Jun
14
with special guest Jeffrey Zeigler & music of Peter Askim, Lisa Bielawa, Pierre Jalbert, Peter-Anthony Togni, and Paola Prestini
Sun June 14th, 2015
7:30PM
Main Space
Minimum Age: All Ages
Doors Open: 6:30PM
Show Time: 7:30PM
Event Ticket: $15/$20/$25
free for members
Special Guest Artist Jeffrey Zeigler (cellist, formerly of Kronos Quartet) joins conductor Peter Askim and the musicians of The Next Festival of Emerging Artists in their New York debut. A concert of all contemporary music, the program features premieres by Peter-Anthony Togni and Peter Askim, as well as music by Paola Prestini, Lisa Bielawa and Pierre Jalbert.
Comprised of some of the most exciting talent from classical music’s next generation, The Next Festival is dedicated to championing the music of our time, creating an innovative framework for contemporary string performance and supporting the artists of tomorrow.
PROGRAM:
Peter Askim: New Work (World Premiere)
Lisa Bielawa: The Trojan Women
Pierre Jalbert: Autumn Rhapsody
Paola Prestini: Aria
Pierre-Anthony Togni: Ofrenes (World Premiere)
Seated: $20 advance, $25 day of show
Standing: $15 advance, $20 day of show
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TABLE SEATING POLICY
Table seating for all seated shows is reserved exclusively for ticket holders who purchase “Table Seating” tickets. By purchasing a “Table Seating” ticket you agree to also purchase a minimum of two food and/or beverage items per person. Table seating is first come, first seated. Please arrive early for the best choice of available seats. Seating begins when doors open. Tables are communal so you may be seated with other patrons. We do not take table reservations.
A standing room area is available by the bar for all guests who purchase “Standing Room” tickets. Food and beverage can be purchased at the bar but there is no minimum purchase required in this area.
All tickets sales are final. No refund or credits.
The Next Festival Of Emerging Artists
Held in New York City and on the grounds of Music Mountain, the oldest continuous chamber music festival in the country, the Next Festival of Emerging Artists is an immersive residency for young professional string players focused on musical exploration, entrepreneurial thinking, and contemporary performance practice. Combining intense musical study and performance at the highest level, the festival brings together young artists aged 20-30, from the best music schools and conservatories in the country, to work in a highly individualized and inspirational atmosphere.
Our 2017 season included performances with Jennifer Koh (Musical America 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year) and a Composer Workshop led by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis. The Composer Workshop is an innovative program connecting composers and performers in a unique collaboration, resulting in artistic partnerships and the creation of new works. The 2017 season also marked the first Choreographer/Composer/Performer workshop, led by Aaron Jay Kernis and Tony Award-nominee Christopher D’Amboise.
The Next Festival is deeply committed to helping the artists of tomorrow progress to the next step in their careers and to forge their own unique musical identities. Generous scholarships enable students to attend, regardless of financial circumstances.
Conductor/composer/educator Peter Askim (Conductor, Raleigh Civic Symphony and Chamber Orchestra; Former Music Director, Composer-in-Residence, Idyllwild Arts) works closely with the students to tailor a program focused on their individual goals, and a spirit of imagination and exploration is cultivated.
The Next Festival emphasizes Contemporary Music and entrepreneurial thinking in imagining a career in today’s musical landscape, culminating in an orchestral performance of 20th-Century works and the music of our time. The 2015 season marked the Festival’s New York debut at the prestigious (le) poisson rouge, in a program of all living composers. The concert was recorded by WQXR/Q2 and featured on the program New York Now. The Festival is the recipient of the 2016 Ernst Bacon Memorial Award in the Performance of American Music and has been recognized for innovative programming by Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming.
Each year the festival features Guest Artists who are making major contributions to the contemporary repertoire and who have fashioned their own unique approaches to their careers. The Guest Artists serve as examples of non-traditional career paths and perform alongside the Festival musicians. Past Guest Artists included Matt Haimovitz, ETHEL and Jeffrey Zeigler (former cellist, Kronos Quartet). The 2016 festival featured Peabody Award-winning violist Nadia Sirota (yMusic, host of Q2’s Meet the Composer) and guitar legend Richard Thompson.
About Peter Askin, Artistic Director and Conductor:
Active as a composer, conductor and bassist, Peter Askim is the Artistic Director of the Next Festival of Emerging Artists and the conductor of the Raleigh Civic Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, as well as Director of Orchestral Activities at North Carolina State University. He was previously Music Director and Composer-in-Residence of the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra. He has also been a member of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and served on the faculty of the University of Hawaii-Manoa, where he directed the Contemporary Music Ensemble and taught theory and composition.
A dedicated champion of the music of our time, he has premiered numerous works, including works by composers Richard Danielpour, Nico Muhly, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Christopher Theofanidis and has collaborated with such artists as the Miró String Quartet, Matt Haimovitz, Vijay Iyer, Jeffrey Zeigler, Nadia Sirota, and Sō Percussion. As a composer, he has been called a “Modern Master” by The Strad and has had commissions and performances from such groups as the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Honolulu Symphony and the American Viola Society, as well as by performers such as ETHEL, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, flutist/conductor Ransom Wilson and violinist Timothy Fain.
Mr. Askim is the founder and Artistic Director of The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, a summer festival dedicated to cultivating the next generation of performers and composers. Focusing on the music of living composers, the festival artists frequently perform World Premieres and collaborate closely with prominent composers on performances of their works. Led by Mr. Askim, The Next Festival has received numerous grants and awards for performances of American music, adventurous programming and educational outreach since its inception in 2013. In conjunction with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis, Mr. Askim founded the Next Festival Composer Workshop, connecting early-career performers and composers in an innovative and highly collaborative laboratory for the creation of new works.
About Jessica Meyer:
About Liisa Hirsch:
Liisa Hirsch studied in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Peter Adriaansz and Cornelis de Bondt, and in Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with Prof. Toivo Tulev. Hirsch has worked as music director at the Estonian Drama Theatre and is lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.
Liisa Hirsch’s music can be characterized by sensitivity to timbre, purity of form and research- oriented approach towards composition. Microtonal reflection can also be observed in her work. Lately, she has been seeking to further the means of concentrated listening.
Hirsch has composed music also for film and theatre and oftentimes she collaborates with dancers.
She has worked together with S.E.M. Ensemble, Figura Ensemble, Ghost Ensemble, Konzert Minimal, THReNSeMBLe ensemble, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Elblag Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Male Choir among others. Her music has been played in several festivals including MATA Festival, Gaudeamus Muziek Week, ISCM World Music Days, Ostrava Music Days, Young Euro Classics, Estonian Music Days, Afekt Festival, International Arts Festival in St. Petersburg, Soochi Choir Olympics and Internationale Stichting Masterclass Apeldoorn.
In 2016 Hirsch’s composition “Mechanics of Flying” for orchestra received an European Composer Award at the festival Young Euro Classics in Berlin.
2015, Hirsch’s composition “Ascending…Descending” for solo violin and string orchestra, was given a recommendation (5th) in the International Rostrum of Composers.
Her piece “Brautigan Circles” won the chamber music prize at Orkest de Ereprijs Young Composers Meeting 2015.
George Grella, New York Classical review: “Hirsch’s music is enveloping and out of time, like the microtonal music of Giacinto Scelsi, but with a different aesthetic and philosophy—she’s spinning out material and setting up a system for organizing it on the fly. The concentrated quiet and listening this demands from the musicians spreads to the audience, there’s a communal experience of witnessing something grow and disappear.”
About Brett Dean:
Brett Dean studied in Brisbane before moving to Germany in 1984 where he was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic for fourteen years. Now one of the most internationally performed composers of his generation, much of Dean’s work draws from literary, political, environmental or visual stimuli, including a number of compositions inspired by artwork by his wife Heather Betts. His music is championed by many of the leading conductors and orchestras worldwide, including Sir Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Vladimir Jurowski, David Robertson, Marin Alsop and Sakari Oramo.
Brett Dean began composing in 1988, initially concentrating on experimental film and radio projects and as an improvising performer. Dean’s reputation as a composer continued to develop, and it was through works such as his clarinet concerto Ariel’s Music (1995), which won an award from the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, and Carlo (1997) for strings, sampler and tape, inspired by the music of Carlo Gesualdo, that he gained international recognition. In 2000 Dean returned to his native Australia to concentrate on his composition, and he now shares his time between homes in Melbourne and Berlin.
In 2009 Dean won the Grawemeyer Award for music composition for his violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter Writing and in 2016 was awarded the Don Banks Music Award by Australia Council, acknowledging his sustained and significant contribution to Australia’s musical scene. In June 2017 his second opera Hamlet was premiered at Glyndebourne Festival Opera to great acclaim; directed by Neil Armfield with libretto by Matthew Jocelyn and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Hamlet receives its Australian premiere at the 2018 Adelaide Festival.
Dean enjoys a busy performing career as violist and conductor and performs his own Viola Concerto with many of the world’s leading orchestras. Dean is a natural chamber musician, frequently collaborating with other soloists and ensembles to perform both his own chamber works and standard repertoire, including projects with the Doric Quartet, Scharoun Ensemble and Alban Gerhardt. Dean’s imaginative conducting programmes usually centre around his own works combined with other composers and highlights include projects with the BBC Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and as Artist in Residence with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
Dean is 2017/18 Creative Chair at Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, a role which encompasses conducting, performing and creative programming. The season sees a comprehensive overview of Dean’s orchestral and chamber music, with Dean joining the orchestra for concerts as conductor and soloist in his Viola Concerto as well as masterclasses and outreach work. Dean also continues as Artist in Residence with Sydney Symphony Orchestra across 2016-2018.
Other highlights of 2017/18 include three world premieres – an orchestral work for the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, a partner work to Brandenburg Concerto No.6 with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in February 2018 conducted by Thomas Dausgaard, and a duo work for Colin Currie and Håkan Hardenberger, The Scene of the Crime, at Malmo Chamber Festival where he is Composer in Residence.
This season Dean conducts a number of orchestras including Sydney Symphony and Tonhalle Orchestra as part of his residencies, Auckland Philharmonia, City of London Sinfonia and RTE Symphony where he also performs the Irish premiere of his Viola Concerto. He tours a string quintet programme with Baiba Skride, Geri Gergana, Amihai Grosz and Alban Gerhardt including Zurich, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Dortmund. Elsewhere his music is performed by many leading orchestras including the UK tour of Hamlet by Glyndebourne chorus/London Philharmonic Orchestra, Engelsflügel by San Francisco Symphony/Robertson and performances of Testament by Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin and BBC Philharmonic, Pastoral Symphony by the Aurora Orchestra/Collon.
Brett Dean’s music has been recorded for BIS, Chandos, Warner Classics, ECM Records and ABC Classics, with a new BIS release in 2016 of works including Shadow Music, Testament, Short Stories and Etudenfest performed by Swedish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Dean. Dean’s Viola Concerto has also been released on BIS with the Sydney Symphony, with Dean reviewed as “a formidable and musical player as well as an impressive composer…an excellent showcase of Dean’s range as a composer” (Guardian). Looking ahead a DVD of Hamlet will be released by Glyndebourne.
special guest Jeffrey Zeigler
SPECIAL ARTIST Jeffrey Zeigler
Jeffrey Zeigler was the cellist of the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet for eight seasons. He has been the recipient of the Avery Fischer Prize, the Polar Music Prize and the President’s Merit Award from the National Academy of Recorded Arts.
Mr. Zeigler has released over two dozen recordings for Nonesuch, Blue Note, Cantaloupe, Deutsche Grammophon, Smithsonian Folkways and Tzadik. In Fall 2014, Zeigler released his debut solo album, Something of Life, on Innova as a joint collaboration with VisionIntoArt. The album features world premier recordings of works by Philip Glass, Glenn Kotche, Paola Prestini and John Zorn.
PHOTO CREDIT: Axel Dupeux
music of Peter Askim, Lisa Bielawa, Pierre Jalbert, Peter-Anthony Togni, and Paola Prestini
CONDUCTOR Peter Askim
Active as a composer, conductor and bassist, Peter Askim is Artistic Director of the Next Festival of Emerging Artists and conductor of the Raleigh Civic Symphony and Chamber Orchestra. He is on the faculty of North Carolina State University and was previously Music Director and Composer-in-Residence at Idyllwild Arts.
As a composer, he has been called a “Modern Master” by The Strad and has had commissions and performances by the Tokyo and Honolulu Symphonies, ETHEL, Ransom Wilson and Timothy Fain. He has conducted World Premieres by Nico Muhly, Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, Pierre Jalbert and Richard Danielpour and has collaborated with the Miró String Quartet, Matt Haimovitz, Vijay Iyer, Sō Percussion, Paul Neubauer, Tony Arnold and guitarist/songwriter Richard Thompson.
PIECE: TBA (World Premiere)
PHOTO CREDIT: Alexandra Grossi
COMPOSER Lisa Bielawa
Composer-vocalist Lisa Bielawa is a 2009 Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition. She takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. Gramophone reports, “Bielawa is gaining gale force as a composer, churning out impeccably groomed works that at once evoke the layered precision of Vermeer and the conscious recklessness of Jackson Pollock,” and The New York Times describes her music as, “ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically slightly tart.”
PIECE:The Trojan Women
PHOTO CREDIT: Liz Linder
COMPOSER Pierre Jalbert
Earning widespread notice for his richly colored and superbly crafted scores, Pierre Jalbert (b. 1967) has developed a musical language that is engaging, expressive, and deeply personal. Among his many honors are the Rome Prize, the BBC Masterprize, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s 2007 Stoeger Award, given biennially “in recognition of significant contributions to the chamber music repertory”, and a 2010 award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Jalbert is Professor of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, and he serves on the Artistic Board of Musiqa, a Houston-based new music group. His music is published by Schott Music.
PIECE: Autumn Rhapsody
PHOTO CREDIT: David Long
COMPOSER Peter-Anthony Togni
Peter-Anthony is a musician with a mystical gaze. It is the beauty of his harmonies that sets him apart, shimmering chords that sound at once both ancient and modern. His music reflects his personal sense of the Divine. Togni spends the winter months at a retreat in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. The stillness of this part of the world is the perfect inspirational setting for his musical process. When he is at the piano, his sense of stillness can be heard; there is always space for the music to breathe, whether he is playing his own music, a jazz standard, a Coldplay song or improvising. Every Togni performance is a unique soundscape, a contemplative dance!
PIECE: Ofrenes (World Premiere)
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Illsley
COMPOSER Paola Prestini
Composer, Multimedia Artist, Entrepreneur, Paola Prestini is “the enterprising composer and impresario” (New York Times). Named one of NPR’s “Top 100 composers in the World under 40,” her compositions are deemed “radiant…amorously evocative” by The New York Times. Carnegie Hall, The New York Philharmonic and Kronos Quartet have commissioned works from her. Newest projects include a work for the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Labyrinth, commissioned by the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and VisionIntoArt, to be performed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and described by the Washington Post as “spellbinding”; and the music theater work Aging Magician, to premiere at the Walker Arts Center and MASS MoCA in 2016. While at Juilliard, she co-founded VisionIntoArt, and she is the Creative Director of National Sawdust.
Paola Prestini
PHOTO CREDIT: Erika Harrsch
PIECE: Aria