Metropolis Ensemble Hosts Inaugural Resident Artists Series Concert

Metropolis Ensemble has announced the inaugural concert of its new Resident Artists Series - concerts, musical events, and social gatherings that feature the Ensemble's leading artists as solo instrumentalists in creative collaborations with composers from diverse genres and styles.

Metropolis Ensemble's virtuoso harpist Bridget Kibbey kicks-off this series with a multi-media concert presentation entitled Music Box at Le Poisson Rouge January 11 & 15, 2012 at 7:30pm. Music Box features six world premiere and newly commissioned works for solo harp by composers from around the world who now call the United States home.

Moved by both their individual stories and their music, Kibbey commissioned works whose inspiration is based in folk idioms from each composer's country of origin as well as from their own personal narratives.

The contributing composers are:

Kati Agocs, Canada (world premiere)
Kinan Azmeh, Syria (world premiere)
David Bruce, representing Venezuela
Susie Ibarra, representing the Philippines (world premiere)
Bridget Kibbey, representing Ireland
Paquito d'Rivera, Cuba (world premiere)
Ricardo Romaniero, Brazil (world premiere)
Du Yun, China (world premiere)
The harp is an instrument emblematic of storytelling and folklore. Music Box allows the harp to carry this tradition forward into the 21st century, giving expression to the diverse voices that make up contemporary American culture.

Possessing a special connection with her instrument that captivates audiences across the United States and abroad, harpist Bridget Kibbey’s passionate performances display the unique abilities of this fantastic instrument, with genre-bending performances ranging from baroque to world music, to collaboration with singer/songwriters, to commissioning new works from today’s composers. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, a winner of Concert Artist Guild’s 2007 International Competition and Astral Artist Auditions, Ms. Kibbey’s performances have been broadcast on NPR’sPerformance Today, on New York’s WQXR, WNYC’s Soundcheck, and A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts. Bridget’s debut album, Love is Come Again,was named one of 2007’s Top Ten Releases by Time out New York. She may also be heard on Deutsche Grammaphon with Dawn Upshaw on Berio’s Folk Songs and Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre. As hailed by the New York Times, harpist Bridget Kibbey “…made it seem as though her instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the gorgeous colors and energetic figures she was getting from it.”

Ms. Kibbey has collaborated with an array of artists in repertoire new and established, including Ian Bostridge, David Krakauer, Jaime Laredo, Edgar Meyer, Mayumi Miyata, Cristina Pato, Sharon Robinson, David Schifrin, and the Calder and Jupiter Quartets. She is frequently featured with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and is the founding harpist of the International Contemporary Ensemble and Metropolis Ensemble.

A leader in broadening the scope and platform of her instrument, she has premiered new works by Kati Agocs, Harrison Birtwistle, Sebastian Currier, Pierre Boulez, Nathan Shields, Kaija Saariaho, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Augusta Read Thomas, Charles Wuorinen, among others. Ms. Kibbey performed Britten's Canticles in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall with tenor Ian Bostridge, performed the New York premier of Elliot Carter's Mosaic in Zankel Hall for the composer's 100th birthday, and the American premier of Sebastian Currier's Broken Minuets with Symphony in C in Philadelphia's Kimmel Center.

Ms. Kibbey is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Nancy Allen. She is on the harp faculties of Bard Conservatory, New York University, and the Juilliard Pre-College Program.

Metropolis Ensemble is a professional chamber orchestra and ensemble dedicated to making classical music in its most contemporary forms. Led by Grammy-nominated conductor Andrew Cyr, Metropolis Ensemble gathers today's most outstanding emerging composers and young artists to produce unique, innovative concert experiences. Founded in 2006, Metropolis has commissioned over 70 works of music from a dynamic mix of composers and has been presented by The Wordless Music Series, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, (Le) Poisson Rouge, and Celebrate Brooklyn. Metropolis Ensemble has quickly established a reputation of presenting “new music played with the same kind of panache and bravura we usually experience only in performances of standard repertoire” (Esa-Pekka Salonen).

In 2010, Metropolis Ensemble was proud to receive a classical nomination in the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards for Avi Avital (soloist) and Andrew Cyr (conductor) for Avner Dorman's Mandolin Concerto, part of their first studio album, Avner Dorman's Concertos. In recent activity, Metropolis made its Lincoln Center debut this summer, presenting the New York premiere of Tan Dun’s Martial Arts Trilogy for their Out of Doors Festival. This fall, Metropolis Ensemble collaborated with David Frost, 2010 Grammy-winner “Producer of the Year“, to record the debut orchestral albums of composers Timothy Andres (for Nonesuch) and Vivian Fung (for NAXOS) at Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall, set for release next season.

Metropolis Ensemble is equally dedicated to making a difference in its local community and offers innovative music programs to some of New York’s most under-resourced populations. Its education and outreach program Youth Works collaborates with cultural organizations, nonprofit partners, and schools such as The Teak Fellowship, PS 11 and PS11 programs in Lower Manhattan, and the GrandFamily Apartments in South Bronx.

Metropolis Ensemble - Music Box: Bridget Kibbey, harp
Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 730pm | Sunday, January 15, 2012, 7:30pm
Music Box, Bridget Kibbey World Premieres of Eight Newly Commissioned Works for Solo Harp.
(Le Poisson Rouge | 158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012 | (212) 505-3474)

January 11 & 15, 2012 at 7:30pm, Metropolis Ensemble presents its inaugural Resident Artists Series concert, Music Box at Le Poisson Rouge. Harpist Bridget Kibbey performs eight newly commissioned works for solo harp including six world premieres. Metropolis Ensemble is a professional chamber orchestra and ensemble dedicated to making classical music in its most contemporary forms.

Single Tickets-
VIP: $50 (Members $40) | Table Seat: $20 (Members $15) | Bar seat: $15 | Student/Standing Room: $10

www.metropolisensemble.org