ECCE Ensemble closes its 2014-15 concert season with an event featuring works by a fascinating mix of renowned composers, including pieces from its latest CD, "Chamber Industrial" the first all-Per Bloland works recording. Also on the program are compositions by John Zorn, Erin Gee, the late Jonathan Harvey and ECCE's own John Aylward. Kicking of the evening is the premiere of two works to be announced from the ensemble's Call for Scores program.
Per Bloland's signature sound ("ear-opening electronic innovations" -The New York Times) can be heard in A Drift of Swine; The Aristos contextualizes John Zorn's eclectic improvisational techniques within the classical tradition of the piano trio ("...his pieces are a vision of what happens when postmodern practices become something much more meaningful." -The Guardian); and Erin Gee's ("Often an impression of ephemeral, fragile poetry is formed from the gossamer quality of the work, which continually aspires to plumb the possibilities of the human voice..." -Simme ohne Worte) Mouthpiece: Segment of the 3rd Letter creates a sense of disembodied voice using experimental vocal techniques. Chu, a meditative work by the late
Jonathan Harvey, is led by a clear vocal line but with strong counterpoints from the cello and piano. Closing the program is
John Aylward's ( "a composer of challenging yet compelling instrumental, vocal, and electronic works"-New Music Box) Ghosts, a theatrical treatment of the voice with text by
W.B. Yeats, a mysterious description of the spirit after death. The work is a study for Aylward's upcoming opera, which will feature soprano Amanda Bartlett. April 24, 2015 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music 7:00 PM Reception and premiere performance of two Call for Scores works
7:30 PM Meet the Artists
8:00 PM Concert - ECCE
BLOLAND A Drift of Swine (from the new CD "Chamber Industrial") for flute, clarinet, contrabass and piano
ZORN The aristos, piano trio
GEE Mouthpiece: Segment of the 3rd Letter for bass flute, cello, contrabass, percussion and voice
HARVEY Chu
AYLWARD Ghosts
PER BLOLAND is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music whose compositions range from short intimate solo pieces to works for large orchestra, incorporate video, dance, and custom built electronics, and often draw on a variety of other art forms. He is particularly interested in the intersections between literature and music, especially regarding issues of modernity as related to both disciplines. Bloland has received numerous commissions from various artists, ensembles and organizations. His awards and recognition from national and international organizations, include IRCAM, ICMA, SEAMUS/ASCAP, Digital Art Awards of Tokyo, the Martirano Competition, ISCM, and the Accademia Musicale Pescarese to name a few. Bloland is the co-creator of the Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano, about which he has given numerous lecture/demonstrations and published a paper. He received his D.M.A. in composition from Stanford University and his M.M. from the University of Texas at Austin.
JOHN ZORN is one of America's most innovative and industrious musicians. Beginning as a jazz musician, Zorn has crossed over into the world of contemporary classical by composing fascinatingly eclectic works that fuse and bend genres. His work spans now into 5 decades and includes seminal work with his group Naked City, a catalog of numerous composed pieces for orchestral instruments, live and recorded improvisation and Pulitzer-prize nominated works.
ERIN GEE received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano and composition, respectively, from the University of Iowa, where she studied with Réne Lecuona, Lawrence Fritts, and Jeremy Dale Roberts. In Austria and Germany, she studied composition with Beat Furrer, Mathias Spahlinger, Chaya Czernowin,
Richard Barrett and Steve Takasugi. She completed her Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Music and Dramatic Arts Graz in 2007. She is also the creator of the ipad app game Blek.
JONATHAN HARVEY, the late British composer, earned doctorates from the universities of Glasgow and Cambridge and (on the advice of
Benjamin Britten,) and studied privately with Erwin Stein and Hans Keller. He was a Harkness Fellow at Princeton (1969-70). An invitation from Boulez to work at IRCAM in the early 1980s resulted in eight realisations at the Institute, and two for the Ensemble Intercontem-porain, including the celebrated tape piece Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco, Bhakti for ensemble and electronics, and String Quartet No.4, with live electronics. Harvey also composed for most other genres: orchestra (Tranquil Abiding, White as Jasmine andMadonna of Winter and Spring - the latter performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle in 2006), chamber, as well as works for solo instruments. He wrote many widely-performed unaccompanied works for choir - as well as the large-scale cantata for the BBC Proms Millennium, Mothers shall --not Cry (2000).
JOHN AYLWARD, Executive Director of ECCE, is influenced by a range of philosophical and poetic authors from Sartre and Jung to Calvino, Melville and contemporary poets Louise Gluck, Robert Lowell and Dean Young. His work, which is frequently performed within the U.S. and abroad by leading ensembles and soloist, explores the landscape of the human psyche. Aylward is the recipient of numerous fellowships and hono
ECCE is a group of our generation's most accomplished performers who are committed to presenting captivating and visionary performances of contemporary music. Through concerts, symposia, and other community-centered events, ECCE shares new forms of engagement in modern music with a diverse international audience.
ECCE has realized personal and refined interpretations of works by composers such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Philippe Hurel, Lee Hyla, Helmut Lachenmann, Fabien Levy, Hanspeter Kyburz, Louis Karchin and many others. Every year, the ensemble deepens its relationships with prominent composers and brings their work to new audiences.
ECCE's annual residency is the Etchings Festival in Auvillar, France. There, the ensemble shares diverse contemporary repertoire, as well as new works by emerging international composers, with European audiences.
www.ecceensemble.com.
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