Kalamazoo Gazette

Fontana opening concert successfully bridges East and West

By  C.J. Gianakaris

Special to the Gazette

Recent seasons programmed by the Fontana Chamber Arts have stretched listening capacities of audiences by commissioning original works by gifted composers and by programming more ecumenical compositions from broader geographic areas of the musical world.

Wednesday evening's season opener, ``Bridges from the East,'' featured four newly commissioned works that required exotic musical instruments from China. The program at Dalton Center Recital Hall was largely successful.

Wang Guowei on the erhu (a two-stringed instrument) and Yang Wei on the pipa (a four-stringed, pear-shaped lute) are exceedingly fine artists who know how to coax extraordinary music from their instruments. Wang Guowei opened the program playing ``Song of Henan,'' a Chinese traditional piece. Sounding a bit like a fiddle, the erhu defined a thin, plaintive melodic line comparable to a singing voice.

Yang Wei followed on the pipa with ``Traditional Folksong of the Yi Tribe.'' Strumming and plucking the strings, he produced music akin to the banjo or mandolin. With picks on several fingers, Yang Wei brilliantly elicited full-ranged melodies.

John Bruce Yeh and Teresa Reilly, playing different-ranged clarinets, performed two works together -- the commissioned piece ``Little Cabbage,'' by Bright Sheng (present in the audience), and several selections from ``Two & Three Part Inventions,'' by J.S. Bach.

The work by Bright Sheng held greater interest because of his masterful scoring for E-flat and B-flat clarinets. Peng (Pamela) Chen's commissioned work ``Spring Silk II'' was also performed by the ensemble.

Rousing Wednesday's audience the most were commissioned works by Victoria Bond (who was present) and Lu Pei. ``The Birds and the Queen Phoenix,'' by Lu Pei, requires erhu, pipa, soprano clarinet and bass clarinet. Composed to artistically replicate the sounds of nature, particularly birds, the piece was a delight.

Uncanny naturelike sounds emerged from each of the instruments, including chirps, trilling, buzzing, tapping, croaking and, finally, a deluge of bird-whistle chirpings. The players seemed to enjoy performing the work as much as the audience enjoyed taking it in.

Victoria Bond stepped on stage to comment on the design of ``Bridges,'' her work for the ensemble. Four actual bridges inspired her, and each bridge was musically

transform their natural sounds into a lovely, meditative aura.

Two other bridge sections proved valid and interesting, but forced the erhu and pipa into traditional roles of fiddle and banjo, depriving them of their full attributes.

©2006 Kalamazoo

© 2006 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

Bonade Clarinet Quartet	Bonade in performance	Quartet in bow after performance

1 April 2006

New Jersey Clarinet Symposium Premiere with Bonade Clarinet Quartet

Bernardsville, New Jersey USA

        A new work performed by this professional Clarinet Quartet entitled 'Drummer Dances' by Gene Pritsker

includes the following information of interest:  the work is based primarily on rhythms from 2 famous drumsolos. 

The first 30 bars take the rhythms from Max Roach's solo in Delihah Dances, as recorded on the Clifford Brown

and Max Roach album. The music develops further using the 4 bar drum breaks from the same composition.

Elvin Jones' drum solo on 'Monks Dream' is the other rhythmical source material in this piece. There are 32 bars

of this solo in a more linear development. Two distinct melodies are heard throughout this piece, they appear in

different variations within the various rhythms the 2 drum solos provide.

USMA Solo Clarinetist with Dana Wilson	LTC Holton presenting Mr Wilson with Appreciation	Combs performing Liquid Ebony with Band	Dana Wilson demonstrating work	Combs soloing with band

18 March 2006

West Point Clarinet Summit and Premiere of Dana Wilson's 'Liquid Ebony' for Clarinet and Band

West Point, New York USA

        The USMA Band performed its finale Gala Concert in conjunction with this 2 day symposium for Clarinetists with

artist alumni Steve Girko and soloist Larry Combs.  This work was originally composed for Mr Combs in 2002 and

premiered in its Clarinet/Piano version at the 2003 ClarinetFest in Salt Lake City. This work was scored for Band

utilizing many color concepts that were quite effective using these resources.  Mr Combs performed with high momentum

and intensity and the Band collaborated to a very high tribute.  Prior to the performance, Mr Wilson held a presentation

explaining fully the ideas behind this piece with demonstration and active audience questions about the work.  Information

about Mr Wilson is presented below.

14 March 2006

An evening of Contemporary Music with William Powell and friends

REDCAT Theater - Walt Disney Concert Hall

Los Angeles, California USA

          This program of contemporary works with a number of premieres showcases the wealth of new music for

clarinet and varied combinations of instruments and venues.  The program was well received and the performance

was stellar in its programming and delivery. Below is specific information about each work performed and background

of the composers and players.

performers:   William Powell, clarinet, Lorna Eder, piano, Mark Menzies, violin, Eric KM Clark, violin, Nancy Uscher, viola

Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, cello, David Johnson, conductor

The CalArts Percussion Quartet

       Neili Sutker

       John T. Wash IV

       Joshua Tariff

       Alan Goldenberg

Program:

James Tenney

Seegersong #1 (1999) for solo clarinet

Los Angeles Premiere

Arturo Márquez

Zarabandeo (1995) for clarinet and piano

Steven Hoey

Black Ice (1999) for clarinet, violin and piano

Jane Brockman

Scenes from Lemuria (2006) for clarinet and string quartet

World Premiere

Olivier Greif

Ich ruf zu dir (1999) for piano, clarinet and string quartet

       I. Scream

       II. Roundabout

       III. Ghost

       IV. Sambor

American Premiere

Eugene Kurtz

Logo I (1979) for clarinet, piano and percussion quartet

          I. Introduction

          II. Breakdown

Los Angeles Premiere

About the Music -

Program Notes and Composers' Biographies

James Tenney

Seegersong #1 (1999) for solo clarinet

Los Angeles Premiere

       Seegersong #1 is one of a set of pieces for various melodic instruments, inspired by the notion of a

“dissonant counterpoint” (defined in such a way as to be applicable even to a single melodic line) as

advocated by Charles Seeger and exemplified in the works of Carl Ruggles and Ruth Crawford Seeger.

Commissioned by Michele Verheul with the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council.

        James Tenney was born in 1934 in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado,

where he received his early training as a pianist and composer. He attended the University of Denver, the

Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College, and the University of Illinois. His teachers and mentors

have included Eduard Steuermann, Chou Wen-Chung, Lionel Nowak, Carl Ruggles, Lejaren Hiller,

Kenneth Gaburo, Edgard Varèse Harry Partch, and John Cage.

       A performer as well as a composer and theorist, he was co-founder and conductor of the Tone

Roads Chamber Ensemble in New York City (1963–70). He was a pioneer in the field of electronic

and computer music, working with Max Mathews and others at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in the

early 1960s to develop programs for computer sound-generation and composition. He has written

works for a variety of media, both instrumental and electronic, many of them using alternative tuning

systems. He is the author of several articles on musical acoustics, computer music, and musical form

and perception, as well as two books: META / HODOS: A Phenomenology of 20th-Century Musical

Materials and an Approach to the Study of Form (1961; Frog Peak, 1988) and A History of ‘Consonance’

and ‘Dissonance’ (Excelsior, 1988).

       He has received grants and awards from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for

the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and

Letters, the Fromm Foundation, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, and the Jean A. Chalmers

Foundation. He has taught at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, the University of California, and at

York University in Toronto, where he was named Distinguished Research Professor in 1994. He now

holds the Roy E. Disney Family Chair in Musical Composition at the California Institute of the Arts.

His music is published by Sonic Art Editions and the Canadian Music Centre, and is distributed by

them and by Frog Peak. Recordings are available from Artifact, col legno, CRI, Hat[now]ART, Koch

International, Mode, Musicworks, New World, Nexus, oodiscs, SYR and Toshiba EMI, among others.

The Bavarian Broadcasting Company has commissioned a new work for orchestra to be premièred by the

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in 2007.

Arturo Márquez

Zarabandeo (1995) for clarinet and piano

        Composed in 1995, the Zarabandeo for clarinet and piano was commissioned by the Director of

Music Activities of UNAM, and was first performed by pianist Joseph Olechovsky and clarinetist Luis

Humberto Ramos to whom I have dedicated the piece. The Zarabanda (Sarabande) was a popular dance

of unknown origin. There are records of this dance being performed in Mexico during the second half

of the sixteenth century. During this same period, the dance was condemned and its performance was

prohibited in Spain. In the next century, the Sarabande “reappeared” as part of the Baroque instrumental

“suite” form, but in a character very different from the original. These concepts were introduced to

me by the Cuban musicologist Rolando Perez. I have no idea how the original Zarabanda sounded, but

I feel certain that its prohibition came about due to the fact that it was a very sensual dance. I am fascinated

with how the Sarabande we know now could be related to the Zarabanda which has disappeared. In my

“Zarabandeo,” I have incorporated a “Tangueo” and a “Danzoneo,” two of my favorite dances, because

of the relationship between people, music and dance, and because I hoped to write something for clarinet

and piano that might inflame the passions.

     Arturo Márquez was born in Alamos, Sonora in 1950. Today, he is widely recognized as the most

outstanding Mexican composer of his generation. He began formal music studies in 1966 with Thomas

Rosseti and Eva McGowen in La Puente, California. In 1969 and 1970 he was conductor of the Navojoa

Sonora Band. He pursued further studies at the Conservatory of Music of Mexico; The Taller de Composicion

of the Institute of Fine Arts of Mexico with Joaquin Guttierez Heras, Hector Quintanar, Razi Pavsn and

Federico Ibarra; in Paris with Jacques Casterède and Ivo Malec; and at the California Institute of the Arts

with Morton Subotnick, Lucky Mosko, Mel Powell and James Newton.

       He has received grants from the Institute of Fine Arts of Mexico, the French Government, and the

Fulbright Foundation. He was part of the interdisciplinary group MUSICA DE CAMERA with Angel

Cosmos and Juan Jose Diaz Infante. He is composer for Irene Martinez’s modern dance troupe

MANDINGA. He has received commissions from the OAS, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana,

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Festival Cervantino, Festival del Caribe, Festival de la

Cuidad de Mexico, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He has taught at the National University of

Mexico Superior School of Music, and worked for CENIDIM (National Center of Research,

Documentation and Information of Mexican Music). In 1991, he received the composition scholarship

of the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, and in 1994 he received a three year scholarship

from the Sistema Nacional de Creadores. Besides the numerous performances of his work in Mexico,

his music has been performed in Europe, Latin America and the United States.

Steven Hoey

Black Ice (1999) for clarinet, violin and piano

         Work on Black Ice began in January after returning from the winter storms and dangerous “black ice”

on the roads of northern Illinois. The image of the rural countryside covered with patches of snow and

hardened by bitter cold, almost crystalline in its nighttime stillness, was with me as I wrote the opening

section of the trio. Whispery, high harmonics in the violin and enigmatic-sounding multiphonics in the

clarinet are used throughout the piece, glistening and glinting like ice. Through-composed in five sections,

Black Ice develops from a sense of shadowed repose to a highly energetic scherzo section whose motivic

material is drawn freely from intervals of major and minor thirds. Jazz influences can be felt from time

to time as the piece moves into the much slower middle sections (marked dark, spectral and drifting,

lyrical) quietly announced by rolled chords in the piano that hearken back to the opening measures.

The piece concludes with a return to the scherzo-caprice material of major/minor thirds, and blindingly

fast chromatic passage work by all three performers drives the work to its finale.

— Steven Hoey

Black Ice was premiered by William Powell and members of the Titan Trio on March 3, 1999 at

California State University, Fullerton.

        Steven Hoey is an American composer who has been performed widely on the west coast of the

States as well as New York City and France. A winner of the Dutilleux Prize for International Composition

for his solo piano work, Artifact I, Hoey has written for a wide array of soloists and ensembles including

the Ensemble Green, the California EAR Unit, The New Millennium Players, the New Century Players as

well as faculty ensembles at the University of California at San Diego. A founding member of the composer

consortia Different Trains in Los Angeles and Auralia and CLOSE RANGE in San Diego, he is committed

to building new audiences for contemporary music. His solo harp work Sudden Travel, commissioned and

premiered by Susan Allen, has been selected for performance at the 2006 World Harp Conference in San

Francisco. His solo oboe work m/ODE/s was written for Jacqueline Leclair in 2005; and his orchestral

work m/ODE/s on Three Ancient Greek Fragments was performed in April 2005 by the La Jolla Symphony

Orchestra. He was a Composition Fellow at the 2005 Wellesley Composers Conference, where his chamber

work, a Seraph’s Shadow for eleven players was premiered. His new work, Sirens in December for soprano,

flute, and cello, will be premiered in San Diego in April 2006. He is currently completing a commission for

bassoon and harp for Julie Feves and Susan Allen, and a work for soprano and cello for Scott Kluksdahl,

Professor of Cello at the University of South Florida, to be premiered in New York City in 2007.

       After completing his Masters degree at the California Institute of the Arts, Hoey served as a faculty

member there two years before relocating in San Diego to pursue his doctoral studies. Steven is working

on his PhD dissertation in composition at the University of California at San Diego with Chinary Ung,

and is an Associate Instructor in Theory and Composition. He also holds degrees from Harvard University

and Oxford University where he studied on a Marshall Scholarship.

         On March 1, 2006, the American Academy of Arts and Letters announced that Mr. Hoey was

awarded a prestigious Charles Ives Scholarship.  The award will be presented at the Academy's annual

Ceremonial in May.

Jane Brockman

Scenes from Lemuria (2006) for clarinet and string quartet

World Premiere

      Many years ago, Bill Powell gave me a recording of an amazing improvisation he did, which he had

labeled, From Lemuria. Lemuria, I learned, was an ancient mythical place which disappeared into the

sea much like Atlantis, but in Lemuria, the arts and creativity were the focus of civilization.

       Bill's improvisation, done completely extemporaneously, seemed to be pulling magic out of the ether.

That's really what composition (and perhaps all creativity) seems to be. We study and theorize about much

preexisting music, but when composing becomes 'flow', it's almost as if one is accessing information on

another plane. The music seems already to exist. (Which is not to imply that there is no sweat.) And the

ability to access this plane seems to require various types of preparation.

       Such was the process of this piece. Thoughts of an ancient mythological civilization also brought

to mind music by another composer who resided in Los Angles, which I couldn't resist paraphrasing —

you'll know it when you hear it.

— Jane Brockman

 February, 2006

          Raised in upstate New York, Jane Brockman is the first woman to have earned a Doctorate in Music

Composition in the 150-year history of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She also studied in Paris with

Max Deutsch on a Fulbright/Alliance Française fellowship and in Vienna on a Rackham Prize fellowship.

She has been awarded honors and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony (3 years), the State of Connecticut,

Meet the Composer, and the Composers Conference (directed by Mario Davidovsky). Her first orchestra piece

won the Sigvald Thompson Prize for orchestral composition. Brockman's mentors include Pulitzer Prize winners

Ross Lee Finney and Leslie Bassett, as well as George Balch Wilson, Wallace Berry and Eugene Kurtz. Brockman

taught music theory and composition at the University of Connecticut for 9 years, where she founded the

University's Computer Music Studio and produced electronic music concerts. She has also been on the faculties

of the Hartt School of Music, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Michigan. She was one of

four composers selected nationally for a Sundance Institute Film Composers' Lab fellowship, working with

Henry Mancini, Bruce Broughton, Alan Sylvestri, David Newman and the Utah Symphony.

       Afterward, she left her tenured professorship at the University of Connecticut to freelance as a

composer in the Los Angeles are, writing concert music and scoring low budget films and television.

       Today, in Santa Monica, her focus is entirely on concert music. That work is informed by the diversity

of her experience with other media: dance, film, and television, as well as the formal structure of academia.

Her music is recorded on the Loenarda, Opus One, Coronet, Drimala and Capstone labels, and published

by Arsis Press, Washington, D.C. and Diaphanous Music, which is distributed by Theodore Front Music

Literature Inc. Her music has been in the touring repertoires of Continuum and the New Music Consort in

NYC, and virtuoso clarinetists F. Gerard Errante and William Powell.

       She has served on the Boards of Directors of New York's Composers Concordance, as well as Women

in Film, and the Society of Composers and Lyricists in Los Angeles. She also served for three years on

review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C. and produced concerts with the

LoCal Composers Ensemble.

Olivier Greif

Ich ruf zu dir (1999) for piano, clarinet and string quartet

American Premiere

        Ich ruf zu dir is a suite of four movements, three of which (I, II and IV) are traversed by the

presence (more or less audible) of Martin Luther's chorale, Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I call on you,

Lord Jesus Christ).

       The first movement — "Scream" — (in which the theme of the chorale is more insinuated than actually

heard) is a meditation on nothingness. I wished to give the feeling of an ocean of silence from which emerge

little by little always more vehement-sonorous elements stolen from the void, as if gradually freed of its grip.

What is not heard matters as much as is possible that which is.

       The music tries to say what is not possible to say — that something unnamable so dear to Paul Celan —

an impression of fear such that it literally loses its voice. The title of this movement is a direct allusion to the

painting of Edvard Munch, The Scream.

       The second movement — "Roundabout" — of which the first motif is made up of four notes extracted

from Luther's chorale. What's more, the entire theme of the chorale arises bit by bit from the inexorable

progression of this movement, until it appears (almost triumphantly) near its conclusion.

       The third movement is a vision, a hallucination — I call it "Ghost" — citing one of the last pieces

written by Mozart — the Adagio for glass harmonica — a bloodless, disincarnate music from beyond the grave.

       Finally, the fourth movement — subtitled "Sambor" in reference to the name of the area in eastern

Galacia where my father was born — concludes the work with a Chaconne followed by seven variations.

Recognizable — as well as Luther's chorale trying to reconstitute itself and reemerge — are citations of

the Eighth Prelude (in e flat minor) BWV 853 from the First Book of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and from

the Largo e mesto of Beethoven's Seventh Sonata, Opus 10, No. 3.

       Ich ruf zu dir was composed in November 1999. It is dedicated to the memory of my father who

died during its composition — and to Alice Ader and her ensemble. It was played by them for the

first time during the Presences festival, February 13, 2000, in the Olivier Messiaen auditorium of the

Radio France studios.

— Olivier Greif

          Olivier Greif was born in Paris and died there.  As a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur

de Musique in Paris he was as brilliant as he was precocious, obtaining first prize for chamber music

(Jean Hubeau), composition (Tony Aubin) and orchestration (Marius Constant), and second prize for piano

(Lucette Descaves). In 1969 he completed his studies in composition in New York with Luciano Berio

(then a teacher at the Juilliard School), subsequently becoming his assistant.  At this period he associated

with a number of artists, among them Salvador Dali.

       His double career as composer and pianist led him to perform in many European countries, as well as

in the U.S. and in Japan.

       During the 1970s, Olivier Greif taught composition, analysis and chamber music at the Académie-Festival

des Arcs, which he directed from 1983 to 1986. In 1978 and 1979 he also taught at Annecy for the Pâques

Musicales. At the height of this first part of his career, the Paris Opera and IRCAM commissioned the chamber

opera Nô, premiered in 1981 at the Georges Pompidou Centre for the Paris Autumn Festival.

       In 1976, Olivier Greif embarked on a spiritual quest which was to last more than twenty years. He

attached himself to an Indian guru living in New York, making frequent trips to the United States and other

parts of the world as a consequence.

       In 1978 he was given the name 'Haridas' ('servant of God' in Sanskrit). This withdrawal into an inner life,

in response to a profound spiritual aspiration, resulted in the suspension of his personal musical creativity

for some 10 years, following the Sonate de Requiem, Le Livre du Pèlerin and the opera Nô. During these

years he made numerous polyphonic arrangements of Indian devotional songs.

       His musical career gradually resumed in the course of the 1990's, with commissions from Radio

France and from various music festivals in France (La Prée, Deauville, Cordes-sur-Ciel) and abroad

(Kuhmo, Warsaw, Berlin), etc., reaching a peak at the time of his sudden death.

       Spurred on by a sense of urgency, he produced a series of magnificent works in the last months

of his life. Even without those that he was unable to bring to completion (a symphony, a large-scale

Vêpres and other substantial orchestral and choral works he had either been commissonned or had planned),

he left a sufficient body of major compositions - from the Chants de l,Ame to the Requiem - to satisfy the

most demanding and diverse criteria.

       Olivier Greif wrote more than a hundred works, dating back to 1961. As well as the recordings of

both composer and pianist currently available, a great many radio and other recordings of concerts

and interviews bear witness to his achievements as a composer, his numerous performances as a pianist,

and his profound and subtly caustic observations.

       Though a French composer, he no doubt owed to his Polish and Jewish origins a broader, more

fluid conception of his self and of his art. Everything about Olivier Greif was exceptional. To the end, there

were still traces of the child prodigy that he had once been. Every manifestation of homo musicus was so

natural to him that it verged on the supernatural. As well as being an inspired and prolific composer, he was

a pianist of inexhaustible resources and an astounding sight-reader: a visionary.

       Yet, for this born musician, the mystical call of silence proved, during long years, the strongest.

Composing, playing, meditating, writing hundreds of pages of his private diary, apparently for him

involved the same activity of the spirit. The musician, nonetheless, took the lead again, composing

powerful works whose inspiration and titles are often tragic, haunted by the spectre of death. Most of

them are, however, illuminated by the intuition — ecstatic, incantatory or hymn-like — of a possible

sublimation; when it is not their vivid colour and humour and furious rhythms that chase away black thoughts.

       Though he received his musical training in Paris, this Frenchman, whose family origins were in the

more culturally mixed regions of central Europe, early on felt 'foreign' in relation to those qualities

considered typically French — perfection, concision, restraint — and likewise to the prosody of his

native tongue. He felt more at ease with German and English, or even with Latin, which he discovered late,

when writing one of his last compositions, the Requiem.

       His music combines a profusion of original ideas and allusions, religious (Hebrew or Gregorian chant,

Lutheran chorales, Anglican hymns) and secular (melodies from every country and period), polyphonically

intermingled. Difficult and complex, these scores demand a total commitment from their performers. The

piano was at first Olivier Greif's workshop: 'My thought was not only expressed by the piano, it was

conceptualized by it' (Piano magazine, 1998); but, fundamentally eloquent, his music often had recourse to

words, with a preference for English.

       Olivier Greif's clearest affinities lie with Mahler, Britten and Shostakovitch, but he never forgot

Beethoven, the 'creator' par excellence. His extraordinary instinct, coupled with the perfect

technique acquired during his youth, enabled him to feel free from any academicism, conservative or

avant-garde. What he sought was a total art form, at the crossroads of the past and the future, the erudite

and the popular. He aspired to an authenticity of expression, independent of every kind of aesthetic

trend or fashion.

Eugene Kurtz

Logo I (1979) for clarinet, piano and percussion quartet

Los Angeles Premiere

       According to most dictionaries, “logo” is an abbreviation of “logogram” and is defined as a

character or symbol used to represent a word or phrase, as CBS, NBC, and ABC represent the three

major American television networks. Perhaps the best justification for the word as a title for my piece

might be the fact that each of the two movements, “Introduction” and “Breakdown,” seemed to be

a sort of “logo” in itself. Each one of them seemed to represent or characterize precise and

perhaps contradictory ways of thinking at the time I was composing the piece. The “Introduction” tries

on occasion to recall certain nocturnal sounds that fascinated me when I was a child and is in turn

meditative, poetic, and assertive. It advances in a somewhat discontinuous flow in the form of a dialogue

that is enriched with moments of silence and ever changing patterns of thought.

       The “Breakdown,” which follows the first movement without pause, is in complete opposition to

the “Introduction.” It is minimal as regards musical material, obsessive in character, and inexorable as

regards rhythmic flow. The principles of ostinato and repetition are exploited to the fullest, and both

of the instruments, especially the clarinet, seem to be caught up in a marathon of notes that can end

only as abruptly as it began. The piano part alternates between diatonic and chromatic clusters, and

the clarinet part might remind one of the riffs played by Benny Goodman in some of his recordings

from the 1930’s and 1940’s. The title, “Breakdown,” comes from an obscure and supposedly frenetic

African American dance of the nineteenth century. Nothing remains of the dance but its name, so I felt

completely free to deal with the rhythmic element according to my own fancy.

— Eugene Kurtz

Eugene Kurtz (b. 1923) is an American composer who has made his home in Paris, France, for many years.

He studied there with Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud and Max Deutsch and has since returned to the

United States on different occasions to teach at The University of Michigan, The Eastman School of Music,

The University of Illinois and The University of Texas. In Paris, Mr. Kurtz has written music for the theatre,

radio, television and the cinema. His works for orchestra and chamber ensembles have been widely performed

both in the U.S. and in Europe. He has received commissions from The Musical Arts Association of Cleveland,

Radio France and the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Radio France honored Kurtz on October 27, 1979,

with “Eugene Kurtz Day,” for which he selected two programs of music — chamber and symphonic —

of past and present composers who are important to him and also included three works of his own. In 1983,

Mr. Kurtz was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant.

About the Performers -  Biographies

           Clarinetist William Powell received the Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School and a master's degree

from California Institute of the Arts. In 1993-94 Powell lived in India on a Senior Research Grant from the J.

William Fulbright Commission. Under the auspices of Brhaddhvani Research and Training Centre for Music

of the World, he presented concerts of American music throughout India, collaborated in cross-cultural

performances with clarinetists A.K.C. Natarajan and Narasinhalu Wadavati, and recorded for All India Radio

with Indian pianist Handel Manuel.        Powell has commissioned many new works for clarinet and has

premiered over 300 compositions. He has performed at major concert venues throughout the U.S., Europe

and Asia including Avery Fischer Concert Hall; Merkin and Carnegie Halls; Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium

at the United Nations in New York; the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; the North American New Music

Festival as soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic; and at the International Congresses on Women in Music in

Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Bremen. He has performed with the Aspen Festival and Chamber Orchestra,

the contemporary music ensemble Sonor, the Sierra Wind Quintet, the Naumburg Award-winning Aulos Wind

Quintet and, as principal clarinetist with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, the Las Vegas Symphony and the

Reno Philharmonic. Powell has served on the faculties of UC and CSU in San Diego; CSU, Long Beach;

and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has recorded for Cambria, CRI, Electra/Asylum, Nonesuch,

Nine Winds and Innova.  For more information about William Powell, visit his website:

http://www.williamepowell.com/

            Pianist Lorna Eder received a Bachelor of Music from Washington State University and a

Master of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts.  Her teachers were Istvan Nadas, Bruno

Seidlhofer and Leonid Hambro.  Ms. Eder has worked as staff accompanist at CalArts and College

of the Canyons, and was piano faculty at the California State Summer School for the Arts.  She is

currently a faculty member at CalArts and is a member of the California Music Teachers Association.

          An accomplished accompanist, Ms. Eder performs chamber music with the finest artists in

the Los Angeles area.  She is an active performer of contemporary music and was a member of

the California E.A.R. Unit for many years.  She has worked with composers such as John Cage,

Louis Andriessen, Morton Subotnick, Elliott Carter, Stephen L. Mosko and Mel Powell. 

Recordings with the E.A.R. Unit include Zilver, works by Louis Andriessen, and Indigenous Music,

works by Stephen Lucky Mosko.  Her most recent CD appearance is on Five Decades of Music,

works by Mel Powell.

       Residing in the United States since 1991, Violinist Mark Menzies has established an important,

world-wide reputation as a new music violist and violinist. He has been described in a Los Angeles

Times review, as an 'extraordinary musician' and a 'riveting violinist.' At 35 years, his career as a viola

and violin virtuoso, chamber musician and advocate of contemporary music, has seen performances

in Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand and across the United

States, including a series of appearances at New York's Carnegie Hall.

       Mark Menzies made his concerto debut with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with an invitation

from Mstislav Rostropovich to perform at the opening of the 1988 International Festival of the Arts, in

Wellington, New Zealand. The performance, conducted by Maxim Shostakovich, received rave reviews.

Mark Menzies' solo career has continued to fulfill this auspicious beginning with critically praised concerto

and solo recital performances across the globe.

       While pursuing post-graduate studies in London, he formed the Salomon Ensemble with

Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard, and was the ensemble's Artistic Director and concertmaster.

The Salomon Ensemble's CD recording of the complete string works of Edvard Grieg was

nominated for the equivalent of a Grammy in Denmark. A large part of the ensemble's commitment

was to the performance of contemporary music, and this saw Mark Menzies give the world premiere

of his commissioned transcription of Paul Patterson's Harmonica concerto as well as the British premiere

of the Schnittke Sonata for violin solo, harpsichord and strings.

       Mark Menzies is renowned for performing some of the most complex scores so far written and

he has been personally recommended by composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Roger Reynolds,

Michael Finnissy, Vinko Globokar, Philippe Manoury, Elliott Carter, Liza Lim, Christian Wolff,

Richard Barrett and Sofia Gubaidulina for performances he has given of their music. An early

success was performing at the Lutoslawksi Festival in London (1989) and subsequent highlights have

included appearances at the Ojai Festival 2000, at the June in Buffalo 1996/9 and 2000 festivals, the

Mirror of the New Festival in Hawai'i 1997, and as featured guest soloist in the 09/03 International

Festival (of new music) in Auckland, New Zealand, 2003.

       There has been considerable international critical applause for Mark Menzies' leadership in e

nsembles formed to perform contemporary and twentieth century, such as the Bloomington-based New

Vienna Ensemble, Los Angeles's Southwest Chamber Music, San Diego's Sirius Ensemble and the New

York-based Ensemble Sospeso. It was with Ensemble Sospeso that he organized a joint venture with

the California Institute of the Arts to present the first professional concerts in the US dedicated to

Brian Ferneyhough's music in December 2002. At present, Mark Menzies is in the process of initiating

 a new collective ensemble based in Los Angeles, called Inauthentica.

       Mark Menzies is featured on a large number of CD recordings. This includes Process and Passion,

a Pogus label release of chamber music by Roger Reynolds, as well as the world premiere recording of

...above earth's shadow by Michael Finnissy to be released shortly. Mark Menzies is a National

Recording Artist of Radio New Zealand for whom he has made numerous studio recordings.

       Mark Menzies is currently viola and violin professor at the California Institute of the Arts where he

also teaches chamber music. Drawing from his innovative professionalism and artistic leadership, he

initiated a successful collaborative series called Chamber Music Wednesdays that has contributed

to the programming content of concerts presented by CalArts at their new theatre REDCAT at

the Walt Disney Concert Hall. He currently curates a series called Classics at CalArts, a fall festival

presented annually at the Valencia campus.

          Eric Kenneth Malcolm Clark is a composer and violinist from Victoria, BC, Canada. Eric is

currently completing the performer/composer MFA at the California Institute of the Arts, where

he is studying violin with Mark Menzies and composition with James Tenney. Compositionally, his work

explores disordering methods and the use of hearing-deprivation as a medium for creating complexity out

of supposed simplicity. As a performer, Eric enjoys free improvisation along with new music, and is

interested in interpreting most any form of music. He has performed new music throughout Canada, the

US, and Australia, most recently with the experimental jazz trio Misinterprotato at the Woodford Folk

Festival in Brisbane, Australia; in the obscurity festivette in Toronto; in New York City with his trio

Fragments; and in the Creative Music Festival at RedCat in LA. Eric has attended residencies as a

performer and/or composer at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute (2004 and 2005); the Banff Arts

Centre (2005); the Atlantic Center for the Arts (2004); and ARRAYMUSIC (2003).

      Nancy Uscher, Provost, violist and faculty member in the School of Music at the California Institute

of the Arts, has appeared in recital on six continents and recorded for a number of the major radio

networks of Europe. For five seasons she led the viola section of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Uscher has appeared at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Kennedy Center Mozart Festival,

Grand Teton Music Festival, Round Top Festival in Texas, Venice Biennale, Montepulciano Festival,

Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy, and the Moab Music Festival in Utah. In addition, she has

performed and presented master classes at the Brazilian international festivals Oficina de Musica XIV

in Curitiba and Campos do Jordao's Festival de Inverno. She has been corresponding editor of Strings

magazine and is the author of two books, The Schirmer Guide to Schools of Music and Conservatories

Throughout the World and Your Own Way in Music: A Career and Resource Guide.

          Nancy Uscher has previously been Professor of Music and Associate Provost for Academic Affairs

at The University of New Mexico. In addition, she was the Director of the UNM Center for the Arts in

Society, a unit of the Institute of Public Law that explores arts-related public policy issues. In viewing

art as an agent for social change, she has created an Arts-in-Prisons concert series and the National

Endowment for the Humanities-funded project "A New Mexico Conversation: Music as a Symbol of

American Pluralism and Identity."

          Ms. Uscher received a Ph.D. from New York University in 1980.  She was awarded a Masters

of Music degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1974 and received a

Bachelorís Degree in Music from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in

1972. During 1998-1999 Uscher was a fellow of the American Council on Education at Brown University.

          Cellist Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick is an active soloist, chamber musician and specialist in contemporary

music. She has performed world and local premieres of solo and chamber works throughout the U.S.

and Europe including the Los Angeles Olympic Festival, the Computer Music Festival in Zurich, the Ars

Electronica Festival in Linz and the San Francisco Symphony New and Unusual Music series. She recently

recorded Elliott Carter's Enchanted Preludes, a work written for her and flutist Dorothy Stone. She has

toured with Joan LaBarbara and Morton Subotnick since 1981. Jacob's Room, on Wergo Records,

marks her fourth appearance in recordings of Mr. Subotnick's music. She is a founding member of the

California E.A.R. Unit, a Los Angeles-based new music ensemble, with whom she tours throughout the

U.S. and Europe. She has also given master classes and recitals under the auspices of the U.S.I.A.

Arts America Program in Central and South America. A native of Los Angeles, her principal studies

were with Cesare Pascarella and she has been coached by Mischa Schneider, William Pleeth and Pierre Fournier.

         Conductor David Johnson plays vibraphone, marimba and percussion regularly with the Vinny Golia

Large Ensemble, the Kim Richmond Jazz Orchestra, the World At Peace with Yusef Lateef, pianist Roger

Williams, Dual Force, the CalArts New Century Players and XTET. He has worked with a wide range of

artists including Dave Brubeck, Mel Torme, Maureen McGovern, Green Day, Pierre Boulez, Dean Drummond,

Stephen Hartke, George Benjamin and Mauricio Kagel.

       Johnson has played in the percussion sections of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Long Beach

Symphony, the Santa Barbara Symphony, the Cabrillo Festival, the Ojai Festival, the Berkshire Music

Festival at Tanglewood and occasionally in the Los Angeles television and film industry. He has

performed with the California E.A.R. Unit, the Southwest Chamber Music Society, the Independent

Composers Association, Composers Inc., Pacific Serenade and the Philharmonic New Music Group.

From 1974 to 1977 he was in residence at Northern Illinois University with the historic Blackearth

Percussion Group. He has recorded for CRI, Opus One, Delos International, Nine Winds, Seabreeze,

K2B2, Jazz Harp, Meta YAL, Warner Brothers and New World. He was the winner of the 1995 Percussive

Arts Society composition competition with his piece Quartz City for vibraphone soloist and percussion

quintet. He was a featured artist/clinician at the 1997 Percussive Arts Society International Convention

in Anaheim California. He has been teaching at the CalArts since 1990.

The CalArts Percussion Quartet

Alan Goldenberg

Neili Sutker

Johsua Tariff

John T. Wash IV

       Alan Goldenberg is a third year BFA student in Multi-Focus Percussion at Cal Arts.  He was born in

Berkeley, California and  started percussion studies with his fifth grade music teacher Leonora Gillard. 

He has been playing percussion for ten years.

       Neili Sutker is a 3rd year Bachelors student at CalArts where she studies Multi-Focus Percussion.

She grew up in the San Fernando Valley and began playing percussion in her high school marching band

after playing the flute and piccolo for 6 years. Neili transfered to CalArts from Los Angeles Pierce College,

where she studied Percussion Performance and toured parts of the world with the Los Angeles Pierce

Symphonic Winds. Neili's ambitions include touring the world and performing/composing pieces that

compare different musical techniques and structures from around the world.

       Joshua Tariff has been a percussionist since age 11.  Growing up in Massachusetts, Josh was selected

to play in numerous ensembles throughout the New England Area through high school, including performing

in the National Band and Orchestra festival at Carnegie Hall in 1998 and again in 2000.  Josh then continued

to perform and teach in various ensembles, music festivals, and clinics all around the country as well as

Canada. In 2003, Josh performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Columbus Ohio. 

In 2005, Josh received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Akron under the direction of Dr.

Larry Snider.  Besides participating in the symphonic band and orchestra at Akron, Josh was also a member

of the Steel Drum band and the African Drumming Ensemble.  During his stay at the University of Akron,

Josh studied with and performed alongside professional world musicians such as Matt Dudack, Tom Miller,

Liam Teague, Bernard Woma and Michael Spiro among others.  Josh has premiered over 25 different works

for Band, Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble and Percussion solo and this April he will be premiering two

works for solo steel drum.  Now at age 23, Josh is currently attending CalArts where he is in the process

of completing his Masters Degree in Multi-Focus Percussion.

       John T. Wash IV will be graduating from CalArts this spring with a BFA in multi-forcus percussion. 

He transferred from Long Beach City College to CalArts in 2002.  He works with various percussion

ensembles and bands in the Los Angeles area.  After graduation from Cal Arts, he will be going on a U.S.

tour with The Procrastinators Urban Percussion Trio.

4 March 2006

American Chamber Ensemble Premiere of Joelle Wallach's After Alcyons Dream for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano

Weill Recital Hall - New York City USA

        This illustrious ensemble, led by Directors Naomi Drucker and Blanche Abram,  which performs annually here at the

Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, offered an array of music of Long Island composers, standard works and this new work

which is explained below. Performance was before a sold out audience with a powerful display of artistic accomplishment

with a 41 year track record  of performances throughout the New York City and Long Island areas.  Program included

Irwin Swack Profiles for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano, Brahms Sonata #1 Op 38 for 'Cello and Piano, David Diamond

Quintet for Flute, Violin, Viola, 'Cello and Piano, and the above new work. 

Michael Burritt, composer and Director of Winds, Brass, and Percussion at Northwestern

University, with Molly Yeh and John Bruce Yeh

19 February 2005

Northshore Concert Band Performance

Evanston, Illinois, USA

Concert Preview

Evanston Review, Thursday, February 16, 2006

Father and daughter play world premiere

BY DOROTHY ANDRIES
CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC

Clarinet and percussion -- it's not a combination of instruments heard often in classical pieces.

So when the idea arose for a duet between Glenview resident John Bruce Yeh, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's assistant principal

clarinetist, and his daughter, award-winning percussionist Molly Yeh, a new work had to be commissioned. The two Yehs will perform

with the Northshore Concert Band on Sunday, presenting the world premiere of Duo Concertante for Clarinet and Percussion by Michael

Burritt of Gurnee, professor of percussion at Northwestern University's School of Music.

The 12-minute piece was co-commissioned by the band and Glenbrook South High School, where Molly is a junior. "It's a huge honor

for us and it's a wonderful challenging piece," John Bruce Yeh said last week, talking on his cell phone backstage during a CSO

intermission. "Molly has a lot more notes than I do."

Indeed. The 16-year-old, who is the recipient of the band's John P. Paynter scholarship, will be running back and forth between a

concert-size marimba, four concert tom-toms and two bongos. "It's very athletic for her," Yeh said, laughing.

The idea for the piece was first mentioned in a casual conversation Yeh had with Molly's first percussion teacher, Kathy Colson.

"We were both in the stands at a GBS football game more than a year ago," he said. "Molly was in the marching band." Colson's

husband, Roland, plays in the Northshore Concert Band, and Yeh had been a soloist with the group twice, once with John Paynter

conducting and more recently under the baton of current music director Mallory Thompson.

After Molly was named scholarship winner, she and her father were invited to play with the band. "We could have each done a

number, but I thought how nice if we could play a piece together -- perhaps commission a piece," Yeh said. "Mrs. Colson said

that was a wonderful idea."

GBS band director Greg Wojcik was consulted and the school agreed to co-commission the work with the band. NU's Burritt was

well-known to both Yeh and his daughter. "Michael played one of his own compositions with the Midwest Young Artists Symphony

Orchestra," Yeh said. "Molly is in that orchestra and she knew his music." MYA, as the Highwood-based ensemble center is known,

has been a crucial factor in Molly's musical development, her father said.

And she agrees. She was a member of the Rattan Trio, which won the Fischoff Competition in 2004, the first percussionists to ever

to take first prize in that prestigious contest. "And the year before that, we were the first percussionists to ever enter the competition,"

Molly declared. "MYA is my home away from home," she continued. "That's what got me really started in music. I didn't know where

I was going with my percussion studies. I was ready to give it up, then Dad introduced me to MYA. Now I definitely want to go into

music professionally."

'Circus' sounds

She is particularly enthusiastic about Burritt's composition. "It sounds like a circus on steroids," she said, laughing. "My dad just walks

on stage with his clarinet. It takes forever for my set up."

"There are a lot of influences in my music, including jazz and contemporary," Burritt acknowledged. "And I listen to pop music and play a

lot of classical, so this piece is a mix." Putting clarinet and drums together is not such a radical idea, he insisted. "Think about Gene

Krupa on drums and Benny Goodman on clarinet in 'Sing, Sing, Sing,'" he said, citing the memorable collaboration from the Swing Era.

"We'll have Molly drumming away on the tom-toms and John's clarinet screaming above her. He's a world-class musician and Molly is

so smart and such a good player. It was very rewarding to write something for them."

For Yeh, a duo concerto with his daughter will be special. "It's a great joy for Molly and me," he said, then sounding very much like a

 father, added, "a great joy."

Dennis Smylie with Bass Clarinets	Colonial Symphony program	Review of Concert	Smylie with Clarinet and Bass Clarinet

28 January 2006

 World Premiere of Fred Cohen’s ‘Smiling Dennis’ for Bass Clarinet & Strings with Colonial Symphony

 Morristown, New Jersey, USA

           The Colonial Symphony, conducted by Paul Hostetter, performed a varied program including a new work

written by Fred Cohen with soloist Dennis Smylie, renowned Bass Clarinetist for which this work ‘Smiling Dennis’

was written.  A review of the concert and Fred Cohen’s notes are posted above.  

           Dennis Smylie, a well established New Yorker, earned his Bachelor and Masters Degrees from the Juilliard

School having studied with Joseph Allard.  Other teachers have included Alfred Zetzer, Stephen Freeman, Kalmon

Opperman, and Bill Street.  Mr Smylie is a member of the American Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and has

performed with the New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York City Ballet and Opera

Orchestras. The Buffalo Philharmonic, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center,

the St Louis and Montreal Symphonies, and Speculum Musicae.  Mr Smylie was soloist in the world premiere of

Donald Martino’s Triple Clarinet Concerto.   Recitals include appearances at Juilliard, Oberlin, Yale, Princeton,

Kent State University, Florida State University, and the University of Washington at Seattle.  He has recorded for

labels such as Deutsche Grammophone, Nonesuch, New World Records, CRI, RCA, and Virgin Classics. He serves

on the faculty at the Aspen Music Festival each summer in Colorado.

8 January 2006

National Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra

Steven Gerber Clarinet Concerto Premiere with Jon Manasse

New York City USA

In presiding over the world premiere of Steven Gerber's new Clarinet Concerto at Rockville's F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre

on Saturday, Piotr Gajewski and his National Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra have participated in an important musical

event. Written for Jon Manasse, who is the principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the evening's

soloist, the concerto is the work of a composer whose idiom is a coherent and logical amalgam of centuries of musical thought.

Its opening thematic material, angular but immediately memorable, serves as a structural element when it reappears in each

of the two movements. The character of the solo line and its textural orchestral support evolve easily from sharply defined

and disconnected points of sound to passages of easy lyricism, and all of this develops naturally and without any sense of

gimmick or premeditation.

Most compelling, however, is Gerber's orchestration. Within the context of a spare pizzicato texture, he has the harp, in

its lowest and most sonorous range, functioning as almost a second solo instrument. There are times when the solo clarinet

line is answered by the clarinet from the orchestra rather than by an expected contrasting timbre, and the development

of the second movement's fugue theme in the low woodwinds is delightful.

Manasse gave this fine new work the wonderfully straightforward and assured reading it deserved, and Gajewski and

the orchestra supported him admirably.

The rest of the program included a cheerful and incisive performance of the Grieg "Holberg" Suite and a perhaps

overly careful reading of Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony No. 45, that saw (as tradition dictated) the orchestra members

leave the stage one by one (one oboist, with a cell phone glued to his ear) as the last movement dribbled to a close,

leaving the conductor to drag two violinists back to finish the last phrase.

-- Joan Reinthaler

Verdehrs in Mill's Double Concerto with Michigan State Chamber Orchestra	Concerto conclusion	Verdehr Trio	Trio in performance	Trio in world premiere

10 October 2005

 Michigan State University Clarinet Spectacular – Jazz Meets Classic

Verdehr Trio Premieres

 East Lansing, Michigan USA

      During this weekend at this major festival involving the many clarinetists and alumni of this great Clarinet

department at the School of Music, the acclaimed Verdehr Trio, famous for its virtuosity and proactive support of

this repertoire for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, performed 3 premieres, to be explained below.

      The Michigan State Chamber Orchestra, under conductor Leon Gregorian, performed with Elsa Ludwig-Verdehr

and Walter Verdehr the Richard Mills Double Concerto for Clarinet, Violin, and Orchestra in its American premiere.

Mills is a major composer from Australia, and also Music Director of the West Australian Opera. This work was written

 for the Verdehrs in recognition of their artistry and commitment to the creation of new music.  The duo is a continuous,

evolving story based on the opening bars- the intervals of the violin’s music (inspired by the calls of the Australian Magpie)

contrasting in tension with compressed 12 note scales for the clarinet.  Important contributions from the Orchestra are made

by the piano,percussion, and harp but the essential musical argument is concentrated in the violin and clarinet gestures who

explore the potentials of the opening music through a multi-faceted interdependent relationship.  The composer has been

inspired by the dramaturgy of classical forms and has endeavored to incorporate the clarities and logic into his compositional

language.  This concerto was world premiered in Taiwan with the Taipei Symphony in June 2004 conducted by the composer.

        The Verdehr Trio performed at the Finale concert 2 world premieres for them, including ‘Songs’ (2004) by Akane

Tsuji-Nakanishi from Japan, this work consists of 12 Songs inspired by Japanese haiku, Waska, and other poetry from

ancient times to the 20^th Century. The 12 songs circle around the seasons and return to the first introduction of the next

spring’s sparkle.  The violin, clarinet, piano combination is perfect for this work; talkative without words, and dynamic enough

to tell the story about the whole year. 

       Peter Dickinson, the 2^nd premiere work, Lullaby (2004), was an adaptation of a song written in 1967 for an unfinished

opera, and became part of a cycle for soprano and brass called the Unicorns, and evolving to this ensemble combination.

      The Verdehr Trio performed brilliantly on all 3 works performed these last 2 days.  The current number of works

commissioned exceed over 20 years of constant input into their repertoire.  The Verdehr Trio has several recordings

on Crystal Records. International tours are always in focus, with future performances coming in Moscow, London,

Athens, and Vienna.

Thelema Trio with composers	Thelema Trio performing new works	Trio Performing new music	Composers at concert

13 October 2003

Ghent, Belgium

Thelema Trio premieres 2 new works

The young Belgian ensemble Thelema Trio keeps working with composers and promoting new music. After their concert

debut in April 2003, they have premiered a new composition every single concert.

 Last concert the 13th of October was no exception. Thelema Trio offered a 2 hours-plus evening at the Rode Pomp Hall in

Gent, Belgium. Four composers attended the performance of their works.

 Philemon Mukarno (Indonesia/Nederland) composed ‘Ameleth’ for Thelema Trio and it was premiered in March 2004.

This powerful piece is scored for clarinet, contrabass clarinet, alto and baritone saxophone, piano and synthesizer. Since

the day of the premiere, this piece has been performed every month with much success.

 Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson (USA/Switzerland) worked with Thelema in May 2004 on his piece ‘Sight-seeing’ for clarinet,

contrabass clarinet, baritone saxophone and piano.

 The first world premiere was ‘Ice Poems’ by the Icelandic artist Hallveig G. K. Ágústsdóttir. This young artist

(also a clarinettist) has collaborated with Thelema since the ensemble begun its career. Her work is scored for

bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, piano, keyboard and percussion. The work is dedicated to Thelema and it was

warmly received by the audience.

 From Denmark came Thorkell Atlason to work with the trio. He composed ‘Cross-fire’ especially for Thelema,

inspired on a previous visit to Belgium. The title makes reference to all the war monuments that are found in Belgium.

The work is scored for clarinet, alto saxophone and piano.

 All these compositions will be soon heard on a Peruvian tour the trio will start from 19th October till 4 November.

Many works will be performed for the first time in Peru, including the world premiere of Euryale by Finnish composer

Tomi Räisänen and works of American composers Kevin Walczyk and Burton Beerman.  Visit Thelema’s web site from

the title above this article.

Tel Aviv Chamber Orchestra introduction	Mosaic for 3 Clarinets & Orchestra	Soloists Eddie Daniels, Giora Feidman, and Philippe Cuper	Soloists performance of Mosaic	Schlome Gronich, composer with soloists

29 August 2004

 Tel Aviv Golda Mier Performing Arts Center Opera House - Israel

 Clarinet & Klezmer in the Galilee Music Festival with Giora Feidman - Israel  (August 2004)

World Premiere of ‘Mosaic’ for 3 Clarinets and Orchestra by Schlome Gronich

        At the Finale Gala concert of the Clarinet & Klezmer Music Festival in the Galilee, this new work was performed by

 the Tel Aviv Chamber Orchestra with special soloists Giora Feidman (Klezmer), Philippe Cuper (Classic), and Eddie

Daniels (Jazz), written specifically for this event, culminating the tri- fusion of the above styles.  Each performer, noted

for his musical acclaim was considered in the writing of the work.  Giora Feidman performed both on Clarinet and Bass

Clarinet. The work was in three movements with elements and flexibility to accommodate all three soloists.  The thematic

simplicity of this piece opened opportunity to ‘play’ with this concerto to each’s advantage.  This piece will surely be

performed as often as this tri-combination can make it possible.  Schlome Gronich is a well known composer in Israel.

Thelema Trio	Trio in Premiere performance in Ghent, Belgium

23 May 2004

 Ghent, Belgium

Thelema Trio premiered new works of Kevin Walczyk, Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson and Ward De Vleeschhouwer

 The Thelema Trio is a raising ensemble in the music world. In their young career they are responsible for several world

premieres. Their unique instrumentation (clarinet, contrabass clarinet; alto, tenor, baritone saxophones; piano and synthesizer)

and high technical skills have inspired composers from all over the world.

 This concert took place Sunday 23 May in Gent, Belgium at the Bijloke small concert hall. This event was attended by a full

audience.

American composer Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson is a former pupil of Yannis Xenaquis and has also worked with John Cage. His

work entitled "Sight - Seeing" is scored for clarinet in Bb, contrabass clarinet, bariton saxophone and piano. The composer

 has worked directly with the Thelema Trio and he came specially to attend the premiere from Switzerland, where he currently

lives.
Kevin Walcsyk sent his work "Incantation" to Thelema Trio to has its European premiere. The work is scored fo clarinet,

alto saxophone, piano and digital tape.  This work was very well received by the audience. Dr. Walczyk is currently Associate

Professor of music at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon where he teaches electronic music, composition,

jazz arranging, film scoring, aural skills, and horn performance.

Finally, Ward De Vlesschhouwer "Dingle Way" was introduced to the audience. This piece is also scored for clarinet,

alto saxophone and piano, ad it was inspired to a trip he made to Scotland. Ward is the pianist of the Thelema Trio and

this work is his first contribution to the ensemble's repertory. Together with the compostions of saxophonist Peter Verdonck,

Thelema Trio brings back the tradition performer-composer into the classical world.

This ensemble is probably the only one where the contrabass clarinet is used as a solo voice, played by the Peruvian

clarinettist Marco Antonio Mazzini. 

American Symphonic Clarinet Choir	William Wright, Mike Kelly, and John Stephens	Choir in rehearsal	Wright rehearsal of solo parts of Teo Macero

9 May 2004

 American Symphonic Clarinet Choir

 Green Room at ‘An die Musik’  Baltimore, Maryland USA

         This quickly emerging professional ensemble performed a Baltimore concert with 2 premieres written for this

ensemble by 2 American composers, along with an interesting array of other works and transcriptions covering a broad

historical musical spectrum.  The venue for this performance was a recital hall designed in concept to support all musical

styles, including jazz, chamber music, and recital.   The ensemble was conducted by Dr John Stephens and former

National Symphony  (Washington, DC) Clarinetist (and principal clarinetist in this ensemble) William Wright who was

soloist in the Teo Macero ‘Ice Chips’, a work showing a structure well established in jazz elements but with solid

compositional techniques of our time. This piece has elements of improvisation as well as avant-garde free-style

approaches. Its many approaches to the aspects of jazz-classical fusion serves the work well for the Clarinet Choir

medium.  The composer Teo Masero, a composer and past Chief Recording Producer for Columbia Records during

the prime days of Benny Goodman and Miles Davis and responsible for the production of these great recordings,  

The 2^nd  Premiered work was written by Stephen Makofski named ‘A Fraction Before’ for Double Clarinet Quartet

with Narrator Ljiljana Jovanovic, which works in the capacity of employing current contemporary compositional style.

Its content for 2 Clarinet Quartets with the infusion of Narrator reciting a text being abstract and commemorate with

the instrumental components of the piece. The 2 Quartets trade off between highly complex cells opposed to a quiet

section of quartet one interspersed with the narrator’s text.  Both premiered works reflected different contemporary

approaches and flexibilities.  Other works on the program included works of Ravel, Rossini, JS Bach, Desire Dondeyne,  

Robert Rodan, and Johann Molter.  The Concerto #3 was performed by soloist Ben Redwine.  This is one of the only

Professional ensembles of its kind in the United States.

Salander as Clarinet soloist with Moravian Philharmonic recording of Leo Kraft Clarinet Concerto	Recording Concerto with Joel Eric Suban, conductor	Moravian Philharmonic in Hall	Mr Salander and Conductor Mr Subec in conference

2 May 2004

 Leo Kraft Clarinet Concerto Recording Premiere

 with Moravian Philharmonic – Roger Salander, Soloist

 Olumouc, Czech Republic

        A new Clarinet Concerto Recording of the above work by American composer Leo Kraft  was performed with

noted American soloist Roger Salander who performs and teaches in Vienna and directs the Chamber Music Festival  

Heiligenkreuzen Herbst (Chamber Music Festival at Heiligenkreuzen Monastery) - Austria .  Mr Kraft,  well known in New

York and a past student of  Karol Rathaus, has written many diverse works for all combinations of instruments and

several concertos.  Several recordings, especially the CD’s which he heard (Romantic Vienna Live - the live concert

recording of the Frühling and Zemlinsky trios, decided Mr Salander as choice for this concerto.   Joel Eric Suben, an

American conductor from New York who performs as a recording conductor and specialized in New Music conducted

the project.   Mr Salander is a highly recognized soloist and has more pending concertos upcoming within months. 

For Clarinetists, it would be of interest that the clarinet used is a special design instrument co-produced by Mr Salander

and the Austrian firm Otmar Hammerschmidt. named the RS Clarinet.  

Sylvan Winds	Davide Zannoni - Italian composer

8 April 2004

  The Renee Weiler Concert Hall, Greenwich House (Greenwich Village)

New York City, USA         

Cutting Edge Concert

Conceived and Hosted by Victoria Bond

 Fresh Air

 The Sylvan Winds

The celebrated Sylvan Winds  premièred Davide Zannoni's work for woodwind quintet, Quattro Quadri ('Four Paintings'), for Cutting Edge Concerts series.

Quattro Quadri is a four movements work, inspired each by a 20th century painting:

1. Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie
2. René Magritte, Le Chateau des Pyrénées

3. Lucien Freud, Portrait of my Brother

4. Edward Hopper, Nighthawks

The concert  featured large reproductions of each work on stage during the performance.

The concert program included new music for wind quintet by Judith Shatin, Jon Deak, and Frank J. Oteri.

-------------------

Davide Zannoni was born in Spoleto, Italy. He started his career as a jazz drummer, subsequently joining the Maggio Fiorentino Orchestra, under the direction of Zubin Mehta in Florence, Italy as a percussionist. He also received a Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Bologna.

After studying composition and piano privately in Italy, he accepted a scholarship from Queens College, where he studied with Thea Musgrave and received his M.A.

Davide Zannoni has written numerous solo, vocal, chamber and orchestral works. He has received various commissions from different performers and organizations such as the New York Festival of Song, The Downtown Chamber Players, The Darkwood Consort, Tetraktis Percussion Quartet, The Risorgimento Project, flutist Joanna Goldstein, trumpet player Ivano Ascari, soprano Lynne Hayden Findlay, percussionists James Preiss, Greg Giannascoli and Federico Poli, and pianist Carlo Levi Minzi.

He has received several grants and awards from The American Music Center, Meet the Composer, and NYSCA. Some of his works have been recorded by
Federico Poli and Ivano Ascari on the CMT and AZ labels. His works have been choreographed in Italy and the U.S. by such groups as Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, and he wrote the music for "Where Did Forever Go", an award-winning documentary film.

His music is regularly performed in the U.S., Italy and abroad, most recently in Canada, Israel, Brasil, Australia, Finland, Japan, Lithuania and England.

DAVIDE ZANNONI ON HIS MUSIC:

Trying to describe music with words is never easy. Nevertheless, I would say that my works encompass a variety of styles. A piece typically can mix chromaticism and tonality, can be lyrical and then rhythmically very energetic, quiet and meditative and subsequently explode in loud dissonant sections. Often my music is spiced with my first love, jazz. I try to give each piece a strong sense of form and balance. My objective is to reach people, general audiences as well as musicians, to move and stir them. The results so far are more than just encouraging: I have an ever enlarging circle of supporters, and my works, performed more and more frequently in the U.S. and the world, are always received enthusiastically. My goal is to develop my music, let more people know my work, and collaborate with as many performers as possible.

WORKS for/with CLARINET by DAVIDE ZANNONI:

    The Scent of Light -  for flute,viola,bass clarinet - 15

    Nottinsonni -  for clarinet, violin, cello, piano – 18’

    The River of Silence - for soprano, bass, clarinet, cello, 2 percussion sets – 15’

    Quattro Quadri -  for wind quintet – 15’

    Figliol Prodigo -  for solo bass clarinet – 1’30

    2 solos from “The Book of Friends” - 

for solo bass clarinet / solo Bb clarinet – 7’ / 5’

The Sylvan Winds has been an integral part of New York City’s cultural offerings for close to three decades, earning both critical and audience acclaim for its spirited performances and innovative programming. The group has established a reputation as one of New York's most versatile chamber music ensembles. They appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Town Hall and in many other venues.

       Founded in 1976, the group regularly tours in the USA and internationally. Guest artists who have joined the group include: Gerard Schwarz, Ransom Wilson, the Guarneri String Quartet, Claude Frank and many others.

       Hailed by the New York Times for “venturesomeness of programming and stylishness of performance,” the quintet was chosen to perform at the 1994 Governor’s Arts Awards. The Sylvan Winds Quintet has presented a number of New York, United States and world premières of works by Gustav Holst, Gunther Schuller and Arthur Weisberg. A self-titled debut recording, a program of French and Belgian chamber music works for winds, was released on Koch International Classics. Another CD with American works was released on CRI (now New World).

Cutting Edge Concerts series features the newest of the new in an intriguing lineup of composers and performers. All featured composers will be present for the performance of their work as well as to discuss them beforehand with host and moderator Victoria Bond.

New Juilliard Ensemble	Guus Janssen Clarinet Concerto	Kinan Azmeh	Ensemble in Performance	Ensemble in Alice Tully Hall

1 April 2004

Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center - New York,  USA

World Premiere Performance of Guus Janssen's Clarinet Concerto performed by Kinan Azmeh

          The New Juilliard Ensemble concluded its 2003-04 season on April 1 with another premiere-packed program in Alice Tully Hall, including the Guus Janssen Clarinet Concerto. Performed magnificently by Kinan Azmeh, Postgraduate student of Juilliard faculty Charles Neidich.  An explanation by Dr Joel Sachs of the New Juilliard Ensemble summarizes this work and soloist from Syria Kinan Azmeh.

          Kinan Azmeh is the only Syrian and first Arab to win the first prize at the Nicolay Rubinstein International Youth Competition in Moscow, Russia (1997).  He holds a BMus in Clarinet performance from Damascus High Institute of Music and Drama where he studied with Anatoly Moratof and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Damascus.  Kinan received his Masters degree in music from the Juilliard School in New York, student of Charles Neidich.

        He has appeared as a soloist in Lebanon, Jordan, Italy, Greece, Germany, Turkey, Egypt, Russia, and Syria, including a solo performance with the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra during its first American tour with Solhi Al-Wadi conducting.  Kinan has performed as principal clarinetist under such conductors as John Adams, Sir Roger Norrington, Charles Dutoit and Daniel Barenboim .  He has appeared with Sylvain Kassab, Marcel Khalife, Kani Karaca and the Hot House Jazz Band, he is the director of  the Arabic-Classical-Jazz fusion quintet "Dialogue"  for which he writes the music and with which he completed an 8 cities US tour last month including a performance at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC. This season will include solo performances in Germany, Italy, Japan, France  England, Lebanon and Syria.

        Dr Sachs continues… One story begins in Holland, in December 2002, when I had the pleasure of my third visit as an observer at Dutch Music Days, an annual December festival in Utrecht. A showcase for Dutch music, the concerts include jazz, sometimes film music, and even some rather peculiar corners of Dutch traditional music (such as an ensemble of elderly rural women playing watering cans, teapots, etc. the following year). One of the highlights in 2002 was a new violin concerto by Guus Janssen, a concert composer and superb jazz pianist, whom I had known for some 10 years. Much of the concerto, written for New York's multicultural virtuoso Mark Kaufman, is improvised—most of the solo part, and some of the orchestral accompaniment. No two performances will sound alike.

         I decided to ask Janssen whether he contemplated making a version for small orchestra. Although he had not, he seemed to like the idea, especially if I meant the New Juilliard Ensemble. I assured him that finding a suitable soloist among the students was no problem, adding that I actually imagined the piece as a clarinet concerto. He said he would give it some thought. After several weeks with no word from him, I assumed he had dismissed the idea. Then he e-mailed that he needed the instrumentation and my thoughts about a soloist. I supplied the names of three students: Hideaki Aomori, a classical clarinetist with an excellent reputation as a jazz player; Erica vonKleist, an alto saxophone player from the jazz program; and Kinan Azmeh, a clarinetist from Syria with great experience in Middle Eastern traditional music. Janssen jumped at the idea of giving his concerto a Middle Eastern embodiment—at least on this occasion. But the drama still had one more episode, for when Kinan graduated in May 2003 he would become ineligible. I think the concerto helped persuade him to stay another year for the Graduate Diploma program. Guus Janssen's Clarinet Concerto was on its way. Of interest, this Concerto is in 8 sections and 60% improvisation.

Ben Redwine performing Mozart Quintet	Clarinet & Strings	Redwine explaining new work by John Stephens	John Stephens about his Clarinet Quintet	Jazz piece by Jerry Neil Smith

7 March 2004

World Premiere of new Clarinet Quintet by John Stephens

Arnold, Maryland USA

    In the course of a Chamber Music series presented by members of the United States Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland, this very special concert presented a Clarinet and String Quartet performance of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet K581, a special arrangement of La Vita e Inferno from Verdi's La Forza del Destino, John Stephen's new Clarinet Quintet, written for the clarinetist Ben Redwine, and Jerry Neil Smith's 'Amazing Brown' including Bass in addition to the strings.  The major work of interest composed by Dr Stephens has of interest the use of Eb, A, and Bb clarinets within the framework of this work featuring the skills of the clarinetist, the thematic structure and intent of the piece, and the total relationship within the ensemble.  The style of composition is that of Stephens in its total language which is unique like other composers with a 'trademark' of recognition like Hindemith or Alban Berg.  This piece has the makings of a major addition in the Clarinet Chamber repertoire.  Of further interest, Dr Stephens is Director of the American Camerata for New Music, and been active with this ensemble at the 3 Klar/Fests held in 81, 82, and 83 in Washington.  This performance was of very high standard as performed by Mr Redwine and the Sunrise String Quartet who perform in the Washington DC area.   The performance took place inside the Gloria Dei! Lutheran Church in Arnold, Maryland.

Paul Meyer, Michel Portal, and Alain Billard as soloists in Generations for 3 Clarinets & Orchestra	3 Soloists and composer Jean-Louis Agobet

26 February 2004

Performance of Major work for 3 Clarinettes & Orchestra by Jean-Louis Agobet

Paris, France

   This performance at the Paris Radio-France Festival 'Presences 2004' of the Generations Concerto Grosso for 3 Clarinets (2nd and 3rd doubling with Bass Clarinet and Contrabass Clarinet) by Jean-Louis Agobet signals a milestone in repertoire for this Concerto combination with full Orchestra. Donald Martino composed a similar work, his Triple Clarinet Concerto and it was performed at the Clar/Fest 82 in Washington DC at Catholic University.  ³Génération² was given its World Premiere performance in Strasbourg in January 2004 where it was very warmly received by both interpreters and audience.  Last week, it was given another performance in the Paris Radio-France Festival  “Présences 2004³, where it was a huge success and ended in a standing-ovation for the composer.  Agobet¹s music is modern and ³avant-garde² but not in an aggressive or inapproachable manner. He leads the listener through the argument of his score with a skillful hand and gives the soloists enough technical business to keep them well occupied. The soloists in France were the young virtuoso Paul Meyer, the well-known performer and improviser Michel Portal, and the Contra Bass Clarinet part was interpreted by the soloist of Paris¹ Ensemble Intercontemporain,  Alain Billard.  It should be of vital interest to explore and increase performance of this work. The piece is available through Editions Jobert and through Theodore Presser in the USA.

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Revised: August 29, 2010