AMPHIBIAN concert series presents Cygnus Ensemble performing Venerable Canons, works by Matthew Greenbaum, David Rakowski, Milton Babbitt, Shoko Suzuki, David Claman and Chester Biscardi on Tuesday, April 3rd at 8pm. Mezzo-soprano Re'ut Ben Ze'ev will be a special guest. The performance will be at the Hi Art! Gallery.
AMPHIBIAN is a performance series that combines new chamber music with video art. Its second season features Momenta Quartet, Cygnus Ensemble, and Temple University’s ‘Cybersounds,’ which offers electro-acoustic and visual music under the direction of Maurice Wright. In addition to these events, Mari Kimura will present an evening of her own interactive works for violin, electronics and video, plus an electro-acoustic classic: Mario Davidovsky’s lyrical 9th Synchronism for violin and pre-recorded electronic sound.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
8pm
Hi Art! Gallery
227 West 29th Street
Studio 4R
New York, New York
Tickets: $15; $10 for students
About the Program
Venerable Canons, for flute & violin
by Matthew Greenbaum
Cygnus Ensemble
Critically acclaimed Cygnus was founded in 1985 by guitarist and composer William Anderson. The group's core instrumental formation consists of winds and strings in pairs, as well as a pair of plucked string players who, together, cover classical and electric guitars, theorbo (a giant Baroque lute), mandolin, and tenor banjo. The instrumentation has roots in the Elizabethan "broken consort" (combining instruments from different families), but Cygnus moves freely from the Baroque sound world into newgrass, electronica, and world music.Cygnus celebrates its commitment to a great number of diverse American composers, and has had numerous key modernist and postmodernist works composed especially for them including Milton Babbitt's Swan Song No. 1, David Lang's Warmth and Sebastian Currier's Broken Consort. The ensemble has produced many CDs, and has given concerts in the US, Europe and Latin America. The ensemble’s recording of American composer Harold Meltzer’s “Brion” (Naxos 8.559660) received accolades as one of the best recordings of 2010. Cygnus is currently in residence at Sarah Lawrence College and the City University of New York's Graduate Center. In February/March, 2012 Cygnus was in residence at the Library of Congress to inaugurate the Dina Koston and Roger Shapiro Music Fund concerts there. For more information, go to www.cygnusensemble.com
CYGNUS ENSEMBLE:
Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Robert Ingliss, oboe
Calvin Wiersma, violin
Susannah Chapman, 'cello
Oren Fader, guitar
William Anderson, guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo
Videos