ENSEMBLE MIDTVEST
PRESENTS THE US PREMIERE OF
FUGGITIVO BY BENT SØRENSEN
WEILL RECITAL HALL AT CARNEGIE HALL
MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2023 AT 8PM

Bent Sørensen’s Fuggitivo was Commissioned by the Ensemble;
Program also Includes works by Mozart and Brahms

US Tour Dates:
New York City
Washington, D.C.
Corbett, OR
Seattle, WA
On Monday, March 20, the Denmark-based Ensemble MidtVest (EMV) presents the United States premiere of Bent Sørensen’s Fuggitivo, commissioned specifically by EMV for their tour. The Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall concert begins at 8pm on Monday, March 20 and will also include Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, K. 452 and his Quartet for Flute and Strings in C Major, K. 171/285b as well as Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25.

Established in 2002, EMV consists of nine classical musicians, who together constitute a string trio, a wind quintet and a pianist all dedicated to creating musical experiences that challenge the interface between traditional chamber-music concerts and new innovative formats.
The Ensemble's North American tour includes concert appearances in Washington, D.C.; Corbett, OR; and Seattle, WA.

Tickets for the March 20 concert at Weill Recital Hall are $60 and are available at the Carnegie
Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212.247.7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.
The Ensemble MidtVest is presented by Legato Arts.
Program
Monday, March 20, 2023 at 8pm
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

Ensemble MidtVest
··Nicolas Dautricourt, Violin
··Sanna Ripatti, Viola
··Jonathan Slaatto, Cello
··Charlotte Norholt, Flute
··Peter Kirstein, Oboe
··Tommaso Longquich, Clarinet
··Neil Page, Horn
··Yavor Petkov, Bassoon
··Martin Qvist, Piano

Program
Bent Sørensen: Fuggitivo (US Premiere)
Mozart: Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, K. 452
Mozart: Quartet for Flute and Strings in C Major, K. 171/285b
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
About the Artists
The Denmark-based Ensemble MidtVest (EMV) creates musical experiences that reach beyond the stage by expanding the interface between traditional chamber-music concerts and new innovative formats to challenge how chamber music can be expressed. Annually performing nearly 100 concerts a year in Denmark and abroad, EMV has appeared regularly at Carnegie Hall, the Nordic Museum in Seattle, Kings’ Place in London, as well as at Musikfestspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rio International Chamber Music Week, ULTIMA Festival in Oslo, the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Wales and Mantova Chamber Music Festival in Italy.

In addition to traditional chamber music, Ensemble MidtVest utilizes classical improvisation in order to create their own musical language. In this context, the well-known jazz pianist, Carsten Dahl, collaborated with EMV for nearly a decade, helping them to develop their musical intuition and individuality through classical improvisation. Ensemble MidtVest has more than 20 CDs in their discography, including those that feature the piano quartets by Mozart and Brahms that were awarded the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s P2 prize for the best Danish CD of the year. In 2020, the critically acclaimed “Whirl’s World” album with works by Per Nørgård was nominated for a Gramophone Award.
About the Composer
Bent Sørensen is one of northern Europe’s most performed and admired composers. He has worked in every classical music genre and pushed at their boundaries. His 2009 concerto for orchestra, choir, actors and audience plants musicians and actors throughout a large concert hall to create an immersive gesamtkunstwerk. His distinctive choral works culminated in a St Matthew Passion (2021). His full-length opera Under himlen (‘Under the Sky’) was staged at the Royal Danish Opera in 2004. In 2018, his triple concerto L’isola della Città was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for Music.

Sørensen has written for orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Munich Chamber and BBC orchestras. He has been Visiting Professor in Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London and Professor in Composition at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.
Bent Sørensen on Fuggitivo
“When it comes to titles, almost all the works I have composed have found their title before or at the same moment I started them,” comments composer Bent Sørensen. “That is why it was also surprising - not to say transgressive - for me that my work for 9 instruments for Ensemble MidtVest was completely untitled until the last bar. Then it dawned on me that the titlelessness was a natural result of the music's volatility. It was – and is – as if the music was constantly escaping from itself. The beginning of the work is definitely an escape into a new chapter, and that feeling runs through the entire work.

In a longer section, the music flies towards a Barcarole, where the piano has a soloist role, and this is probably a result of my recurring dream of Venice – the gondolas in the swaying rhythms of the canals. Hence the Italian title, "Fuggitivo" - fugitive.”
Press Inquiries
Milina Barry PR
212.420.0200
mbprnews@gmail.com