Blog Entry
« Previous EntriesFrom the Faraway Nearby at the American Cathedral in Paris, July 10
Friday, June 20th, 2008
The Piano Duo Gastesi-Bezerra will give the Paris premiere of my suite of pieces for piano four-hands From the Faraway Nearby, inspired by paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe on March 13 at the American Cathedral in Paris on July 10.
Part of the concert series Les Arts Georges V, the concert program will also feature standard French works by Debussy and Poulenc and the French premieres of American works by Justin Rubin, Terry Winter Owens, and Marlene Woodward Cooper.
Putni and Tapestry premiere Duan Amhairghine at St. John’s Church in Riga, Latvia, June 13
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
The Boston-based and Riga-based women’s vocal ensembles Tapestry and Putni will come together for a concert evening featuring Baltic and Celtic music traditions, including the premiere of my Duan Amhairghine (Song of Amergin), a setting of a 12th century poem in old Irish Gaelic for violin, cello, percussion and the combined forces of Putni and Tapestry. The piece was commissioned for this concert by the VKKF (State Culture Capital Fund) of Latvia. The concert will take place on Friday, June 13 at 7PM at St. John’s Church in Riga, Latvia.
Other composers on the program include Robert Kyr and James Falzone. Guest performers include Shira Kammen (violin, USA), Ivars Bezprozvanovs (cello, Latvia)
and myself on percussion, playing the native Latvian shamanabunga for my piece and the doumbek on James Falzone’s Beri’ah.
The Boston-based TAPESTRY and the Latvian ensemble PUTNI are renowned not only for their vocal splendor, but also for their ambitious programming of traditional and contemporary works. The groups will sing separately and together in specially arranged selections, including new works composed by Latvian and American composers.
Manhattan Choral Ensemble premieres Lux Aeterna at Holy Trinity Church in NYC, June 6 & 7
Sunday, May 25th, 2008
The Manhattan Choral Ensemble, directed by Tom Cunningham, will premiere my Lux Aeterna as part of a concert featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff’s masterpiece, All-Night Vigil (more commonly known as his Vespers), at Holy Trinity Church (213 West 82nd St.) in New York City on June 6 and 7. Both concerts will take place at 8PM. Ticket are $15, $12 (students and seniors) and can be purchased via Paypal at the MCE website by clicking here. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.
The psalm texts of Vespers, one of the crowning achievements in Russian sacred music, are sung in the ancient Church Slavonic to music rooted in the traditional Znamenny chants of the Russian Orthodox Church, but infused with the transcendent romanticism of Rachmaninoff. This well-loved work features the famous Bogoroditse Devo and the hymn Rachmaninoff wished to have sung at his funeral, Nine otpushchayeshi. My Lux Aeterna, which uses portions of a Znammeny Communion Chant, was commissioned by MCE as part of their ongoing New Music for New York commissioning project, and was written specifically to complement this Vespers program. You can read more about how the piece developed here.
Ana Cervantes plays Murmuring in Comala at 19th Raritan River Music Festival in Clinton, New Jersey, May 31
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Pianist Ana Cervantes will close the 19th edition of the Raritan River Festival, USA on Saturday 31 May at 7:30PM in the Clinton Presbyterian Church in Clinton, NJ.
Joining her will be Mexican poet Lirio Garduño and New Jersey poet David Herrstrom, for a recital of music of Rumor de Páramo / Murmurs from the Wasteland. Rumor de Páramo is the international commissioning project, homage to landmark Mexican writer and photographer Juan Rulfo (1917-1986) in which Cervantes asked composers — from México, Spain, the USA, Great Britain and Brazil— for a solo piano piece inspired in Rulfo’s work. The result, over 3 years and 2 CDs, says Cervantes, is “a splendid body of 23 new works for the piano.” On the 31st, Garduño and Herrstrom will join the eloquent spoken word with the music it inspired, reading excerpts from Rulfo’s writing.
The concert will include my contribution to the project, Murmuring in Comala, as well as works by Federico Ibarra (México, 1946); Anne LeBaron (EUA, 1953); Arturo Márquez (México, 1950); Ramón Montes de Oca (México, 1953-2006); and Horacio Uribe (México, 1970).
Set fire to have light performed by members of the Griffin Ensemble in Liepāja, Latvia, May 31
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
The string quartet members of the Griffin Ensemble will perform my Set fire to have light at the Jazepa Cathedral in Liepāja, Latvia, on May 31 at 4PM as part of a program that will also include works by Haydn and Brahms. The quartet members, all musicians in the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, are Baiba Lasmane and Ginta Alžāne, Violins; Tatjana Borovika, Viola; and Dina Puķite, cello.
Moon of the Floating World performed by Cantala Women’s Choir at Lawrence University, May 30
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
The Cantala Women’s Choir of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music will perform my The Moon of the Floating World, an a cappella setting for women’s voices in eight parts of a haiku by Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693). Conducted by Phillip A. Swan, the choir will perform in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin on May 30 at 8PM.
Concerto for Chamber Orchestra to be Premiered by Westchester Chamber Orchestra on May 3 in New Rochelle, New York
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
My Concerto for Chamber Orchestra will be given its World Premiere performance by the Westchester Chamber Orchestra, Barry Charles Hoffman, founder and Artistic Director, on Saturday, May 3 at 8 PM. The Premiere will be given at Christopher J. Murphy Auditorium in the Murphy Science Building, corner of Summit and North Avenues, on the campus of Iona College in New Rochelle, New York.
The concert will also include the “Composers of the Future” showcase of children’s compositions from WCO’s collaboration with New Rochelle’s Songcatchers after-school program. In addition, the Orchestra will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major, op. 21. This concert series is sponsored in part by the Iona College Council on the Arts through the generosity of JoAnn and Joseph M. Murphy and the Baron Lambert Fund.
Tickets for the May 3 concert are $35 for general admission, $30 for seniors (65+) and $15 for students. For more information or tickets, call (914) 654-4WCO (4926), or e-mail info@westchesterchamberorchestra.org
The Westchester Chamber Orchestra is a fully professional orchestra, quickly becoming known in and outside of Westchester County for its first rate and inspiring performances, world class soloists, innovative programming and its World Premieres of meaningful new works it has commissioned. Now beginning its seventh season at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, the WCO was founded in 1984 by its Artistic Director, Barry Charles Hoffman. For many years the WCO gave its concerts at various sites throughout Westchester County and in 1994 began its association with Iona College.
The Lorelei Ensemble performs El Paso de la Siguiriya in Brookline and Wenham, Massachusetts on May 3 & 4
Sunday, April 20th, 2008
The women’s chamber choir, The Lorelei Ensemble, directed by Beth Willer, will give the U.S. premiere of my El Paso de la Seguiriya, a flamenco-inflected setting of the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, as part of a program of music of the Spanish Renaissance and new works on Spanish and English texts, at Brookline Parish in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 3rd at 4PM. The program includes Selections from Guerrero’s Canciones y Villanescas Espirituales, Victoria’s Duo Seraphim, and the premieres of Daniel Schlosberg’s El Sueno and
Haralabos Stafylakis’s Ubi Sunt. They will repeat the program at First Church in Wenham, Massachusetts on May 4th at 3PM.
Putni performs El Paso de la Seguiriya in Riga and Piņķi, April 27 & May 3
Sunday, April 20th, 2008
The women’s vocal ensemble Putni will perform my El Paso de la Seguiriya, a flamenco-inflected setting of the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, on Sunday, April 27 at 4PM at The Museum of Decorative Arts & Design, located at 10/20 Skārņu iela in Riga, and again at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Piņķi on May 3 at 6PM, as part of their program “Spanish Hour”.
From the Faraway Nearby at the Historic Waltham Abbey Church in Essex, April 26
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
The London-based Ivory Duo (Natalie Tsaldarakis and Panayotis Archontides) will perform my From the Faraway Nearby, a suite of six pieces inspired by paintings by the American painter Georgia O’Keeffe, at 12:30 on Saturday, April 26, at the Historic Waltham Abbey Church in Essex, just 16 miles north of London.