ensembleNEWSRQ Continues Eighth Season With LIGETI'S 100TH

 ensembleNEWSRQ (enSRQ), the innovative chamber music ensemble, continues its eighth season with “Ligeti's 100th,” a program celebrating the birth centennial of the incomparable Hungarian-Austrian composer György Ligeti. For this concert, enSRQ welcomes back the celebrated pianist Han Chen to perform Ligeti’s “Études” and iconic “Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano.” The concert will also showcase selections from the “Infinite Staircase” project, an initiative featuring the world premiere of 18 new works for solo piano, co-commissioned by Metropolis Ensemble and pianist Han Chen, each paired with one of György Ligeti's 18 canonic piano études. Also featured are mixed instrumentation pieces inspired by Ligeti’s continuing legacy, including “Wax and Wire” from Viet Cuong, “Solo Cello Sonata,” and “Slipstream” from Stacy Garrop.

The concert is Monday, November 20, 7:30 p.m., at First Congregational Church, 1031 S. Euclid Ave., Sarasota. Single tickets are $25. For more information on ticket packages and single tickets, including student ticket pricing, visit www.EnSRQ.org. 

Violinist Samantha Bennett and percussionist George Nickson are the group’s founders and co-artistic directors. 

"We are thrilled to welcome back the incredible pianist Han Chen,” says Nickson. “The stars really aligned for us as this year, during Ligeti's birth centennial, Han has embarked on an amazing project to highlight the groundbreaking music of Ligeti and to push the art form forward by commissioning new works that speak in dialogue with these solo piano works.”

Bennett adds that the group “loves paying homage to composers and pieces that have laid the foundation for composers working in the 21st century. This program is very much about these masterworks of the contemporary repertoire, like the incomparable Horn Trio, and how they have informed the trajectory of music 50 years on. I'm also excited about playing with winds and brass in an intimate setting with these works, and the unique and unusual sonic textures of various combinations of horn, clarinet, piano, cello and violin."

EnSRQ musicians performing in this concert include: Samantha Bennett, violin; Natalie Helm, cello; Bharat Chandra, clarinet; and R. Scott Sanders, Jr., horn.

György Ligeti (1923-2006) was one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century. He stood with Boulez, Berio, Stockhausen, and Cage as one of the most innovative and influential among progressive figures of his time. His early works show the influence of Bartók and Kodály, and like them, he studied folk music and made transcriptions from folk material. In “Apparitions” (1958-1959) and “Atmosphères” (1961), he developed a style forged from chromatic cluster chords that are devoid of conventional melody, pitch and rhythm, but instead grow into timbres and textures that yield new sonic possibilities. The composer referred to this method as "micropolyphony." In “Aventures” (1962), Ligeti devised a vocal technique in which the singers are required to make a full range of vocalizations, cries and nonsense noises to fashion a kind of imaginary, non-specific drama, but with rather specifically expressed emotions. Ligeti was almost alone among progressive composers from the latter twentieth century who have written popular and widely performed music. 

Pianist Han Chen has emerged among the new generation of concert pianists as a uniquely fearless performer in a wide variety of musical settings. Gold Medalist at the 2013 China International Piano Competition and a prizewinner at the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition, he has been praised by Gramophone as “impressively commanding and authoritative” and further cited by The New York Times for his “graceful touch,” “rhythmic precision” and “hypnotic charm.” Chen’s virtuosity is enriched by a probing commitment to new and lesser-known works as well as the great cornerstones of the piano repertory. He made his Lincoln Center debut with Riverside Symphony at Alice Tully Hall in December 2022. Chen has performed as solo recitalist throughout Europe, North America, and China. In frequent demand as a chamber musician, Chen is a core member of Ensemble Échappé, while regularly collaborating with The Metropolis Ensemble and other adventurous groups in performances in America and abroad. In 2021, Chen launched Migration Music, an ongoing series of interviews and performances featuring immigrant composers. Chen studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky, Wha Kyung Byun, and Ursula Oppens at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, and CUNY Graduate Center. He is represented by Black Tea Music.

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