Music From Copland House Residency Comes to Emelin Theatre

The Emelin Theatre and Copland House announce an exhilarating collaboration showcasing more than one-hundred years of American musical creativity and innovation. This spring, the internationally-acclaimed Music from Copland House ensemble comes to the Emelin stage, and to audiences in Westchester and surrounding areas for a vibrant three-concert residency.

The series is moving to the Emelin after having been a popular fixture in northern Westchester for over 10 years, mostly at Westchester County's Merestead estate. As the Bedford Record-Review raved, "if you've ever thought of a classical music concert as something boring, stuffy, or simply to be endured ... Copland House at Merestead will have even the most concert-averse thinking again." Music from Copland House's concerts were also recognized by Westchester Magazine as "Best of Westchester" and "Best of the Decade," and included in its feature highlighting "52 Things to Love about Westchester."

"The Copland House residency at the Emelin marks a tremendous opportunity to partner with an internationally recognized organization, whose artistry further diversifies our already rich and varied program of world-class music," explained the Theatre's Executive Director Elliot Fox. "Over the past 50 years, the Emelin has partnered with great Westchester-based artists such as Music from Copland House to better serve and attract both existing and new audiences throughout the community. We are honored to present this three-part concert series of important American music in 2022, and look forward to building our relationship with Copland House for the future."

Fresh from the ensemble's triumphant debut at the Kennedy Center debut, hailed as "historic" (Broadway World), Music from Copland House's electrifying programs at the Emelin will embrace American works from Gilded Age Romanticism and the Harlem Renaissance through 20th-century classics and contemporary masters. Each event takes place on Sunday afternoon at 4pm, lasts for one-hour without intermission, and includes lively, post-concert OFFBEAT / ONSTAGE talks with the artists.

"While Music from Copland House has performed widely at the nation's leading concert venues," said Copland House's Artistic and Executive Director Michael Boriskin, "Westchester is our home - as it was for Aaron Copland - and we are excited to turn the Emelin's spotlight onto America's concert music and its world of thrilling discoveries. And we're especially glad to be resuming our live performances, after two years of the pandemic shutdown, as we join the list of illustrious artists who have performed on the Emelin's welcoming stage."

The series opens on April 3, 2022 with - fittingly - Sounds of Westchester, a salute to generations of composers who made the county home to one of the richest musical legacies in America. The program presents works by Westchester natives or transplants, including three Pulitzer Prize winners, renowned past and present masters, and a genuine maverick. Featured composers are Aaron Copland (Cortlandt Manor), Joan Tower (New Rochelle), Samuel Barber, (Mount Kisco), Pierre Jalbert (Bronxville), Charles Tomlinson Griffes (Tarrytown, where he was a young teacher at the then-new Hackley School in the early 1900s!), and Percy Grainger (White Plains, from where he used to walk to his concerts in Brooklyn!). MCH Artists: Carol Wincenc, flute; Benjamin Fingland, clarinet; Curtis Macomber and Suliman Tekalli, violins; Melissa Reardon, viola; Alexis Pia Gerlach; Michael Boriskin, piano

On May 1, Lives Entwined features three important works that explore personal connections to inner selves, outer worlds, and the relationships between them. Highlighting the program is the World Premiere of Emmy Award-winner John Musto's Piano Quintet, a new chamber-ensemble adaptation of his recent orchestral Sinfonietta, celebrating life and commemorating loss. Leonard Bernstein's Piano Trio, one of the earliest works by the charismatic composer, written as a teenager in the 1930s, reflects the creative evolution, tensions, and emergence of an extravagantly-gifted young artist. Gabriela Lena Frank's Four Folk Songs for Piano Trio is centered, like most of her music, around identity, roots, and her engagement with the cultures and traditions of her Peruvian-Chinese-Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry. MCH Artists: Siwoo Kim and Suliman Tekalli, violins; Kathryn Lockwood, viola; Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello; Michael Boriskin, piano.

The series finale on June 19 is a Juneteenth celebration of this important day in American history. Borrowing its title from a Maya Angelou lyric - "I've got a magic charm / That I keep up my sleeve" - for composer Richard Danielpour from a song called "Life Doesn't Frighten Me," the concert points to the power and resilience of the human spirit. The wide-ranging program reaches back to the late-19th-century pioneer of Black spirituals, Harry Burleigh; visits the exuberant musical, literary, and artistic worlds of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s; and salutes 20th- and 21st-century masters William Grant Still, Tania Leon, and Shawn Okpebholo. MCH Artists: Jorell Williams, baritone; Suliman Tekalli, violin; Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello; Michael Boriskin, piano

All concerts feature Music from Copland House, lauded by The New Yorker as "bold, adventurous, and "superb." The only American repertory ensemble journeying widely across a century-and-a-half of the U.S. musical landscape, MCH appears on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, and the European Broadcasting Union; performs at Tanglewood, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, and other major venues; and records on the Koch, Arabesque, and COPLAND HOUSE BLEND labels. Its roster of Founding, Principal, and Guest Artists includes some of America's most celebrated performers, of whom The Chicago Tribune has raved, "Copland would have been proud of them all."

COVID PROTOCOLS: The Emelin Theatre and Copland House are both committed to the safety and well-being of our communities in this continuously-evolving COVID-19 environment. Prior to admission, all patrons must present proof of full vaccination (i.e., two courses of Moderna or Pfizer, or one course of Johnson & Johnson) completed at least 14 days prior to the performance date, as well as a photo ID. (A hard copy or photograph of attendee's vaccination card, Excelsior Pass, or COVID Alert CT is acceptable forms of proof.) All audiences must wear masks, covering their nose and mouth, while -inside the theatre and throughout the performance. Patrons should read Emelin's current COVID-19 Policy online at emelin.org/covid-protocols/, prior to buying.

Tickets are $45/Orchestra and $35/Mezzanine. Subscription packages when purchasing tickets for ALL three Copland House events are available at a 25% discount. Additional information and tickets are available at emelin.org or the Emelin Theatre at (914) 698-0098.

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