COMPOSER’S VOICE: WOMEN, WORDS, AND MUSIC (NEW YORK, NEW YORK)
The concert features music written by women and inspired by words. According to the curator,“Women are the storytellers, the observers, the sharers; these works – to me, at least – quite effectively use the words at their nucleus to transcend, in the purest sense of the word, into a deeper realm of communication that occurs at the “juxta-betwixtion” between sound, language, and perception.”
This concert is curated by pianist Sara Bong. Sara Bong has built a significant reputation as a vital force in the support of the performing arts and music education. During her 20+ years as Director of Program Development/VP for MidAmerica Productions, she garnered widespread recognition and praise for her professionalism and dedication to thousands of ensembles who made appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and abroad under her guidance. Sara has also made an impact as a musician, appearing as a soloist, accompanist, and collaborative pianist throughout the U.S. and in Europe.
On curating the concert, Bong states “naturally my thoughts turned to works I had been keen to see included on the series. Not only did they tend toward the programmatic, but they defied easy categorization individually and collectively. Almost coincidently, they were all composed by women. But in delving deeper into the common threads that bound my selections together, I started thinking about their shared inspiration. The answer was simple: words. A poem, a novel, a life story – each of these served as an artistic genesis, from a unique perspective.”
“it’s on the edge of what’s happening” –Brant Lyon, Great Weather for Media
The concert will feature works by Kaija Saariaho, Cindi Hsu, Bettina Sheppard, Veronika Krausas, Shelley Washington, Emanuela Ballio, Inna Buganina, Maggi Payne, Kezia Yap, Elizabeth Adams, Syrlane Albuquerque, and Jennifer Merkowitz.
These works will be performed by pianists Sara Bong and Markus Kaitila, flutists Angela Collier-Reynolds and Emily Voye, sopranos Carla Wesby and Melissa Wozniak, alto Shelley Washington, tenor Mario Gullo, and baritone Brendan Littleton. The concert will also feature Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Piano Pinnacle. Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame is a project which features fifteen one-minute works by fifteen composers, written specifically for the performers. The purpose of the project is to promote a great variety of contemporary music to audiences hungry to hear what living composers are writing today. Piano Pinnacle is a leading new piano duo ensemble in Canada dedicated to rejuvenating the piano duo genre. The duo will perform one-minute works by composers Rodrigo Baggio, Miriam Berardi, David Bohn, Soo Jin Cho, Ruth Watson Henderson, Alison Ireland, Nathan R. Johnson, Adam Kennaugh, Shao Suan Low, Zack Merritt, William Murray, Giorgos Papamitrou, Farshid Samandari, Joaquín Mendoza Sebastián, and Christopher M. Wicks.
The Composer’s Voice Concert Series is an opportunity for contemporary composers to express their aesthetic and personal voice. Founded in 2001 by Robert Voisey, Composer’s Voice has presented hundreds of concerts in New York City. The series has premiered thousands of works from living composers from around the world. Works are chosen from a wide range of contemporary composers of different styles, aesthetics, and genre. The works are performed by dedicated musicians devoted to new music. Performances are recorded and archived to further promote new music, performers, and composers. Audio, video, scores, and programs can be found on the Composer’s Voice website. www.ComposersVoice.com
