Symphony Space Presents WALL TO WALL BEHIND THE WALL 5/15

As an annual gift to the city, Symphony Space has been presenting its signature music marathons since it opened in 1978. This year Symphony Space's Associate Artistic Director Laura Kaminsky curates a program that includes world and U.S. premieres along with rare works by world-renowned and emerging composers alike from the Soviet Union and Communist-era Eastern Europe. Wall to Wall Behind the Wall, a twelve-hour celebration of music from the Soviet era takes place May 15 from 11:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m., FREE.

Curated by Kaminsky, who has lived and worked in Eastern Europe and whose cultural fellowship from the Likhachev Foundation gave her access to music and musicians in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wall to Wall Behind the Wall features a broad cross-section of music from behind the Iron Curtain. Highlights include Metropolitan Opera star Sasha Cooke offering the U.S. premiere of Dmitri Shostakovitch's Front Ways Songs, a set of opera arias, lieder and Soviet propaganda songs meant to be performed for soldiers on the front lines dating from 1941; pianist Gilbert Kalish and flutist Eugenia Zukerman with the U.S. debut performance by the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in the U.S. premiere of Jewish Rhapsody for Piano, Strings, Flute and Percussion by Sergei Slonimsky, who will be in attendance; other International Artists participating include Poland's renowned Silesian String Quartet, Armenian pianist-composer Artur Avanesov and Romanian jazz artist Maria Raducanu.

Young composers who came of age during the Soviet era will be in attendance to see their works featured including, in addition to Avanesov, Natalya Medvedoskaya and Timofey Buzina, whose Rocking Shadows Overture-a Symphony Space commission-will be premiered by the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic joining forces with New York's Iktus Percussion Quartet.

Works by Sergei Prokofiev, Arvo Pärt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alexander Tansman, Tigran Mansurian, Erwin Schulhoff, Gyorgy Kurtag, Witold Lutoslawski and many others will be performed throughout the day, as will songs from the concentration camps and Soviet propaganda songs.

Participating artists include, in addition to those mentioned above, the Quintet of the Americas, Continuum, Poulenc Trio, Colorado Quartet, Israeli Chamber Project, The Western Wind as well as pianists Nurit Tilles, Emma Tahmizian, Idith Meshulam, Steven Lubin, Igal Kesselman and Margaret Kampmeier, among others.

The Polish Cultural Institute, Romanian Cultural Institute, Consulate of Israel in New York and the Consul General of the Russian Federation in New York have all been active partners with Kaminsky as she has sought out a broad mix of music, composers, and performers for inclusion in this first international Wall to Wall.

Past Wall to Wall marathons at Symphony Space have explored the works of Stephen Sondheim (for which devoted fans lined up beginning at 1:30 a.m. on the day of performance), Beethoven, Broadway, Joni Mitchell, Kurt Weill, Duke Ellington and other legendary creators. Audiences are welcome to enter and exit throughout the event.

Unique in New York City's cultural landscape, Symphony Space-which presents more than 600 events each year in music, literature, dance, theatre, film, and family programming-is the only New York venue where one can see Judy Blume and Alice Sebold, Stephen Colbert and Laurie Anderson, Colum McCann and Lorrie Moore, George Wein and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg all in one house and all in one season. One of New York's preeminent cultural resources since 1978, Symphony Space is a leader in adventurous programming. Signature events include Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story, hosted by Isaiah Sheffer and broadcast on 150 public radio stations nationwide; Bloomsday on Broadway, the annual marathon celebration of James Joyce's Ulysses; and Wall to Wall, the free annual 12-hour musical marathon which The New York Times called a "gift to New York City."

Symphony Space's Artistic Director is Isaiah Sheffer; Associate Artistic Director is Laura Kaminsky; and Executive Director is Cynthia Elliott. Symphony Space is located at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, near the 1, 2, 3 and B, C trains. More info at SymphonySpace.org.

Wall to Wall Behind the Wall is made possible by major support from Trust for Mutual Understanding, with additional support from Edith Blum Foundation; CEC ArtsLink; Extell Development Company; Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation; Herman Goldman Foundation; Merrill G. and Emita E. Hastings Foundation; Lemberg Foundation; Likhachev Foundation; New York State Department of Parks and Recreation, courtesy of Senator Eric Schneiderman; New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, and the Wall to Wall Behind the Wall Producers Circle: Leslie Kandell; Dr. Coco Lazaroff; Judith O. and Robert Rubin; William Schwartz, Joan Warburg, and George Zeltzer.

This program is also supported by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Wall to Wall is also supported by proceeds from an endowment established by the The Bydale Foundation, Mary Flager Cary Charitable Trust, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Christopher and Barbara Dixon, Herman Goldman Foundation, William and Angela Haines, Walter and Marge Scheuer, and Zabar's to ensure that Symphony Space's longest-running tradition remains its annual gift to the people of New York City.