NEWMUSIC NEWHAVEN hannah lash & christopher theofanidis 路 artistic directors
featuring music by
VIJAY IYER and music by Yale graduate composers
with
BRENTANO STRING QUARTET Morse Recital Hall 路 April 2, 2015
Robert Blocker, Dean
Hannah Lash & Christopher Theofanidis, Artistic Directors
Liliya Ugay b. 1990
Pressout Jiazhi Wang, violin Xinyi Xu, viola Allan Hon, cello Ha Young Jung, bass Jonathan Slade, Victor Wang, flute & piccolo Ron Cohen Mann, oboe Kevin Schaffter, clarinet Bogdan Dumitriu, bassoon John Craig Hubbard, horn Omar Dejesus, trombone Kramer Milan, percussion Louis Lohraseb, conductor
Brian Heim b. 1993
Real–Time / Action Study Jiazhi Wang, Julia Ghica, violin Xinyi Xu, viola Allan Hon, cello Ha Young Jung, bass Victor Wang, flute & piccolo Ron Cohen Mann, oboe Chi Hang Fung, clarinet Kevin Schaffter, E-flat & bass clarinet Bogdan Dumitriu, bassoon John Craig Hubbard, horn Patrick Durbin, trumpet Omar Dejesus, trombone Matthew Keown, percussion NoÍl Wan, harp Alvin Zhu, piano Nicholas DiBerardino, laptop Heejung Park, conductor
Krists Auznieks b. 1992
Piano Ruda Lee, Jing Yang, violin Hyeree Yu, viola Yifan Wu, cello Chenxing Huang, piano brief intermission
Vijay Iyer b. 1971
Time, Place, Action Brentano String Quartet Mark Steinberg, violin Serena Canin, violin Misha Amory, viola Nina Lee, cello Vijay Iyer, piano
As a courtesy to the performers and audience, silence all electronic devices. Please do not leave the hall during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is prohibited.
PROGRAM NOTES biography Lilya Ugay
the 14th International Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition, and many others.
Liliya Ugay is an award-winning pianist and composer whose works have been performed in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and the United States. Originally from Uzbekistan, she graduated from the Uspensky Special Music School for gifted children, studying piano with G. Ardashirova and composition with P. Medyulyanova and F. Yanov-Yanovsky. While in Tashkent, Liliya collaborated regularly with the contemporary music ensemble Omnibus as both pianist and composer. In 2010, Liliya was awarded the Woodruff scholarship at Columbus State University to study piano with Alexander Kobrin. In Columbus, her works were premiered by the CSU Philharmonic orchestra led by Paul Hostetter and on several student recitals. Her compositions were featured in several festivals including the 45th Darmstadt International Summer Courses of New Music, 52nd Venice Biennale, and the International Trumpet Guild and Convergence New Music festivals. Presently, Liliya is pursuing her Master of Music degree in composition at the Yale School of Music studying with Martin Bresnick. Liliya’s competition awards include first prizes at the National MTNA Young Artist and DeKalb Choral Guild composition competitions, second prize at the Third Verfemte Musik International Piano Competition (Germany), honorable mention at the PreArt International composition competition (Switzerland), second prize at the Crystal Camerton Composition Competition (supported by the Union of Composers of Russia and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory), the Esta Kirkey award at
biography Brian Heim Brian Heim (b. 1993) is a composer, programmer, and pianist whose work revolves around the intersection of art, technology, and philosophy. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with Dan Welcher and Yevgeniy Sharlat, and is a firstyear master’s student at the Yale School of Music, where he has studied with Aaron Jay Kernis and Christopher Theofanidis, as well as his present teacher Hannah Lash. Brian’s music has been performed by the UT-Austin New Music Ensemble, by the Minneapolis-based Zeitgeist ensemble, and on the Schubert Club’s Courtroom Concerts series. His music was recently heard at the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium. Upcoming collaborations include a work for large ensemble with laptop for Yale’s New Music New Haven series and an orchestral work which will receive its premiere by the Yale Philharmonia in the fall. » www.brianlheim.com » www.soundcloud.com/brian-heim biography Krists Auznieks Born in Riga, Latvia, composer Krists Auznieks grew up touring Europe with the Riga Dome Boys Choir and studying classical piano, later on venturing into jazz. He received his bachelor’s degree in composition from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague under teachers Peter Adriaansz and Guus
PROGRAM NOTES Janssen, and also studied extensively at The Hague Institute of Sonology. Currently, he is pursuing his M.M. degree at the Yale School of Music with Hannah Lash and David Lang. He has written for the Latvian Radio Chamber Singers, David Kweksilber Big Band, Claron McFadden, the recorder orchestra Praetorius, Brendan Faegre Edge Ensemble, Modelo62, Slagwerk Den Haag, the vocal groups Anima Solla and Framest, and a chamber opera for Riga’s European Capital of Culture 2014 festival. He received a recommendation in the 2014 UNESCO Rostrum of Composers for his work I Exist As I Am, which was broadcast on classical music radio stations worldwide in 2014. His works have been performed at the Beijing National Arts Centre, Shanghai City Theatre, Amsterdam Muziekgebouw, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Ereprijs YCM 2014 (both in The (Netherlands), Riga A Capella Festival (Latvia), Druskomanija (Lithuania), and Casa del Jazz (Italy).
biography Vijay Iyer Grammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer (pronounced “VID-jay EYE-yer”) was described by Pitchfork as “one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today,” by the Los Angeles Weekly as “a boundless and deeply important young star,” and by Minnesota Public Radio as “an American treasure.” He was named DownBeat Magazine’s 2014 Pianist of the Year, a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, and a 2012 Doris Duke Performing Artist.
program note Piano
The New York Times observes, “There’s probably no frame wide enough to encompass the creative output of the pianist Vijay Iyer.” Iyer has released twenty recordings, most recently for the ECM label. These latest include Mutations, featuring his compositions for piano, string quartet and electronics; Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi, a silent film by Prashant Bhargava, with Iyer’s score performed by International Contemporary Ensemble; and the forthcoming Break Stuff, featuring the Vijay Iyer Trio, hailed by PopMatters as “the best band in jazz.”
Even though the piece is relatively silent and piano (as an instrument) does play a very prominent role in it, my idea was to focus on less obvious and known meanings of the Italian word piano. Think about possible plans, plots and schedules, undergirding the flow of time, notice various layers, how they can never be fully grasped by looking at them only vertically (pitch) or horizontally (time), they seem to require an additional plane of existence, a dimension of their own. While the design unfolds gently, exploring various arrangements of plain sameness, we hear: piano, piano, piano.
In 1998, Iyer received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation, subsequent research, and creative work are focused on embodied music cognition. He has published articles in Journal of Consciousness Studies, Wire, Music Perception, JazzTimes, Journal of the Society for American Music, Critical Studies in Improvisation, Harvard Design Magazine, the anthologies Arcana IV, Sound Unbound, Uptown Conversation, The Best Writing on Mathematics: 2010, and the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation
» www.auznieks.com
PROGRAM NOTES Studies. He is the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts in the Department of Music at Harvard University. program note Time, Place, Action This piece puts the spirit of real-time invention in dialogue with the meticulous interpretative art of the string quartet. What the two approaches have in common is a focus on the experience of sound in time; the priority in both cases is not only the articulation of form, but also a heightened attention to moment-to-moment interaction and the flow of aural sensation. That zone (between score and experience, let’s say) is where this piece is meant to dwell. In the best cases, composed material offers an opportunity for the performers’ own dynamic, interpersonal expressions of tone, texture, rhythm, and energy, which are then put to use to highlight aspects of the compositional shape. These embodied realities of music—the human actions in time and place, which we as listeners hear, react to, and empathize with “from the inside,” as one neuroscientist put it—make performers more than mere interchangeable conduits for a composer’s intent. As a composer I embrace those human realities; for me, composition is meant to serve performance, not vice versa. By highlighting the intentionality of the sound-making process, I strive to embrace each performer’s selfhood. In this piece, notated sections open up and transform through various real-time decision processes. The piano part is specified mostly in a skeletal form; as in much of the music I play, my role here consists of choices made and executed in the moment,
in dialogue with the details of the composition. The harmonic language, derived from various overtone and undertone series related to the open strings, seeks to maximize resonance; this alternates with a more gestural vocabulary derived from my improvisational language. The overall shape is a mixtape: a series of juxtaposed episodes through which a larger story emerges. It’s a great honor to collaborate with the Brentano Quartet, one of today’s preeminent ensembles. I am grateful for this chance to build a musical experience with and for them, and you. Thank you for listening. — V.I. biography Brentano String Quartet Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. Beginning last July, the Brentano Quartet succeeds the Tokyo Quartet as artists-inresidence at Yale University, departing from their 14-year residency at Princeton University. The Quartet also serves as the collaborative ensemble for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In 2012, the Brentano Quartet provided the central music (Beethoven Op. 131) for the critically acclaimed independent film A Late Quartet. In addition to performing the entire two -century range of the standard quartet repertoire, the Brentano Quartet has a strong interest in both very old and very new music. It has performed many musical works predating the string quartet as a medium. The quartet has also worked closely with some of the most important composers of
PROGRAM NOTES our time, including Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Chou Wen-chung, Steven Mackey, Bruce Adolphe, and György Kurtág. The Quartet has commissioned works from Wuorinen, Adolphe, Mackey, David Horne, and Gabriela Frank. The quartet has been privileged to collaborate with such artists as soprano Jessye Norman, pianist Richard Goode, and pianist Mitsuko Uchida. In spring 2013 the second of three recordings featuring the late Beethoven quartets was released on Aeon Records. Previous recordings include a disc of Mozart (Aeon) and the Opus 71 quartets of Haydn. The quartet has released a disc of the music of Steven Mackey on Albany and has recorded the music of Bruce Adolphe, Chou Wen-chung, and Charles Wuorinen. Within a few years of its formation, the Quartet garnered the first Cleveland Quartet Award and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 1998 cellist Nina Lee joined the quartet, succeeding founding member Michael Kannen. The quartet is named for Antonie Brentano, whom many scholars consider to be Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” the intended recipient of his famous love confession. The Brentano String Quartet records for AEON (distributed by Allegro Media Group). » www.brentanoquartet.com
new music new haven Artistic Directors Hannah Lash Christopher Theofanidis Manager Andrew W. Parker Assistant Manager Roberta Senatore Office Assistants Timothy Gocklin Heejung Park Conducting Fellows Heejung Park Louis Lohraseb Stage Crew Samuel Bobinski John Caughman Patrick Durbin Batmyagmar Erdenebat Yifei Fu Julia Ghica Matthew Keown John Kossler Fiona Last Thomas Park Elisabeth Shafer Terrence Sweeney Georgi Videnov Johnathan Weisgerber Music Librarians Nicholas DiBerardino Allan Hon Natasha Huang Matthew Keown Fiona Last Michael Laurello Richard Liverano David Mason Marie Oka Yefim Romanov
UPCOMING EVENTS Yale Baroque Ensemble
El Mundo Ensemble
april 7 & 8 15 Hillhouse Ave. | Tue & Wed | 5:30 pm Collection of Musical Instruments Members of the Yale Baroque Ensemble perform in recital. Robert Mealy, director Free Admission
april 12 15 Hillhouse Ave. | Sunday | 3 pm Collection of Musical Instruments Richard Savino, artistic director. The Kingdoms of Castile: works by Castellano, Handel, Salazar, and more Tickets $25 • Seniors $20 • Students $10
Lunchtime Chamber Music april 8 Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 12:30 pm YSM Student Ensembles Music for a variety of chamber ensembles Wendy Sharp, director Free Admission
The Yale Cellos april 15 Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm YSM Student Ensembles A variety of music for solo cello and for cello ensemble. Aldo Parisot, director Tickets $10–$20 • Students $5
Peter Oundjian, guest conductor april 10 Woolsey Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm Yale Philharmonia Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture; Korngold: Violin Concerto, with soloist Benjamin Hoffman (a winner of the Woolsey competition); Brahms: Symphony No. 2 Tickets start at $10 • Students $5 $3 surcharge for purchases at the door
Russian Legends may 1 Woolsey Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm Yale Philharmonia Shinik Hahm, conductor. Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy; Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919); Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra Tickets start at $10 • Students $5 $3 surcharge for purchases at the door
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