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.

Insider Interview with Pianist Ana-Marija Markovina

On January 7, 2022, Pianist Ana-Marija Markovina released a massive and comprehensive set of solo piano works by Felix Mendelssohn (Hänssler Classic, HC18043), twelve discs in all. In this insider interview, we spoke to the pianist about embarking on such a task, why the composer is underrated, her love for literature, and so much more!

What inspired you to record the complete solo works for Mendelssohn?  

Mendelssohn is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated composers ever. Some pieces, such as the Variations Sérieuses, have become quite famous and are present on concert stages and in musical institutions. The Songs without Words - Lieder ohne Worte - also enjoy great popularity. But otherwise? One knows hardly anything about Mendelssohn's vast oeuvre. I was interested in the reason for this lack of presence in people's consciousness. One of the reasons is certainly to be found in the dark times when Jewish music was forbidden or at least frowned upon. And it wasn't just the 12 Nazi years here. There were always anti-Semitic attitudes, just think of Wagner. Wagner despised Mendelssohn because he was Jewish. He wrote nasty things about him, what was terrible.  This attitude is certainly one reason why Mendelssohn could not occupy the same space in the general consciousness as, say, Chopin or Brahms. I find that tragic and want to change it. 

And the reason why it is a complete recording is that I am trying to make only complete recordings. I'm always interested in wholeness in every sense. I am more fascinated by becoming than by being. The fascination for me is the path of life, the development, the growth. And I experience that only if I identify completely with the work, get to know everything, explore every corner of a composer’s life and work, and don't "cherry-pick".  

What does your box set bring to the Mendelssohn canon that was previously missing? 

First and foremost, I would like to mention the sketches, the fragments. They give us an important new insight into Mendelssohn's working methods. It is more exciting for me to see what he discarded than what he published. And, what is also a novelty: I have recorded the different versions whenever I could find them. From this it is evident that Mendelssohn very consciously edited his works when he was to publish them. The thing he lacked most in life was: Time. He had no time. He worked incredibly hard, was a successful music manager, a family man, and a helpful friend. This led to the fact that he wrote down, for example, a small song without words quite inspired but quickly, and he did not write it down exactly. When it came to publication, however, he wanted to go back to work, because he was seldom satisfied with his results. And this revising was particularly interesting for me. One can then best sense how he thought and what musical conception he had. 

In addition, there are some works that have never appeared in the context of a complete recording such as the solo version of the Capriccio MWV U 87, some songs newly added by Larry Todd and smaller works. 

If you could single out just one or two, what solo piano works do you wish the world knew about? In other words, are there any pieces that you wish were just as well-known as the composer’s “greatest hits”? 

Yes, of course. First of all, there are the early sonatas. I appreciate them all, but especially the Sonata in C minor. The beginning of the first movement is strongly reminiscent of Beethoven's "Pathetique" and is very impressive. But also the F minor Sonata MWV U 23 - inconceivable that an 11 year old child wrote this! We think first of Mozart when it comes to the subject of child prodigies, but Mendelssohn is at least as great a phenomenon. I am also particularly enthusiastic about some less know later piece, the etudes e.g,, especially B flat minor MWV U 117 and A minor MWV U 142. 

You’ve made a name for yourself recording the complete works for piano of a few composers now. With each of these sets, how do you begin the process of such a massive undertaking? 

That's quite simple: I read. I read as much literature as I can. That helps me to immerse myself in the composer's world. Into his or her everyday life, their relationships with other people. I try to understand how he or she grew up, what the upbringing was like, whether the parents were loving, nurturing and understanding or punitive and destructive. In Mendelssohn's case, the family history is particularly exciting because of the great Moses Mendelssohn, who shaped the family for generations, indeed who shaped his entire era and humanity to this day as a humanist philosopher.  

Furthermore here is the fact that the family was very rich. Felix and Fanny never had financial worries, that was not an issue at all. On the contrary: they rather tried to hide their wealth and therefore worked all the more diligently. I internalise all this before I start practicing. The atmosphere, the spirit of the works is then much closer and easier for me to grasp. 

What insights about Mendelssohn did you gain in the process of recording the album? 

His life itself. The essence of his being! He was a very generous man - one experiences this above all in the infinite wealth of ideas of his melodies. And in what he did not publish. He did not have to carry out every idea, that is also a sign of a gigantic talent, a sign of his modesty, his seriousness and just his generosity. I can talk about that now with greater certainty, with a certain clarity. And I could not do that before. Before, before the recording, I knew his music, but now it flows through my veins, so to speak. 

What do you hope listeners take away from the album?  

First of all, many hours of beautiful music. And then the realization that even the greatest talent in the cosmos must work hard, because otherwise the talent is worthless. Mendelssohn, with all the privileges in his life, wealth and talent, was hardworking and modest. He was a wonderful character, everyone loved him. I think, I hope, you can hear that. And that's a beautiful contribution to a happy life, isn't it? 

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


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.


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.


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.


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.


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


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.

Cutting Edge Concerts - Silver Anniversary Season

CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS New Music Festival

Victoria Bond, Artistic Director

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival Announces 25th Anniversary Season

Featuring world and regional premieres by founder and Artistic Director Victoria Bond

New venues and new collaborators

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

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival exists to celebrate, support and promote the work of living composers. Over the past 25 years, works by more than 200 composers have been played by world-class ensembles and soloists in the country. Audiences have delighted to dozens of world premieres and hundreds of on-stage conversations with the composers themselves.

The 2022 season marks the 25th year of the concert series, which Chamber Music America has called "a full-throttle commitment to contemporary music." To celebrate the occasion, this season will include world and regional premieres by founder and artistic director Victoria Bond.

The Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival 2022 will be presented across New York City for four performances, each in partnership with a different arts organization.

  • April 6, 2022 | From the Atlas of Imaginary Places (Percussia, partner) at St. Mark's Church in Jackson Heights

  • May 13, 2022 |The Adventures of Gulliver (Mostly Modern Projects, partner) at the Sheen Center

  • June 12, 2022 | Japan Songs (Kyo-Shin-An Arts, partner) at the Tenri Cultural Center

  • October 22, 2022 | From an Antique Land (Keyed Up Music Project, partner) at the Tenri Cultural Center

The theme of the season is Bringing People Together. "Because of the stress, loneliness and isolation of the past year, now is the time to bring people together with music that expresses uplifting spiritual themes of hope," artistic director and founder Victoria Bond says. In addition to the in-person programming, audiences will be able to enjoy the concerts virtually through a live-stream. Program details available below.

CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS

2022 Season Programs

In addition to the in-person programming, audiences will be able to

enjoy the concerts virtually through a live-stream.

World premiere

April 6, 2022: From the Atlas of Imaginary Places

Percussia, partner | St. Mark's Church in Jackson Heights

Victoria Bond’s composition From the Atlas of Imaginary Places will be premiered by the new music ensemble Percussia which commissioned it. Also on the program is Murmuration by Alexis Lamb. The concert is presented in conjunction with Poetry at St. Mark’s.

May 13, 2022: The Adventures of Gulliver

Mostly Modern Projects, partner | Sheen Center

Scenes from the puppet opera The Adventures of Gulliver based on the imaginary world of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels by composer Victoria Bond, librettist Stephen Greco and director Doug Fitch will be presented for the first time with puppets. Also on the program is King of the River by Hershel Garfein and The Companion by Robert Paterson. Featuring soloists from the American Modern Ensemble.

World premiere

June 12, 2022: Japan Songs

Kyo-Shin-An Arts, partner | Tenri Cultural Center

Japan Songs is a collection of songs by various composers based on Haiku poetry. The composers are: Aleksandra Vrebalov, James Schlefer, Paul Moravec, Douglas Cuomo, Jay Reise and Victoria Bond. Performed by shakuhachi player James Schelefer and guest artists.

New York premiere

October 22, 2022: From an Antique Land

Keyed Up Music Project, partner | Tenri Cultural Center

Victoria Bond’s song cycle From an Antique Land will be performed by baritone Michael Kelly and pianist Bradley Moore. Also on the program is Different Loves by Dalit Warshaw, performed by the composer, selected songs by David Del Tredici performed by Michael Kelly and Marc Peloquin and The Temple in the Mist and Three Minds by Narong Prangcharoen, performed by Marc Peloquin.

CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS

A short history

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.

For the 20th anniversary, New Music Box published a feature on the festival and its many highlights and accomplishments. In it, Victoria Bond wrote "I launched the Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival in 1998 with the purpose of presenting the music of living composers, including—but not limited to—my own work. I was eager to know what my composition colleagues were writing and to have a way of bringing their music to the public. I also knew many performers interested in new music, and the thought of putting these together was intoxicating."

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.

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.

Insider Interview with Jeremy Gill

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.” Motherwhere is a concerto grosso for the Parkers and New York Classical Players, who perform the world premiere on April 1, 2022.

In our insider interview with Jeremy, we spoke about his love for reading, collaborating with the Parkers and NY Classical Players, and writing for string quartet and orchestra.

Tell us a little about Night School: A Reader for Grownups, the book which your composition Motherwhere is based on. How did you come across this fascinating collection of stories? What gripped or fascinated you about it?

My wife and I are both avid readers, and a couple of years ago we decided that we would try something new: we would each read an author we had never read before whose last name began with A, B, C, etc., through Z. We chose our books (mostly) from the shelves of the McNally Jackson on Prince Street, in Greenwich Village, one of our favorite local bookstores.

My “B” author was Zsófia Bán, and I loved her book from the very first reading, for so many reasons. Firstly, her language itself is wonderfully musical – its rhythms and cadences – despite the fact that I was reading her in translation! (This is a great credit to her translator, Jim Tucker, who managers to translate her Hungarian into a wonderfully idiosyncratic, though natural-sounding English.) Secondly, she manages to perfectly balance whimsy and wisdom, such that one’s never entirely sure if she’s being serious or having a laugh; in this way, she recalls Italo Calvino (one of my favorite writers). Thirdly, she often allows the reader to watch her think “on the page” – we get to follow her train of thought and thrill at her obviously quick wit and sharp, sharp mind (here she recalls Anne Carson to me, another favorite). Fourthly (I could go on and on), she manages somehow to create a unity of twenty-one distinct and seemingly unrelated tales.

There is a magical through-line that runs from the first tale (depicting the surprising disappearance of “Motherwhere” – a kind of Ur-mother – all the way to the last tale titled “The Miraculous Return of Laughter,” in which a (maybe) post-Soviet “thaw” is translated into the contagious spread of existential merriment. My subsequent readings revealed many more layers, and unearthed unexpected connections between tales, sometimes via seemingly insignificant details. This, like her language, is very musical – as when a melodic fragment turns up much later in a work, in an entirely different context…

You’ve said “I wanted to evoke, musically, the experience of reading [Night School]. What was your experience reading it, and how does that translate to your composition?

Ultimately, I felt most strongly that the book is somehow many wildly, beautifully varied expressions of a few simple themes or ideas. Absence is one theme – this is obviously Motherwhere’s “condition,” but most of the characters that appear in the book are profoundly alone, and many of them are acutely aware of being so. One of the funniest stories is “Mrs. Longfellow Burns,” a campy, mocking quasi-biography of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in which Mrs. Longfellow – who ends in ashes – is somehow the lonely heart of “his” story. Another theme is the feminine perspective, which for me as a male reader made each character freshly “Other”, and had me constantly reevaluating my assumptions about motivation and desire.

My work – a concerto for string quartet and string orchestra – takes the form of twenty-one bagatelles, with each bagatelle corresponding to one story (in the order in which they appear in the book). In order to translate her use of “themes” into musical ideas, I came up with some very basic musical conceits that run throughout all the bagatelles. These are purely musical (not correlated to her literary themes) – symmetry (primarily pitch-based, with the D above middle C acting as fulcrum), the open strings, and the exploration of like-interval sonorities (sections based mostly on seconds, thirds, fourths, etc.).

Having these abstract musical anchors allowed me then to “react,” compositionally, to each of her tales. Sometimes, I made a very detailed reflection of her story in the music. One example is “What Is This Thing Called the Exchange Reaction,” which depicts a love quadrangle told through the guise of a couples ping-pong match: my four quartet members each assume a specific character in the story, and musically play out their shifting relationships. It’s a literal transposition of the story into music. When the (spoiler alert!) two female characters wind up going off together, they transform into the “Two Fridas” of the ensuing story. Other times, my musical reflections are more circumspect: “How I Didn’t” gives six parodic accounts of how and when the author did not meet a literary personage she admires, but my music is entirely concerned with only the final non-meeting, which takes place at the edge of the North Sea (the sea as Ur-mother is another of her important themes). Most often, though, my musical reflections of Bán’s tales are more purely emotional – music is, literally, non-narrative, so the best way I could find to encapsulate the experience of reading her was to try to match up the emotional evocations of the music and the tale – what was the emotional residue left by the tale? This was probably my most typical approach to writing each bagatelle.

The work features the award-winning Parker Quartet, a group with whom you’ve collaborated numerous times. Tell about the collaborative process of writing music for them.

I love the Parker Quartet – I first wrote for them in 2006, when they were relatively newly minted. I had received a commission from Market Square Concerts (Harrisburg, PA) to compose a 25th anniversary piece and I had my pick of the artists appearing that season. I responded deeply to the Parker Quartet’s playing and I wrote them a letter, included some of my music, and told them that I wanted to write for them but ONLY if they wanted a piece from me. In their typical, thoughtful and thorough way, they took the requisite time to get to know my music. They responded well to it, and said they’d love a piece from me. We had a wonderful first collaboration.

Over the ensuing years I’ve gone to hear them whenever we’re in the same general area, and we’ve worked together on other projects – I produced their wonderful recording of Mendelssohn quartets, for example. The last piece I wrote for them was Capriccio, an hour-long quartet in 27 movements commissioned by Chamber Music America. Capriccio felt like the ultimate string quartet composition for me (in that piece, I wrote that I aimed “to encapsulate, technically, expressively, and texturally, all that is possible for the string quartet”), so a next work for them would have to be completely different. Enter Motherwhere, a concerto for string quartet with string orchestra…

Writing for the Parkers is every composer’s dream: I feel like they “get me” completely, and always find in my music exactly what I hoped they would find (and often pleasantly surprise me by amplifying things I only partially realized myself). They are technically perfect, but go so far beyond that in their understanding and sense of the music. They complement one another perfectly – I feel like they are THE string quartet of today, and I’m lucky to have worked with them so often and for so long.

Motherwhere is scored for string quartet and string orchestra. You don’t see that every day! Which compositions for this instrumentation inspired you? How does the quartet’s solo part stand apart from the string orchestra accompaniment?

There is one great work for string quartet and string orchestra that I know – Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro – but there are many wonderful works for string orchestra that make incidental use of a solo quartet: Bartók’s Divertimento, Stravinsky’s Concerto in D, Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Vaughan-Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. These are a few of the nearly two dozen works I repeatedly revisited while composing Motherwhere. My solo quartet stands apart from the ensemble in its musical function – it is the primary source of musical material, and usually carries the expressive weight of each bagatelle.

The last concerto I wrote before Motherwhere was Concerto d’avorio for four-hands piano and orchestra, and I learned in that piece that a chamber music “soloist” is quite different from a solitary soloist. Throughout, the chamber music soloist needs to function as a chamber group – not as a collection of independent soloists. This might seem obvious (or inconsequential), but this way of thinking about the soloists was crucial for me. It also makes rehearsing the piece a (hopefully) more pleasant task – the quartet will spend a lot of time learning the piece away from the orchestra, and that learning process would be dreadful if the four parts only made sense in the context of the orchestra – they need to have their own, chamber identity that feels compelling on its own.

What do you hope audiences get from hearing this music?

I want the audience to feel – in so far as this is possible – my love and admiration for Night School, Bán’s wonderfully fun, inventive, witty, touching, thrilling book. If I managed to capture half of her infectious spirit and can translate that to the audience, this will be a great success! I hope, too, that the audience senses some of the affection I have for the Parker Quartet: writing for them is such a joy, and I hope that joy is manifest in the notes I wrote for them.

This is my first time working with New York Classical Players; they are fantastic, and Dongmin Kim is a wonderful conductor and – from everything I’ve heard – an ideal collaborator. The string orchestra is one of the most mind-bogglingly varied and malleable ensembles, and my approach to writing for the string orchestra throughout is to let it sound well. This, again, may seem obvious, but the older I get, the more I find myself focusing on creating the ideal musical environment in which musicians can sound and play their best. Musicians play the music they love because it gives them great pleasure to do so, and my aim is to afford them the kind of pleasure that draws them back to the work for repeated doses. When that mutual affection comes off the stage and makes its way into the audience – that’s when everything is working as it should.

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

Insider Interview with Andy Teirstein

Composer Andy Teirstein's work is inspired by the rich and diverse folk roots of modern culture. His music has been described by The New York Times and The Village Voice as "magical," "ingenious," and "superbly crafted." His new album, Restless Nation, out February 4, 2022 on Navona Records, celebrates the composer’s works inspired by world music traditions, featuring oud, nyckelharpa, and dulcimer with string quartet and features guest artists Mivos Quartet, Cassatt Quartet, Marco Ambronsini, Yair Dalal, and the Janacek Philharmonic.

We could fill up this page just listing the different instruments you play – banjo, harmonica, dulcimer – to name a few. What first grabbed your attention in music, and which instrument did you gravitate toward first?  

My grandmother was a pianist in theaters for early movies. And she was deaf since the age of 17. I remember her sitting at the piano and merrily tinkering away; she said she could feel the vibrations. I must have been four. Whenever I had a chance I would go to the piano and just mash around with the keys, pretending to play like her. But when I was in first grade in public school in New York City, they paraded a few instruments on stage in assembly, and we could choose which ones to take lessons on. I chose the violin, and played in school orchestras.  

Later, I began playing blues and bluegrass with friends. My brother taught me some basic guitar chords. Since the mandolin is tuned like a violin, it was easy to add that on. I picked up Pete Seeger’s book, How to Play the 5-String Banjo, never dreaming that one day I would be playing folk festivals onstage with Pete.  

In college I came to appreciate the viola, loving the inner voices. I studied with Jacob Glick, a real master, and the viola became my primary instrument. Some familiarity with piano has unlocked the accordion for me, and through the accordion, the concertina. I think, to be a true instrumentalist, it’s best to choose one instrument and stick to it, but as a composer, I have found it deliciously rewarding to keep an open mind instrumentally, and see how the instruments connect one to another.  

Your new album, Restless Nation, is entirely instrumental concert music written by you. You’ve spent a good deal of your career writing music for theater, dance and film. What are the challenges – and the rewards – of writing music that is intended to stand on its own? 

Yes, I do love to create music for theater and dance, but there’s something liberating about entering the world of instrumental music, letting go of words and theatrical concepts to communicate only in the language of music. If you’ve ever been in an Irish pub during a traditional seisún, then you know what it means to let the instrument take over, and give the fingers free reign. The challenge of creating “absolute” music is that you bring yourself face to face with the blank manuscript; there is no roadmap in poem, story, or lyric. And so, you begin to ask the really fruitful musical questions: what am I exploring in purely musical terms? Is there a DNA to this piece I’m composing, to this series of movements, and to my own signature style?  

There are things I find myself much freer to explore in non-theatrical music. In “Restless Nation,” this has to do with rhythmic intensity in asymmetrical meters. In “Azazme Songs,” it concerns the microtonality of the Arab Maqam system, and also how to take the simple Bedouin tunes and make them meaningful in a longer context. The orchestral piece, “Letter from Woody,” is particularly interesting in this context, since it alludes to some of the iconic American balladeer Woody Guthrie’s songs.  Again, my affinity for asymmetrical meter removes these songs from their original, eight-bar settings.  But in this case, a longer version of the piece exists (unrecorded) as a dramatic work for orchestra, actor/folksinger and dancer.  

The compositions on Restless Nation include the Oud, a non-western instrument, and folk instruments including the Nyckelharpa, bringing sonorities and tunings that are not typically part of “traditional” classical music. How do you mesh these contrasting sounds together, without the music becoming a “melting pot” of styles?  

This has been a key question for me for several years now.  As both a folk musician and a composer of new music, my model has always been Béla Bartók, who collected and revered folk music and also created groundbreaking new music. The issue of retaining the integrity of the folk influences while creating something new that is infused with the energy of this music is fascinating.   

While I don’t have a clear answer in words, I can say that this requires the work of going deep into the folk tradition, not just learning a little about it. So it’s a long process of exploration that continues in each new piece. Also, as a professor in the NYU Tisch Dance Department, I find this question increasingly of interest to students, who are more and more striving to bring their own cultural roots into their music and dance.   

For four years, I directed an NYU research Working Group, Translucent Borders, which brought contemporary composers and choreographers to Cuba, Ghana and the Middle East (www.translucentborders.com).  We found that the disparity between the group identity of traditional folk arts and the individual expression of the contemporary composer or choreographer affects everything from music and dance vocabulary to perceptions of time. “The Ghanaian drummer and dancer Sulley Imoro told me “In our music there is no beginning or ending,” and Adel Al-Walidi, an Azazme Bedouin near the Israeli border with Egypt shared a similar thought: “All these songs are connected, the song never stops.”   

But in the world of new classical music, development and form dominate training and creative process. In America and Western Europe, the pioneering artistic trends through most of the twentieth century usually distanced themselves from ethnicity or ancestral tradition, viewed as antithetical to innovative work. As I mentioned, Bartók ingeniously brought these two seemingly opposing viewpoints to resolution, making this question the crux of his work, and I take him to be an illuminating model. He believed that one should become so imbued with the folk influence that it pervades the new music and becomes the composer’s “mother tongue.”  

With the rising consciousness of cultural identity and global equanimity, it’s time that composers, without neglecting the remarkable innovations of modernism and abstraction, learn to speak in their mother-tongue. I feel this is a life-long pursuit, and this album, with new compositions based on several folk traditions I’ve been learning over the years, is, for me, a big step in that direction. 

In the liner notes, you mention that Azazme Songs were inspired by a trip across the desert with a Bedouin family and the oud player Yair Dalal. How did you get invited to travel with this group? Can you share a highlight or anecdote or two from this journey that was expressed in the music? 

Yair Dalal is one of the great Israeli leaders in music. As an Iraqi Jew, he has also been at the forefront of Israeli/Arab musical dialogue. I’ve always admired his music, and I interviewed him as part of my Translucent Borders project, which looked at the role of music and dance at borders. After the interview, he invited me on this journey.  

The trek was the dream-child of Yair and his Bedouin friend, Adel al-Walidi. Yair told me they had the idea of making a hike to “fill the desert with music.” Our group was made up of musicians drawn from Israel, many of them long-time students of Yair’s, and the local Bedouin community. I joined the journey from Ezuz, at the Israeli-Egyptian border, to Mitzpeh Ramon, Israel’s Grand Canyon, across the Aravah Valley of the Negev Desert.  

We were about fifteen people and several sherpa camels. The desert is a marvelous place to let go of everything—there’s no cell service, just open space; you’re nowhere and yet you’re in the center.  

Musically, our evenings were unforgettable.  I’ll paint the scene: Tea and coffee are brewing; people are cooking. Music begins, ouds and violins, made up of one short repeating phrase, lyrical and endearing. I hear something that sounds very much like an Appalachian lap dulcimer. It’s a strummed instrument called a sumsumia that looks like a small harp, played by a man named Anad. I lie down in the sand close to the fire. My horizontal pose induces a feeling of both release and connection. My eyes are filled with more stars than I ever imagined one could see, with an occasional spark from the fire entering my field of vision. And the music’s sweet phrase turns over and over, the melodic equivalent of patience, of understanding, of companionship.  

Over the next few days this music becomes a colored thread that weaves everything together. I try to learn what it is that makes this music so compelling to me, beginning with the sense of time. The sumsumia lays down an underpinning of constant eighth-note chords. Around the fire, people sing, often in even half-notes, a simple melody. I learn that this kind of Bedouin tune is called a Hjennie, a song of the camel drivers. The easy tempo of the singing is like someone walking, while the instrumental accompaniment is fast and patterned, as if carrying the singing. I can imagine camel drivers making up these tunes, singing them over and over on their desert crossings, for comfort. It brings to mind the American nature writer Edward Abby describing how he would sometimes make a small “comfort” fire in the desert.  

The concept of maqam is more fluid than that of the scale. It’s not limited to the equal-tempered tones of Western music that developed to serve a keyboard-centered musical culture. Rather, the maqam tradition reflects the prevalence of the human voice, flutes, and bowed or unfretted string instruments such as the ouds played here. The maqam is a pan-Arab cultural phenomenon, found throughout the Mideastern nations and in many other places across the globe. The concept is historically resonant in this spot we were hiking, a point of nexus between the Persian musical culture to the east (and further, the ragas of India), and the African cultures to the west.   

It may seem strange that I used the Appalachian dulcimer in Azazme Songs, bringing together these two far-flung instruments, oud and dulcimer. But the sound is very much like the sumsumia, and gives the piece its rhythmic flavor. Also, the clapping in the piece is reminiscent of the dance the Bedouins did around the fire, linking elbows and clapping their hands on each downbeat.  

Similarly, you mentioned that Restless Nation was inspired by a yearlong journey with your young family. Can you share a highlight or anecdote or two from this journey that you express in the music? 

We picked up a pop-up camper on Ebay and began going across the country through the state and national parks, homeschooling along the way. At one point we found a campsite with a laundry cabin, and I remember one night spreading my score sheets across the washer and drier and working through the early morning while my family slept in the camper. 

There are some specific associations in the piece; The first movement, “My Eyes Were Hungry,” is titled by my son. When we hiked into the Grand Canyon, he said, “Papa, my eyes were hungry…and I didn’t know it.”  The second movement is very much a reflection on the Smoky Mountains, beginning and ending with the late-evening rhythms of crickets and katydids. And the slow fifth movement, “Of Rocks and Rivers,” brings to mind our time hiking in the Big Bend National Park, on the Rio Grande in Texas.  

I tried to bring some of the sense of awe to this music that one feels only after spending a long time in nature, whether wading through shimmering river canyons or coming upon an expansive view from a cliff. The final movement, “Finding Our Way Home,” takes all that restless energy we felt on the open road and directs it toward the road home, like when horses head back to the barn. It uses a scordatura tuning in the first violin, where the E string is tuned down to a C#, in the style of the old-time Southern fiddlers.  

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.


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


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)

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View Ana-Marija Markovina's Digital Press Kit

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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

Request a copy of this CD

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

Insider Interview with Shea-Kim Duo

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, was released on Blue Griffin Recording. We spoke to them about the album, the changing role of pianist as accompanist, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and so much more.

You’ve been living together as a married couple, and playing together for many years. How and when did you decide to form the Shea-Kim duo?

Brendan: Yerin and I have been in trios since we were undergraduates at Oberlin and have always enjoyed playing together. When I was accepted to the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition, Yerin agreed to play with me since there was so much repertoire to learn and it was very difficult. We realized we actually really enjoyed learning duo repertoire and that there was a lot of depth to the process.

How do you manage balancing the different components of your life as musical partners, life partners and parents of two young children?

Brendan: Our kids have already spent much of their life backstage, or playing while mom and dad rehearse. We can thankfully rehearse and record very late (2-3 am sometimes) without waking them. That being said, it takes careful and meticulous schedule planning when we have concert tours, as well as ability to improvise when needed. It is definitely difficult to separate work from life sometimes, but luckily we love our work and feel privileged to be able to spend so much time together and as a family.

Yerin: Brendan and I have known each other for 16 years now. We met as young college kids and have had the luxury of dreaming and building our lives together. I am very grateful for that and all the steps that come with it. It’s definitely challenging to balance so many components in life that we share but I think the sense of partnership over ownership allows us to balance things with more serenity and ease. Both Brendan and I also have full time university jobs which makes figuring out schedules even more complicated but we are lucky that we love what we do, love our jobs, and have wonderful children who seem to not mind their parents playing music all the time.

The fact that you chose to call your collaboration a ‘duo’ points to the role of the piano as an equal partner. How do you, as an ensemble, approach the repertoire differently than a solo instrument with piano accompaniment?

Brendan: Certainly the past century has treated sonatas and other repertoire for violin and piano as a soloist with an accompanist. I think this attitude has been steadily changing, especially recently. The truth is the composers of this incredible music were primarily pianists, and the music must be learned and understood from the piano score to be played to their full effectiveness.

Yerin: We played in a trio for many years before playing our first sonata together so our approach to working together was largely influenced by our chamber music experience before we started playing as a duo. There is such a rich body of duo works, old and new, that we love playing so it’s fun choosing repertoire that speaks to us. Usually those works tend to have an equal partnership and create synergy. We also both tend to get obsessive over what we like so inevitably everything we play becomes very personal. There’s not much opportunity for one of us to be “accompanimental” for the better or for the worse...both in music and in life!

In the liner notes you write “this recording is a reflection of our personalities and character through the great works of [Grieg, Janacek, and Dvorak]”. Tell us a little more about that.

Brendan: Picking repertoire for a concert is very difficult, and picking repertoire for our inaugural studio recording was even more so. There is so much great music, and music that feels personal. Yerin and I are opposite in many ways, which makes for intense and passionate rehearsals. I also think it makes us better musicians; that the intensity of the process creates a product greater than the sum of its parts. What these pieces have in common is that they are full of color, contrast, and passion. They are works that have come in and out of our repertoire since we formed, and have stuck out as works we feel reflect our energy on stage.

Yerin: One of the things that I love most about playing with Brendan is listening to how he expresses things so differently even when we feel similarly. Brendan and I have very different tastes in style, personality, character, and yet we somehow think and feel alike. 

It’s quite amusing to me. When we can’t come to an agreement in rehearsals, we try going back to understanding the composer as our third partner. That usually does the trick. These works that we chose in our first album highlighted these differences and similarities of our colors, emotions, and also our love for these great works.

Each of the works on this program incorporate folk melodies in some form. Tell us about the different styles and ways that Janacek, Grieg, and Dvorak incorporate the folk melodies.

Brendan: Each composer lived during a time when national and individual identity were intertwined in a very substantial way. Using folk, or common melodies had been around for centuries earlier, but these composers opted to actually make these folk traditions an important part of their musical language. Janacek’s language feels more connected to linguistic syntax, a musical reflection of spoken word. Dvorak takes his folk melodies and dresses them down to motivic size so they are well camouflaged in his harmonic language. Grieg will often use a direct quote, somewhat closer to the way Bruch might, and then allows it to germinate and fill out.

Yerin: Now that I have children and have heard more children's songs than I had ever imagined I would, I fully understand the power of an earworm. It’s wonderful how all three composers incorporate folk melodies as ingredients that we can easily taste and transform them into a totally different pallet.

What non-musical activities/hobbies do you do to unwind?

Brendan: I would say most of our time not being spent on our work is spent with our kids. I’ve grown to really enjoy cooking in the past few years, although cooking for kids is an exercise in futility (the better the food, the less they like it).

Yerin: I remember having hobbies!! Now I just really enjoy cooking and eating with the kids and Brendan. It’s so satisfying seeing your family devour your food. I’m not much of a baker though so whenever I bake, the kids have a really entertaining time being amused at my creations that are barely edible. We also just moved to Washington state where we are surrounded by mountains. It’s so beautiful and I love staring at them! Brendan and kids like to hike.but I grew up in Seoul, Korea, so hiking is still pretty foreign to me.

Where can audiences see you next? Tell us about the duo’s plans for 2022.

Brendan: We have an East Coast tour in March 2022, as well as summer festivals and concerts in the Seattle area. For the most recent information you can follow us on Facebook or check out shea-kimduo.com!

Yerin: We have our solo concerts and projects throughout the year but as a duo we will be in the East Coast in Spring.

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

Read the liner notes

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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

Read the liner notes
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.

Insider Interview with Mathilde Handelsman

French-American pianist Mathilde Handelsman released, Debussy: Images on the label Sheva Collection. The debut album contains Claude Debussy's complete works for piano from 1903-07, including Images Books I and II, Estampes, Masques, D'un cahier d'esquiesses, and L'isle joyeuse. In our insider interview with her, she talks about what makes these works so unique, life lessons from the legendary Menahem Pressler, and more.

You came to from France to the U.S. in 2015 to study with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University. Of all the excellent teachers in the world, why did you choose him specifically?

There were many reasons! First of all, Menahem Pressler and the Beaux-Arts Trio are very well-known in France. Until recently, Mr. Pressler came to perform in Paris regularly and maintained a great relationship with Parisian audiences. That is to say that I, as a Parisian, knew of him early on. I admired his playing – his beautiful and delicate touch, his incomparable way of making a piano sing – and also the specific career that he led, with this very big emphasis on chamber music as well as a solo career, not to mention an active teaching schedule throughout most of his life. To me, that was really unique and incredible, and I was very drawn to his musical personality.

The second important factor that played a huge role in my decision was that Bloomington itself has an important reputation in France. Many French pianists in the 1970-80s went there to study with Gyorgy Sebok – in fact, one of my own teachers in France was a Sebok disciple. So I grew up hearing about Bloomington, and Pressler, and Beaux-Arts, and Sebok... I also knew that the cellist Janos Starker had taught there, as well as the violinist Dubinsky from the Borodin quartet whom I had grown up listening to. To me as a teenager, all these things gave Bloomington a certain mystique, it was a place with a very special history.

I also want to mention that before entering Mr. Pressler’s studio, I studied six months under another extraordinary pianist and teacher at Indiana University, Edmund Battersby. Prof. Battersby tragically passed away during my first year, and immediately after that I auditioned for Mr Pressler and became his student. Needless to say, it was a very intense and conflicted time for me, as I was grieving yet also starting one of the most exciting and inspiring periods in my musical education.

What was the biggest take-away from studying with Pressler?

Preparing a lesson with Menahem Pressler is like preparing for the most important performance of your life. His standards are incredibly high. When I started studying with him, he was already 94 but even at that age nothing escaped him. If my mental focus and musical commitment were not at 100%, he would instantly hear it and have me stop and try again. There was never any room for mindless playing – not even one bar! That meant that in the practice room beforehand, I also had to prepare myself mentally. My musical ideas had to be absolutely clear in my mind before playing for him. It could never just be about fingers. In fact, something Pressler could always catch right away, and that he really disliked, was a student trying to demonstrate technique without any artistic purpose, or playing with an inflated sense of ego. I learned a lot from that.

Mr. Pressler also frequently talks about love and beauty in his lessons. He infuses to his students a high sense of discipline and work ethic, combined with a deep and sincere love for the music we are playing. There is a somewhat spiritual dimension to it. To me, that was the greatest musical lesson possible. I will never forget it, and I carry his teaching with me every day.

Is there a noticeable difference or “style” between what you learned studying in France and the U.S.?

No, at least not from a purely musical standpoint. Music is music, and the piano teachers I encountered in America had often studied abroad or were not even American themselves. Of course, there were important differences which I felt mainly in how music schools are organized and structured in America versus France. In a way, this was more poignant for me as a teacher than as a student. When I had to teach piano or music theory for the first time in the US, the differences between two specific music school systems really hit me and it was a big adjustment. I have come to appreciate the pros and cons of both systems now, and I think that this awareness strengthens my teaching.

Why did you choose to record an all-Debussy album for your debut recording?

By the time I started thinking about recording a debut album, there was never any doubt as to what the repertoire would be. It was what felt the most personal and natural. Debussy had been one of my very favorite composers since I was child. I played a lot of selections from the Preludes and The Children’s Corner while growing up, and some of the repertoire featured on the album I played when I was fifteen. I was always drawn to both books of Images in particular and their evocative sound world, and L’Isle Joyeuse became my favorite “war horse” and featured on many of my recital programs for several years.

I focused on this repertoire during my studies in Strasbourg – during which I also wrote a Masters thesis on the same topic, “Debussy’s complete piano works of 1903-1907” – and it took a good five years of planning before I could finally go forward with a concrete recording project. And then of course, symbolically, playing this repertoire also made me feel even more connected to my teacher, since Pressler’s own career was launched at the Casadesus competition with an all-Debussy program.

In the liner notes of your album, you write that these works represent a turning point for Debussy. In what ways does his writing style change in this period?

Yes, to me, Estampes really marks the beginning of Debussy’s “second period” in his compositions for solo piano. I think one of the details that really stood out to me in all the pieces in this period 1903-1907 was, first and foremost, Debussy’s choice of titles.

Before Estampes, and with the exception of the Verlaine-ian title “Clair de Lune,” all of Debussy’s piano pieces bore names inherited from the Classical-Romantic era (Nocturne, Ballade, Valse, Mazurka, Tarentelle…), and his suites like the Suite Bergamasque and Pour le Piano seemed to allude to the Baroque period. But with Estampes and Images, we are suddenly transported into a new poetic landscape and sound world, with vivid and expressive titles like “Reflections in the water,” “Bells through the leaves,” or the long, beautiful and Haiku-esque “… And the moon descends on the old temple.”

I think the titles are already an indicator that Debussy is no longer nodding to the past, but looking toward a new century and inventing his own musical language – and, of course, I think you can hear it in the music. We are no longer in the Chabrier-inspired accompanied melodies and dances. Now we have pieces inspired by Asian and Spanish music, with floating, abstract motifs one could barely qualify as “themes”; long, sustained harmonies, the use of pentatonic and other modes; tremolo effects to emulate the sound of water… It’s a true revolution!

Tell me about the piano you recorded on. It’s incredible to hear the timbre of the instrument, which is noticeably different from a modern grand piano, and not quite the sound of the fortepianos of the mid 19th-century.

-How did you come across the piano?

At the time my mother was teaching in this little French town, Chateau-Thierry, and so that was how I came across the piano. The Steinway in question – an 1875 instrument – is in the chapel of the music conservatoire in Chateau-Thierry, northeast of Paris. It originally belonged to the French pianist Jean Wiéner. Chateau-Thierry is a very picturesque place, with the ruins of an old castle at the top of a hill.

An historical anecdote: an important battle took place there during World War I, which the French won with the help of the Americans. For that reason, the town still holds important ties with the United States. It was an interesting coincidence for a French-American such as myself.

-How is it different from a 21st century Steinway (in terms of playing, structure, etc.)

It was quite different. I loved the unique character of the instrument, its warmth and its depth. To me, the piano had a “soul,” and a sound that was less uniform perhaps than what a modern instrument would have offered. That being said, this Steinway could be very capricious (especially at the end of a long day of recording!) which required extra concentration from me in terms of evenness and overall control. It wasn’t a piano that would do that part for you, like most modern instruments can. But I think the sonic result was worth the challenge!

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
Request a copy of this CD

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.