Debra Kaye Premieres New Work for New York Composer Circle Tonight

American composer Debra Kaye will celebrate the premiere of the ANDANTE, quietly impassioned movement from her String Quartet No. 1 tonight, December 1 at 7:30pm. The piece will serve as the finale of the New York Composer Circle (NYCC) concert New Music for Strings and Piano; and it will be performed by the Klang String Quartet with violinists Gregor Kitzis and Funda Cizmecioglu, violist Kimberly Foster and cellist Matthew Goeke.

The concert will be held at Saint Peter's Church at Citigroup Center, 619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street in Manhattan. There is a suggested donation of $20 (students free) and a post-concert wine-and-cheese reception.

The concert will feature six other compositions, including Fantasy Romance for cello and piano by John Eaton and premieres of: Duopoly II for cello and hand drum by Roger Blanc - String Quartet No. 5 by Richard Brooks - Notturno for string quartet by Susan J. Fischer - Trialogue for piano trio by Emiko Hayashi; and String Quartet by Carl Kanter. Additional performers include Martha Locker on piano and David Picton on hand drums.

Ms. Kaye has been hailed as a "unique voice in American music, transcendent, witty, profound." Her catalogue includes close to 40 chamber music, art songs, choral and theatrical compositions; and she has received seven ASCAP Plus Awards for her "contributions to American Music." This premiere follows on the heels of another premiere of a short choral piece Hey Yud Yud/Parallel Universes in October, presented by the Composers Concordance.. This spring, her yet-unnamed klezmer piece featuring Canadian violinist Lara St. John and a distinguished ensemble of New York musicians will be performed at Goddard Riverside's Bernie Wohl Center. German publishers Bellmann Musik included her composition Buscando for solo harpsichord -- commissioned by Arthur Haas of Yale University -- in their two-volume set The Contemporary Harpsichordist, now available.

The NYCC was founded in 2002 as an artistic and educational organization of composers and performers, dedicated to new music. Its mission: to promote public awareness and appreciation of contemporary music throughout the New York Metropolitan area. This December concert supports the organization's outreach initiative, to acquaint previously untapped audiences with concert music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

For more information visit www.debrakayecomposer.com.

IF YOU GO:

Tuesday, December 1, 7:30pm

Debra Kaye, composer

Saint Peter's Church at Citigroup Center, 619 Lexington Ave. at 54th Street, New York

Suggested donation of $20; Students Free

www.NYComposersCircle.org