ensembleGREEN Features Redfeld's 'A Hopeful Peace', 10/2

Los Angeles-based new music group ensembleGREEN will begin its new season with the debut of A Hopeful Place on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 8 p.m at the Pasadena Library Community Room.  The song cycle, by composer Dan Redfeld and librettist John Koladziej, will feature local talent Kristi Holden, who is currently starring as 'Christine Daaé' in Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular, and an eighteen-piece orchestra.

 ensembleGREEN is dedicated to the performance of the music of today, intertwining the musical world of seminal 20th Century composers with innovative works of living West Coast composers.  Executive Director Paul Sherman notes: "This event marks ensembleGREEN's thirteenth season and their third collaboration with Dan Redfeld.  We are excited to be joined by the inimitable Kristi Holden."
 
"When I proposed the idea of a song cycle for Ms. Kristi Holden to Paul, he was enthusiastic about the idea," adds composer Dan Redfeld. "We instantly contacted Kristi and I also contacted lyricist John Koladziej, with whom I had collaborated on a musical adaptation of Little Women a few years ago."
 
The composer, who will also conduct the performance, recalls: "The prospect of writing pure music, not driven by a plot and theatrical devices, is definitely an area I have been wanting to explore for some time.  I knew that the music would move from a contemporary classical sound, to Broadway, to jazz, and so on, embracing a wide variety of styles similar to the makeup of our country.  We threw around ideas, eventually settling on a nine-movement structure detailing the life of woman from birth to death.  The piece explores the affect she has on the world as well as her experiences with love, joy, slightly sinful feelings, etc. At the central core of the piece is the notion that, even though we ultimately will die, we leave a mark on the world by passing on our love through children/family and the people we come into contact with."
 
"Yes, the evening definitely draws on subject matter that pertains to and will resonate with all of us," shares A Hopeful Place lyricist John Koladziej.  "As Kristi takes us on this woman's journey, she will most definitely compel us to revisit our own experiences and explore our own relationships to love, age, mortality, purpose, our loved ones, and ourselves."
 
ensembleGREEN members are all active in the Los Angeles musical community.  The ensemble offers them the chance to break out of their conventional molds and champion the music of the community; creating the music of tomorrow by listening, openly, intently, and actively, to the music of today. 
The performance of A Hopeful Place will take place at the Pasadena Library Community Room, located at1115 El Centro Street, South Pasadena, CA 91030, at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 2, 2010. Advance tickets for the gala performance are $40 (suggested donation) and are available through ensembleGREEN.  Reservations can be made at (323) 708-4290 or visit www.ensemblegreen.com.
 

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