We invite you to join Talea Ensemble for our mainstage season finale, in a program of works and premieres by Maxwell Dulaney, Courtney Bryan, and Rebecca Saunders.
Friday, April 13, 8 pm St. Peter's, Chelsea Tickets $15/10 in advance, $20/15 at the door
Rebecca Saunders: fury ii (2009)
Courtney Bryan: In the Heart of God (2018)*
Anna-Louise Walton: Basket of Figs (2018)**
Maxwell Dulaney: Scene 2-5 from Already Root, a one-act opera (2018)**
Greg Chudzik, double bass Sharon Harms and Brian Giebler, voice James Baker, conductor *indicates NYC premiere, **indicates world premiere
ABOUT THE WORKS
Bryan's "In the Heart of God", for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello, is inspired by "On Love" from The Prophet, a 1923 work by Lebanese poet and visual artist Khalil Gibran. Walton's "Basket of Figs" explores the use of wind instruments as an extension of the human voice. Dulaney's opera "Already Root" reimagines Eurydice's perspective within the Orpheus myth, illuminating her experience and expanding her voice; Orpheus is absent all together in a new libretto by Lauren Slaughter, centered instead only on Eurydice and Hermes. Of "fury ii", for double bass and ensemble, Rebecca Saunders writes, "Silence is the canvas... All sounds surface out of and disappear into silence". Bright, vibrant bursts of sound give way to a glowing resonance, sculpted into colorful, lyrical fragments by soloist, Greg Chudzik.
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS
With her distinctive and intensely striking sonic language, Berlin-based British composer Rebecca Saunders is one of the leading international representatives of her generation. In The Guardian, Tom Service writes: "How do you turn the evanescent shimmer of sound into something tangible and solid, something that can glow with intense, fiery colour or dazzle with a weirdly luminous darkness? You need the technique of an alchemist and the imagination of a poet to pull off this feat... But that's exactly what Saunders has been doing in her music."
Anna-Louise Walton is an American composer of chamber and electronic music. She explores concepts of limited development and the notation of improvisatory rhythms, often drawing inspiration from natural spaces as well as the sounds of everyday life. Walton is currently completing a Master's degree in music composition from Tulane University under the tutelage of Maxwell Dulaney and Rick Snow.
Described as "a pianist and composer of panoramic interests" by the New York Times, Courtney Bryan holds a DMA from Columbia University with advisor George Lewis. Her music is in conversation with various musical genres, including jazz and other types of experimental music, as well as traditional gospel, spirituals, and hymns. Focusing on bridging the sacred and the secular, Bryan's compositions explore human emotions through sound, confronting the challenge of notating the feeling of improvisation. Bryan is an Assistant Professor of Music at Tulane University.
Maxwell Dulaney, whose work has been described as evocative and subtle is currently Assistant Professor of Composition & Theory at Tulane University. Dr. Dulaney received his Ph.D. in Composition & Theory from Brandeis University. He has been commissioned by and collaborated closely with such performers as: Orlando Cela, Chris Finkel, Ecce Ensemble, Contemporaneous, Tak Ensemble, and Grammy Award-winning harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy. As an acoustic and electro-acoustic composer, his compositional philosophy is rooted in the study of the multitudinous elements of sounds and finding new and informed ways of developing compositional structures out of them.
This concert is made possible, in part, by the support of Tulane University's School of Liberal Arts, Office of the Provost, and Newcomb College Institute. Talea Ensemble's 2017-18 season is supported by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and in part by the New Music USA Impact Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund, Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, Amphion Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and many generous donors like you. Talea's 2017-18 season also is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Location
St. Peter's Chelsea (View)
346 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
United States
