Is Spring Right?

Performing Arts Center university at albany State University of New York

2023-24

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Cover photo: Tatiana Desardouin, Passion Fruit Dance Company | Photo by Loreto Jamlig Photo this page: UAlbany Performing Arts Center | Photo by Patrick Ferlo

The University at Albany sits at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers on the traditional lands of the Kanien’keháka and Muh-he-con-neok people, who stewarded this land for generations before the arrival of European colonists. The Kanien’keháka (People of the Flint) and Muh-he-con-neok (People of the Waters that are Never Still) are more commonly known today as the Mohawk Haudenosaunee and StockbridgeMunsee Band of Mohicans. Despite the similarity of their westernized names, the Mohawk and Mohican were culturally and linguistically distinct.

The UAlbany community recognizes that we live and work on the homelands of sovereign Indigenous nations with rich histories and cultures that continue today – both within New York and beyond.

As an institution devoted to teaching, scholarship, and service, we strive to understand and learn from our history and to affirm Indigenous rights and issues. To this end, we are committed to cultivating reciprocal relationships with Indigenous communities focused on equity, social justice, and sustainability – and dismantling legacies of colonization.

Visit the UAlbany Performing Arts Center website at

www.albany.edu/pac

Photo: Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

for a full listing of this season’s events.

Department of Music and Theatre University at Albany presents:

IS SPRING RIGHT? NATURE-INSPIRED MUSIC FROM AROUND THE WORLD

M AX L IFCHITZ , P I A N O

Concert made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts administered by North/South Consonance, Inc.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 7pm

Recital Hall UAlbany Performing Arts Center

Program JEE SOO

Ohr/Light

JONATHAN B. MCNAIR MAX LIFCHITZ

Rabun Gap Lonesome Tears

I. Disquietude II. Despair/Defiance III. Grief

BARBARA RETTAGLIATI

Rocce (Rock Formations)

I. Rocce metamorfiche – Metamorphic rocks II. Rocce sedimentarie – Sedimentary rocks III. Rocce magmatiche – Eruptive rocks

JOHN MCGINN

MARCELA RODRIGUEZ

ZIBUOKLE MARTINAITYTE MAX LIFCHITZ

Three Preludes

I. Nimble II. Capricious + P.S. IIII. Beguiling (lair dance)

Como en el agua en el agua (Like Water in Water) Flashes of Illumination Is Spring Right?

Meet the Performer THE AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE referred to Max Lifchitz as “one of America’s finest exponents of contemporary piano music” and THE NEW YORK TIMES praised him for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances.” A graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University, he was awarded first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of 20th Century Music held in Holland. As a composer, Mr. Lifchitz has received fellowships from, among others, the ASCAP, Ford, and Guggenheim Foundations; the Individual Artists Program of the NYS Council of the Arts; and from the National Endow-ment for the Arts. His works have been performed throughout Europe, Latin America, and the US. Lifchitz was invited to join the teaching staff of the University at Albany in 1986.

Program Notes Compiled & edited

by Max Lifchitz

This program features piano music inspired by the natural world penned by living composers from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the US. Brief observations about each one of the composers and their music follow: Jee Seo (b. 1985) studied at Chung-Ang University in his native South Korea before attending the Penderecki Academy in Poland. He has earned prizes in several composition competitions and served as resident composer for the Isang Yun Peace Foundation in Berlin.

Seo’s Ohr (Hebrew word for Light) was inspired by two quotations from the Bible: “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light” [Genesis 1:3] and “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” [John 1:4].

Jonathan B. McNair (b. 1959) serves as the Ruth S. Holmberg Professor of American Music at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. He earned a doctorate from the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Donald Erb. McNair was twice chosen as composer-in-residence for the Viva Voce! Choral Camp and was a composer in the Faith Partners residency program of the American Composers Forum. Rabun Gap was written while in residence at The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences near Rabun Gap, Georgia. The music was inspired by feelings and states of mind experienced while exploring the beautiful mountains surrounding the Rabun Gap-Wolffork Valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Barbara Rettagliati (b. 1964) studied at the Piacenza Conservatory in her native Italy. She taught at the Bellini and Cherubini Conservatories before relocating to Switzerland to devote her energies to composing full time.

Her works have received many prizes and have been performed by important soloists and ensemble throughout Europe, Korea, China, and Argentina. In three contrasting but interrelated movements, Rocce (Rocks) portraits different rock formations found in the Alps including metamorphic, sedimentary, and eruptive rocks.

John McGinn (b. 1964 in Sacramento, CA) received an undergraduate music degree from Harvard University and a doctorate in composition from Stanford University.

Currently an Associate Professor at Austin College in Sherman, TX, McGinn is active as pianist and composer.

An avid devotee of improvisation, McGinn has long been fascinated by “the question of what may be gained – or lost – from the application of rigorous compositional techniques (judgment, development, revision, and so on) to the bright, unpredictable flames of spontaneous creation.”

Three Preludes written in 2019, are part of a growing collection of piano pieces based on free improvisations captured and transcribed with the help of MIDI software.

Marcela Rodriguez (b. 1951) studied the guitar and composition with the celebrated Cuban guitarist Leo Brouwer. Her works have been performed internationally.

She has lectured extensively including at the Catholic University of Colombia and the Catholic University in Washington, DC. Often, Rodriguez’s music is associated with natural landscapes, human nature, and diverse cultures. Como el agua en el agua (Like Water in Water) takes its name from a book of the same title by the Cuban writer Francisco Luis Acosta Ruiz. Experimental in nature, the constantly shifting music avoids the lower half of the keyboard while concentrating on the extremely high register of the instrument. Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (b. 1973) received the 2022 Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts. Growing up in Soviet-era Lithuania, Martinaityté was fortunate enough to be able to leave her country and study in France, Germany, and Austria. Her music explores a sonic vocabulary, which though frequently inspired by nature and always deeply emotive, is completely abstract and open to multiple interpretations. Flashes of Illumination was written after the composer reputedly gazed at stars twinkling in the night sky.

Max Lifchitz’s Lonesome Tears is in three contrasting movements arranged around a traditional slow-fast-slow pattern. Penned while in enforced isolation during the pandemic, the music deals with feelings of anxiety, despair, and grief. Is Spring Right? – for the left hand alone – was written in March of 2022 as an emotional response to weather abnormalities and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The music juxtaposes motivic elements drawn from Igor Stravinsky’s early 20th century masterpiece The Right of Spring with melodic phrases from the Ukrainian national anthem.

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Performing Arts Center university at albany State University of New York

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Created and produced by the University Art Museum, NYS Writers Institute and UAlbany Performing Arts Center in collaboration with WAMC Northeast Public Radio, this popular series features leading figures from a variety of artistic disciplines in conversation about their creative inspirations, their craft and their careers. “Roundtable” host Joe Donahue conducts live on-stage interviews followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Dance Albany 2023-24

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See all of these performances for only $110!

Dayton Contemporary Dance Co October 20 Passion Fruit Dance Co November 4

Performing Arts Center university at albany State University of New York

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Co December 2 Photo: Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

Mark Morris Dance Group January 25 Ellen Sinopoli Dance Co with Capital Trio - January 27 * Monica Bill Barnes & Co February 3 No Gravity Theatre February 9 Savion Glover April 13 Ellen Sinopoli Dance Co May 18 Packages also available for choice of five or three at 25% or 10% discounts, respectively.

Executive Park

* This show is free and does not factor into package pricing.

Packages available through The Egg Box Office at the Empire State Plaza or by calling (518) 473-1845

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