Pas de Deux
Featuring the music of Mohammed Fairouz
Michael Couper, saxophone
www.mscsax.com
Saint Peter’s Church
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010, 8:00 PM
619 Lexington Ave at 54th Street, New York, NY
www.saintpeters.org
$15 general admission | $8 student w/ ID
An evening of duets, Pas de Deux features the music of rising composer Mohammed Fairouz, a formidable talent of the 21st century. The first set of pieces progresses with an apocalyptic overtone, beginning with a haunting lament, culminating in Fairouz’s KÄlas, which is built upon a famous passage from the Bhagavad Gita, and reaching a cathartic close with Lori Laitman’s I Never Saw Another Butterfly, a cycle of six poems written by children of the Holocaust.
The second half of the program is comprised music composed especially for the saxophone by Mohammed Fairouz, including Three Novelettes written for and premiered by Michael Couper, and ending with the world premiere of Four Critical Models, recently commissioned by the Second Instrumental Unit. The Four Critical Models are comprised of two catchwords and two interventions. The controversial catchwords are mediated by the intervention and each of the four models take, as their point of departure, a thought or musing that is open to question.
The concert will feature talented young proponents of new music, including violinist Francesca Anderegg, soprano Hannah Fuerst, violist Jessica Meyer, and pianist Katie Reimer.
Michael Couper, classical saxophone soloist, is a proponent of new music and the advancement of saxophone repertoire. Mr. Couper made his Merkin Hall debut in 2008 as a founding member of the critically-acclaimed Mimesis Ensemble, a group based in New York City that is dedicated to performing works by living composers. Partnering with renowned saxophonist Kenneth Radnofsky, Mr. Couper co-founded a music publishing company that endeavors to enrich the repertoire of the modern saxophonist, offering as part of its catalogue adaptations of historical masterworks as well as exciting new commissions.
Fairouz’s substantial body of work in every genre including opera, song cycles for Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Tenor and Baritone; symphonic and choral works, piano music and electronic music in addition to chamber music for winds, percussion, strings and numerous other instrumental and vocal combinations, has been extensively performed throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Australia in venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall and the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. His music has been featured at the Bienalle di Venezia, the Kennedy Center’s Festival of Contemporary Music, the New England Conservatory’s Composers’s Series, Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s Eventsworks Festival, the Boston Conservatory’s New Music Week and other festivals. www.mohammedfairouz.com
Program:
Mohammed Fairouz: Tahwidah
Mohammed Fairouz: KÄlas
Luciano Berio: Sequenza VIIb
Lori Laitman: I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Mohammed Fairouz: Two Short Diversions [NYC Premiere]
Mohammed Fairouz: Three Novelettes
Mohammed Fairouz: Four Critical Models [World Premiere]
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