Gil Morgenstern's Reflections Series International Presents 'Beauty Born of Terror' November 21

On Thursday, November 21 at 7:30pm, violinist and artistic director Gil Morgenstern will present the second concert of his acclaimed Reflections Series International 2013-2014 Season at Avenues: The World School (259 Tenth Ave.). The program is titled "Beauty Born of Terror" and will explore the endurance of hope and spirituality amid the cataclysmic horrors of the twentieth century through music, literature and projected imagery. Of the subject Morgenstern explains, "No one chooses the place, the time, or the circumstances of his or her birth; notes and words have even less choice. Yet one of the ironic facts of creative life is that inspiration often emerges from terror, fear and pain."

Morgenstern is joined by pianist Rieko Aizawa in a program of musical works by Pärt, Schulhoff, Chen Yi, Poulenc and Messiaen. Actor Rob Breckenridge will narrate, reciting ancient parables, as well as the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke, Antonio Machado, Federico García Lorca, and a newly commissioned work by the Italian writer Marina Carbone. Her poetry and prose will examine the links between beauty and terror through the lens of a writer who comes to realize that her survival is dependent on her art: her poetry. Morgenstern has programmed the concert to create a trio of three distinct voices - music, text and imagery.

Rob Breckenridge's New York credits include The 39 Steps, Love Goes to Press, What the Public Wants, Edward the Second, 33 Variations (Workshop), Geneva, R.U.R., The Rivals, Long Island Sound, Tooth, RIO, Far and Wide, Hope II, and The Phantom Tollbooth. At regional theaters around the U.S. he has appeared in Boeing Boeing, ART, Life x 3, Private Lives, An Ideal Husband, Sister Carrie, Sylvia, A Map of the World, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His film and TV work includes Law and Order: CI, Delirious, Helen at Risk, Guiding Light, Solo Una Mujer, Fuego Verde, and Padres e Hijos. Breckenridge has worked as an actor, teacher, director and a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Colombia, South America during the 1990s. He continues to develop RIO, his bilingual performance piece about the Rio Grande borderlands of Texas and Mexico.

Praised by the New York Times for her "impressive musicality, a crisp touch and expressive phrasing", Japanese pianist Rieko Aizawa made her début at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Schneider. She has since established her own unique musical voice; she has performed at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Vienna's Konzerthaus and among others.The youngest-ever participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, Rieko has performed as guest with such string quartets as the Guarneri and Orion quartets. She is a founding member of the Horszowski Trio and of the prize-winning Duo Prism, and she is artistic director of the Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival. Rieko is a graduate of the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School. She was the last pupil of Mieczyslaw Horszowski and she also studied with Seymour Lipkin and Peter Serkin.

Reflections Series International is pleased to hold its 2013-2014 season at a new home adjacent to New York's Highline Park, Avenues: The World School.Reflections' relationship with Avenues is particularly appropriate, as the school seeks to integrate learning across subject areas in a globally aware setting. Avenue's state of the art black box theater, designed by architecture firm Perkins Eastman and interior design firm Bonetti/Kozerski Studio, is the perfect setting for Reflections' sophisticated but relaxed performances. Throughout the year, Gil Morgenstern will work with the students at Avenues on interdisciplinary projects both in and out of the classroom. www.avenues.org.

Of the series, Morgenstern says, "The 2013-2014 season marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the Reflection's Series growth. With established residencies both in the United States and Europe, the series has changed its name to Reflections Series International, and has a new, prestigious venue at Avenues: The World School. I can't think of a better fit for Reflections' engaging and innovative programming given our mutual commitment to curricular and programming diversity, an international presence, and interactive multi-disciplinary collaborations.

Reflections presents solo and chamber music along with works of different artistic disciplines, engaging its audiences in combinations of music, text and images. Through its unique contextualization of historical artistic styles and events of their time period, its innovative programming entertains and enlightens the 21st century audience. Using both existing and original works, and with the collaboration of a superb ensemble of creative and performing artists representing all art forms, Reflections programs present works that both reflect upon one another and invite the audience to reflect anew on universal themes.

The 2013-2014 season includes four engaging concerts. The final two concerts of the series will include:

THE MAGIC OF MENDELSSOHN
Thursday, February 13, 2014 at 7:30pm
Gil Morgenstern, violin and artistic director
Ole Akahoshi, cello
J.Y. Song, piano

Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D Minor is one of the most popular works for this instrumentation. Emerging from his great admiration of the trios of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, Mendelssohn managed with this brilliant composition to bridge the ever-growing divide between the Classical and Romantic styles.

Cellist Ole Akahoshi and pianist J.Y. Song will join Morgenstern in performances of other works by Mendelssohn, as well as those of different composers, deconstructing and reconstructing how this beloved trio successfully incorporates the new Romantic spirit within a Classical structural framework.

A CELEBRATION OF REFLECTIONS AT AVENUES
Thursday, May 15, 2014 at 7:30pm
Gil Morgenstern, violin
J.Y. Song, piano
Andy Clayman, videographer

This special multi-disciplinary and multi-media program celebrates the inaugural season ofReflections Series International at Avenues: The World School. The musical selections will be but one element in a trio of artistic disciplines: music, video and the spoken word. Joining Morgenstern in producing this special performance will be Avenues' Creative Director Andy Clayman, and accomplished students and faculty of the school.

About Gil Morgenstern: Acclaimed for his artistry and technical brilliance, violinist Gil Morgenstern is devoted to exploring and expanding the possibilities for inventive classical music programming. His vision is to present the audience with a more complete concert experience, meticulously curated from start to finish, by organically integrating music with other artistic disciplines in innovative and unexpected ways. The New York Times describes Mr. Morgenstern as a, "brilliant and musically curious artist."

A violinist with a long history of performing in the world's great concert halls, Mr. Morgenstern's career has taken him to international venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Cultural Center Concert Hall, Hong Kong; the American Academy, Rome; Salone dei Cinquecento, Florence; El Teatro Sucre, Quito; Arts Centre and State Theatre, Melbourne, Australia. He has also toured the U.S. extensively, performing in recital and as guest soloist with many leading orchestras including the symphonies of St. Louis, Baltimore, Louisville, Indianapolis, Denver, Milwaukee, New Jersey and North Carolina. New York Times has hailed his playing as "a perfect demonstration of supreme ability;" "a rare poet of the violin" reportedThe South China Morning Post; "Morgenstern played a program that tested every part of a violinist's equipment and he did it all beautifully," wrote The Washington Post.

Mr. Morgenstern has also shared the stage with such eminent musicians as Philippe Entremont, Lynn Harrell, André-Michel Schub, Jeffrey Kahane, Sharon Isbin, and Heinz Holliger, and has collaborated with United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, and performance artist Laurie Anderson.

Mr. Morgenstern's discography includes works by Beethoven, Fauré, Copland, Ravel, Kodaly, Sessions and the award-winning American composer George Tsontakis. His latest recording, 20th Century Duos for Violin and Cello, was the No. 1 classical CD for over a month on eMusic, the largest online store for independent music in the world, and was one of the top ten best selling classical music albums on Amazon.com. Of the CD The New York Timesraved, "the music is terrific and the performances compelling on this surprisingly exciting and excellently engineered recording." Mr. Morgenstern records for the MMC, Engine Company and Koch International Classics labels, and can regularly be heard on National Public Radio and classical music radio stations across the country.

Highlights of Mr. Morgenstern's recent seasons include interdisciplinary performances with the Juilliard Dance Company at Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Ballet; the premieres of staged versions of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Venus and Adonis with Claire Bloom and John Neville, and Samuel Beckett at 100 at New York City's 92nd Street Y and at Harvard University. Mr. Morgenstern's performance in the Nine Circles Chamber Theatre production ofWhen Samson Met Delilah toured Holland to rave reviews and his recent appearance in Toronto was broadcast throughout Canada on CBC. He also appeared as violin soloist in U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky's translation of Dante's Inferno, which toured the country and was broadcast on PBS and NPR, for which it received a Peabody nomination. Mr. Morgenstern continues to tour the United States and Europe, and his highly acclaimedReflections Series has recently been presented in London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice. Mr. Morgenstern lives in New York City. For more information, visitwww.gilmorgenstern.com.