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C4 Acknowledgements The activities of C4 are funded, in large part, by grants and generous contributions. We wish to thank and acknowledge: For their major support: Nan Bases Kit Smyth Basquin Michael David & Lauren Mitchell Tracy and Stanley Shopkorn Daniel and Ellen Stafford-Sigg Meet the Composer/Cary New Music Performance Fund Phoebe Abelow Mary S. Basquin Francine Belkind Nathan Berkoff Michael Biello and Dan Martin Jennifer Borum Sandra Carlson Richard and Gillian Champlain Zachary P. Cummings Hugh D. and Kathryn Klein Eddy Vincent Fitz Gerald Jonathan David Nancy and Don Derham Mary Tacciole Devine Trevor Doherty Orianne Yin Dutka Kim Erle David Harris D.B. and S.M. Hayward Ira and Becky Horowitz Albert James Hudspeth Linnea C. Johnson Andrew Kadel & Paula Schaap Jeffrey M. and Kuniko K. Katz

Deborah Kilmer Jeanne and Paul Klainer Pamela Klainer Sarah Lynch Linda and Leslie Libow Stanley Lieblein David J. Macdonald Patricia Marino Elizabeth Marker Rose Caiola & Edward Mermelstein Peter and Christine Metz Ruth Mueller-Maerki Jon Minikes and Sue Backstrom Ian David Moss Bernard and Rochelle Natt Thomas L. and Constance B. Newberry Susan Obel Raymond Penn Jonathan & Suzanne Rosenzweig Bruce Saylor Ann & Richard Sarnoff Pat & Larry Siegel Martha Sullivan

Friends of C4 (watch for details on membership and perks... coming soon!)

Byron Gibbs Vincent Fitz Gerald Ernest Hood David McCorkle Zahra Partovi Linda Schrank Anne Thulin Susan Weill

SPECIAL THANKS

We also wish to express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the following organizations and individuals for their support and assistance: Zahra Partovi, St. Luke in the Fields and The DiMenna Center

Music For People W h o L i k e t h e F u t u re

Friday, November 16, Church of St. Luke in the Fields, New York, NY Saturday, November 17, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York, NY

Incantations

Hannah Carr, conductor

Michael McGlynn (b. 1964)

....................please hold applause until after the 2nd piece....................

To See A World

Melissa Wozniak, conductor

Saguaro

David Harris, conductor Elizabeth Derham and Melissa Wozniak, soloists

Spring Dreams

Timothy Brown, conductor

Stabat Mater •

Hannah Carr, conductor Karen Siegel, soloist

Sven-David Sandström (b. 1942) Karen Siegel (b. 1980)

Chen Yi (b. 1953) Jonathan David (b. 1965)

Intermission

Music For People Who Like the Future ∞ Dan Whitener, conductor

Ballad of Culinary Frustration* Karen Siegel, conductor

Lack One Lacks Both*

Fahad Siadat, Daniel Andor, Timothy Brown, Jonathan David, Hannah Carr, Elizabeth Derham, David Harris, Dan Whitener, Melissa Wozniak, conductors Mario Gullo, soloist

Allégories 1. Enfance III 2. Jeunesse III (vingt ans) 3. Départ

Andrew Hamilton (b. 1977) Mario Gullo (b. 1973) David Harris (b. 1974)

Philippe Hersant (b. 1948)

David Harris, conductor

We Cannot Leave (mvt. 5 from Privilege) Daniel Andor, conductor

Ted Hearne (b. 1982)

* World Premiere ∞ North America Premiere • East Coast Premiere

Program Notes and Texts Who doesn’t like the future? Some, you

not need the text, as seen in Chen Yi’s bird

change or the passage of time, and that

and it does, Jonathan’s stop-start technique

might argue; those, perhaps, who fear

pretty much defines most people. The pushpull of the Wagner text set by Hamilton, with an eye to the melodrama that only Wagner could conceive, defines tonight’s set list. Slashing sarcastically through the

heart of the program, Hamilton challenges

sounds and pentatonic chant. As time goes,

rife with appoggiaturas, and Ted’s drifting, sustain-ridden finale seem as good a musical challenge to time as there is, each, in it’s

own way, awaiting a revival of the future. ~David Harris

waste at our own expense. The other pieces,

Alleluia: Incantations Michael McGlynn

will to append the past to what is to come,

The first of a set of 7, Michael McGlynn’s

suits, questioning whether they are better

and fleeting glimpse of Irish style in a

not time, but humanity, and the passion we

in their ways, reach out as far as their arms

yanking the hair of cave people into space off for tomorrow. Karen’s noble guardians

of the desert who stand quietly guarding strip mall destruction echo

the wooden planks that stand as a backdrop to Jacapone

da Todi’s “grieving mother.” Meng

Hao-ran’s

time

upon

McGinley’s

terrapin

forgotten lands like a cherry

mousse, and Ted Hearne’s South African antiapartheid quotation settles the concert

experience with hope for the

future: melancholy wrapped in faith, like bacon.

Their

music sometimes reflects the

text’s longing, as in Karen’s setting of her own poetry with of

interlinking

wandering

chains

stasis,

Mario’s whimsical borrowed harmonies and choral-opera regalia. Sometimes it paints a backdrop that may or may

brief and joyful incantation give a us fresh contemporary choral genre, preserving the flare, lively dance rhythm and playfulness

Incantations ‘S Tusa an dámh, ‘s Tusa an éan, ‘s Tusa an t-iasc, aililú. ‘S Tusa an ghrian, ‘s Tusa an fuacht, ‘s Tusa an mhuir, aililú. ‘S Tusa an ghrian, ‘s Tusa an réalt, ‘s Tusa an spéir, aililú. ‘S Tusa an féar, ‘s Tusa an bláth, ‘s Tusa na crainn, aililú. Aililú mo íosa, aililú mo chroí, aililú mo Thiarna, aililú mo Chríost. You are the stag, you are the bird, you are the fish, alleluia. You are the wind, you are the cold, you are the sea, alleluia. You are the sun, you are the star, you are the sky, alleluia. You are the grass, you are the flower, you are the trees, alleluia. Alleluia my Jesus, alleluia my heart, alleluia my Lord, alleluia my Christ.

that

characterizes

much of Irish music, fused with parallel

motion and harmony less typical to the

genre, but more of medieval or Eastern European polyphonic

folk styles. McGlynn imposes

choral

format that is not overly

complicated,

and thus preserves the

primal

aspects

of Irish music, its natural freedom and

the rawness of Irish melody.

The

piece

representation

exemplary

the quest of many

classical trained Irish

musicians to reconcile the two different

in a poem that would become the text for this

they have grown up on, and to elevate the

cactus described in the first stanza, as well as

respected art form.

to which this cactus has given its name.

styles of classical and traditional music

piece. The title “Saguaro” is the name of the

status of Irish traditional music to a highly

the national park in the Catalina mountains

~Hannah Carr

These cacti are the kind seen in old Western

movies, and they are often hundreds of

from Auguries of Innocence

years old. The seemingly endless expanses

of this beautiful desert are reflected in the

music’s evocation of space. Saguaro was To see a world in a grain of sand,

commissioned by the Manhattan Choral Ensemble, as a result of my being a winner

And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

of their 2006 Commissioning Competition.

And eternity in an hour.

~Karen Siegel

~William Blake

Saguaro This cactus has been here longer

To See A World Sven-David Sandström All are like grass the Psalmist murmured, Whitman reminisced and Blake revisited

Than my family has been in this country. Waiting. Watching The slow blooming of pink yellow white wildflowers, The quick building of Marriot, No Tell Motel,

on the beach, each one fading in quick

The invisible dying of Mexicans on foot.

the concept, though. Instead of blowing by

Tell me,

succession. Sandström reverses the table on the soon-to-perish wildflower, he encourages the pause that led to the author’s meditative discovery, and therein lies the paradox of time. We use measurement to prove to us

Saguaro. Do you remember when the ground was soft, Before men and cattle trampled through?

what has happened, yet, we only feel life

Did the sunrise look the same then?

Once entranced by calm, the world opens,

The rock bounces off your weathered skin.

when we forget we are being measured. eternity, truly but a flash.

~David Harris

Saguaro Karen Siegel Inspired by a visit to Tucson, Arizona in the

spring of 2006, I expressed my awe of the landscape, history, and people of this desert

Too weary to be annoyed, Too strong to fall, You maintain your post in a silent army, Defending the Catalinas against time. Watching. Waiting. ~Karen Siegel

Spring Dreams Chen Yi

melody, which appears at 5 points during the piece, proceeds here uninterrupted, as a

Spring Dreams was commissioned by the Ithaca College School of Music, where it premiered in 1997. In the beginning of the

piece, several groups of ostinati are brought in gradually in various tempos, imitating

the vivid pulse of birds singing. There is a turning point in the middle of the poem when the poet clearly wakes up from his sweet dream by hearing a bird singing, and he realizes that

many flowers must have been ruined by a night of wind and

showers. He sympathizes with

the fallen petals as he treasures the beautiful springtime. ~Chanticleer

Stabat Mater Jonathan David I set 8 of the 20 verses of the

original text. They were chosen for their focus of intense empathy

for the mourning Mother at the cross. The driving musical force behind my work is the

appoggiatura, an accented grace

voice from the ether, but the words of those

still on earth are as broken as they themselves are. I wanted to avoid the reflexive option of a grand apotheosis at the climactic “paradisi gloria”. These last two words of the piece

never rise above mp and gradually fade away to ppp at the end. The effect aimed for is uplift by way of “lightness”, as a balloon drifting up and off into the heavens. Paradise may

Spring Dreams Chun mián bu jué xiao Chu chu wén tí niao Ye lái feng yu sheng Hua luo zhi duo shao I slumbered this spring morning, and missed the dawn From everywhere I heard the cry of the birds. That night the sound of wind and rain had come, Who knows how many petals then had fallen? ~Meng Hao-ran (AD 689-740)

note. I’ve interpreted it here as

a “sighing” figure in somewhat

the manner of madrigal tone painting. When

used maximally, it transforms into more of a sob and pierces the texture with profound

glorious

but is also a leavetaking.

The work

was Commissioned by

the Carroll University Concert Choir, Music Director

Kristina

Boerger, as a gift to

the people of Todi, Italy, burial place of

Frater Jacopone (ca. 1230-1306),

author

of the “Stabat mater dolorosa” text. It was premiered

April

2012 in Waukesha, WI, with a subsequent tour of Italy in May. ~Jonathan David

music for people who like the future

Andrew Hamilton

sorrow. I’ve also made considerable use

Andrew Hamilton’s music for people who like

where it underlines the “stunned” stage

last year by another contemporary Irish

of silence, primarily in the introduction,

of mourning. The futility of speech is also conveyed in the splitting up of words among

different voice parts. The original plainchant

the future reminds me of a piece I conducted composer, Donnacha Dennehy.

You may

feel aesthetically bombarded at the start of

the piece; take it all in, but fear not. The way

Artwork of the Future” from

Stabat Mater

Stabat Mater translation

Stabat Mater dolorosa

The grieving Mother stood

Iuxta crucem lacrimosa

weeping

Dum pendebat Filius

where her Son was hanging

beside

the

which he derives the text.

cross The second thing you will

notice, once you get past the Cuius animam gementem

Through her weeping soul,

Contristatam et dolentem

compassionate and grieving, a

Pertransivit gladius

sword passed.

front door, is the larger patterns that emerge when you are able to comprehend more of the piece at a time. Just when we get used

Quis est homo qui non fleret,

Who is the person who would

Matrem Christi si videret

not weep seeing the Mother of

In tanto supplicio?

Christ in such agony?

to one rhythm and settle in, it

changes. Phrases become longer than you might expect, and our

understanding of the German Quis non posset contristari,

Who would not be able to

Christi Matrem contemplari

feel compassion on beholding

Dolentem cum Filio?

Christ’s Mother suffering with

gain a greater understanding implications, of Wagner’s words.

Eia Mater, fons amoris Me sentire vim doloris

O Mother, fountain of love,

Fac, ut tecum lugeam

make me feel the power of sorrow, that I may grieve with you.

In amando Christum Deum Ut sibi complaceam

same time, though, perhaps we of the meaning, and the fearful

her Son?

Fac, ut ardeat cor meum

text goes out the window. At the

Grant that my heart may burn

Or maybe not.

~Dan Whitener

The Ballad of Culinary Frustration Mario Gullo

in the love of Christ my Lord, Christe, cum sit hinc exire,

that I may greatly please Him.

Ad palmam victoriae

This piece began its life as a bet.

While working at the Buffalo and

Da per Matrem me venire Christ, when it is time to pass away, grant that through your Quando corpus morietur,

Mother I may come to the palm

Fac, ut animae donetur

of victory

Erie Public Library, a co-worker, friend

and

great

composer,

Herbert Tinney, saw the poem

and bet me to set it to music. Sufficed it to say, I won. It went

Paradisi gloria. When my body dies, grant that ~Frater Jacopone da Todi

to my soul is given the glory of

(ca. 1230-1306)

paradise.

on to become the first movement of a larger work called Dinner With Friends: a Five Course Song-Cycle for Chorus.

it makes you feel to be yelled at, very quickly and loudly and unrelentingly, is certainly

I have always liked the idea of comedy

a satirical critique of Richard Wagner’s

a crowd of people trying to make another

part of the intention of the composer, as

for chorus; not just wit or a quick joke but

ridiculously authoritative essay on “The

crowd of people laugh through music.

Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft Das Kunstwerk in diesem Sinne, als unmittelbarer Lebensakt, ist somit die vollständige Versöhnung der Wissenschaft mit dem Leben, der Siegeskranz, den die besiegte, durch ihre Besiegung erlöste, dem freudig von ihr erkannten Sieger huldigend darreicht. The Art-work, thus conceived as an immediate vital act, is therewith the perfect reconcilement of Science with Life, the laurel-wreath which the vanquished, redeemed by her defeat, reaches in joyous homage to her acknowledged victor. ~Richard Wagner

The Ballad of Culinary Frustration The world is full of wistful ones who hoard their souvenirs. The spinster keeps a faded rose through all the faded years, A travel folder lures the clerk while he dreams of a foreign sky, But I preserve the recipes I’ll never dare to try. Vichyssoise, bouillabaisse, Terrapin mousse, Cucumber hollandaise, Staffordshire goose, Oh, the ginger, the clove, Oh, the sauces well-shaken! But here on my stove Lies the liver-and-bacon. On idle days, on rainy days, when all the world is shut out, I don the yellow clippings of the recipes I’ve cut out.

And lovingly I memorize directions neatly pasted, For scones and soups and savories I’ve never even tasted. With eggs and with syrup, With herbs and with cream, In fancy I stir up An epicure’s dream Of Netherland crumb cakes, Of sweetbreads-in-mustard; Of pasties and plumcakes And Devonshire custard. Oh, some folks dote on serious tomes, some read romances rippling, But a cookbook is my Odyssey, my Shakespeare, and my Kipling. For while I baste the leg of lamb or stir the tapioca, I’m visioning a a vol-au-vent, or a nougat à la Mocha — Some gossamer trifle That gourmets adore, As French as the Eiffel (And probably more), Like mushrooms with spices And artichoke hearts, And aspics and ices And shortbreads and tarts, With crusts that are thinner Than sea foam on top . . . My menu for dinner? We’re having a chop. ~Phyllis McGinley

Speaking of it, I mean the music, it is not

overly complicated (except for measure 49 (Melissa W., you may punch me in the face)).

This piece, with its pedantic, non-varying rondo, is meant to highlight the banal nature of the poets current cooking ability. The middle sections interrupt with moments

of joy, apprehension, resignation and, of

course, frustration. Please let me know if it

works. I love feedback! Did you walk away

sated or could you use something a little more satisfying?

to Whitman as well, and to C4. He never promises that life is easier for recognizing the beauty of all, he simply says that it is,

~Mario Gullo

and is therefore worthy. ~David Harris

Lack One Lacks Both David Harris This is the one piece on the program that leads

with the present, though, Whitman’s “now” (and the copious repetitions of the word in

my setting) seems to grip all time with the

same hand shake. Time isn’t so much a delineation, to Whitman. Rather, like with

most things our creative godfather shared

with us, time simply is. His impenetrable optimism has a way of encapsulating all

things while simultaneously elevating them. As such, he rarely takes issue with others, which is one reason I like this poem. In it,

he starts and ends by criticizing the process of creating superfluous definitions.

more than I had expected. This seems fitting

“The

talkers were talking of the beginning and

the end” connects to the end of the poem’s

“exactly the value of one. . .”. Though he recognizes that all have a place, he pushes

back against those who would define his place through the guise of hyper-limiting

systems like capitalism. He chooses instead to value the perfection of connection with his lover.

I’ve found that Whitman’s poems don’t like cooperating with music, unless you push the

music to encapsulate as much as the text tries to and are willing to be equally aggressive

and sensitive. Hence, this piece is multi-

layered, many-conductored and samples as many genres as I could tuck in. The difficulty of coordinating so many conductors proved

Allégories Philippe Hersant Allégories is a focused exploration of the mind of one of history’s most curious poets, the surrealist, Aurthur Rimbaud (1854-1891). As a child he suffered under a confining

fundamentalist upbringing. When a teen

he ran from home and became a symbol of Paris’ decadent movement, liveing a libertine life into his early 20s, and breaking the boundaries of poetic form in his wake. He was one of the first poets ever to write in free

verse. He is also known as a symbolist for his expansive use of contrasting conceptual images. Yet, after he put his pen down in 1876 he never wrote again.

Hersant’s trio uses Rimbaud’s artistic/life

aspirations as its departure and Rimbaud’s images as structure. Hersant

picks

In each movement,

image

that

recurs

throughout. In “Enfance III” he uses the

phrase “there is” as a wide-eyed child’s thought at the discovery of the strange

world around them where cathedrals stand upside down and lakes leap into the air.

“Jeunesse III” claims the adolescent

loiterer’s least favorite occasion, waiting, with the word “adagio” or “slowly.” The

artist, now awakened, must wade tediously

through his craft, trying new expressions to effectuate the call of nocturnal melodies.

In the final movement the artist moves on

Song of Myself #3 I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning and the end But I do not talk of the beginning or the end. There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now. Urge and urge and urge, Always the procreant urge of the world. Out of the dimness opposite equals advance, always substance and increase, always sex, Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed of life. To elaborate is no avail, learn’d and unlearn’d feel that it is so. Sure as the most certain sure, plumb in the uprights, well entretied, braced in the beams, Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical, I and this mystery here we stand. Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul. Lack one lacks both, and the unseen is proved by the seen, Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn. Showing the best and dividing it from the worst age vexes age, Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they discuss I am silent, and go bathe and admire myself. Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean, Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest. I am satisfied—I see, dance, laugh, sing; As the hugging and loving bed-fellow sleeps at my side through the night, and withdraws at the peep of the day with stealthy tread. Leaving me baskets cover’d with white towels swelling the house with their plenty, Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream at my eyes, That they turn from gazing after and down the road, And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent, Exactly the value of one and exactly the value of two, and which is ahead? ~Walt Whitman

Allégories Enfance III

Childhood III

Au bois il y a un oiseau, son chant vous arrête et

There’s a bird in the woods, its song makes you

vous fait rougir.

stop and blush.

Il y a une horloge qui ne sonne pas.

There’s a clock that never chimes.

Il y a une fondrière avec un nid de bêtes blanches.

There’s a hollow with a nest of white creatures.

Il y a une cathédrale qui descend et un lac qui

There’s a cathedral that descends, and a lake that

monte.

rises.

Il y a une petite voiture abandonnée dans le taillis,

There’s a little carriage abandoned in the copse, or

ou qui descend le sentier en courant, enrubannée.

running down the lane, beribboned.

Il y a une troupe de petits comédiens en costumes,

There’s a troupe of little players in costume,

aperçus sur la route à travers la lisière du bois.

glimpsed on the road through the edge of the

Il y a enfin, quand l’on a faim et soif, quelqu’un qui

woods.

vous chasse.

There’s someone, at last, when you’re hungry and thirsty, who drives you away.

Jeunesse III (Vingt ans)

Youth III

Les voix instructives exilées... L’ingénuité physique

(Twenty Years)

amèrement rassise... - Adagio - Ah ! l’égoïsme

The instructive voices exiled…physical

infini de l’adolescence, l’optimisme studieux : que

ingenuousness bitterly stale…Adagio. Ah, the

le monde était plein de fleurs cet été ! Les airs et

infinite egoism of

les formes mourant... - Un choeur, pour calmer

adolescence, the studious optimism: how full the

l’impuissance et l’absence ! Un choeur de verres

world was of flowers, that summer! The airs and

de mélodies nocturnes... En effet les nerfs vont

the

vite chasser.

forms dying…A choir, to calm impotence and absence! A choir of glass with nocturnal melodies…Indeed

Départ

the nerves will soon be on the hunt.

Assez vu. La vision s’est rencontrée à tous les airs.

Depart

Assez eu. Rumeurs des villes, le soir, et au soleil,

Enough seen. Visions have been met in every

et toujours.

respect.

Assez connu. Les arrêts de la vie. — Ô Rumeurs

Enough has been. Rumors of towns, at night, and

et Visions!

in the light of day, and always.

Départ dans l’affection et le bruit neufs!

Enough known. The decrees of life. O rumors and visions!

~Arthur Rimbaud

Depart in new affection and new noise.

Composers

from his life of exploration with the phrases “enough seen, enough has been, enough known.”

These words dance around a

chant-like explosion found in the other

voices, a return, perhaps, to earlier truths

and a call to “depart in new affection and

new noise.” This trajectory, Rimbaud’s life, reflects the creative process. . .each time it is

undertaken: wide-eyed feasting of the world

around, tedious waiting for something to work, zealous release into the next creative moment.

~David Harris

We Cannot Leave (Mvt. 5 from Privilege) Ted Hearne

1964. His harmonic language combines

elements of traditional Irish music such as modal melodic lines and ornamentation,

fixed and shifting drones and jazz-tinged chordal clusters.

His best-known choral

work is “Dúlamán” (1995), a setting of the traditional Irish poem of the same name. This work has been performed and recorded extensively. It features another

characteristic aspect of his musical language in its use of multiple alternating rhythms.

In 1987 he founded the Irish choral group

Privilege is a collection of five short pieces,

of which the final piece is being performed tonight. We Cannot Leave is set to the translation of As’ Kwaz’ uKuhamba, a black

South African Anti-Apartheid song, the original words of which are in Xhosa (the native language of Nelson Mandela). South

Africa has a strong tradition of music being

Anúna. Anúna have released fourteen

albums, almost exclusively featuring his

arrangements and original works. Michael

is much in demand as a vocal coach, specializing in work with choral groups.

He was a guest-judge and vocal advisor on Finland’s version of the X Factor in 2010. In 2011 he led workshops in the USA, Poland,

Japan and Sweden, and in the latter part of 2012 he will undertake a major workshop

We Cannot Leave

series across the Netherlands. He lives in

We cannot leave this land of our ancestors on this earth. We are being killed by the monster on this earth. I want to get on the train in the morning. Oh mother, it’s leaving me behind. ~traditional Xhosa anti-apartheid lyrics translated by Patiswa Nombona and Mollie Stone used as a tool to fight societal oppression and inequality. The setting is a tribute to that practice.

Michael McGlynn was born in Dublin in

~Ted Hearne

Dublin with his family where his interests include sea swimming, horse riding and sleeping.

No composer has made such an impression

on contemporary Swedish musical life as Sven-David Sandström. of

works,

which

His catalogue

includes

some

300

compositions, gives proof not only of an impressive productivity, but also contains

an amazingly wide range: everything from

magnificent operas and oratorios to intimate choral and chamber music. With his unlikely combination of creativity and diligence in the

craft of composition, restless curiosity and

Karen holds a MA in music composition

alternates, to all appearances unconcerned,

studied with Marc Antonio Consoli, and

firmly-rooted mastery of form, Sandström between a sophisticated orchestral texture

and musical melodies, film music and music for the church. In the 2000s he has focused especially on sacred choral music.

Chen Yi serves as the Cravens/Millsap/ Missouri Distinguished Professor at the

Conservatory of the University of MissouriKansas City and is the recipient of the

prestigious Charles Ives Living Award (2001-

04) from the American Academy of Arts and

from NYU’s Steinhardt School, where she

a BA in Psychology from Yale University. Karen has also studied composition with

Conrad Cummings at the Juilliard Evening Division and choral conducting with Péter

Erdei at the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét. A founding member of C4, Karen has benefitted from years of mentoring by her conductor colleagues in the ensemble. Karen

lives in Hoboken, NJ with her husband and son. www.karensiegel.com

Letters. Dr. Chen was elected to the American

The 2011-12 season featured 8 world

holds bachelors and masters degrees in Music

including five commissions: tonight’s Stabat

Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. She

Composition from the Central Conservatory

in Beijing and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University.

She

served as Composer-in-Residence for the Women’s Philharmonic, Chanticleer, and

Aptos Creative Arts Center (1993-96), and as a member of the composition faculty at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Chen Yi has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the

American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Composer, soprano and conductor Karen

Siegel draws on her experience as a vocalist in her creation of innovative choral and vocal works.

In June 2008 Karen was a

winner of the Manhattan Choral Ensemble Commissioning Project Competition, which resulted in the work Saguaro, inspired by

the desert landscape and history of Tucson,

Arizona. She is currently a PhD candidate in composition at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she studies with Tania León.

premieres for composer Jonathan David, Mater for Carroll University (WI); a 9/11 memorial work for Central City Chorus,

The Tightened String, (NYC); Little Drops of

Water for Marble Collegiate Church (NYC); Gitchee Gumee, for baritone Daniel Neer

and harp (NYC) and Azrael, a song for Jay Barksdale to honor the 10th anniversary of

the Sylvia Townsend Warner Foundation

(NYC; Dorchester, England). In May C4 and the Fireworks Ensemble premiered

Jonathan’s extended work, The Hounds of

Spring, for chorus, electric guitar, electric bass, and drums. In September 2012, his Könnyek, Almák és Kövek (Tears, Apples

and Stones), a wordless motet for women’s trio, debuted (on tape loop) in Šamorín,

Slovakia as part of artist Zsuzsanna Ardo’s eponymous installation, where it runs until Dec. 2. Commissioners for 2012-13

include the Manhattan Wind Ensemble,

and saxophonist David Wozniak. His choral music has also been performed by the

Princeton Singers, the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble, the

New York Treble Singers (commission), Cascadian Chorale, and the Thanks-Giving

Foundation (commission) et al. He has

by the New York City Master Chorale and Bridges Vocal Ensemble.

served as Composer-in-Residence for The

David Harris (DMA) writes, conducts and

Director for the chamber chorus, Howl! He

Chamber Orchestra, Columbia Glee Club,

Greenwich Village Singers and Music was on the judging panel for the 44th Annual ASCAP/Deems Taylor Awards for the best

music writing of 2011. Jonathan was the Classical Editor for Napster from 2004 until

the service closed its doors in December 2011.

His music is published by Oxford University Press and also available through his website, www.jonathandavidmusic.com.

Andrew Hamilton was born in Dublin and studied at the Royal Irish Academy

of Music and Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester. Following studies at Oxford

University and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester he undertook a PhD

in composition at the University of York with

the assistance of the Elizabeth Maconchy Composition Fellowship awarded by the Arts

Council/An

Chomhairle

Ealaíon.

From 2002 to 2004 he studied at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague. His composition

teachers have included Kevin Volans, Roger Marsh, Anthony Gilbert and Louis Andriessen.

sings with C4, The Brearley Singers and Brooklyn Youth Chorus and the effervescent

7/8 Chorus of The Collegiate School.

His composition career stems from his performance ensembles, as he prefers seeing projects from start to finish. As such, he is

jazzed about C4 and that they let him dump

the more recessed contents of his mind into their laps now and again. “Lack One Lacks Both” is the fifth such effort. As a composer/

performer, he has written hundreds of compositions and arrangements for all of

the groups he’s worked with, recorded several of them and consistently enjoyed the creation process with his colleagues. His

music, from simple pop arrangements to orchestral pieces, has been heard all over the

country, in prestigious rooms like Carnegie Hall and on street corners.

Walking the

dog this morning he thought, in his most

Whitmonian tone, “there is no good or bad music, only music that moves you, and

music that might one day move you if the circumstances were different.” And so he

plays with ways to stop time for people as often as possible, which feels like a good thing.

www.davidharrismusic.net

Alice Tully Hall, City Center, the Dramatist’s

The French composer, Philippe Hersant,

favorite so far has been appearing with

literature as well as music and he took

Guild and the Barrow Street Theater. His

Barbara Cook in concert at Carnegie Hall. Regionally, he has performed at Artpart,

the Theater of Youth, Tri-State Center for the Performing Arts and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. He has had pieces performed

was born in Rome. His studies included harmony classes with Georges Hugon before

entering André Jolivet’s composition class at the Paris Conservatory in 1968, receiving

his undergraduate degree in literature that same year.

From 1970 to 1972, Philippe Hersant went on to teach music and to become a producer

at the radio station France Musiques. In 1978 he became a resident at the Villa Médicis. It

was during this period that he truly came

into his own as a composer. Stances for

orchestra thus became his new first opus and

is the earliest work in his catalogue. He is currently working on an opera based on a

Chekhov story, The Black Monk, and this will be premiered by the Leipzig Opera in 2005.

Today, Philippe Hersant defines himself as

a tonal composer willing to turn music’s entire heritage – from Monteverdi to Janacek

to Stockhausen – to his advantage. As a composer, he lives by a few precepts : to be

personal rather than to seek innovation at all costs, to avoid greyness and to surprise.

Ted Hearne is a composer, conductor and performer of new music. His work Katrina Ballads is the recipient of the 2009 Gaudeamus Prize in composition, and his

piece Cordavi and Fig was recently praised by Allan Kozinn of the New York Times as “fresh and muscular.” Ted’s music has been

performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Calder Quartet, The Knights, and New York

City Opera; heard at the MATA Festival, Bang on a Can Marathon, Carlsbad Music

Festival, and LPR’S Sleeping Giant; and commissioned by Chicago’s Third Coast

Percussion, San Francisco’s Volti Choral Arts Laboratory, Charleston’s New Music

Collective, Newspeak, Huntsville Symphony, Albany Symphony and Ensemble ACJW. Ted is the artistic director of Yes is a World,

resident conductor of Red Light New Music, and for five years was composer-

in-residence of the Chicago Children’s

Choir. He served as music director for the

premieres of David Lang’s opera Anatomy

Theatre (performed by ICE, 2005), Michael Gordon’s Lightning at our Feet (BAM Next

Wave Festival, 2008), and Bryan Senti’s From

the margins, this, unmentioned (Brooklyn

Lyceum, 2009); as well as the American premieres of Constantine Koukias’s Prayer

Bells and Beat Fürrer’s Gaspra. His album Katrina Ballads was released in August 2010 on New Amsterdam Records.

C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective Daniel Andor started playing piano at

premieres - Incidental Dance Suite at Merkin

at The Purcell School of Music, London.

C4.

and were featured by the Society for the

Kristopher Burke has earned degrees in

Drawn to making music with others, he took

and Vocal Performance from Shenandoah

four and studied composition and piano

His compositions won numerous awards, Promotion of New Music during 2000–2002. up trombone, conducting and singing.

Hayes Biggs studied with Don Freund, Mario

Davidovsky,

Fred

Lerdahl

and

Donald Erb. A 1998 Guggenheim Fellow, he

Hall; Drip Dream and In So Many Words by

music education from Shepherd University Conservatory. Kristopher has also sung as a

church soloists and on stage. He now works for the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

has had residencies at Copland House and

Melissa Bybee received her BM in piano

is published by C. F. Peters and APNM,

and her MM in vocal performance from

the Tanglewood Music Center. His music and has been recorded on the Albany and Ravello labels. www.hayesbiggs.com

James Bilodeau James Bilodeau grew up in the Adirondacks. He spent his youth

causing a ruckus in church and school choirs. He earned a BM degree at the Hartt

School of Music. Since moving to New York, he’s flirted with various choral ensembles

but thinks that C4 could be the one. Professionally, he rocks interstellar airwaves

performance from Louisiana State University

the Manhattan School of Music. An active

member of New York’s professional choral

scene since she was a student, Melissa has performed with Voices of Ascension, New

York Choral Artists and the New York

Philharmonic Orchestra, Pro Arte, Opera

Orchestra of New York, American Symphony Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Company, Mostly Mozart Festival, St. Ignatius Loyola Concert Series and Little Orchestra Society.

as an audio producer for Sirius XM Radio.

Hannah Carr took her undergraduate degree

or sitting in a small dark room editing audio,

Dublin, where she won first prize for her

When he’s not working on Karen’s rhythms

he’s seeking balance and peace by jumping out of planes. Composer,

Singer,

Conductor

Timothy

Brown: 30 year veteran of the choral music world. A compositional fence-sitter.

Theater: Curious George national tour; songs showcased at BMI, Beechman Theater,

Donnell Songbook, and showcase “A Trace of Love.” Classical: Masters work at MSM;

in Music and French from Trinity College composition portfolio, and an advanced diploma in Choral Conducting at the Kodály Institute in Hungary. She has performed in

classical music as an organist, pianist and singer, as well as in groups from Traditional Irish music to Funk and other popular styles and teaches music at the Chapin School. Jonathan David (see above)

Karen Devine completed a B.A. in Music

York churches have heard her and she is

conducting

Ready, music of Yuri Yukechev ; Le Vin Herbé

at Kenyon College, studying voice and with

Dr.

Benjamin

Locke.

Choral music remained an important part of her life in NYC as she explored various

careers that actually paid. Finally settling

into massage therapy, she has become quite

successful - perhaps, in part, because of her

strict “no bad spa music” policy. She also thinks about practicing her accordion often.

Elizabeth Derham is an avid performer of new music as both a violinist and

singer. She plays frequently with the New Juilliard Ensemble and AXIOM. She has

worked with artists such as David Lang, Magnus Lindberg, Robert Wilson, and Bill T. Jones, and has premiered numerous

works by composers at Juilliard, Aspen, and Fontainebleau.

Harry Einhorn is a singer, composer, and theater director based in New York City.

Heart Sutra and Samaya, his multimedia chamber music collaborations with Philippe Treuille primarily based on Buddhist texts

have been performed at the Cell, the Rubin

Museum, and La Sala in Williamsburg. This is debut season with C4.

Mario Gullo (see above) David Harris (see above) Elizabeth Marker is a dedicated choral singer having sung with Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the award winning Oregon

Repertory Singers, the Russian Chamber Chorus and Cantori New York. She has

performed for Robert Shaw in workshops and with the Festival Singers. Many New

featured on two recordings: My Heart is by Frank Martin

Joe Redd moved to New York City in June 2010. Since then, Joe has contributed his

voice as soloist and choral member to a

number of ensembles in NYC, including Polyhymnia, Sing We Enchanted, and The Canticum Novum Singers. He will also have

the pleasure of performing as Tenor soloist

in Arthur Honegger’s King David with the

Columbia County Choral Society in April 2013. When he isn’t singing on stage, Joe works the microphone as a narration voice

actor for the Internet, mobile application, film, and video industries.

Suzanne Schwing was trained for the stage

at LAMDA and subsequently received

her musical training at Boston University (Mus.B) and Manhattan School of Music (MM).

A sought-after mezzo-soprano,

Suzanne performs frequently with the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Collegiate Chorale,

and the American Symphony Orchestra

(ASO). In 2012, she has appeared as soloist with the New York Virtuoso Singers, the

Pro Arte Singers, the Great Music series

at St.Bart’s Church, and on tour with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and at the Salzburg Festival. In December 2012, she performs with the New

York Virtuoso Singers Sextet and as soloist

with the Choral Society of the Hamptons.

In early 2013, she will record 25 worldpremiere compositions with the New York

Virtuoso Singers and will return to NYCO for Moses in Egitto and La Périchole. Karen Siegel (see above)

Bettina

Sheppard’s

compositions

and

commissions include opera, Stillwaters; Emily Dickinson song cycle; TraumNovela,

Dance- Opera at the NY Fringe Festival. For more info visit www.fahadsiadat.com

Barrow Street Theatre, Barcelona; Millay

Melissa Wozniak is a teaching artist and

365 Days/365 Plays, Suzan-Lori Parks, the

NYC Opera. She holds a BME from SUNY

settings for American Cathedral in Paris;

Public Theater; The Picture of Dorian Grey, Stageworks. Singing credits: Lincoln Center; Carnegie Hall; St Sulpice, Paris; Public

Theatre; Barrow Street. Recordings: Solus (as

Brythonwen), Satin Dolls jazz trio, musical theatre cast recordings.

Also numerous

the

School

Program Administrator

Fredonia and an almost MM from the

University of Southern Mississippi. Nonmusical interests include TV shows about forensics, Scottish culture, and her husband, David.

television, film, and theatre credits. Studied

Dan Whitener is a recent graduate of the

College.

degree in choral conducting. He is excited to

with Chris Theofanidis. Faculty CUNY, City

Fahad Siadat is a composer/performer specializing in theatrical works for the voice

that incorporate improvisation and extended technique. He regularly writes for theater, film, and dance, and recently premiered

his one act work SAHARAVA: A Ritualized

Bard and the recipient of its first M.M. have the opportunity to work with C4 as an

emerging conductor and aspiring composer.

At Bard, he collaborated with the student-

run ensemble Contemporaneous, He sings with the Schola Cantorum quartet every Sunday at St. Mary’s Church in Nutley, NJ and is an avid and active banjo player.

C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective Sopranos Hannah Carr Elizabeth Derham Karen Devine Karen Siegel Melissa Wozniak

Altos Melissa Bybee Jonathan David Elizabeth Marker Bettina Sheppard Suzanne Schwing

Tenors Kris Burke Harry Einhorn Mario Gullo Joe Redd Fahad Siadat

Basses Daniel Andor Jim Bilodeau Hayes Biggs Timothy Brown David Harris Dan Whitener

C4, the world’s first Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, is a unique vocal ensemble in New York City dedicated to performing music written in the last twenty-five years. A collaborative project of its singing members, it functions not only as a presenting ensemble in its own right, with a threeprogram, six-concert season, but also as an ongoing workshop and recital chorus for the emerging composers and conductors who form the core of the group. It is, as far as we know, the first ensemble of its kind. Please visit our website, www.c4ensemble.org.

Yet to Come in C4’s 2012-13 RELEASE THE FUTURE Season

C4 In The Studio:

In April, 2013, C4 will take to the studio for the first time, recording works by Jonathan David, Karen Siegel, Hayes Biggs, Toby Twining, Huang Ruo and Ted Hearne. Special thanks to these people who contributed to the project. Keep your eyes peeled for forthcoming details.

Feryal Algosaibi Tammie L. Murphy Peter Lurye Brook Hersey and Alex DeLuca Steven Gerber Pat and Larry Siegel John Tyler Evans Christine Schadeberg Jill Garland Helen Biggs Bell Zahra Partovi Bob and Jan Klump Thomas Stumpf Tami Gallotte Jerome Blake reikofueting Bonnie Scarborough Joseph Upham John Agapiou

Robinson McClellan Paul Loesel Vincent FitzGerald Hedy Roma Zorana Andrea Justin Stein Matt Van Brink Reena Esmail Amanda Keil Jenn Borum Ramona and Chip Bouzard Peter Strauss Jonathan Fisher Sharon and Matt Kaplan Roy Byrd Carrie Stinson Denise Caputo Grace Check Vicki and Jon Haydon Severn Taylor