Miller Theatre Announces The 2015-16 Season, Featuring RUN TIME ERROR, COMPOSER PORTRAITS, and More

Miller Theatre constantly seeks ways to enrich the concertgoing experience. This new season sees developments on two fronts: concert-as-theater, and artist residencies.

In several of the programs, visual elements are an active part of the creation, employing designers and theater directors. The way Simon Steen-Anderson's Run Time Error (the season opener) looks is as important as the way it sounds. He is director, designer, composer and performance artist (along with the JACK Quartet) in this all-encompassing experience, using prepared bows, whammy pedals, joysticks, and live manipulated video. Every part of Miller Theatre's building itself becomes an instrument to be "played," from ladders, walls and pipes to found objects of all kinds.

Michael Gordon's Composer Portrait will feature the world premiere of the experiential and theatrical work Material. Directed by downtown designer Jim Findlay, it literally puts audiences in places they've never been before. Space and movement are crucial to the piece, and seating will be limited and on the stage only. The superb British early music group Orlando Consort will present a very special event centered around Carl Theodor Dreyer's silent film masterpiece "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc," featuring a live soundscape of music from the 15th-century, music Joan herself could have heard.

Miller is also very excited to present its first family program, Saint-Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals, directed and designed by artist Lake Simons, and inspired by Victorian toy theater. Miller hopes this will be the start of a new annual tradition, much as the spectacular Morningside Lights parade has engaged the community every fall for the past three years.

This season, a number of artists will be at Miller Theatre as part of residencies, giving them a chance to connect with Miller and the Columbia campus on an even deeper level. Simon Steen-Anderson will have two solid weeks in which to set up the building to become his own personal musical instrument. A weeklong residency exploring Romanian Spectralism-a little-known but fascinating movement-will feature composer Iancu Dumitrescu and Either/Or, and will encompass three concerts: two Pop-Up Concerts on the Miller stage and a Composer Portrait of Dumitrescu. Finally, cellist Matt Haimovitz will be in residence for four days, performing the complete Bach cello Suites alongside new works he commissioned, in pop-up style all over the campus.

In the words of Executive Director Melissa Smey:

"The 2015-2016 season at Miller Theatre brings together an amazing lineup of performances, celebrating music from Romania to Renaissance England to Brazil. We'll welcome back many of our favorite artists, including John Luther Adams, Michael Gordon, Le Poème Harmonique, and Stefon Harris, as well as highlight some of America's brightest emerging composers. We'll explore old music in new contexts, from cellist Matt Haimovitz's spontaneous performances of Bach across the Columbia University campus to a special project with the Orlando Consort: Carl Theodor Dreyer's iconic silent film, La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, accompanied by live music from Joan's own era. Plus, we're expanding our lineup of community events with a theatrical performance of Saint-Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals inspired by Victorian toy theatre. It promises to be an exceptional season."

The 2015-16 Season

OPENING NIGHT

Thursday, September 17, 2015, 8 p.m.

Run Time Error

featuring JACK Quartet and Simon Steen-Andersen

Simon Steen-Andersen's innovative compositions blur the line between contemporary music and performance art. In his video work Run Time Error, he blazes a musical trail through the theater's backstage spaces, making the building itself sing by playing the furniture, walls, plumbing-whatever crosses his path. (He'll create a new version during his residency at Miller, and remix it live in performance.)

The JACK Quartet are his able partners for this Opening Night show, conceived as a nonstop theatrical experience. The performance employs whammy pedals, outlandishly modified bows, and video projections, subverting the concert experience and creating a musical performance that is as much about sight as it is about sound.

Featuring Steen-Andersen's String Quartet No. 2 (2012); Obstruction Studies Nos. 1-3(2012); Run Time Error (2009 - present); and Studies for String Instrument Nos. 1-3(2007 - 11)

SPECIAL FALL EVENTS

Original murals in Miller Theatre's lobby by Vargas-Suarez Universal, 2013 (Left) and Maya Hayuk, 2014 (Right)

Opening September 2015

Scherezade Garcia
Site-Specific Work in Miller Theatre Lobby

In collaboration with the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery
Deborah Cullen, director and chief curator

Scherezade Garcia creates contemporary allegories of history, politics, and colonization, which take shape in vivid colors and energetic, dream-like combinations. Born in the Dominican Republic, Scherezade's work takes a wide breadth of forms-from drawings and paintings to art installations using life jackets, inner tubes, and mattresses. "The form of things, the harmony, the composition and the beauty of things are very important to me," she says. "But the systems behind it, the meaning, the complexity of my voice has to be there." Scherezade's site-specific work in the Miller Lobby will be the third mural created for the space, produced in collaboration with the Wallach Art Gallery on campus.

September 19 - 26, 2015

4th Annual Morningside Lights: New York Nocturne

Concept and Direction by Processional Arts Workshop
Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles, artistic directors

A neighborhood favorite, Morningside Lights returns on September 19. Miller Theatre will throw open the doors for a week of free lantern-building workshops, culminating in a magical illuminated parade through Morningside Park on September 26. This year, visiting artists Alex and Sophia invite participants to create a fantastical evocation of the city after dark. Flourescent food trucks, Art Deco building spires, decked-out club-goers: they're all fair game for inclusion in this year's procession, created by and for the community.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 8 p.m.
Friday, October 9, 2015, 8 p.m.
Saturday, October 10, 2015, 8 p.m.

William Schuman Award
Honoring John Luther Adams

featuring JACK Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble
and Steven Schick, conductor

American composer John Luther Adams has always forged his own path. From his small cabin in Alaska, he has written works of great beauty and depth, ultimately earning him the Pulitzer Prize. His music invokes the natural world: the power of the seas, the vastness of the tundra, the slow-moving sculpture of clouds. Listeners can dive deep into Adams' music with this trilogy of unforgettable large-scale memorial works-none of them previously played in New York-composed in honor of those who influenced him most: his mother, father, and friend and mentor Lou Harrison.

Thursday, October 22, 2015, 8 p.m.
Saturday, October 24, 2015, 8 p.m.

Matt Haimovitz Plays Bach

Bringing Bach to unexpected places is nothing new for Matt Haimovitz. In Manhattan alone, his performances have taken him from the High Line to Carnegie Hall to CBGB. Now, through a special partnership with Miller Theatre, he will animate the Columbia campus with spontaneous performances combining the music of Bach with new overtures by living composers. His unique multi-day residency will culminate in two evening concerts onstage at Miller featuring the complete Bach cello suites alongside the overtures he has commissioned to accompany them. Audiences can discover how composers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions connect with these timeless works, from jazz luminary Vijay Iyer to minimalist legend Philip Glass, Arab-American composer Mohammed Fairouz to Shanghai-born performance artist Du Yun.

Saturday, December 19, 2015, 3 p.m. & 7 p.m.

The Carnival of the Animals

Music by Camille Saint-Saëns; Poetry by Ogden Nash
Lake Simons, designer & director; Laura Barger, music director

Miller inaugurates a new holiday tradition, a playful production that brings to life Saint-Saëns' musical "salute to feathers, fur, and fins"-The Carnival of the Animals. A modern twist on Victorian toy theater, this imaginative staging combines music, scenic elements, puppetry, and movement, plus the clever verses of Ogden Nash. Just about an hour in length, this family-friendly presentation is the perfect holiday treat to delight imaginative audiences of all ages.

COMPOSER PORTRAITS

www.millertheatre.com/event-series/composer-portraits

A cornerstone of Miller's programming, these "endlessly important" (The New York Times) and "indispensable" (The New Yorker) evening-length musical profiles explore the work of a single composer in depth, offering contemporary artists a space to explore, experiment, and make significant contributions to the field. This season, all seven composers will participate in onstage discussions as part of their Portrait concert, offering the audience unique insight into their inspiration behind the notes. James R. Oestreich writes in The New York Times: "This invaluable series is the centerpiece of the Miller Theater's programming, established by George Steel and carried through admirably by his successor as director of the theater, Melissa Smey, with, bless her, a greater concentration on women."

Thursday, February 4, 2016, 8 p.m.

Ashley Fure (b. 1982)

Young American composer Ashley Fure is attracting international attention-and for good reason. Growing up in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula, Fure starting writing early. "I was composing out of a renegade spirit," she says, "wildly, and without rules." Since then, she's studied with Helmut Lachenmann, Chaya Czernowin, Brian Ferneyhough, and others, but she's retained her independent voice and energetic style. The winner of the coveted top prize at the 2014 Darmstadt festival, Fure is working on a multimedia opera, excerpts of which will have their first hearing in this Portrait. David Fulmer conducts ICE.

New work (2016) - world premiere
Albatross (2014)
Something to Hunt (2014)
Soma (2012); Wire and Wool (2009)

Thursday, February 25, 2016, 8 p.m.

Alex Mincek (b. 1975)

Heralded as the "new garde of the New York avant-garde" by The New York Times, Alex Mincek draws on diverse textures, sources, and traditions; listeners might encounter echoes of anything from Morton Feldman to Stravinsky to jazz. With two world premieres-including a Miller Theatre commissioned octet for the piano and percussion quartetYarn/Wire and the Mivos Quartet-this Portrait presents the freshest sounds from New York's cutting-edge musicians.

New work for octet (2016)
- world premiere, Miller Theatre commission;
New work for piano and percussion quartet (2016) - world premiere
Pendulum VI: Trigger (2010)
String Quartet No. 3 "lift - tilt - filter - split" (2010)

Saturday, March 5, 2016, 8 p.m.

Iancu Dumitrescu (b. 1944)

Iancu Dumitrescu stands at the forefront of one of the 20th century's most invisible avant-gardes: the spectral composers of Romania. Operating on the margins of a regime committed to Socialist Realism, his microscopic explorations of acoustics draw on both Western techniques and local traditions: the folk music research of Béla Bartók, Eastern Orthodox chant, and Byzantine mysticism. The resulting compositions break apart sonic conventions. They reflect, in Dumitrescu's words, "the attempt to release or unveil the god that is living in every piece of base matter."

This Portrait is the culmination of a week-long residency at Miller Theatre exploring the little-known but extremely fascinating world of Romanian Spectralism. The residency includes two Pop-Up Concerts (March 1 and 3).

Hyperspectres (2012) - U.S. premiere
Etude Granulaire (2012) - New York premiere
Meteors and Pulsars II (2011) - New York premiere
Spectrum (2008)
Cogito/Trompe l'oeil (1987) - U.S. premiere

Thursday, March 24, 2016, 8 p.m.

Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952)

Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen's magnum opus Schnee, or "Snow," is a wealth of delicate sounds, pristine yet colorful. This remarkable work has achieved cult-like status in the new music world. "Snow can transform a familiar landscape in a couple of minutes and it dampens all the usual noises," says Abrahamsen. "It allows us to imagine something different." Schnee brings out the many shades and moods that Abrahamsen sees behind winter's whiteness, while its ever-shifting rhythms, tempos, and tunings demands nothing less than brilliance from the members of Ensemble Signal.

Schnee (2008)

Thursday, April 7, 2016, 8 p.m.

Hannah Lash (b. 1981)

The emotional intensity of Romanticism marries disciplined technique in the music of Hannah Lash. "There is a high seriousness to Hannah," says Martin Bresnick, her mentor at the Yale School of Music. "It's almost Puritan-it's a single and direct expression of one's soul. It's a very American type, and she burns with it." An accomplished harpist, Lash will play her own work alongside the JACK Quartet. The night also includes two world premieres, one of them a new piece for a surprising chamber group: trumpet, trombone, bass clarinet, and baritone voice.

New work for loadbang (2016) - world premiere, Miller Theatre commission
Piano Etudes (2015) - world premiere
Filigree in Textile (2011)

Thursday, April 21, 2016, 8 p.m.

Francesca Verunelli (b. 1979)

"In a nutshell," ICE founder Claire Chase writes, "we believe Francesca Verunelli to be one of the most important voices to emerge from the IRCAM scene in decades." An electroacoustic composer based in Paris, Verunelli is quietly becoming an artist to watch, with commissions from many of Europe's top ensembles. In this Portrait, Miller Theatre will introduce her music to the United States, featuring the fruits of her close collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble. A highlight of the program is a new piece for flute and electronics, composed especially for Chase.

New work (2015) - world premiere
Déshabillage impossible (2015) - U.S. premiere
Cinemaolio (2014) - U.S. premiere

Wednesday, May 11, 2016, 7 p.m. & 9 p.m.
Thursday, May 12, 2016, 7 p.m. & 9 p.m.

Michael Gordon (b. 1956)

Michael Gordon joins forces with downtown designer Jim Findlay to create an immersive environment for this uniquely intimate, multisensory Portrait. Though Gordon has ample experience working with multimedia collaborators, he's never attempted something quite like this: a new piece that treats space and movement as an essential element of the composition, as vital as sound and time. The audience joins the performers onstage for an unforgettable 90-minute show by the intrepid members of Yarn/Wire. Please note: capacity is extremely limited.

Material (2015-16) - world premiere

Major support for Composer Portraits is provided by
the National Endowment for the Arts and the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts

EARLY MUSIC

www.millertheatre.com/event-series/early-music

Miller Theatre's "essential" (The New Yorker) Early Musicseries has been lauded as a leader in the scene. This year Miller welcomes back four established masters of period performance-The Tallis Scholars, Orlando Consort, Le Poème Harmonique, New York Polyphony-and is thrilled to present Vox Luminis from Belgium in their Miller debut. The result is an eclectic and fascinating tour of the musical riches of the pre-Classical era.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 8 p.m.
Friday, October 16, 2015, 8 p.m.
Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street)

The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Orlando Consort

The trial of Joan of Arc was immortalized in Carl Theodor Dreyer's cinematic masterpieceLa Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, widely considered one of the greatest films of all time. Maria Falconetti gives a mesmerizing performance as the Maid of Orleans, captured in expressive close-ups that invite the audience into the whirling passion of her final defense.

In this performance, the Orlando Consort breathes new life into this classic silent film with an original medieval score, a creative compilation of pieces composed during Joan's 15th-century lifetime. Cascading polyphony captures her suffering and transcendence, and the unaccompanied voices of the Orlando Consort fittingly evoke the voices of the saints who first called Joan to her cause.

Saturday, November 14, 2015, 8 p.m.
Church of St. Mary the Virgin (145 West 46th Street)

Songs of Hope

New York Polyphony

New York's hometown heroes of early music have garnered international acclaim as "singers of superb musicianship and vocal allure" (The New Yorker). In this program, the twice Grammy-nominated male quartet performs an array of elegiac sacred works from across the centuries. From Renaissance Spain and Revolutionary Russia to modern day Norway, these works of longing and despair are transformed into soaring, sonorous illustrations of light in darkness through New York Polyphony's impassioned singing

Saturday, December 5, 2015, 8 p.m.
Church of St. Mary the Virgin (145 West 46th Street)

Christmas Across Centuries

The Tallis Scholars

The peerless Tallis Scholars return to the picturesque sanctuary of St. Mary's with a celebration of Christmas. The holiday mass Puer natus est nobis captures Renaissance master Thomas Tallis at his most splendid and complex, perfectly paired with celebratory works by his contemporary John Sheppard. The program also includes a pair of works by Arvo Pärt, whose crystal clear counterpoint is a perfect fit for The Tallis Scholars. Pärt's love of polyphony, and his respect for his 16th-century forebears, shines in these graceful works.

Saturday, February 13, 2016, 8 p.m.
Church of St. Mary the Virgin (145 West 46th Street)

The Bach Dynasty

Vox Luminis

The Belgian vocal ensemble Vox Luminis-acclaimed for their "profound, rewarding, and intoxicating" (Gramophone) performances-make their series debut with motets from one of music's most illustrious families. Over the generations, the Bach family set the standard for German Lutheran church music: rich, warm, and powerful, the work fits its transcendent subject matter. Culminating in J.S. Bach's dramatic Jesu meine Freude, this program lets the splendid works of Johann's predecessors (and cousins) ring out.

Sunday, April 3, 2016, 3 p.m.
American Academy of Arts & Letters (632 West 156th Street)

Airs de Cour

Le Poème Harmonique

A celebrated fixture of Miller's early music series, the beguiling French ensemble Le Poème Harmonique first came to international attention over a decade ago with their performances of Airs de Cour, lauded as "more than a beautiful anthology, a journey into history" (Le Monde). These songs of passion and unrequited love captured the delicate beauty idealized by the French aristocracy and are a perfect fit for the ensemble's impassioned performance style-and for the acoustically lush Academy of Arts & Letters, where this performance is presented.

JAZZ

www.millertheatre.com/event-series/jazz

Four dynamic bandleaders make this season at Miller an exhilarating world tour of jazz. Drawing inspiration from Rio and Puerto Rico, Southern India and Harlem, these artists breathe new life into a uniquely American art form. Together, they show us the endless possibilities and infectious energy of jazz.

Saturday, November 7, 2015, 8 p.m

Anat Cohen Quartet: Celebrando Brasil

Anat Cohen, clarinet & saxophones; Jason Lindner, piano
Omer Avital, bass; Daniel Freedman, drums

Dynamic bandleader Anat Cohen's clarinet sings out with the many musical voices of Brazil. Voted Clarinetist of the Year for the past eight years by the Jazz Journalists Association, Cohen's lyricism and versatility have helped to re-introduce the clarinet as a powerful jazz instrument. "When I play the clarinet I am 100 percent myself. It is as if it is part of my body," she said. "Let me just read a melody and make it as sweet as I can."

Saturday, December 12, 2015, 8 p.m.

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Bird Calls

Rudresh Mahanthappa, saxophone; Adam O'Farrill, trumpet;
Matt Mitchell, piano; François Moutin, bass; Rudy Royston, drums

Rudresh Mahanthappa has made a name for himself with his intoxicating blend of jazz and Southern Indian music and the "bladelike articulation" (The New York Times) of his sax. This performance weaves in a new component: the elegant and electrifying influences of Charlie Parker. In keeping with the free spirit of jazz, Mahanthappa lets Bird's style inspire him to new compositions, and the result is music that swings, trills, and trembles in turns.

Saturday, January 30, 2016, 8 p.m.

Stefon Harris & Sonic Creed

Stefon Harris, vibraphone & marimba; Elena Pinderhughes, flute & vocals;
Mike Moreno, guitar; James Francies, piano;
Joshua Crumbly, bass; Jonathan Pinson, drums

Armed with marimbas, vibes, and an electrifying stage presence, Stefon Harris offers "a high-gloss, dizzyingly virtuosic blend of postbop and funk- and R&B-informed groove" (Time Out New York). His new group, Sonic Creed, is packed with talent, including the rising-star Elena Pinderhughes, who was praised as a musician who "throws her flute, body and soul into Latin jazz" by The New York Times-at age ten. Since then, she's flourished, bringing her bold sound on vocals and flute to a wide range of jazz styles.

Saturday, February 20, 2016, 8 p.m.

Miguel Zenón Quartet

Miguel Zenón, saxophone; Luis Perdomo, piano;
Hans Glawischnig, bass; Henry Cole, drums

Pairing his love for the folk music of his native Puerto Rico with a strong, innovative style, saxophonist Miguel Zenón was awarded a MacArthur "genius" grant for "at once reestablishing the artistic, cultural, and social tradition of jazz while creating an entirely new jazz language for the 21st century." Zenón is an artist who thinks and listens. The voice of his sax-soaring over the band's rhythmic pulses-tells a musical story that resonates with all jazz-lovers.

POP-UP CONCERTS

Onstage at Miller Theatre
Select Tuesdays throughout the season
Mingling at 5:30 p.m., music at 6 p.m.
Performers TBA

Giving new meaning to the phrase "close to the music," Miller's free and fun series, Pop-Up Concerts, returns for a fourth season. The audience sits right on stage for these hour-long early-evening performances by today's best musicians and ensembles. These spontaneous concerts allow artists to explore new ideas in a comfortable yet unique setting. Onstage seating is first-come, first-served.

Photo Courtesy of the Miller Theatre

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