New Music New Haven

november 3, 2011 Morse Recital Hall Thursday at 8 pm artistic director Christopher Theofanidis featured composers Martin Bresnick Ingram Marshall and music of Kuspa Lash Rogerson Wang

Robert Blocker, Dean

PROGRAM

Fay Wang

Awaken Flamingo Kyeong Hoon Seung, alto flute Jean Laurenz, trumpet Victor Caccese, marimba Ian O’Sullivan, guitar Yang Jiao, conductor

Hannah Lash

C Paul Kerekes, piano Michael Compitello, vibraphone

Ingram Marshall

September Canons Todd Reynolds, violin intermission

Jordan Kuspa

What Beckons Wai Lau, clarinet Jessica Petrus, soprano

Chris Rogerson

’Til it was dark Lee Dionne, piano

Martin Bresnick

Going Home – Vysoke, My Jerusalem double entendre music ensemble Christa Robinson, oboe Yuki Numata, violin Erin Wight, viola Brian Snow, cello

PROFILES + NOTES

MARTIN BRESNICK composer Martin Bresnick was born in New York City in 1946. He was educated at the High School of Music and Art, the University of Hartford (B.A. ’67), Stanford University (M.A. ’68, D.M.A. ’72), and the Akademie für Musik, Vienna (1969–70). His principal teachers of composition include György Ligeti, John Chowning, and Gottfried von Einem. Presently a professor of composition and coordinator of the composition department at the Yale School of Music, he has also taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Stanford University, in addition to visiting professorships and residencies at numerous other prestigious institutions.

Mr. Bresnick’s compositions cover a wide range of instrumentation, from chamber music to symphonic compositions and computer music.

His orchestral music has been performed by the National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, City of London Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, and many more. His chamber music has been performed in concert by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Da Capo Chamber Players, Bang on A Can All Stars, and the Nash Ensemble, among others.

such as the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Orchestra New England, Koussevitzky Foundation, Meet-the-Composer Reader’s Digest commissioning program, National Endowment for the Arts, Lincoln Center Chamber Players, Meet-the-Composer, and Chamber Music America. His prizes including a Fulbright Fellowship, three N.E.A. Composer Grants, A.S.C.A.P. Awards, Rome Prize Fellowship, MacDowell Colony Fellowship, the Elise L. Stoeger Prize for Chamber Music from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the ASCAP Foundation’s Aaron Copland Prize for teaching (2000), Berlin Prize Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2006.

Bresnick’s music has been heard at numerous festivals, including Sonic Boom, Bang on a Can, Adelaide, Israel, Prague Spring, Turin, Tanglewood, Banff, Norfolk, and ISCM. He has received commissions from organizations

Mr. Bresnick has written music for films, two of which, Arthur & Lillie (1975) and The Day After Trinity (1981), were nominated for Academy Awards in the documentary category (both with Jon Else, director). Mr. Bresnick’s

PROFILES + NOTES

music has been recorded by Cantaloupe Records, CRI, Centaur, New World Records, Artifact Music, and Albany Records and is published by Carl Fischer Music (NY), Bote and Bock (Berlin), and CommonMuse Music Publishers (New Haven).

Orthodox church. And, as they remembered, the Pulwa river (a tributary of the Bug river) ran beside the lunke, or meadow. Goats and horses were grazing there, tethered to the green grass. The ruined synagogue, at the edge of the meadow, was just a short distance down an unpaved dirt road that led to a small wooden house, once the home of my family.

Going Home Vysoke, My Jerusalem notes I began playing the oboe at the age of 11 and continued to perform seriously on the instrument – in solo works, chamber pieces, in band and orchestra – through graduate school.

Delighted to receive a commission to write an oboe quartet for the Double Entendre music ensemble, I was pleased at the thought I would find myself “Going Home” (with a glancing reference to the great English horn melody of Dvorak). I intended to take a gentle musical journey back to my youthful studies and beloved instrument.

Instead, without willing it, I was taken back to childhood memories of my mother and my grandparents – to their songs and stories of Vysoke Litovsk, the small Russian-Polish (now Belarusian) town where they and my ancestors had lived for many generations.

I was taken back to memories of my own visit to Vysoke in 1995. Just as my mother and grandparents remembered, I found the dense birch and pine forests, the small railway station and the Potocki estate. The Catholic church, just being restored, stood not far from the brilliant blue and gold onion domes of the

INGRAM MARSHALL composer Ingram Marshall, composer, lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1973 to 1985 and in Washington State, where he taught at Evergreen State College, until 1989. His current base is Connecticut. He studied at Columbia University and California Institute of the Arts, where he received an M.F.A., and has been a student of Indonesian gamelan music, the influence of which may be heard in the slowed-down sense of time and use of melodic repetition found in many of his pieces.

In the mid-seventies he developed a series of “live electronic” pieces such as Fragility Cycles, Gradual Requiem, and Alcatraz in which he blended tape collages, extended vocal techniques, Indonesian flutes, and keyboards. He performed widely in the United States and Europe with these works. In recent years he has concentrated on music combining tape and electronic processing with ensembles and soloists. His music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras such as the Theater of Voices, Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony,

and American Composers Orchestra. He has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, Fromm Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Recent recordings are on Nonesuch (Kingdom Come) and New Albion (Savage Altars). Among recent chamber works are Muddy Waters, which was commissioned and performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and In Deserto (Smoke Creek), commissioned by Chamber Music America for the ensemble Clogs. January 2004 saw the premiere of Bright Kingdoms, commissioned

by Magnum Opus/Meet the Composer, and performed by the Oakland-East Bay Symphony under Michael Morgan. The American Composers Orchestra in New York premiered his new concerto for two guitars and orchestra, Dark Florescence, at Carnegie Hall in February 2005. Orphic Memories, commissioned by the Cheswatyr Foundation, was composed for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and premiered in Carnegie Hall in April 2007.

September Canons notes “le canon sur lequel je dois m’abattre à travers la mêlée des arbres et de l’air léger!”

– Arthur Rimbaud from Being Beauteous September Canons was written in 2002 for the violinist Todd Reynolds, whose mastery of electronics as an enhancement to his brilliant violin playing had deeply impressed me. That the music is a kind of memory piece for the events of September 11 is no secret, but it was

not meant to be only about that; it has many layers of “meaning.”

It has connections to other musics (the Bach Chaconne for solo violin, for example, and Charles Ives’ From Hanover Square North) as well as my own (Gradual Requiem). But mostly it is about the canonic interplay of the violin lives that the players sets into motion and then “processes” through various digital effects.

The line from Rimbaud did not inspire the piece but seemed to me to have something to do with it as an afterthought.

PROFILES + NOTES

JORDAN KUSPA composer Jordan Kuspa’s music has been praised in the New York Times as “animated and melodically opulent” and “consistently alive and inspired.”

His compositions have been performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony, the 21 st Century Consort, the Xanthos Ensemble, Ensemble SurPlus, and the Yale Philharmonia, among many others. Jordan’s music has been performed in venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, as well as in Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. Among his many honors, Jordan was the winner of the 2010 ISCM-League of Composers Competition and was selected to take part in the 2011 American Composers Orchestra Underwood New Music Readings.

Jordan was homeschooled his entire life before entering Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He is currently pursuing his doctorate at the Yale School of Music, where he has studied with Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, Ezra Laderman, Ingram Marshall, and Christopher Theofanidis.

What Beckons text

lilies clinging to their brief glory.

The heat, and how it overpowers.

The air conditioning. How it kicks on just in time. Water.

The condensation on the crystal wine glass. The wine. The peal of laughter we recognize as a friend’s.

The story that elicited such laughter.

And, sometimes, a cry.

And, sometimes, a road we need to see the end of. Or a room in a house we’ve never entered before with a window that entices the eye to look out, that pulls the outside in.

Whatever sparkles or startles.

A not quite familiar refrain.

Sometimes, just blue.

– Grace Bau

A dream – say, of a once loved body.

The memory of hands.

The aroma of coffee singing its praise to waking.

Or the bright orange of day

HANNAH LASH composer

Hannah Lash has been the recipient of numerous awards and commissions including the Naumburg Prize in Composition, a Fromm Music Foundation Commission, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a fellowship from the Yaddo Artist Colony, and the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award. Conductors including George Manahan, Jeffrey Milarsky, Alan Pierson, and Osmo Vänskä have programmed and conducted her orchestral works.

Lash obtained her undergraduate degree in composition from the Eastman School of Music, a performance degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and her Ph.D. from Harvard University, with further studies at the Yale School of Music. Her primary teachers have included Martin Bresnick, Bernard Rands, Julian Anderson, and Robert Morris.

C notes C is a short piece for piano and vibraphone that was commissioned by pianist Zuzanna Szewczyk and by percussionist Melanie Sehman. Although it is not “in C,” the C octaves that open the piece are a structural pillar of the work, punctuating it and allowing the material to radiate outwards in a process of expansion and renewal.

PROFILES + NOTES

CHRIS ROGERSON composer The music of 22-year old composer Chris Rogerson has been praised for its “virtuosic exuberance” and “haunting beauty” (New York Times). Leading ensembles such as the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the JACK Quartet have performed his work at venues including the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. Chris has won awards from ASCAP, the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, and the Theodore Presser Foundation, and was recently honored with a MacDowell Colony fellowship. His music has been featured at Angel Fire, Aspen, Bowdoin, Cabrillo, Norfolk, and Ravinia, and on NPR’s Performance Today, CBC Canadian National Radio, Radio France, Italian National Radio, and Radio New Zealand.

Chris’s 2011–2012 season includes a miniresidency with the Grand Rapids Symphony, a cello concerto for Jay Campbell commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony to be premiered at Carnegie Hall, the premiere of a solo guitar work at Wolf Trap, and performances at the Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall, the Philadelphia Art Museum, and the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. He is represented exclusively by Young Concert Artists, Inc. and is their Composer-in-Residence.

Til it was dark notes ’Til it was dark, a work for solo piano describing my childhood, was commissioned by Young Concert Artists, Inc. for premieres at the Kennedy Center and Merkin Hall. ’Til it was dark recalls past summers of mine spent with friends. The work is in three movements. “Break” depicts when school lets out— and the utter joy my friends and I felt when the last bell rang. “Three more minutes!” is a more specific memory. When I was playing outside with the other kids on my block, my dad would often come to announce, “Three more minutes!”

Then he would walk away. With a minute left, he would come back, and look at his watch until time was up. He was the only parent who did this. Finally, “Important Things” recalls quieter moments shared with friends. ’Til it was dark is dedicated to my best friend Ian.

FAY (FEINAN) WANG composer Fay (Feinan) Wang, born 1986, is a composer, vocalist, and pianist from Beijing, China. Her works have been performed around the world including in China, Europe, and the United States. She holds degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music (BA ’08) and the Yale School of Music (MM ’10). She is now working toward her Artist Diploma at Yale. Her major teachers include Ezra Laderman, Martin Bresnick, Christopher Theofanidis, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, and Xiaogang Ye. Fay has received honors and awards from ASCAP Young Composer Awards, the Ezra Laderman Prize from the Yale School of Music, and China’s Golden Bell Award and Governmental Award. Commissions include the Classic Euro Young Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Beijing Chamber Music Festival, China’s EOS Orchestra Academy, and Beijing Dance Academy. Her works have been performed by the RIAS Youth Orchestra (Gerd Albrecht), Yale Philharmonia, De Reihe, and the Galatea Quartet, among others. Her compositions have been performed at concert halls including the Arnold Schoenberg Center (Vienna), Berlin Concert House, Austrian ORF Radio Concert Hall, Yale’s Woolsey Hall, Zurich University of the Arts, Beijing Concert Hall, and Shanghai Concert Hall.

Fay’s music incorporates other genres including dance-drama, musicals, film scoring, and experimental pop. As a composer and vocalist she has performed at Lincoln Center with musicians from Yale. Recently she was a

guest performer at the Steinway piano launch event in Shanghai. She has also performed vocals in other composers’ works with various singing styles. Fay has created a new genre of her own: the Monodrama Series. Her album Pisces Monodrama – Selections of Works by Fay Wang has been released in China. Her music has been broadcast on China Central Television, Austrian National Broadcasting, and on Music for Internets. Fay’s music is published

by Musikverlag Doblinger, Vienna.

Red Bird notes A flamingo makes its way from a faraway place into my imagination, my dreams, my subconscious, and blends into the flame background of my inner world. She goes between feelings of confusion, peace, love and passion. I bring a visual sense to the audience with my music.

PROFILES + NOTES

TODD REYNOLDS violin

DOUBLE ENTENDRE Music Ensemble

Violinist, composer, educator, and technologist Todd Reynolds is one of the most active and versatile proponents of what he calls “present music.” The violinist of choice for Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, and Bang on a Can, Reynolds’ music has been called “a charming, multimood extravaganza, playful like Milhaud, but hard-edged like Hendrix” (Strings Magazine).

He has just released his double CD set Outerborough on Innova. Reynolds weaves together composed and improvised segments and uses computer technology and digital loops to sculpt sounds in real time. He seamlessly integrates minimalist, pop, jazz, Indian, African, Celtic, and indigenous folk musics. He has appeared and/or recorded with such artists as Anthony Braxton, Uri Caine, John Cale, Yo-Yo Ma, Graham Nash, and Steve Reich, and has commissioned and premiered countless new works. Interdisciplinary work includes ongoing collaborations with SoundPainter Walter Thompson, media artists Bill Morrison and Luke DuBois, and sound artist Jody Elff.

Reynolds is a founder of the amplified string quartet Ethel, with which he wrote and toured internationally for seven years. He has produced Still Life With Microphone, an ongoing theater piece, and Nuove Uova [new eggs].

The Todd Reynolds String Quartet and the avant piano trio Typical Music commission, perform, and record music from contemporary music’s brightest stars.

Double Entendre Music Ensemble is dedicated to promoting the advancement and awareness of double reed instruments by performing concerts, organizing educational sessions, and commissioning new pieces. The organization incorporated in 2005 and achieved nonprofit status in 2007. Double Entendre reaches out to its audience by presenting free concerts in New York City parks and Grand Central Terminal as participants of the MTA’s Music Under New York program. The group has performed at the Goethe Institute and the Chelsea Museum, and has presented children’s educational sessions in the East Village Community School, the Cresskill School District (NJ), and the Summer Institute of the Bronx. Other appearances this year include a performance of their first commissioned piece, Martin Bresnick’s Going Home - Vysoke, My Jerusalem, at the International Double Reed Society convention, their sixth annual concert at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, an event at Richard Tucker Park at 66 th and Broadway, and performances at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church in Manhattan and the Evelyn Weisberg Concert Hall in Hunter, NY. Double Entendre’s first CD, A Christmas Reeding, was released in 2008. » www.doubleentendre.org

NEW MUSIC NEW HAVEN

artistic director Christopher Theofanidis

Thursdays at 8 pm Morse Recital Hall Free admission

managing director Krista Johnson assistant Benjamin Firer

FEB 2 Ezra Laderman: Piano Sonata No. 5.

music librarians Cristobal Gajardo-Benitez Timothy Hilgert Wai Lau Holly Piccoli Matthew Rosenthal Kathryn Salfelder Kaitlin Taylor

MAR 1 Aaron Jay Kernis: Ballade out of the Blues; Christopher Theofanidis: Flow, my Tears.

stage crew John Allen Jonathan Allen Landres Bryant Colin Brookes Timothy Hilgert Michael Levin Matthew Rosenthal Aaron Sorensen Gerald Villella

music.yale.edu

MAR 29 Steve Reich: Proverb (1995), with members of the Yale Camerata and Yale Schola Cantorum.

APR 12 Kaija Saariaho: Serenatas and Terrestre. + DEC 8 NEW MUSIC FOR ORCHESTRA Woolsey Hall The Yale Philharmonia performs new works for chamber orchestra by graduate composers Paul Kerekes, Hannah Lash, Loren Loiacono, Garth Neustadter, Kathryn Salfelder, Chris Rogerson, Justin Tierney, and Daniel Wohl.

COMING UP

Willie Ruff + Whole Drum Truth Yale School of Music 203 432-4158 concerts@yale.edu music.yale.edu/media

concerts & public relations Dana Astmann Danielle Heller Dashon Burton new media Monica Ong Reed Austin Kase operations Tara Deming Christopher Melillo piano curators Brian Daley William Harold recording studio Eugene Kimball

november 4 Morse Recital Hall | Fri | 8 pm Ellington Jazz Series The Whole Drum Truth, a quartet of modern jazz drummers led by Albert “Tootie” Heath, performs with French horn player Willie Ruff and multistyle violinist Mari Black. Tickets $20–$30, Students $10. november 5 Yale Art Gallery | Sat | 10:30 am The members of The Whole Drum Truth mentor local young jazz drummers in an open workshop. Free admission.

Master Class with Alan Held november 8 Morse Recital Hall | Mon | 7 pm Yale Opera Bass-baritone Alan Held works with singers from Yale Opera in an open master class.

Free admission.

Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio november 8 Morse Recital Hall | Tue | 8 pm Oneppo Chamber Music Series “One of the best-blended, most sensitive, and intelligent piano trios in the world today” (New York Times) performs trios of Beethoven, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and Tchaikovsky. Tickets $25–$35, Students $15.