DMICS 2023 Program Booklet

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DEL MAR INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS SYMPOSIUM
DEL
PRESENTS JULY 31 - AUGUST 13, 2023
MAR, CALIFORNIA
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DMICS

Director's Welcome

DMICS: An International Festival On An Intimate Scale

Welcome to DMICS! I founded the Del Mar International Composers Symposium in 2019 to be a place where composers and performers could share ideas, learn from each other, and present their work in a beautiful environment and welcoming community. We present concerts of new music, including many pieces written specifically for the festival, and we hope to pull back the curtain from the creative process in order to let people see what it means to work creatively to express a new idea. Now in our fourth season, DMICS continues to present vital new works and give composers space to experiment and hone their vision. Alongside our concert series and other public events, we also host a program for student composers, where emerging composers can write for our ensembles-in-residence and learn from our esteemed guest composers.

From the beginning, DMICS has operated as a fiscally-sponsored program of the Del Mar Foundation. Our partnership has been mutually beneficial, as the Foundation has provided administrative and financial support to DMICS, while DMICS has helped to further the Foundation’s mission “to promote civic pride and cohesiveness … and sponsor diverse cultural programs and community events in Del Mar.” The Del Mar Foundation has generously awarded DMICS over $40,000 in community grants since our inauguration, and continues to provide oversight and ensure that our finances are professionally managed.

In four seasons, DMICS has welcomed over 50 composers to Del Mar, and we have programmed over 60 compositions on our concert series. We strive to present a diverse cohort of composers, and to ensure our programming reflects the growing diversity of the classical music community. At DMICS, fully 58% of the works we have presented have been composed by women and composers of color. We feel it is important to continue to present music by a diverse cohort of composers, particularly given our work in educating talented composers, for whom meeting and working with mentors from many perspectives and experiences is of profound importance. Our DMICS artist roster reflects the modern reality of growing diversity in new music.

DMICS is truly an international event. Our composers hail from countries around the world including Australia, China, Colombia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Despite our reach, we ground our work in local community.

Director's Welcome

2019 DMICS composition fellow Rachel Lanik Whelan described our approach: “DMICS was a reminder of the benefits of community. I was honored to share time with members of the Del Mar community, to share music and great conversation. There are music festivals all over the world in beautiful places, but not every festival has the sense of connection to a place as DMICS.”

DMICS is a place where we encourage our composers to experiment, hone, and polish their vision for new works. We have presented several world premieres, including Omar Surillo’s short opera “Graceland,” and Minho Yoon’s “Summer Rain Sketch” and Joseph Sowa’s “A Dance of Clouds and Stars” for string quartet. In addition to our world premiere events, dozens of works have been given their US or West Coast Premiere at DMICS. We also present works that are still in development, including excerpts from new operas by Meilina Tsui and Polina Nazaykinskaya, both of which have been commissioned by major opera companies (the Houston Grand Opera and the Mississippi Opera, respectively). Workshop presentations such as these give composers invaluable feedback before the official premiere, as well as providing our local audience with a first-in-the-world sneak peek at these new compositions in their earliest stages.

We invite you to join our family of supporters and support vital new music making! DMICS is a vibrant and growing community of composers, performers, and music lovers. Our reputation as a top destination for modern music artists continues to develop as more and more ensembles and composers learn about our program and hope to experience the beauty and community in Del Mar each summer. We are a sponsored program of the Del Mar Foundation (a 501(c)(3) organization) and as such, all donations made to DMICS are fully tax deductible. Gifts can be made via check (payable to Del Mar Foundation), or online at delmarcomposers.org/support-dmics/.

Thank you for your interest in new classical music and in what we do as artists. We hope to see you at more DMICS events in the near future!

Sincerely,

CONCERT PROGRAMS

DMICS SEASON 4

OPENING CONCERT: GLOBAL EXPRESSIONS

KONSTANTIN SOUKHOVETSKI: PRIDE AND PREMIERES

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S U P P O R T D M I C S

LEAD SPONSOR ($20,000+) THE DEL MAR FOUNDATION

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Our 2023 Faculty and Staff

Learn more by clicking their names

FACULTY:

PolinaNazaykinskaya ,

TexuKim ,

JosephSowa .

DomenicSalerni

STAFF:

Jordan Kuspa ,

Carron Martin ,

Alexis Boucugnani

INTERNS:

Alexis Olaes ,

Georgia Phipps

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About DMICS

The Del Mar International Composers Symposium exists to encourage the sharing of new musical ideas between composers, performers, and the community, and to present the best new concert music from around the world in the City of Del Mar. Having enjoyed numerous experiences as a fellow at composition festivals and residencies around the world, Kuspa saw the potential to create a unique program in his hometown of Del Mar, CA, that combines the best features of these programs.

In particular, the Del Mar International Composers Symposium is designed to allow composers and performers a space to collaborate intimately on the creation and presentation of new works, while inviting the public to experience that process first-hand. DMICS seeks to make the creative process accessible and tangible to the community through open rehearsals, concerts, and question and answer sessions with the symposium participants. Attendees at these events will be able to witness the interactions between composers and performers that go into the development of new music, and will be able to speak with the artists about the creative process. Key to this process is our ability to draw on the talent of some of San Diego’s most esteemed musicians.

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About DEl Mar Foundation

As Del Mar’s oldest 501(c)(3) non-profit, the Del Mar Foundation sponsors programs, makes grants, and manages over $5,000,000 in endowment funds to benefit the community and the San Dieguito Lagoon. The community endowment provides long-term funding stability for community needs.

Best known for our Summer Twilight concerts, First Thursdays cultural arts series, and children’s events such as the Easter Egg Hunt and 4th of July Parade, the Foundation sponsors a wide array of community programs. The Foundation also provides financial support to community organizations and projects. Over the years, the Foundation has also served as an incubator or fiscal sponsor for many of the present day nonprofits that so greatly enrich our community.

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About Our director

Jordan Kuspa’s music has been praised in the New York Times as “animated and melodically opulent” and “consistently alive and inspired.” His works juxtapose a bristling rhythmic drive with expansive textures and sinuously interwoven counterpoint. Explorative and eclectic, Kuspa’s music encompasses intricate motivic developments, carefully-wrought formal structures, and unexpected detours of wit and whimsy.

His compositions have been performed by ensembles such as the Pittsburgh Symphony, New World Symphony, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, Yale Camerata, 21st Century Consort, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Choral Arts Initiative, Ensemble SurPlus, Quartetto Indaco, Quartet Metadata, loadbang, Sandbox Percussion, and Trio Fibonacci, in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Oper Leipzig, and he has been a composition fellow at programs including the Aspen Music Festival, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Intimacy of Creativity, June in Buffalo, and MusicX. Kuspa’s music has won honors from ASCAP, the American Composers Orchestra, the Foundation for Modern Music, the Garth Newel Music Center, the Lake George Music Festival, the League of Composers, and the National Association of Composers–USA.

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About Our director

Kuspa is the Founding Director of the Del Mar International Composers Symposium, which presents a week-long new music festival to encourage the sharing of new musical ideas between composers, performers, and the community in Del Mar, California. Kuspa's commitment to building community through musical expression is a longstanding feature of his creative work. At age 16, Kuspa founded the Houston Young Musicians, a group that sought to broaden interest in classical music among new listeners as well as promote the works of American and other contemporary composers. He was also co-founder and Artistic Director of the Sonus Chamber Music Society, an organization that presented an interactive concert series in the Houston museum district. Kuspa continued his community engagement work in schools across Connecticut as an artist teacher in the Yale Music in Schools program, leading projects that included interdisciplinary collaborations with students in writing, drama, filmmaking, and visual arts. He currently is a Teaching Artist for the San Diego Youth Symphony's Community Opus program in Chula Vista.

Kuspa earned his Doctor of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music and also studied at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. From 2012-2017 he served on the faculty of Richland College in Dallas, where he taught composition, music theory, and cello, and directed the Richland String Orchestra. Kuspa is currently adjunct faculty at MiraCosta College and has also served as Composer-in-Residence with Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet.

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About Carron Martin

Since relocating to San Diego in 2016 from her native Chicago, soprano Carron Martin has enriched local arts organizations with her stellar musicianship as well as her expertise in arts administration. She regularly sings with top ensembles such as San Diego Pro Arte Voices and SACRA/PROFANA. Carron serves as Program Manager for the Del Mar International Composers Symposium and as Operations Coordinator for the San Diego Master Chorale. Recent performances include singing the soprano solos in Handel’s Messiah with both San Diego Master Chorale and San Diego Baroque. When she is not singing or serving as an arts administrator, Carron works as a Financial Consultant for Workday. She also particularly enjoys exploring the local wineries of San Diego county with her puppy, Maia June.

About Alexis Boucugnani

Alexis Boucugnani is a New Media Consultant, Actor, and Vocalist based out of Boston, Massachusettes. Her passion for storytelling through all mediums has guided her work. In the Contemporary Classical Music Sphere, She has worked with Hinge Ensemble, Abstraction Music Group, Boulanger Initiative, Composers Derek David and Stratis Minakakis in Various Marketing Roles. She works collaboratively with Musicians and Arts Groups to digitally tell the story of their artistry. As a performer, she has had the opportunity to premiere new works in Opera, New Music, Musical Theater, and Immersive Theater. She has studied at Longy School of Music in Voice, and is currently continuing her studies at New England Conservatory in Contemporary Musical Arts. She has worked as a Historical Interpreter in Florida and Boston for many years, delving into the oft-forgotten histories of Hispanic and Immigrant Women. In her free time, she is a member of the Full Body Cast, Boston's Shadow Cast for Rocky Horror Picture Show, and enjoys rooting for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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About Polina Nazaykinskaya

The music of an award-winning composer Polina Nazaykinskaya has become a staple of orchestral, chamber, and solo repertory in the United States, Russia, and Europe. Her first symphonic poem, "Winter Bells," is in high demand every season by orchestras such as the Minnesota Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra, among others.

In the 2022-2023 concert season, Polina's orchestral music will be performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Pensacola Symphony, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, and New Britain Symphony Orchestra. In April 2023 Ms. Nazaykinskaya's new ballet "They Shut Me Up in Prose" will be premiered at the Gerald Lynch Theater in New York. In July 2023, Ms. Nazaykinskaya's new chamber opera, "Her New Home" will premiered at the Garth Newel Center. The 2021-2022 season highlights included the premiere of two new ballets, "The Rising" and "Encounters," performed by the San Francisco Ballet and MorDance in New York City.Polina's collaborators include internationally renowned choreographers Pascal Rioult, Yuri Possokhov, Jonah Bokaer, Morgan McEwen, and Ulyana Bochernikova.

Polina works closely with the world's leading conductors, such as Osmo Vänskä, Teodor Currentzis, Fabio Mastrangelo, Sarah Hicks, Toshiyuki Shimada, Lawrence Loh, and Hannu Lintu. Polina's compositions are actively performed by internationally acclaimed soloists such as trombonist R. Douglas Wright, violinist Elena Korzhenevich, and pianist Anton Nel. With her larger chamber music works, Polina frequently turns to the tragedy of humanity's collective history, in particular, the Holocaust. Her work "Haim" is performed annually around the world and has become an important ensemble composition of the second decade of the 21st century.

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About Polina Nazaykinskaya

Starting in the Fall of 2021, Polina was named the Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor of the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras. Prior to her current position, she led The British Youth Music Theatre, RIOULT Dance NY, The University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra, and The Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Over the past decade, Polina formed a creative alliance with an award-winning pianist and librettist, Konstantin Soukhovetski, with whom they have premiered many works of diverse genres, from solo piano to ballets. Currently, they are working on an opera commissioned by Opera Mississippi to commemorate the company's 75th anniversary and to be premiered in 2023.

Polina's musical language embodies the diversity of multicultural education. She graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory College in Moscow as a composition/violin double major, studying with Konstantin Batashov and Vladimir Ivanov, respectively. Polina earned her Masters' and Artist Diploma in composition at the Yale School of Music with Christopher Theofanidis and Ezra Laderman. Currently, Polina is a Doctorate Candidate at The Graduate Center CUNY under the mentorship of Tania León.

Many of Polina's honors and awards include the Charles Ives Scholarship from The American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Polina is an Adjunct Lecturer of Composition at Brooklyn College Conservatory and a Teaching Artist at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven.

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About Texu Kim 김택수

Texu Kim (b.1980) is “one of the most active and visible composers of his generation” (San Francisco Classical Voice), writing music that’s fun, sophisticated, and culturally connected. Drawing on his personal affinity for humor, his background in science, and his fascination with everyday experiences, Kim’s work radiates positivity, offering “major-league cuteness” (Broadway World) while demonstrating “surprising scope.” (San Diego Story) As a Korean-American, Kim explores the localization of imported traditions, incorporating cross-cultural elements into his work in “impressive and special” ways so that “many orchestras and conductors around the world are taking an interest in [his] music.” (KPBS) By highlighting the interaction between folk culture and external influences, Kim creates meaningful depth while maintaining a signature playfulness and exuberance that is listenerfriendly and engaging. Characterized by “exuberant, colorful washes of sound… punchy bass lines, snappy brass fanfares, and suave... solos” (San Diego Story), Kim’s music is at times “explosively virtuosic” (Wall Street Journal) but always uplifting and rewarding for both listeners and performers.

Kim’s work has enjoyed an impressive international performance history from a roster of top orchestras and ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the San Diego Symphony, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Korea, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Reconsil Vienna, New York Classical Players, Ensemble 212, AsianArt Ensemble Berlin, Ensemble Mise-en, Fear No Music, Ensemble TIMF, Northwestern University New Music Ensemble, Indiana University New Music Ensemble, C4: Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, NOTUS, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the Verona Quartet, and more. Having served as the Composer-in-Residence of the Korean Symphony Orchestra (2014-18), Kim has appeared at Yeowoorak Festival, Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, PyeongChang Music Festival and School, Bruckner Festival, SONiC Festival, Mizzou International Composers Festival, June in Buffalo, Aspen Music Festival, SCI National Conferences, Composers Conference, and Oregon Bach Festival. The Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games and the Piece & Piano Festival featured Kim’s balanced and well-crafted arrangements, which may also be heard on numerous commercial albums.

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About Texu Kim 김택수

A frequent collaborator with choreographers, filmmakers, and educators, Kim has received awards and honors from the Barlow Prize, American Modern Ensemble, Copland House, SCI/ASCAP, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and Isang Yun International Composition Prize, to name a few, in addition to winning a Silver Medal in the 1998 International Chemistry Olympiad (Melbourne, Australia).

Kim’s recent/upcoming projects include the world premiere of fffanfare!! commissioned by the San Francisco Opera in September 2022; performances of Dub-Sanjo by the Korean National Symphony Orchestra during their Europe tour in October 2022; the world premiere of Ritus Sanitatem by the Verona Quartet in March 2023, cocommissioned by Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Austin with support of the Kahng Foundation and for the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in honor of its 2023 centennial with support from the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series Endowment; the world premiere of Welcome Home!! by the San Diego Symphony (also a part of the California Festival) in November 2023; and Līlā commissioned by the Barlow Endowment that will be performed in 2024 by Alarm Will Sound, the London Sinfonietta, the Oakland Symphony, and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

An associate professor of music at San Diego State University, Kim formerly taught at Syracuse University, Portland State University, and Lewis & Clark College. Kim is the Artist-of-the-Year of the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra and the director of the Korean Symphony Orchestra’s Composers’ Atelier program, educating and commissioning up-and-coming composers; he has also served as co-director of Ensemble 212’s ‘New Music for Young Audience’ series, and acted as a curator and board member for the Korean Cultural Society of Boston’s ‘New Music Symposium.’ Having earned his D.M. from Indiana University and prior degrees from Seoul National University, Kim’s greatest mentors include Unsuk Chin, David Dzubay, Sven-David Sandstrom, Claude Baker, and Sangjick Jun. (Bio by Aligned Artistry)

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About Domenic Salerni

Domenic Salerni is a violinist, composer, arranger, and teacher. A member of the multiple GRAMMY© Award-winning Attacca Quartet, Domenic is based in Brooklyn, NY. As a musician with wide-ranging interests, Domenic is always excited to collaborate with creatives from all walks of life.

Recently, Attacca Quartet was featured on Sylvan Esso’s “Live from Electric Lady,” playing arrangements by Gabriel Kahane including “Will the Night,” a tune by the late Mimi Parker of the band Low. In addition to a busy touring schedule including appearances at Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, Kings Place, London, the Amsterdam Strijkkwartet Biënnale, the Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, and the Petit Palau de la Musica, Barcelona this season, Attacca looks forward to performing this summer at the Ojai Festival, Kronos Quartet Festival in San Francisco, and an appearance at Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center made possible by Carnegie Hall.

Last summer, Domenic and the rest of his quartet mates were asked to compose original music for the podcast “The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome” produced by Project Brazen and Goat Rodeo Productions.

Domenic looks forward to the premiere of his Piano Trio No. 2 “Elegiac” based on Ukrainian themes at Richmond, Virginia’s newest chamber music series, The Belvedere Series, in April. In August, he will join the Palaver Strings at the Screen Door Festival in Maine, where he will perform his own original arrangements of 60s Civil Rights Era protest songs (The Freedom Singers, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger, and more) with tenor Nicholas Phan. This set of songs will be recorded by Palaver with engineer Alan Bise on Azica Records in September.

In the summer of 2021, Domenic’s first string quartet, “Trilobites,” after a short story by Breece D J Pancake, was premiered at the inaugural Appalachian Chamber Music Festival in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

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About Domenic Salerni

c was the first violinist of the Dalí Quartet from 2016-2020, where he collaborated extensively with musicians like Ricardo Morales and Olga Kern. The Dalí Quartet recorded the Brahms and Shostakovich piano quintets with Kern for Delos Records in 2019. With the Dalí Quartet, Domenic was a recipient of the Atlanta Symphony Talent Development Program’s 2019 Aspire Award.

As a guest artist of the Chiarina Chamber Players, Domenic was a recipient of a 2020 Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant for the song cycle “The Best Cuisine” by Carlos Simon, which was premiered with guest bass-baritone Carl DuPont in 2021.

In 2020, as part of his response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Domenic helped set up the Philadelphia Musicians Relief Fund which has since raised over $100,000 in aid and continues to provide support for Philadelphia area musicians.

In 2010, while a graduate student at the Yale School of Music, Domenic composed and performed an original film accompaniment to the first full-length Italian feature film, Giuseppe De Liguoro’s “Dante’s Inferno” (1911). Domenic holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Yale School of Music, where he was a winner of the 2010 Yale Chamber Music Society Award.

Domenic can be found on albums released by Nonesuch Records, Sony Classical, Better Company Records, Loma Vista Recordings, Delos Music, Artek and his more experimental projects can be found on Bandcamp.

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About Joseph Sowa

Joseph Sowa grew up playing violin, listening to orchestral broadcasts on NPR, and geeking out on the film music of John Williams, James Horner and others. Surrounded by these sounds, Joseph wanted to make more of them.

His concert works have been played across Europe and the US, including performances by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, the PRISM Quartet, Hub New Music, Collage New Music, the Genesis Chamber Singers, the Lydian String Quartet, and many others. He has been commissioned by performers including Hub New Music, the Awea Duo, the Tower Duo, the Genesis Chamber Singers, Douglas Bush, Carolyn Hove, Neil Thornock, and Arianna Tieghi as well as foundations including the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the Laycock Endowment for Creative Collaboration in the Arts. His piece Motion Lines was recorded by the PRISM Quartet on their album Surfaces and Essences.

Joseph’s sacred music, including originals and arrangements, has been performed in congregations across the United States and in London. His arrangement of “For the Beauty of the Earth” was recorded by soprano Charity Tillemann-Dick on her album American Grace, which debuted no. 1 on the Billboard® “Traditional Classical” chart.

Joseph received his PhD in music composition and theory from Brandeis University. As founder of the Wizarding School for Composers, he teaches live, online courses in music composition. As a scholar and clinician, he has recently presented at the Midwest Clinic and Teaching Composition: A Symposium on Composition Pedagogy. He has also been faculty on the Del Mar International Composers Symposium and the Music Creators Academy. He co-designed and co-taught the class “Star Wars: How Long Ago? How Far Away?” and dreams of writing a piece for tuba ensemble.

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OPENING CONCERT:

GLOBAL EXPRESSIONS

Emily (2023, arr. for cello and piano, Premiere) by Polina Nazaykinskaya

I. Vivo (piano solo)

II. Dotted Quarter Note = 70

III. Agitato

IV. Moderato

V. Grave

Sonata Amabile (2020, US Premiere) by Texu Kim

I. Kki

II. Mo

III. Mu - Intermission

Trio Elegiac (2023, workshop premiere) by Domenic Salerni

I. Introit (a la Amtrak)

II. Scene

III. Intermezzo I

IV. The Suffering Mother, or Three Women of Bucha

V. Intermezzo II

VI. Noir

VII. Nacht

Hat Trick (2019, West Coast Premiere) by Jordan Kuspa

DMICS SEASON 4
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A U G U S T 3 , 7 : 3 0 P M P A R I S H H A L L , S T . P E T E R ’ S E P I S C O P A L C H U R C H TABLE OF CONTENTS

About Domenic Salerni

About Emily Hu

Emily Hu is a native Seattleite who believes that music is best enjoyed among friends and loved ones. She enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral cellist, chamber musician, and recitalist, performing regularly with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and the 5th Avenue Theater, as well as with her duo partner of twenty years, pianist Thomas Lee. She is a former member of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and has appeared at the Oregon Bach Festival and the Bellingham Festival of Music, along with many other ensembles throughout the Pacific Northwest and across the country. Emily is happiest as a chamber musician and has collaborated in recital with artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, and Alban Gerhardt, but her favorite collaborators are the extraordinary local artists that she’s lucky enough to count as members of the Nightjar family. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where she studied with Norman Fischer, and a Master’s degree from Northwestern University, where she was a student of Hans Jorgen Jensen. She splits her time between West Seattle and Queens, New York, and is an avid cook, dedicated weight lifter, fair-weather hiker, and latenight Netflix marathoner.

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About Jessica Xylina Osbourne

Pianist Jessica Xylina Osborne is a passionate performer, collaborator, and educator. Hailed by the Washington Post as “a pianist with a refreshing mellowness and poetic touch,” Jessica pursues ambitious projects that reflect creativity in programming, with the goal of bringing awareness to social justice issues. She enjoys presenting programs that pair well- known audience favorites with music being written today, in addition to performing works written by composers who have historically been overlooked or marginalized within the classical music canon. Jessica has regularly performed with some of the classical music world’s biggest stars, including Hilary Hahn, Ani Kavafian, and Timothy Eddy, among many others. In addition to performing at some of the world’s top concert halls including Carnegie Hall, the Seoul Arts Center, and the Kennedy Center—she has had the opportunity to perform at many of the world’s most unique and interesting venues: some of her favorites include the Walton Gardens in Ischia, Italy; the Louvre Museum in Paris; and the Folly Theater in Kansas City. Jessica received her bachelor of music degree in piano performance from the Juilliard School and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; her master of music degree from Rice University Shepherd School of Music; and her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale School of Music. Her teachers and mentors include her mother Patricia Osborne, Dr. Marjorie Lee, Seymour Lipkin, Emile Naoumoff, Jon Kimura Parker, and Claude Frank.

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SOUKHOVETSKI: PRIDE AND PREMIERES

AUGUST 7, 7:30 PM

PARISH HALL, ST. PETER’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Flow and Composition (2021)

Nana’s Waltz (2020, World Premiere)

Two Pieces for Piano (West Coast Premieres) by Jordan Kuspa

On the Rocks (2014)

Aftermath (2008)

Sparks (2018) by Polina Nazaykinskaya -

Intermission -

The Pride Suite* (2023, West Coast Premiere) by Konstantin Soukhovetski

I. Red: Apps Tango

II. Yellow: Life

III. Green: Origin

IV. Purple: Incantation

V. Blue: Loss

VI. Orange: A New Life

KONSTANTIN
*Commissioned by the ProtoStar Group
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About Konstantin Soukhovetski

“Konstantin Soukhovetski is rapidly earning a reputation as a “young pianist who captivates” with his “distinctive lyricism”, “immaculate technique” and “vigor...refinement... and drama” The New York Times 2019 Innovation Award Winner from Music Academy Of The West, pianist, composer, librettist, and actor Konstantin Soukhovetski is an artist of singular vision bringing theater and music together while bridging classical and popular genres. This season, Konstantin premiered SPARKS, a composition created for him by award-winning composer, Polina Nazaykinskaya, and has appeared with Musimelange and the musicians of the New World Symphony in Miami, FL. Konstantin also gave world the premiere and recorded a new ballet by Ms. Nazaykinskaya, “Nostalgia,” choreographed by Pascal Rioult of Rioult Dance at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Konstantin has appeared as an actor on both theater stage and film and is currently producing realitywebisodes The Real Pianists Of The Hamptons at Pianofest in The Hamptons where he has been Artist-in-Residence since 2011. Konstantin is a recipient of over 15 awards and is an alumnus of The Juilliard School where he has earned his BM, MM, and AD degrees under the tutelage of Jerome Lowenthal. In 2020 Konstantin joined the adjunct faculty of his alma mater. In 2022 Konstantin was named Director of Pedagogy and Narrative Musicianship at Bronx School For Music. Born in Moscow to a family of artists he studied at the Moscow Central Special Music School, under the auspices of the Moscow State Conservatory, with Anatoly Ryabov.

FB & IG: @therockstarpianist www.konstantinthepianist.com

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About "Pride Suite"

"The Pride Suite is a project that is very important to me. As a gay man and a composer/pianist, I wanted to create a piano work that would be intertwined with the queer identity. To me, it is important not to separate the personal life from the professional output but rather synergize them into a living, breathing, authentic story. Having written music for others, I wanted to find the right kind of concept to write a piece for myself. I wanted to tell my story and create a metaphor. To my utter surprise, I discovered that there isn’t a piano work for our flag – so I settled on the standard 6-color flag. There is a metaphor for each color and personal to me: Orange is re-birth, luminosity; Blue – drama, sadness; Red – sex, passion, relationships; Purple – royal (the kind of majesty seldom bestowed upon LGBTQ+ folks). Each color is accompanied by a short poem, which can be read out loud, printed in the program, or projected. The six pieces can be played in any order. Pride Suite offers absolute freedom of expression of a performer’s personality. The pianist makes his/her own rainbow, tells his/her own story. Some have real stories and humor in them like “Red: Grindr Tango” — when partners are switching and, depending on the match or mismatch, the hands are in either the same key or in bi-tonality. There is a thematic DNA that weaves through the Suite, a leitmotif of love that starts with sexy Tango and ends up in the heartbreak of Blue. Across the colors, there is a search, hope, love, loss, and rebirth. Having lost my boyfriend to cancer a few years ago, those things are on my mind, in my experiences."

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HUB NEW MUSIC

Pedazos intermitentes de un lugar ya fragmentado (2022) by

Mountain Air (2018, arr. 2023 Premiere)

Wild and Ferocious Plants (2009, arr. 2023 Premiere)

Lines of acid dreams (2022) by James Díaz

Coruxa en Carbayu (2016, arr. 2023 Premiere)

What If We're Beautiful (2023)

I. Song for L.H.

II. Prelude for J.W. & K.H.

III. Anthem for M.M.

IV. Arietta for M.A.

V. Verses for A.I. and H.R.

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About Hub New Music, Ensemble in residence

Called “con oston Globe, Hub New Music–composed of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello–is forging new pathways in 21st-century repertoire. The ensemble’s ambitious commissioning projects and “appealing programs” (New Yorker) celebrate the rich diversity of today’s classical music landscape. Its performances have been described as “gobsmacking” (Cleveland Classical), “innovative” (WBUR), and “the cutting edge of new classical music” (Taos News). Hub’s 202122 highlights include concerts presented by the Morgan Library and Museum, Celebrity Series of Boston, Seattle Symphony, Soka Performing Arts Center, and Williams Center for the Performing Arts. Season residencies include visits to Baylor, Portland State, Illinois State, and Georgetown universities. The coming season brings premieres of new works by Nathalie Joachim, Laura Kaminsky, and Nina C. Young. In fall 2021, the Library of Congress presented the “virtual premiere” of Hub’s collaboration with composer Carlos Simon, Requiem for the Enslaved, which will tour in 2022-23. Simon’s large-scale work honors the lives of 272 slaves sold by Georgetown University (where Simon serves on the faculty) in 1838, and features spoken-word artist Marco Pavé, trumpeter Jared Bailey, and Simon on piano.

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About Hub New Music,

Ensemble-in-residence

Hub’s debut album, Soul House, released on New Amsterdam Records in 2020 was called “ingenious and unequivocally gorgeous” by the Boston Globe. The ensemble’s upcoming recording with Silkroad’s Kojiro Umezaki (shakuhachi) and Asia-America New Music Institute (AANMI) will be released on Tōrō Records in 2022. Other upcoming recording projects include Carlos Simon’s Requiem for the Enslaved, and Michael Ippolito’s abstract-expressionist inspired work, Capriccio. The group will also be featured on Eric Nathan’s portrait album, Missing Words, to be released on New Focus Recordings. Hub New Music is a group of passionate educators whose approach to teaching melds the artistic and entrepreneurial facets of modern musicianship. The ensemble was recently in residence with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Nancy and Barry Sanders Composer Fellowship program, working with 10 outstanding high school aged composers. Other residency activities include those at New England Conservatory, Princeton, Harvard, University of Michigan, University of Texas-Austin, UC Irvine, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2021/22 the ensemble continues its K-12 program, HubLab, that uses graphic scores and improvisation to create group compositions with students of all levels. Hub New Music owes thanks to its supporters including Chamber Music America, the Cricket Foundation, Boston Cultural Council, the Florence & Joseph Mandel Family Foundation, Johnstone Fund for New Music, Amphion Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and Alice M. Ditson Fund for Contemporary Music at Columbia University. The ensemble’s name is inspired by its founding city of Boston’s reputation as a hub of innovation.

Hub New Music is exclusively represented by Unfinished Side.

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DMICS PRESENTS: A NIGHT OF NEW OPERA

Arirang the Love Sonata (2019) by Texu Kim (traditional Korean song)

Scenes from “Tear Down this Wall” (2023) by Polina Nazaykinskaya (libretto by Konstantin Soukhovetski) - Intermission -

In Praise of Songs that Die (2011) by Joseph Sowa (text by Vachel Lindsay)

Songs on Sasso (2006) by Michael Remson (texts by Laurence Sasso)

I. Why Love Is Like the Snow

II. Harvesting the Inner Garden

Scene from Act III of “The Importance of Being Earnest” (2023) by Jordan Kuspa (libretto by Jordan Kuspa, based on the play by Oscar Wilde)

A U G U S T 1 2 , 7 : 3 0 P M P A R I S H H A L L , S T . P E T E R ’ S E P I S C O P A L C H U R C H TABLE OF CONTENTS

About Tasha Koontz, Soprano

Native Hawaiian soprano Tasha Hokuao Koontz has lent her “accurate, powerful voice” (Broadway World) to a gallery of leading operatic ladies and has been recognized by Parterre Box for her “sumptuous, gleaming lyric instrument” and by Opera Wire for her “secure silvery high notes.” In 2023 she returned to San Diego Opera to perform the roles of Nella in Gianni Schicchi and Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica.

A company favorite, Koontz debuted with San Diego Opera as Annina in La Traviata in 2017, and subsequently performed the roles of Edith in Pirates of Penzance, Frasquita in Carmen and High Priestess in Aïda, and covered the role of Mimì in La Bohème sung by Ana Maria Martinez. She also sang the role of Catrina in a 2019 workshop performance of El último sueño de Frida y Diego, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz and Latin GRAMMY® Awardwinning composer Gabriela Lena Frank. Ms. Koontz subsequently originated the role of Frida Image 1 in the world premiere performances of Frank’s opera in 2022. In San Diego Opera’s 2021 concert entitled, “One Amazing Night,” Koontz “wowed with a knockout performance” (San Diego Union Tribune)Other 2023 performances include a debut with the Camarada Chamber

Ensemble singing Brahms Op.91 Zwei Gesänge and Bach Cantata BWV 209, the Brahms Requiem with the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, the Rachmaninov Vocalise and Poulenc Gloria with the Helena Symphony, and the world premiere of a two person chamber opera written by composer Polina Nazaykinskaya and librettist Konstanin

Soukhovetski with the prestigious Garth Newel Piano Quartet at the Garth Newel Summer Festival.

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About Tasha Koontz, Soprano

Ms.Koontz returned to San Diego Symphony in 2022 to sing selections from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt under Conductor Laureate Jahja Ling as well as to cover the soprano solos in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Ms. Koontz also had the honor of being invited to participate in a master class led by esteemed conductor Riccardo Muti of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra singing selections from Un Ballo in Maschera. Other 2022 performance highlights include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Glacier Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the San Diego Festival chorus & Orchestra as well as the Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Schubert’s Mass in G with the San Diego Festival Chorus & Orchestra, and a concert performance of Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Fortissima Collective. In 2019, Koontz made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to great acclaim, bringing her “fulsome, penetrating soprano voice” and “unflappable poise” (Chicago Sun Times) to the role of High Priestess in Verdi’s Aïda under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Muti. Koontz returned to the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus in 2023 in performances of Brahms’ Requiem in 2023. There, she has previously been seen as a soloist in Bach’s Cantata No. 106, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Additional roles and houses on Koontz’s résumé include Violetta in La Traviata and Mimì in La Bohème with Opera on the Avalon, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Bay View Music Festival, Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Central City Opera, Alice Ford in Falstaff with Indiana University Opera Theater and with /kor/ Productions in Chicago, Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro with Northwestern University, and Woman 1 in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with Sugar Creek Opera. She also performed the role of Violetta in La Traviata in a production with the Fortissima Collective, an organization Koontz co-founded in 2021 to create performance opportunities for women and artists from underrepresented communities in Southern California.

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About Katherine Polit Soprano

Hailed by Opera News as “vibrant,” American soprano Katherine Polit is quickly gaining recognition on the concert and operatic stage. Her most recent performances include Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with the Helena Symphony, Pamina in The Magic Flute with Pacific Symphony, Vivaldi’s Gloria at Lincoln Center and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with the Owensboro Symphony. She has also been featured with Virgina Opera, Opera Naples, Opera Louisiane, Ohio Light Opera, Charlotte Symphony, Opera Naples, La Jolla Symphony, and Charlottesville Opera. Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Musetta (La Bohème), Nannetta (Falstaff), Clorinda (Rossini’s Cinderella), Fiona (Brigadoon), and Rose Maybud (Ruddigore), and Papagena in (Die Zauberflöte) are among her notable roles. Accolades include being chosen as a finalist in both the Rochester Idol Competition and the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Competition. Katherine completed her Doctor of Music in Vocal Literature and Performance at Indiana University. She received recognition for her excellence in recital with a Performer’s Certificate and took part in projects with IU’s Early Music Institute and The Bloomington Bach Cantata Project. She holds a Master of Music in Opera Performance from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Humanities and Arts from Carnegie Mellon University.

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About Dongwhi Tony Baek (백동휘)

Tenor

Tenor Dongwhi Baek, originally from South Korea, recently played a role of Gheraldo from Gianni Schicchi with San Diego Opera, and Muciacio from El ultimo sueńo de Frida y Diego. He also was seen as Prince Ramiro from Cinderella – Opera for Kids with Pacific Symphony. In 2022, he worked with Del Mar International Composers Symposium and he is very much pleased to work with them again this year. In December 2022, Mr. Baek placed a finalist in Palm Spring Opera Guild Competition.

Mr. Baek holds a Performance Studies Certificate in Opera Performance from Boston University Opera Institute where he appeared as Tom Rakewell from The Rake’s Progress. With Opera Institute, he prepared the role of Tito Vespasian from La Clemenza di Tito before pandemic. Other notable stage credits include Jimmy O’Keefe (Later the Same Evening), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Schoolmaster (The Cunning Little Vixen), Detective Thibodeau (Dolores Claiborne), Alfredo (La Traviata), Albace (Idomeneo), and Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi).

Equally adept at concert, he was appeared as a tenor soloist with Boston Pop Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony in Bach’s Cantata 150, and Bach B minor mass with CCM Philharmonia. Mr. Baek holds a M.M. in Vocal Performance from University of Cincinnati under tutelage of William McGraw and a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Chapman University where he studied with Patrick Goeser.

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About Brandon Morales

Bass-Baritone

Brandon Morales, Bass-Baritone and 2nd year member of the Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist Program at Arizona Opera has performed with opera companies all over the US - stretching from the Pacific northwest’s Portland Opera to Virginia Opera on the East coast. Morales has recently completed two years with Virginia Opera’s Heardon Foundation Emerging Artist’s Program with highlights including Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jose Castro/Billy Jackrabbit in La Fanciulla del West, and the Mother in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins. A graduate of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, he has been highly active in the Ohio area performing with Dayton Opera, NANO Works, Cincinnati Chamber Opera, Queen City Chamber Opera, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Cincinnati Opera, participated in Toledo Opera’s Resident Artist program, and performed the roles of Friedrich von Telramund in Lohengrin and the Dutchman in Die Fliegende Holländer in concert with the Wagner Society of Cincinnati, where he is a part of their blooming Wagner studio. A native of San Antonio, TX, Morales currently enjoys the vagabond life of performing, but misses his faithful cat, Elsie.

About Michael Sokol Baritone

Baritone Michael Sokol has had great success in opera and music theatre here in the United States and in Europe, in venues from the Metropolitan Opera, to the Philadelphia Orchestra, to Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Mr. Sokol grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where as a child he was a member of the Phoenix Boys Choir for many years. He received his university degrees from Arizona State University, the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and Northwestern University. As a performer in theatre and opera, he has performed roles from Mozart's, Count in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Marcello in LA BOHEME Henry Higgins in Lerner and Loewe's MY FAIR LADY.

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About Michael Sokol Baritone

Very active in the creation of new music theatre, he created the role of Frank Lloyd Wright in the world premiere of Darren Hagen and Paul Muldoon's opera SHINING BROW, directed by Stephen Wadsworth and the role of the Magician in the American premiere of Stephen Oliver's MARIO AND THE MAGICIAN, directed by Francesca Zambello. An expert in the comic masterpieces of Gilbert and Sullivan and Offenbach, he has appeared in and directed over 17 of their respective works. Most recently he was seen with San Diego Opera singing in ONE AMAZING NIGHT and IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. He is a respected pedagogue and teacher in San Diego and is proud of his association with SDSU, PLNU, Grossmont College, Canyon Crest Academy and Visionary Dance La Mesa.

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About Michael Remson

Michael Remson enjoys a diverse career as a working artist, arts educator and arts administrator/advocate. As composer and librettist, Dr. Remson has a long-standing relationship with Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival, who have staged four of his operas: Mimi’s Perfect Day (2022), Three Skeleton Key (2016), Clever Gretel (2011 and Sorry Wrong Number (2010). Other operas have also been performed at Abilene Collegiate Opera, DePauw University Opera, Texas Tech University Opera, Houston Grand Opera/Opera To Go and New York City Opera’s “Showcasing American Composers” series. Other notable works include music for the installation SoundForge (with metalsmith Gabriel Craig) at The Cameron Museum (Wilmington NC), The Museum of Contemporary Craft (Portland, OR) and Center for Contemporary Craft (Houston TX); Grotto, with Houston Ballet principal dancer Oliver Halkowich; and Collapsible Rhythms, with Houston Ballet artistic director Stanton Welch. Dr. Remson also served as Composer-in-Residence with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as recipient of a prestigious award from the Americans for the Arts Foundation (ARTS-USA), and the Northern Ireland Arts Council.

As an educator and author, Dr. Remson has been a teaching artist for Houston Ballet Academy, San Diego Civic Youth Ballet, University of Houston Moores School of Music, UH Mitchell Center for Performing Arts, and Carnegie Mellon University. As part of his composition teaching, Dr. Remson’s students have pursued college careers at such institutions as Eastman, Oberlin, Yale, Peabody, and USC. He has published two books on American music and his third, a webbased educational program based on his teaching at Houston Ballet Academy, was recently published by Human Kinetics in September 2022. In 2018, Dr. Remson was honored with a Milestone Award from the National Guild for Community Arts Education for his decades of service to arts education.

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About Michael Remson

As an administrator, Dr. Remson serves as President & CEO of the San Diego Youth Symphony, one of Southern California’s leading arts education non-profits and one of the cultural institutions that is part of San Diego’s historic Balboa Park. In this capacity, his work impacts thousands of young people every year. Previously, Dr. Remson served as Executive and Artistic Director of AFA, one of Houston’s leading music education non-profits. Under his leadership, Dr. Remson led a decade of growth through the creation of year-round programs and outreach efforts in area schools, many in collaboration with Houston’s leading arts presenters.

A dual Irish-American citizen, Dr. Remson grew up in New York City and completed doctoral studies in composition and libretto writing with Grammy Award winning composer Carlisle Floyd and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Edward Albee. He is also a graduate of New York University, the University of Houston and Carnegie Mellon University.

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