Talea Ensemble Premieres Works By Anthony Cheung, Tyshawn Sorey, Louis Karchin, March 28

The Talea Ensemble will perform a program of world premieres by Anthony Cheung, Louis Karchin, and Tyshawn Sorey as a part of the "Written for Talea" concert at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music - Mary Flagler Cary Hall (450 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018) on March 28, 2023.

Anthony Cheung's Clocks for Seeing (2023) hearkens to early modes of timekeeping and their relationship to early mechanisms for photography. The piece contains references to markers of time, memorialization, and memory, and reflects on the haziness of familiarity at a temporal distance, frozen into an image. The commission of Clocks for Seeing (2023) was made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Anthony Cheung was the founding artistic director and co-director of the Talea Ensemble from 2007 to 2017. (www.acheungmusic.com)

Louis Karchin's Tribute to the Angels (2020) takes its name and texts from Trilogy, a cycle of poems by the American-British imagist poet, H. D (a. k. a. Hilda Doolittle). Trilogy emanates from H.D.'s first-hand experience of the "blitz" in London during World War II. The text of Tribute to the Angels draws in particular from the portions of the text that focus on spiritual rejuvenation and redemption, rather than destruction. Soprano Jennifer Zetlan joins Talea for the world premiere. Tribute to the Angels was commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. (https://louiskarchin.com)

Tyshawn Sorey's For Wayne Shorter (in memoriam) (2023) combines improvisational and notated elements. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser, Sorey's music defies genre classification, bringing together composition and improvisation in gripping and spontaneous ways. The work pays tribute to jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter, who passed away in March 2023. For Wayne Shorter was commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. (www.tyshawnsorey.com)

Tickets are available at https://writtenfortalea2023.eventbrite.com and are $20 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors.

The Talea Ensemble's mission is to champion musical creativity, cultivate curious listeners, and bring visionary new works to life with vibrant performances that remain in the audience's imagination long after a concert. Recipient of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the New York based Talea Ensemble has premiered more than 45 commissions since it was founded in 2008. Festival engagements have included performances at Lincoln Center Festival, Donaueschingen Musiktage, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Resonant Bodies Festival, TIME:SPANS, Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Time of Music Finland, Wien Modern, Vancouver New Music, Festival Musica, and many more. The ensemble has also partnered with institutions across disciplines, such as the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, the City of Ideas Festival in Mexico, and the Storm King Art Center, and has undertaken residencies in music departments around the country to support a new generation of musicians. www.taleaensemble.org