Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts Announces POP UP Concert Series

Bring a friend, grab a drink, and join some of today's most interesting performers onstage at Miller Theatre on select Tuesday evenings. Launched in February 2012, Miller's popular Pop-Up Concerts enters its second year this spring, continuing to provide free, informal performances. The unique format allows the theater to test out new ideas and introduce new performers before they hit the Miller mainstage. Free libations from Harlem Brewing Company contribute to the laid-back ambiance. All concerts start at 6 p.m. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis, and doors open at 5:30 p.m.

February 12: CONTEMPORARY CIMBALOM
Either/Or and Tony Arnold, soprano
This concert explores the incredible sonic possibilities of the cimbalom. A trapezoid-shaped hammer dulcimer, cimbalom crops up regularly in the folk music of Hungary and Romania. The instrument was championed by a number of 20th-century classical composers, chief among them György Kurtág, whose pieces frame this Pop-Up program. A world premiere for violin and cimbalom by French Canadian composer François Rose rounds out this exploration of the instrument's immense palette.

PROGRAM:
Kurtág: 7 songs for voice and cimbalom
François Rose: Rosée du matin, flocons du soir, for violin and cimbalom, world premiere
Kurtág: Scenes from a Novel, for voice, violin, cimbalom, and double bass

March 12: IT'S COMPLICATED
Ensemble Signal (Courtney Orlando, violin; Lauren Radnofsky, cello; Doug Perkins, percussion; Bill Solomon, percussion)
Ensemble Signal takes the audience on a mini exploration of the wildly different ways composers confront complexity and virtuosity. This tour-de-force Pop-Up is sure to keep listeners on The Edge of their seats.

PROGRAM:
Luciano Berio: Seqzuenza VII
Brian Ferneyhough: Bone Alphabet
Luciano Berio: Sequenza XIVa
Michael Gordon: XY

April 23: NEW MUSIC BY LAURA KAMINSKY
Ensemble Pi (Idith Meshulam, piano & Airi Yoshioka, violin); Cassatt Quartet (Muneko Otani, violin; Jennifer Leshnower, violin; Sarah Adams, viola; Nicole Johnson, cello)
The Pop-Up series hosts its first CD release party, celebrating the completion of a new disc for Albany Records featuring the work of native New Yorker Laura Kaminsky. Called a composer with "an ear for the new and interesting" by The New York Times, Kaminsky has received numerous awards for her compositions.

PROGRAM:
Triftmusik (1991)
Arbores Venerablies/Anemones from "Wave Hill" (2009)
Music for Artur (2006)
Cadmium Yellow (2010)

May 7: PICKER POPS UP
Tobias Picker Ensemble (Keir GoGwilt, violin; Nathaniel LaNassa, piano; Margaret Dyer, viola; Michael Unterman, cello; and Tony Flynt, bass)
Tobias Picker returns to Miller, after being featured on the Composer Portraits series last year, with this selection of intimate chamber works, performed by the same artists who will soon record them for a new album-his first chamber music record in 30 years.

PROGRAM:
When Soft Voices Die (1977)
Invisible Lilacs (1991)
Third Etude from Four Etudes for Ursula (1996)
Nova (1979)