The North/South Chamber Orchestra Performs 3 Generations Of Composers' Work 5/18

On Tuesday evening May 18 at 8 PM, North/South Consonance, Inc. will continue its 30th consecutive season of free admission concerts with a special program featuring recent works by three generations of composers. The concert will be held at the auditorium of Christ & St. Stephen's Church (120 West 69th St) in Manhattan. Admission is free.

The North/South Chamber Orchestra conducted by Max Lifchitz will perform six recent works by composers from Italy and the US.

The program will open with the first US performance of The Angel of Loneliness (2008) by the young Italian composer Paolo Boggio. Born in 1964, Boggio studied in Italy and England and now teaches at the Conservatory of Castelfranco in Veneto. Boggio's compositions are published by RAI Trade and have earned fellowships and prizes from prestigious institutions and competitions not only in Italy but also in Spain, England, Finland, Korea and the US. Dedicated to the memory of filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the virtuosic and quasi-programmatic The Angel of Loneliness depicts several episodes in the life of a young film director.

Suara Suadin (Voice of Suadin) (2009) by Thomas Whitman will also be heard during the first half of the program. Written especially for the North/South concert series, the composition is a set of variations on a melody originally written for a Balinese gamelan ensemble. A native New Yorker, Whitman (b. 1960) trained at the University of Pennsylvania eventually living and studying in Indonesia before joining the Swarthmore College faculty where he co-directs the Balinese Gamelan Semara Santi.

Serenata Concertante, a newly minted work by Harold Schiffman (b. 1928) will close the first half of the concert. The composer explains that "knowing the outstanding abilities of the members of the North/South Chamber Orchestra" he decided to write a piece in which all the parts involved concerto-like virtuosity. A student of both Roger Session and Ernst von Dohnany, Schiffman taught at the School of Music of Florida State University from 1959 until 1985. The North/South Recordings label recently released an album featuring seven of his chamber works marking the composer's 80th birthday.

References, a jazz inspired work by Steven Strunk, will open the second half of the concert. Built around jazz-derived rhythms and figurations, Strunk's exciting work is full of exhilarating rhythms and employs the electric bass. Strunk studied with Luciano Berio and Vincent Persichetti at The Juilliard School before joining the teaching staff of the School of Music at the Catholic University of America in 1973. Active as a jazz pianist in the Washington, DC area, he has appeared at Kennedy Center and toured throughout the US.

Another work receiving its first performance will be Marilyn Ziffrin's recently completed Ten. Ziffrin's music has been described as having "a peculiarly American sound: lean, direct, tonal and often jazzy; it is both delightful and unpretentious." A long time resident of New Hampshire, Ziffrin (b. 1926) grew up in Chicago where she studied with Alexander Tcherepnin eventually earning an advanced degree in composition from Columbia University's Teachers College.

To conclude the evening, the North/South Chamber Orchestra will perform the New York premiere of Max Lifchitz's Yellow Ribbons Nos. 16 & 19. Written in 1984 at the request of the North Carolina School of the Arts New Music Ensemble, these works belong to a series of compositions written as homage to the former American hostages in Iran. The works celebrate the political and artistic freedom so often taken for granted in the west.

The composers will be on hand to introduce their works and meet with the audience during intermission and after the concert.

North/South Consonance's 2009-10 season is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; grants from the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University, the Music Performance Funds of Local 802 and the Zethus Fund for Contemporary Music. Contributions by many generous individuals are gratefully acknowledged.

For further information about North/South Consonance activities, including upcoming concerts and recordings, please visit www.northsouthmusic.org.