NEWMUSIC NEWHAVEN hannah lash & christopher theofanidis 路 artistic directors
featuring music by
CHRISTOPHER THEOFANIDIS & JACK VEES and music by Yale graduate composers
March 10, 2016 路 Thursday at 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Hannah Lash & Christopher Theofanidis, Artistic Directors
Jack Vees b. 1955
Piano Trio (Hulk Smash!!) Paul Kerekes, piano a Fay Wang, piano a and Benjamin Wallace, piano a
Ethan Braun b. 1987
Praise: Lover Irene Kim, piano g
Christopher Theofanidis b. 1967
“Juliet’s Aria” from Heart of a Soldier (2011) “El Salvador” from The Refuge (2007) Jazimina MacNeil, mezzo-soprano g David Fung, piano a intermission
Krists Auznieks b. 1992
Viewpoint Michelle Nguyen, oboe Eric Braley, clarinet Jiyeon Kim, electric guitar Benjamin Wallace, harpsichord a Jinxiang Yu, soprano
Vees
Ambulant Music for brass sextet Daniel Venora, Nozomi Imamura, trumpet Reese Farnell, horn Richard Liverano, trombone Johnathan Weisgerber, bass trombone John Leibensperger, tuba a g
Yale School of Music alumni Guest artist
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.
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biography Jack Vees Citing Charles Ives and Captain Beefheart as his most prominent early influences, Jack Vees has a particularly distinctive and personal musical style that is instantly recognizable. His music unselfconsciously combines rigorous formal thinking with the raw energy of rock ‘n’ roll, as well as an irreverent, acerbic wit that is equal parts Monty Python and the Ugly Janitors of America, the antic avant-garde rock band Vees performed with during his Los Angeles days. Technology is an integral part of much of Vees’s work, and he elegantly combines electronics with acoustic and electric instruments. In 1998, Vees was profiled in Rolling Stone as a pioneer of music technology and hailed as a “21st century alchemist.” His music has been described as “consistently interesting” (Music Connection), “looking-glass music” (New Haven Register), and it has occasionally been said here and there that his music “twangs with excitement” (New York Times). In addition to being a leader in electronic music composition and performance, Vees is also a prominent educator in the field, serving as founder and director of Yale University’s acclaimed Center for Studies in Music Technology (CSMT). Since 1986, Vees has taught graduate-level courses on music technology and studio techniques at the Yale School of Music, and has played a critical role in cultivating the extraordinary reputation of today’s composition department at YSM.
Vees’ early musical training was in piano and tuba, but he soon switched to the electric bass guitar. He attended Glassboro State College and went on to receive his MFA from California Institute of the Arts, where he studied music composition with Morton Subotnick, Stephen Mosko, Louis Andriessen, Vinko Globokar, and Bernard Rands. His works have been performed throughout the world by numerous ensembles and soloists, including Ensemble Modern, the California Ear Unit, Zeitgeist, Hemispheres, oboist Libby Van Cleve, cellists Jeffrey Krieger and Ashley Bathgate, guitarist Ben Verdery, and electronic percussionist Amy Knoles. His music has been heard at New Music America, Neue Musik New York/Cologne, Bang On A Can, and Soundings. In February of 2014, the Yale School of Music presented an evening length concert of his music on its Faculty Artist Series. Vees’ solo bass album The Restaurant Behind the Pier has been lauded at home and abroad as an ambitious and overwhelmingly successful undertaking. “Think you’ve heard everything that can be done with a bass guitar? Consider Jack Vees’ The Restaurant Behind the Pier” (Bassnotes). His mastery of extended techniques on the bass led him to write The Book on Bass Harmonics (Alfred Music Publishers, 1981), which has become a standard reference on the subject. program note Piano Trio (Hulk Smash!!) This piece had its inception when a younger composer asked if I had ever written for any of the standard ensembles, “you know,
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like a piano trio.” Immediately the thought of a three-piano piece occurred to me. As the idea developed, two things became clear early on. One was that my background as a rhythm section keyboard player was leading it much more in that direction than toward a more virtuosic Lisztian vein. Then there was the logistical nightmare of finding a place with three available pianos. At the same time, the material for the third player was proving to be a connective link between the other two. Both practicality and aesthetics seemed to be insisting on a two-piano setup with the third part and player astride both keyboards. It is probably not all that beneficial to have copious notes on structure to function as an introduction to the piece. But, for those who absolutely must know, there are some pitch and registral strategies at work. The piece winnows or funnels itself to a point somewhere near its middle where there are the fewest pitches available. It then builds itself back out in a way that is not at all symmetrical to the first half. What results then is not so much a mirroring, but an overlay of materials and procedures that have already been encountered. biography Ethan Braun Ethan Braun in a composer from Los Angeles, CA and, by way of Holland, is now pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Yale School of Music.
program note Praise: Lover I wrote “Lover,” from Praise, on a late summer evening in The Hague just before moving to New Haven. It follows a melodic fragment that, in a certain way, seems to disappear into itself, into the colors from which it came. I titled it so to honor my wife, Yara, in whose home and presence I wrote it. biography Christopher Theofanidis Christopher Theofanidis (born 12/18/67 in Dallas, Texas) has had performances by many leading orchestras from around the world, including the London Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists, the National, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies, among many others. He has also served as Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony during their 2006–2007 season, during which he wrote a violin concerto for Sarah Chang. Mr. Theofanidis holds degrees from Yale, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Houston, and has been the recipient of the International Masterprize, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, a Fulbright fellowship to France to study with Tristan Mural at IRCAM, a Tanglewood fellowship, and two fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2007 he was nominated for a Grammy award for best composition for his chorus and orchestra work The Here
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and Now, based on the poetry of Rumi. His orchestral work Rainbow Body is one of the most-performed new orchestral works of the new millennium, having been performed by over 150 orchestras internationally. Mr. Theofanidis’ has written a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre, a work for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as part of their ‘New Brandenburg’ series, and two operas for the San Francisco and Houston Grand Opera companies. Thomas Hampson sang the lead role in the San Francisco work. He has a long-standing relationship with the Atlanta Symphony and Maestro Robert Spano, and has just had his concert length oratorio Creation/ Creator recorded with them. His new work Dreamtime Ancestors, for the orchestral consortium New Music for America, is being played by fifty-eight orchestras this coming season, and his work Five (after Bill Viola) was recently premiered by the Miro String Quartet for Chamber Music Monterey Bay. He has served as a delegate to the US-Japan Foundation’s Leadership Program, and he is a former faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University as well as the Juilliard School. Mr. Theofanidis is currently Professor in the Practice of Music at Yale University and is on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival.
text “Juliet’s Aria,” from Heart of a Soldier I read and re-read the old letter till I get a new one. Superstitious. Maybe if I rip up this letter, a new one will arrive. When I was a girl, I prayed for world peace. But now, I can only pray a selfish prayer – Come home to me. You alone… To me alone. Where are you camping, where are you sleeping? Where are you hiking, where are you heading? My love. I wish I could touch you, smell you, breathe you. Please send me something you touched, anything. A bit of grass from where you walked, A pebble shaken from your boot. My love. I miss you. I want you so much. I want to touch what you’ve touched. Hold what you’ve held. All I want is Tom back home. Tom. The rest of the world can go to hell. Send me Tom. Only Tom.
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text “El Salvador,” from The Refuge We lived in San Salvador. There was a gang that knew we had cash in the house. They only wanted to rob us. They even knocked first. It was my mother’s fault. She tried to force the door closed When she saw that they had guns. Then she fought them. I heard the shot. My mother… all of her blood… What’s happening? And the last man ran away. But one of them came back. He called for me. “You saw!” (No, I say – no!) “You saw, and if you talk, we will kill you.” (No, I say – no!) Walking, hiding, always afraid. I went away to another city with my brother, But they found me. They always find you. “You will talk!” (No, I say – no I won’t!) “Yes, you will, and if you do we will kill you.” (No – please no! I won’t say anything.) Every week a letter came to my brother: “If she talks, we will kill her, we will kill you.” Finally, I felt brave enough to go out to the store. But they caught me, and they used me. They beat me. They are the ones – the fathers of my son.
Walking, hiding, always afraid. Santa Rosa de Lima. Another city. Another start. Just me, and my toddling boy. My new husband was a good man. He cared for me, I cared for him. Then he left for America. He said he would send money, And soon, very soon, we would follow him. Until he found an ‘Americana’ on the other side And left us, left us hungry. The letters came again to my brother. “She will talk! She will talk!” (and again) “She will talk!” (They will find me.) Brother – keep him safe. Please, please, protect him. I will go to Estados Unidos and send for him. (My boy, I do not want you to look when I leave.) In Chiapas, I met an old man about a bus. He said, “You are not from here. Aren’t you afraid?” I said: “If they arrest me, I will come again – I’ll beg if I have to, but I will make it to the United States.” Walking, hiding, so many days and nights. Crackers and water, cactus thorns, my shoes can’t close, My feet are bleeding. I head to the truck with six men. I keep myself apart and pray. *** I hear the truck horn. (I am afraid I cannot do it.)
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I have to get over the wall, have to run – they’re chasing us. But the six men save me – they tear their shirts and skin. They pulled me over the wall, into the truck. They saved me. For eight hours, we lay on top of each other in the truck, Like pieces of wood, hiding. And when the truck stopped, we were afraid to breathe. I called my husband. “Do you have the courage,” I say, “to tell that Americana, It’s your wife on the phone?” But I forgave him. And he came back to me. I didn’t have anyone else here after all. Just him. *** The Coyote promised us the boy would be safe. (But he’s still so small!) The Coyote promised they will bring him in a car And only put him in the trunk for the crossing. (He’s still so small!) The Coyote promised. Instead he rode beneath an eighteen-wheeler. The noise. The vibration. Please, hold on! Hold, my boy, please hold on. Don’t get shaken off. Please don’t let go of the bar – Don’t die! Then at the border, the coyote betrayed me. He gave my son to immigration, and gave them my name,
And telephone number. Not one friend or relative would go for me to get my son. I gave myself up to claim him. *** The lawyers say I don’t have a case. Where can I go now? All I have is this order for deportation… Soon, I’ll be walking. So many days and nights. I know I can do this. I know I can. Because I know how. biography Krists Auznieks After receiving his B.A. from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and also having studied extensively at The Hague Institute of Sonology, Krists is currently pursuing a Master’s degree as Irving S. Gilmore Fellow at Yale School of Music with Martin Bresnick, David Lang, and Hannah Lash. Auznieks’s work I Exist As I Am, for Latvian Radio Chamber Singers, was a Selected Work (under 30) at the International Rostrum of Composers in Finland and was broadcast on classical music radios worldwide. He has worked with Antico Moderno, Sandbox Percussion, David Kweksilber Big Band, singer Claron McFadden, Modelo62, Slagwerk Den Haag, Brendan Faegre Edge Ensemble, Orkest de Ereprijs, and vocal groups Framest and Anima Solla. His chamber opera was featured in the Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 festival and broadcast on the national radio. His
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works have been performed at Beijing National Arts Centre, Shanghai City Theatre, and Amsterdam Muziekgebouw, and have been featured in Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Ereprijs YCM, Druskomanija, Riga A Capella Festival, New Music New Haven, and others. A scholarship recipient at the American Academy of Fontainebleau (France), Krists was also a Composition Fellow at the Bennington Chamber Music Conference 2015 (Vermont). Currently, he is working on his second opera, called NeoArctic, in collaboration with Danish multi-media company Hotel Pro Forma, to be performed in the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen and Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theatre, Latvia, Fall 2016. program note Vees: Ambulant Music for brass sextet Ambulant Music was commissioned for a series of “pop up” performances in Philadelphia by “Cityscaping: Music for the Outdoors.” In that setting, the players assemble unannounced (often in some space such as a train station or lobby), perform the piece, then pack up and leave. Ambulant Music reflects some influences from my early days growing up around Philadelphia: funk band horn sections, drum and bugle corps, and Mummers’ parades.
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Artistic Directors Christopher Theofanidis Hannah Lash Manager Andrew W. Parker Assistant Manager Roberta Senatore Conducting Fellow Heejung Park Assistants Andrew Robson Valerie Sly Music Librarians Krists Auznieks Bora Kim Yefim Romanov Valerie Sly Hanna Yukho Stage Crew Eric Braley Maria Chlebus Lydia Consilvio Julia Ghica Reese Farnell Matthew Keown John Kossler Richard Liverano NoĂŤl Wan
Concert Office Staff Concert Programs & Box Office Krista Johnson Kate Gonzales Communicatons Donna Yoo Katie Dune Operations Tara Deming Christopher Melillo Piano Curators Brian Daley William Harold Recording Services Eugene Kimball Matthew LeFevre Austin Kase
UPCOMING EVENTS Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky
Smithsonian Chamber Players
april 1 Yale Philharmonia Woolsey Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm Peter Oundjian, principal conductor Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, with Sun-A Park, piano; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 in C minor Tickets start at $10 • Students from $5 Yale employees from $8
april 10 Collection of Musical Instruments 15 Hillhouse Ave | Sunday | 3:00 pm Vera Beths, violin; Kenneth Slowik, cello; Charles Neidich, clarinet • With William Purvis, horn • All-Beethoven program Tickets $25 • Students $10 Seniors & Yale employees $20
Yale Cellos Miami String Quartet april 5 Oneppo Chamber Music Series Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 7:30 pm Beethoven: String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95, “Serioso,” and music by Schulhoff and Mendelssohn Tickets start at $26 • Students $13
With Pluck: Music for Harp april 8 Yale in New York Preview Whitney Humanities Center | 53 Wall St Friday | 7:30 pm Music by Pasculli, Renié, Berio, Debussy, and more, with Yale faculty, student, and alumni performers • June Han, director Free admission
april 13 New Music New Haven Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Aldo Parisot, director • A concert of music for solo cello and cello ensemble Tickets start at $10, Students $5
New Music New Haven april 14 New Music New Haven Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm Featuring music by faculty composers David Lang and Aaron Jay Kernis, along with new works by graduate student composers Free admission
Concert Programs & Box Office: Krista Johnson, Kate Gonzales Communications: Donna Yoo, Katie Dune Operations: Tara Deming, Chris Melillo Piano Curators: Brian Daley, William Harold Recording Services: Eugene Kimball, Matthew LeFevre, Austin Kase connect with us:
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Robert Blocker, Dean