Orchestra of the League of Composers to appear in
concert at Columbia University's Miller Theatre
Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 7:30 PM
New York Premiere by Martin Boykan
World Premieres by
Louis Karchin and Friedrich Heinrich Kern
Music by Thea Musgrave in honor of the
composer's 90th birthday
|
|
New York, NY -- May 2, 2019 The League of Composers/ISCM — the nation’s oldest organization devoted to contemporary music — will present the Orchestra of the League of Composers performing
World Premieres
by
Louis Karchin
(United States, b. 1951)
and
Friedrich Heinrich Kern
(German, b. 1980); a
New York Premiere
by
Martin Boykan
(United States, b. 1931); and music by
Thea Musgrave
(United Kingdom,
b. 1928) in honor of the composer's 90th birthday.
The concert will take place at Columbia University’s
Miller Theatre
at 7:30 p.m
. Louis Karchin, music director of the Orchestra of the League of Composers, conducts, with guest conductor David Fulmer leading the Boykan work. All of the composers will be
in attendance.
|
|
Orchestra of the League of Composers
Saturday, June 1, 2019, 7:30 PM
Miller Theatre at Columbia University
Louis Karchin, Music Director and Conductor
David Fulmer, Conductor
Heather Buck, Soprano
Curtis Macomber, Violin soloist
Martin Boykan: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Louis Karchin:
Four Songs on Poems on Seamus Heaney
Friedrich Heinrich Kern:
Von Taufedern und Sternen
(Of
Dew Feathers and Stars
)
Thea Musgrave:
Aurora
, for string orchestra
General Admission $30, Students/Seniors $15
|
|
From left to right, clockwise: composers Martin Boykan, Thea Musgrave, Friedrich Heinrich Kern, Louis Karchin
|
|
This will be the
New York premiere
of
Martin Boykan
’s
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
, a landmark work by this composer. The piece unfolds in a musical narrative that extends across three movements, from the private, meditative world of the opening to the public, celebratory finale. Inspired by the dialogues of the Baroque between soloist and orchestra, the concerto takes it cue from a lyric opening solo phrase set against the unyielding beat of the orchestra.
Musicologist and composer George Perle described the concerto as "a synthesis of all we have cherished."
The piece will feature violin soloist
Curtis Macomber
and will be conducted by guest conductor
David Fulmer
.
The
world premiere
of the orchestral version of
Louis Karchin
’s
Four Songs on Poems of Seamus Heaney
is a collection of
“sonic paintings” of evocative poems by the Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet of the title. One poem is a description of an unusual and exotic percussion instrument, a rainstick, set to music evoking an Irish jig; the last song is a tranquil evocation of a picturesque harbor shimmering in the sunset. This is Mr. Karchin’s first work to be presented by the Orchestra in its Miller Theatre series, and it will feature soprano
Heather Buck
.
|
|
Composer and glass harmonica player
Friedrich Heinrich Kern
joins the Orchestra to premiere
Von Taufedern und Sternen
(Of
Dew Feathers and Stars
), a collaboration with German poet Jörg Martin Hartmann, featuring soprano Heather Buck. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy the ethereal colors of sounding glass rooted in a modern revisit of the orchestral song and follows Mr. Kern’s highly praised solo appearance on glass harmonica at last year’s Mostly Mozart Festival at David Geffen Hall. .
The Orchestra performs
Thea Musgrave
’
s
Aurora
in honor of the composer’s 90th birthday. The title of the work, commissioned by the Coburn School of Performing Arts for its young musicians, is meant to reflect the musical potential and burgeoning of young talent. It is inspired by imagery in Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” specifically: “yonder shines Aurora’s harbinger, At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there, troop home to church yards...” The music follows this narrative, with the music starting mysteriously, even tentatively, and building to a gradual crescendo, touching on a brief moment of darkness and closing with a full and joyous coda.
|
|
About the Orchestra of the League
of Composers
|
|
Since 2009, the Orchestra of the League of Composers has presented concerts of the newest music of our time under the auspices of its parent organization, the League-ISCM. Founded in 2009 by then-ISCM president David Gordon, flutist Sue Ann Kahn, and composer and conductor Louis Karchin, the orchestra debuted at Miller Theatre in a program of works by Elliott Carter, Christopher Dietz, Julia Wolfe, Charles Wuorinen, and Alvin Singleton. The orchestra has commissioned and premiered eleven new works and presented 22 New York or world premieres, and it has been particularly active in promoting the late, ground- breaking works of Elliott Carter. At its debut,
The New York Times
wrote, “The orchestra, expertly conducted by the composer Louis Karchin, sounded terrific in this varied and demanding program."
T
he League’s 2010 season finale was praised by the
Times
for its “boundary-erasing sprit” and “stylistically omnivorous programming,” and in 2016, the orchestra was honored to perform as part of the NY Phil Biennial.
|
|
The
League of Composers
, created in 1923, is the nation’s oldest organization devoted to contemporary music. The League draws on a remarkably rich history, including such groundbreaking premieres as Schönberg’s
Die Glückliche Hand
, Béla Bartók’s
Village Scenes
, Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata and Anton Webern’s Symphony for Chamber Orchestra. The League also sponsored the American premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet
Le Sacre du Printemps
, many pieces by Aaron Copland, György Ligeti’s Horn Trio, and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s
Harlequin.
The League of Composers/ISCM seeks to have 20th and 21st-century music play a more prominent role and obtain a more appreciated place in the lives of the concert music-loving public. The League’s mission is to engage audiences by presenting performances of new music of the highest caliber written by emerging and established living composers in the context of 20th and 21st-century masterpieces.
|
|
Milina Barry PR
212.420.0200
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
