Talea Ensemble to Present THAT OTHER SPRING- Music Of Haas & Hersch With Soprano Ah Young Hong

The Talea Ensemble will present That Other Spring - Music of Haas & Hersch, an evening of works by Georg Friedrich Haas and Michael Hersch on Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 6:00pm at the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew in Manhattan.

The concert features celebrated soprano Ah Young Hong, noted for her visionary interpretations of works from Baroque to modern, and includes the US premiere of Hersch's one step to the next, worlds ending, Hersch's anonymous beneath the lemon trees, and Haas' ... wie stille brannte das Licht. She was acclaimed for premiering Michael Hersch's poignant monodrama On the Threshold of Winter and more recently performed the title role of the opera Poppaea. This program explores the full gamut of expression, vigor, and versatility of voice in music today.

"The music of Michael Hersch and Georg Friedrich Haas explores the complication and unpredictability of life, the human experience," Ah Young Hong said. "anonymous beneath the lemon trees responds to a world shutting down and individual confrontations with physical and psychological collapse; one step to the next, worlds ending - accepting and adjusting to brokenness when life simply will not let one proceed on one's path; and ...wie stille brannte das Licht - embracing love, both the delirious passion and the unavoidable pain that naturally accompanies such profound emotion."

The Talea Ensemble next collaborates with Alec Hall on a new opera, The Life to Come, which is based on a short story by E.M. Forster. Workshop days take place on Saturday, November 18 and Sunday, November 19, 2023 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music's Mary Flagler Cary Hall, with a presentation open to the public on Sunday, November 19th, at 2:00 p.m. Originally written in 1922, Forster's short story was not published until after the author's death in 1970 due to its explicit interracial homosexuality. In collaboration with librettist and poet Vanessa Place, Hall's opera sets Forster's story as a tale about English colonial violence in South America, queerness, and the birth of love. The Talea Ensemble plans to premiere the full opera in its 2024-2025 season. The Life to Come is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

The Talea Ensemble is pleased to welcome oboist Michelle Farah and percussionist Sae Hashimoto to the roster. Farah most recently performed with the Talea Ensemble for Enno Poppe's Speicher at the TIME:SPANS festival in August, and will make her debut as a Talea Ensemble member during the That Other Spring - Music of Haas & Hersch concert. Hashimoto also performed as a soloist alongside the Talea Ensemble in Agata Zubel's FLASH at TIME:SPANS this summer. Both Farah and Hashimoto will join the Talea Ensemble for the Opera Workshop on November 19.

Additionally, a new album Bloodsnow is being released on Friday, September 22, 2023 on Sideband Records by composer Yotam Haber and includes several world premiere recordings by the Talea Ensemble, including the title track, which refers to Haber's severed finger while dog sledding on the Denali Highway, Alaska, during the winter of 2019.

Concert Information

That Other Spring - Music of Haas & Hersch
Talea Ensemble
Ah Young Hong, soprano
Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 6:00pm
Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew | 263 W 86th St | New York, NY
Tickets: https://thatotherspring.eventbrite.com

Program:
Michael Hersch: anonymous beneath the lemon trees (2020)
Michael Hersch: one step to the next, worlds ending (2021) (US Premiere)
Georg Friedrich Haas: ... wie stille brannte das Licht (2009)

About Ah Young Hong
A "transfixing" (New Yorker) soprano of "fearlessness and consummate artistry" (Opera News), Ah Young Hong has interpreted a vast array of repertoire, ranging from the music of Monteverdi, Bach, Mozart, and Poulenc, to works of Shostakovich, Babbitt, Kurtág, and Haas. The New York Times praised Ms. Hong as "the opera's blazing, lone star," The Chicago Tribune called her "absolutely riveting," and the Kronen Zeitung wrote "her stage presence, her soprano voice, her facial expressions...Breathtaking."

In high demand as a concert and chamber soloist, Ms. Hong has performed with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ensemble Phoenix Basel, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Bern, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, FLUX Quartet, the Netherland-based contemporary music group Ensemble Klang, Konzerthaus Berlin's ensemble-in-residence, Ensemble unitedberlin, Ensemble Dal Niente, The Daedalus Quartet, Wiener KammerOrchester, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, and Tempesta di Mare, amongst others. She has also appeared as soloist with Wien Modern, Zeiträume Basel, Aldeburgh Music Festival, CalPerformances series, Seattle Symphony recital series, and Ojai Festival. In opera, Ms. Hong has premiered Michael Hersch's On the Threshold of Winter, a one woman opera, and Poppaeaas the title role. Other roles include the title role in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, Morgana in Handel's Alcina, Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, Fortuna and Minerva in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, and Asteria in Handel's Tamerlano. She has also appeared with Opera Lafayette in Rebel and Francoeur's Zélindor, roi des Sylphes at the Rose Theater in Lincoln Center and as La Musique in Charpentier's Les Arts Florissants at the Kennedy Center.

A prolific recording artist, Ms. Hong recorded the American premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn, BWV 1127, for National Public Radio's Performance Today. Other recordings include the world premiere of Rebel and Francoeur's Zélindor, roi des Sylphes (Naxos), Pergolesi's Stabat Mater (Peter Lee Music), and Sentirete una Canzonetta with Harmonious Blacksmith. Ms. Hong is a featured soloist in Ensemble Klang's recording of Michael Hersch's cortex and ankle. Early 2018 saw the commercial release of her debut solo CD on Innova Recordings featuring Milton Babbitt's Philomel and Michael Hersch's a breath upwards. Ms. Hong was hailed as "an important new soprano undaunted by difficult contemporary challenges" (The WholeNote), who gives "landmark performances of two landmark works" (Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review). Anticipated in the fall of 2022 is the release of Michael Hersch's the script of storms with BBC Symphony Orchestra on the New Focus label.

Ms. Hong currently serves as Associate Professor in the Vocal Studies Department at the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University.

About the Talea Ensemble

Heralded as "a crucial part of the New York cultural ecosphere" by the New York Times, 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. Recipients of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the ensemble has brought to life over 45 commissions of major new works since it since it was founded in 2008, including bold and inventive productions that span multiple genres, bringing together music and other contemporary art forms such as theater and visual art. Talea has helped introduce NYC audiences to important works of seasoned composers such as Pierre Boulez, Georg Friedrich Haas, Beat Furrer, Olga Neuwirth, Unsuk Chin, and Hans Abrahamsen, and has regularly commissioned composers of the following generations.

The Talea Ensemble's work has spanned imaginative performances, collaboration with composers, artist development projects, discussion, and reflection around music. Highlights from Talea's most recent performance seasons have included: world premieres by Wang Lu, Tyshawn Sorey, Sarah Hennies, Natacha Diels, Anthony Cheung, Agata Zubel, Mark Applebaum, and more; a production of Georg Friedrich Haas's concert-length Solstices in complete darkness; the US premiere of the immersive theater work Love & Diversity by Manos Tsangaris; and a performance of Julius Eastman's Femenine in the NY Philharmonic Artist Spotlight Series.

Festival engagements have included performances at Lincoln Center Festival, Donaueschingen Musiktage, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, TIME:SPANS, Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Wien Modern, Vancouver New Music, Festival Musica, and many more. The ensemble has also partnered with institutions from across disciplines, such as the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, the City of Ideas Festival in Mexico, and the Storm King Art Center.

Talea undertakes residencies in music departments around the country to support early career composers. Residencies in the current season include the Peabody Institute, Rice University, Hunter College, Brown University, Ithaca College, and Queens College. Since 2020, Talea has targeted support to early career composers through the Talea Access Project, which includes a commissioning program and a composer recording workshop. Talea is committed to continuing to build these artist development programs in the upcoming seasons.

Photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan