Cygnus Ensemble to Celebrate Milton Babbitt at Symphony Space

On May 19, at Symphony Space, Cygnus Ensemble will celebrate the music of American luminary Milton Babbitt, an iconic, sometimes controversial Princeton-based composer, teacher, and musical statesman whose career and direct influence spanned 76 years, from 1935 to his death in 2011.

The program will feature Swan Song No. 1, one of several Babbitt works composed especially for Cygnus, as well as world premieres of works by Babbitt students and colleagues, including Charles Wuorinen, Paul Lansky, and Frank Brickle.

The evening will kick off with a pre-concert interview with legendary soprano Bethany Beardslee-Winham, affectionately regarded as Babbitt's "Diva"-who premiered such landmark Babbitt works as Philomel, Vision and Prayer, Du, and A Solo Requiem-in preview and discussion of her upcoming memoir.

IF YOU GO:

Milton Babbitt Centennial Concert

Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 7:30pm

Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Symphony Space

(2537 Broadway at 95th Street)

featuring Elizabeth Farnum and the Bowers-Fader Duo (Jessica Bowers, mezzo-soprano; Oren Fader, guitar)

General Admission: $5. Click here to purchase.

Free Live Stream: livamp.com/cygnus

Program:

BABBITT Swan Song No. 1 // Vision and Prayer

WUORINEN Cygnus

LANSKY Just Once

KONRAD KACZMAREK Toggles and Triggers

JONATHAN DAWE Glass Harmonica

BRICKLE Ab nou cor // Piazza Piece // City of Orgies

DAVID CLAMAN To the Master of the Meteor

Featuring:

Tara Helen O'Connor, flute

James Austin Smith, oboe

Calvin Wiersma, violin

Susannah Chapman, violoncello

Oren Fader, guitar

William Anderson, guitar, mandolin, theorbo

For more details on Cygnus Ensemble and the event, click here!

Spanning contemporary classical, chamber, and experimental genres-with emphasis on music by living American composers-Cygnus Ensemble is a New York-based virtuoso ensemble whose individual members represent a wealth of experience at such leading institutions as the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Chamber Players, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Since 1985, the ensemble's critically acclaimed concerts in New York and around the world have consistently delivered vibrant, imaginative, and lucid sounds that stir the mind and memory. Watch a recent performance here.