Free Concert by Renowned Da Capo Chamber Players on Friday, October 12

FREE CONCERT BY THE RENOWNED DA CAPO CHAMBER PLAYERS AT BARD COLLEGE ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12 Performance Features Works by Contemporary Composers Caroline Mallonée, Daniel Wohl ’03, Raymond J. Lustig, Missy Mazzoli, Dai Fujikura, David Laganella, and Judd Greenstein ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—On Friday, October, 12, the Da Capo Chamber Players will give a free performance at Bard College. The program, “Sonic Youth,” features works by composers under the age of 35. Guest artists include Oren Fader, electric guitar; Beth Meyers, viola; and Sean McClowry, double bass. The concert, presented by The Bard Center, is free and open to the public and begins at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall. The program includes works from composers Caroline Mallonée, Daniel Wohl ’03, Raymond J. Lustig, Missy Mazzoli, Dai Fujikura, David Laganella, and Judd Greenstein, including the world premiere of Lustig’s sonata for violin and piano and the New York premiere of Wohl’s “5 Chemical Elements.” Other works include Mallonée’s “Throwing Mountains,” Mazzoli’s “Lies You Can Believe In,” Fujikura’s “Poison Mushroom,” Laganella’s “Swells,” and Greenstein’s “Rock Me Samuels.” Da Capo is widely acclaimed for its virtuosity, stimulating programs, and openness to a wide spectrum of styles in new music. Its dedication to working with composers is matched by a commitment to rehearsing each piece as a living, moving, breathing entity, rather than as a fixed blueprint. Winner of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1973, Da Capo has been a leader in building a strong heritage of present-day American chamber music and can point with pride to more than 90 chamber music works written especially for the ensemble by Joan Tower, Philip Glass, Harvey Sollberger, and Philippe Bodin, among many others. In April 2003, Da Capo performed at the Moscow Forum International Festival of Contemporary Music. Forthcoming recordings include chamber works by Alla Borzova and Judith Shatin. The Da Capo Chamber Players are flutist Patricia Spencer, clarinetist Meighan Stoops, violinist Curtis Macomber, cellist André Emelianoff, and pianist Blair McMillen. This concert is made possible, in part, through the generosity of the Homeland Foundation and the Leon Levy Endowment at Bard College. For further information about the program, call The Bard Center at 845-758-7425. -more- ABOUT DA CAPO: André Emelianoff has toured North America, Japan, Russia, Austria, and England, and given recitals throughout central Asia and the Mediterranean as an American Ambassador for the Arts, sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. Cellist with Da Capo Chamber Players since 1976, he is also a member of the Aeolian Chamber Players and has been involved with the Music Today Ensemble. Winner of a 1985 National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Award, he has commissioned works by Aaron Kernis, Joan Tower, George Perle, Richard Wernick, Shulamit Ran, Stephen Jaffe, and Gerald Levinson. He has appeared as a guest artist with Da Camera of Houston, the New Jersey Chamber Society, and Lincoln Center Chamber Society; as a participant in the Marlboro, Chamber Music West, and Piccolo Spoleto festivals; and as a soloist with the Albany Symphony. He is on the faculty at The Juilliard School, as well as the Round Top (Texas) Festival and the Perlman Program. Emelianoff has recorded for CRI, Opus One, New World Records, Nonesuch, GM Recordings, RCA, Bridge Records, and Pro Arte. Curtis Macomber is one of the most versatile soloists/chamber musicians before the public today, equally at home in repertoire from Bach to Babbitt. As member of the New World String Quartet from 1982–93, he performed in virtually all the important concert series in this country, as well as touring abroad. He is the violinist of Speculum Musicae and Da Capo, and a founding member of the Apollo Trio. His most recent recordings include a solo recording (Casting Ecstatic) on CRI; the complete Grieg Sonatas on Arabesque; and an all-Steve Mackey record (Interior Design) on Bridge. Macomber is presently a member of the chamber music faculty of The Juilliard School, where he earned bachelor of music, master of music, and doctor of musical arts degrees as a student of Joseph Fuchs. He is also on the violin faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and has taught at Tanglewood, Taos, and Yellow Barn Music Festivals. Pianist Blair McMillen leads a varied life as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Hailed by the New York Times as “lustrous,” “riveting,” and “a prodigiously accomplished and exciting artist,” he has appeared at Alice Tully Hall, was soloist on a tour of Japan with the Juilliard Orchestra, and gave a much-heralded New York debut recital in 1998. As a collaborator, he has appeared with tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, Eos Orchestra, New York Woodwind Quintet, Locrian Chamber Players, Avian Orchestra, and New Juilliard Ensemble. Equally at home in both new and traditional repertoire, McMillen is a founding member of the composer/performer collective counter)induction, which holds a residency at Columbia University and will be a featured ensemble at the 2004 MATA (Music at the Anthology) Festival. Recent engagements include concerto appearances with the American Ballet Theater and a solo recital juxtaposing the music of Giacinto Scelsi and Luciano Berio for the Piano Revolution series at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre. A winner of the Sony ES Career Grant, Juilliard Gina Bachauer Scholarship, and National Young Artists Competition, McMillen holds degrees from Oberlin College and The Juilliard School. He has recorded for BMG/Catalyst, Koch International, CRI, Albany, and New World. After frequent guest appearances with the Da Capo Chamber Players, he became a member of the group in the fall of 2003. He is a visiting assistant professor of music at Bard College. “Patricia Spencer’s presence was striking and her playing was extraordinary in its control over minutiae of dynamics, pitch, and timbre, particularly in relationship to the complex, fluid electronic environment that surrounded her. The performance was the tour de force of technique, emotion, and spirituality that the piece requires; it will stand as one of the highlights of the musical season,” wrote Richard Dyer in the Boston Globe. Recent high points in Spencer’s career, devoted to new music, include her 2002 recital in Moscow for the Alternativa Festival; her premiere of Shulamit Ran’s flute concerto, Voices, at the 2000 National Flute Association convention; and her premiere of solo flute works by Louis Karchin and Eugene Lee at the Sonic Boom Festival in 2001. An exciting repertoire of pieces has been written for her, including Thea Musgrave’s Narcissus and Judith Shatin’s Kairos, which were featured on her solo CD (Neuma Records). An earlier CD, with pianist Linda Hall, features Boulez’s Sonatine, plus works by Carter, Perle, Korde, Talma, Martirano, Kreiger, and Jaffe. Both CDs received rave reviews from Fanfare and the American Record Guide. Spencer has received awards for her solo recordings and commissioning projects from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. As a recitalist and Da Capo member, she has commissioned more than 80 solo, duo, and chamber works for flute. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Robert Willoughby, Spencer also has studied with Marcel Moyse, John Wummer, and Josef Marx. She teaches flute and chamber music at Bard College and Hofstra University. Clarinetist Meighan Stoops is an active chamber musician, recitalist, and teacher. She has performed at Bargemusic and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Key West Symphony Orchestra, and Con Brio Ensemble. With the Da Capo Chamber Players she performed on John Schaefer’s New Sounds on WNYC and at MATA (Music at the Anthology). Stoops holds degrees from Northwestern University and Yale University, where she received the Lucy G. Moses Fellowship and the Dean’s Award. Her teachers have included Russell Dagon, David Shifrin, and Kalmen Opperman. -continued- ABOUT THE GUEST ARTISTS: Oren Fader is highly regarded as a performer of classical guitar repertoire, both solo and chamber, traditional and contemporary. Reviewing his solo New York City recital, Guitar Review magazine stated: “His scholarship, technique, and intelligent musicianship are plainly evident and the beauty of his tone is consistently compelling.” Concerto performances include the Villa-Lobos Guitar Concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Concierto de Aranjuez with the Brooklyn Conservatory Orchestra, and the Vivaldi D Major with the Manchester Music Festival Chamber Players in Vermont. Fader has performed hundreds of concerts with a wide range of classical and new music groups, including the Met Chamber Ensemble (directed by James Levine), New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, New World Symphony, Absolute Ensemble, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, American Composers' Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Music from Japan, New Amsterdam Singers, New York Festival of Song, North Country Chamber Players, Poetica Musica, and Speculum Musicae. Festival performances include Aspen, Tanglewood, Bach Oregon Festival, Deer Valley Festival (Utah), and Morelia, Mexico. As a member of the award-winning new music ensembles Cygnus, Fireworks, and Glass Farm, Fader has premiered over 100 solo and chamber works with guitar, including compositions by Babbitt, Wuorinen, Machover, Biscardi, Currier, Naito, Pollock, and others. In a performance of Mario Davidovsk's Synchronisms #10 for guitar and electric tape, the New York Times wrote: “Oren Fader gave the guitar part a polished, energetic performance that was precisely matched to the tape sounds.” Fader can be heard on more than 20 commercial recordings. Recent releases include First Flight, 10 premiere solo guitar pieces written for Fader, and Another’s Fandango, featuring solo works from Bach to Bogdanovic, produced by Grammy Award-winner Adam Abeshouse. The Cygnus Ensemble's second CD, featuring works by Naito, Babbitt, Claman, and Yttrehus, has just been released by Bridge Records. Fader is active in commercial film as well, having recorded the guitar parts for the film, Everything Is Illuminated, directed by Liev Schreiber. He received his undergraduate degree from SUNY Purchase and his master of music (performance) degree from Florida State University. Since 1994, Fader has been on the guitar and chamber music faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. Beth Meyers is an active violist in the field of contemporary music. She is a founding member of the flute/viola/harp trio janus, and is committed to broadening the trio repertoire. Meyers has worked with composers and artists including Meredith Monk, Bill Irwin, Theo Bleckman, Pierre Boulez, Harrison Birtwistle, Helmut Lachenmann, Martin Bresnick, and Steve Reich. A 2001 premiere of Steve Reich’s The Desert Music included Meyers both in the premiere performance at Columbia's Miller Theater as well as the Canteloupe recording. She was also a member of Alarm Will Sound for the United States premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s Theseus Game at Miller Theater (2003). As an orchestral violist, Meyers has played with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Heidelberg Opera Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, National Repertory Orchestra, Aspen Festival Orchestra, and the Lucerne Festival Academy. She has performed with ensembles including Anti-Social Music, the Theater of a Two-Headed Calf, Trollstilt, Ensemble Pamplemousse, the Audubon String Quartet, the Axis String Quartet, and the SEM Ensemble. Meyers’ study of improvisation has found her at the Knitting Factory and like venues, working with artists including Ralph Alessi, Kokayi, and Mark Helias. In 2000, she collaborated with jazz pianist and vocalist Anna Johnson for her album One More Time In The Air (Oasis). Currently, she is violist and vocalist of The Reasons, a hip New York band led by vocalist and guitarist Clare Muldaur Manchon and featuring violinist Olivier Manchon and guitarist Lionel Loueke. Meyers is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where, under the direction of George Taylor and John Graham, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Double bassist and composer Sean McClowry is equally active in both the classical and jazz idioms. He is currently a composition fellow at Princeton University, where he is enrolled in the Ph.D. program. He received a bachelor of music from Peabody Conservatory and a master of music from the Yale School of Music. As a composer, his music has been awarded the Leo Kaplan Award in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Competition, first prize in the Lee Ettleson Composition Competition, and first prize in the Prix d'Été Composition Competition. He has studied composition with Steve Mackey, Nicholas Maw, Chen Yi, and Chris Theofanidis. He has been commissioned by the Dogs of Desire, American Guild of Organists, and the Yale Summer Cabaret. As a double bassist, Sean plays jazz and classical music and has studied with Donald Palma, Paul Johnson, and Dave Santoro. He has performed with Roy Hargrove and Pablo Ziegler and has been a featured performer at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Duke Ellington Fellowship Concerts, and the Composer’s Inc. Concert Series. Sean has served on the faculty at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he taught double bass and jazz history. He has also taught music theory at Yale University and has served on the staff at the Litchfield Summer Jazz Camp. Sean is a founding member of GROUP435 String orchestra, which is an unconducted 17-piece ensemble that performs new and traditional music for strings.

This event was last updated on 10-15-2007

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