North/South Consonance, Inc concludes its 36th consecutive season of free-admission concerts on Tuesday evening June 21. Soprano Carol Wilson and violinist Claudia Schaer will join conductor Max Lifchitz and the North/South Chamber Orchestra for performances of works by Paolo Geminiani, Max Lifchitz, Joyce Solomon Moorman and Margarita Zelenaia. The concert will take place at the auditorium of Christ & St Stephen's Church (120 West 69th Street) on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The free-admission event will start at 8 PM and end around 9:30 PM. The auditorium is ADA accessible. No tickets or reservations needed.
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS AND THEIR MUSIC Paolo Geminiani (b. 1960; Faenza, Italy) attended the Bologna and Modena conservatories where he studied composition and choral conducting. He also participated in masterclasses taught by Gyorgy Ligeti and Goffredo Petrassi. His instrumental and choral works have earned prizes at international competitions and have been performed throughout Italy, Japan, Argentina and Brazil. He teaches at the Niccolo Piccini Conservatory in Bari. Written in 2014, Geminiani's Confluences for string orchestra weaves contrasting melodic lines into an exciting and colorful polyphonic tapestry.
Max Lifchitz (b.1948; Mexico City) was awarded first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth Century Music held in Holland. Robert Commanday, writing for The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "a composer of brilliant imagination and a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist." The New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn praised Mr. Lifchitz for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances" while Anthony Tommasini remarked that he "conducted a strong performance." His recently completed Forget Me Not was written at the request of the evening's vocalist, soprano Carol Wilson. Inspired by poetry of the 19th century American writer Lillian E. Curtis the cycle consists of four contrasting songs that deal with descriptions of nature as well as feelings of nostalgia, love and longing.
Joyce Solomon Moorman (b. 1946; Tuskegee, AL) studied with Meyer Kupferman while attending Vassar, Sarah Lawrence and Columbia University's Teachers College. She has taught at CUNY's Brooklyn College and the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Her works have been performed throughout the US and abroad and have garnered prizes in contests such as the Detroit Symphony Afro-American Competition and the Andy Warhol's Composers Competition. Her Remembrances '68 is a four movement work inspired by the personal memories of a young southerner experiencing her first winter in the northeast. These recollections come alive against a background that included the tumultuous events that took place during 1968 when the Vietnam War was in high gear and Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated.
MEET THE PERFORMERS
Soprano Carol Wilson has performed in prestigious opera houses throughout the world including those in Frankfurt, Stockholm, Vancouver, Netherlands, Taipei, Dresden, Stuttgart, Bonn, Hannover and Manitoba. She earned much critical acclaim for her Metropolitan Opera appearances as Marschallin in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. A strong advocate of music by 20th and 21st century composers, Ms. Wilson has appeared as soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Duesseldorf Symphoniker. She earned the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts at the Yale University School of Music and is now Professor of Voice at the University of North Texas.
Videos