Stephen Montague to be Honored at Ohio State's 2013 Contemporary Music Festival

The Ohio State University School of Music will honor alumnus and internationally known composer Stephen Montague during the 2013 Contemporary Music Festival. Two different concerts will be presented on campus on Wednesday, November 13, and Thursday, November 14, in Weigel Hall Auditorium. A world premiere of a composition by Montague will be included in Columbus Symphony Orchestra concerts the following two evenings, November 15 and 16.

Ohio State concert details:
Wednesday, November 13, 8 pm, School of Music Compositions, Weigel Hall Auditorium, 1866 College Rd. This concert features School of Music faculty, student, and alumni composers, with faculty, student and guest artist musicians performing.

Thursday, November 14, 8 pm, The Music of Stephen Montague, Weigel Hall Auditorium, 1866 College Rd. The concert celebrates the music of Stephen Montague, and includes:

Intrada 1631 (2003) for symphonic brass choir, 4 drummers, strings, and triangles. The Wind Symphony performs.
String Quartet No. 1: In memoriam Barry Anderson & Tomasz Sikorski (1989-93) for string quartet, live-electronics, and tape. The High Street Five will perform.
Dark Sun - August 1945 (1995) for large orchestra and chorus. Performed by the Symphony Orchestra, Chorale and Symphonic Choirs. Stephen Montague is guest conductor.

Ticket prices for November 13 and 14 concerts are $20 general admission; $10 senior citizens, Alumni Association members, non-OSU students and children; and free for to all Concert Card holders and for Ohio State students, faculty and staff (1 ticket per BuckID presented in person; subject to availability). For advance tickets, call the box office at (614) 292-2295; for details visitmusic.osu.edu.

The festival continues with a Montague world premiere of Invictus, performed by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra on Friday, November 15 and Saturday, November 16, at the Ohio Theatre.Invictus was commissioned by The Ohio State University and the Johnstone Fund for New Music at the Columbus Foundation. For tickets to the CSO concerts, go tocolumbussymphony.com or call (614) 228-8600.

Ohio State's Contemporary Music Festival was founded in 2000 and directed for many years by Donald Harris, composer and professor emeritus, and welcomed guest composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki, John Corigliano, Gunther Schuller, and Jennifer Higdon. Following Harris's retirement in 2010, Russel Mikkelson, professor, has served as director of the annual celebration of contemporary music.

Stephen Montague was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1943, and earned his bachelor and masters' degrees in music from Florida State University, and his doctoral music degree from Ohio State. He has lived in Europe since 1972, first as a Fulbright Scholar in Warsaw, Poland, and since 1974 in London as a freelance composer and professor of composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. His works have been performed worldwide by leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington DC), the Royal Ballet, and more.

His 70th birthday was celebrated last March with three London concerts devoted to his music, including a lunchtime "Happening" with 67 performers scattered throughout St. Johns, Smith Square, followed by an orchestral evening with two orchestras and chorus. The following week his Requiem: The Trumpets Sounded Calling Them to the Other Side, a 40-minute orchestral/choral work, with four fog horns, was performed.

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