan Schram (for Drake's "Laugh Now, Cry Later"), internationally-beloved guitarist and singer Bruce Cockburn on his own "Thoughts on a Rainy Afternoon", Juno-winning jazz trumpet player Ingrid Jensen (Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now") as well as guitarist Sean Kelly and percussionist Tim Timleck ("2112 Overture" by Rush).

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

These are the men who put brass music on the map with their unbeatable blend of virtuosity, spontaneity and humor. —Washington Post

Canadiana

Canadian Brass
Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone
Jeff Nelsen, horn
Caleb Hudson, trumpet
Brandon Ridenour, trumpet
Chuck Daellenbach, tuba

with special guests Nathan Schram (beat production); Bruce Cockburn (guitar, vocals); Ingrid Jensen (trumpet); Sean Kelly (guitar) and Tim Timleck (percussion)

Linus Entertainment #270596

Release date: November 12, 2021

"Hallelujah" released as single September 28, 2021

Canadian Brass playing songs from Canada... Is there anything more Canadian?

Pre-order Canadiana
View Canadian Brass's Digital Press Kit
Request a copy of this CD

TRACKS
[01] Je Me Souviens (Originally recorded by Lara Fabian) 02:49
[02] Senorita (Originally recorded by Shawn Mendes) 03:11
[03] Constant Craving (Originally recorded by k.d. lang) 03:26
[04] Both Sides, Now (Originally recorded by Joni Mitchell)* 06:12
[05] I Remember (Originally recorded by Deadmau5) 04:39
[06] Laugh Now, Cry Later (Originally recorded by Drake)** 03:37
[07] Overture 2112 (Originally Recorded by Rush)*** 03:11
[08] Best Part (Originally recorded by Daniel Cesar & H.E.R.) 05:14
[09] 13th Mountain (Originally recorded by Bruce Cockburn) 03:29
[10] Thoughts on a Rainy Afternoon (Originally Recorded by Bruce Cockburn)**** 03:27
[11] Hallelujah (Originally recorded by Leonard Cohen) 03:36

*With Juno-winning jazz trumpet player Ingrid Jensen
**Beat production by Grammy award winning Attacca quartet member Nathan Schram
***With Sean Kelly (guitar) and Tim Timleck (percussion)
****With Bruce Cockburn (guitar, vocals)

Canadian Brass has been a formidable force in the world of Chamber Music since its 1970 inception. The group has been hailed as the “Kings of Brass” by the press as it singlehandedly established brass as a major influence on the classical music scene. The young players in the ensemble today are inheritors of this long tradition, inaugurated over fifty years ago, having grown up with the sound and style of Canadian Brass as a model. With a discography of over 130 albums and an extensive worldwide touring schedule, Canadian Brass is an important pioneer in bringing brass music to mass audiences everywhere. They have sold well over 2 million albums worldwide.