Calendar

Dan Locklair’s Dance the Joy! for solo organ will be performed on Sunday, May 20 – 6:00 PM as part of the choral evensong service at St. Pancras Church on Euston Road in London, England. This will be presented by the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.

Dance the Joy! (Toccata for Organ) was written in 2004 on a commission from United Music Publishers and is included in their Organworks! publication, produced in cooperation with Subito Music. Mr. Locklair is the only American whose music will be performed at the 2012 London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.

Other composers on the May 20 choral evensong service are Daniel Rollison, Julian Anderson, Ron Corp, Andrew Gant and Hilary Tann.

For more information about the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music, call 020 7388 1461 or visit http://www.lfccm.com/.

For information about Dan Locklair, including a bio, list of works, discography and much more, please visit http://www.locklair.com.

Chamber and solo piano music by American composer Joel Feigin will be presented on Sunday, May 20 -7:30 PM at Kanack Hall, 1-10-1 Kanagawa, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken 221-0044 in Yokohama, Japan. This Zen in Music concert is presented as part of the meeting of the Japan Institute of Rhythm.

The event will feature violinist Junko Ando and pianist Daidouji Rentarou performing the composer’s Gently Flowing, Sonata for Violin and Piano (2010). Mr. Feigin will perform the first and third of his Four Meditations from Dogen (1994). Music by composer Kouichi Kiriyama will also be presented.

On May 19, Mr. Feigin will take part in a panel discussion on “Schoenberg in America” presented by the Musicological Society of Japan. It will begin at 2:00 p.m. in the Art Hall of Meiji-Gakuin University of Tokyo.

For more information about the May 20 concert, call 81 (0) 45 440 1211or visit the Japanese-language site http://kanack-hall.jp/.

Joel Feigin’s website is at http://www.joelfeigin.com.

Judith Shatin’s For the Fallen, for trumpet and electronics will be given a preview performance by Ivano Ascari on Saturday, May 19 – 4:00 PM at Westchester Italian Cultural Center, 1 Generoso Pope Place in Tuckahoe, New York. Its official World Premiere will be given by Mr. Ascari on Wednesday, May 23 – 9:30 AM at the Studio Theater of Columbia State University’s Schwob School of Music, 900 Broadway in Columbus, Georgia. The latter will be presented as part of the 37^th Annual Conference of the International Trumpet Guild.

The composer writes, “For the Fallen, for trumpet and electronics, was commissioned by Ivano Ascari, to whom it is dedicated. After discussing the project with him, I decided to make my inspiration from, and create electronics from, recordings of the Maria Dolens Bell, also known as the Bell of Peace, located in Rovereto, Italy. Originally fabricated from the bronze of melted canons from WWI, donated by countries involved in the war, it is one of the largest ringing bells in the world. Built between 1918 and 1925 to commemorate the fallen in all wars, and recast twice since then, it is rung every day in the memory of the fallen, and in hopes of peace. The original recordings were kindly provided by engineer Marco Olivotto.”

Other composers on these programs include Fabrizio Festa, Giuseppe Call, Girogio Caslini, Alessandro Annunziata, Davide Zannoni, Costantine Lignos and Peter Anthony Monk.

For more about the May 19 program, visit http://wiccny.org/music-trumpet-prelude/. More about the May 23 performance at http://music.columbusstate.edu/events/itg2012/index.php.

Visit Judith Shatin online at http://www.judithshatin.com.

Jacaranda Presents First Large-Scale U.S. Performance of Counter-Culture Icon Terry Riley’s Legendary “Olson III,” and
Lou Harrison’s “Suite for Violin, Strings, Piano, Celesta and Two Harps,” Featuring Internationally Acclaimed Violinist Alyssa Park

“Olson III,” with Some 100 Performers, Unites Los Angeles Children’s Chorus with Jacaranda Festival Orchestra & Chorus and Members of Jacaranda Youth Chamber Orchestra
SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 7, 2012—Jacaranda, the classical music series known for new and rarely heard music, culminates its 2011-12 season on Sun., May 20^th at 6 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica with two large works by California mavericks: Terry Riley – Mark Alan Hilt, director“Olson III” (1967)Lou Harrison/Richard Dee – Alyssa Park, violin; Mark Alan Hilt, conductor“Suite for Violin, Strings, Piano, Celesta and Two Harps” (1974/1993) Riley’s landmark single-page composition, “In C”  (1964), was featured on Jacaranda’s inaugural concert nearly 10 years ago. The world premiere of its aggressive successor, “Olson III,” triggered as calamitous a near-riot as any in music history. Riley, beloved as the father of minimalism, described its “hard core repetition” as a “form of ritual,” which elicited catcalls, boos, whistles and door-slams from the unsuspecting Swedish audience who witnessed its 1967 premiere in Stockholm. All of this was broadcast live and recorded by Swedish radio—the only such fracas preserved for posterity—and 25 years passed before a second large-scale version of the intense work was performed in France in 2002. Uniting nearly 100 singers and instrumentalists, Jacaranda will give the first U.S performance to replicate the 77-year-old composer’s original intentions.
The Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) will combine with members of the Jacaranda Youth Chamber Orchestra and Jacaranda Festival Orchestra & Chorus to perform the work. LACC first participated with Jacaranda in a concert performance of the Five Knee Plays from “Einstein on the Beach” by Philip Glass in 2009. Says LACC director Anne Tomlinson: “Jacaranda opens up exciting new possibilities for us. We would not have been able to participate with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in 2011 performing Mr. Glass’ music for the film, ‘Powaqqatsi,’ without Jacaranda.” Alyssa Park, who in 1990 established an international reputation as the youngest prizewinner in the history of the Tchaikovsky International Competition, was featured on Jacaranda’s 2008 concert to inaugurate The Broad Stage in Santa Monica. On that occasion she played “Double Concerto for Violin, Cello & Gamelan” by Harrison, the subject of a new documentary by Eva Soltes that premiered this March San Francisco. To open Jacaranda’s May 20^th concert, Park will play a version of a concerto that the composer had made in 1974 with violinist Richard Dee, “Suite for Violin & American Gamelan.” After finding that transporting the heavy gamelan was cumbersome, Harrison authorized Kerry Lewis to arrange a new version. Michael Tilson Thomas led the 1993 premiere of “Suite for Violin, Strings, Piano, Celesta and Two Harps.” The Jacaranda Youth Chamber Orchestra, 30 to 40 of the most dedicated public and private high school students from Ventura to Orange Counties, will perform a chamber version of “Olson III” on Saturday May 12^th at 3 p.m. The Jacaranda Festival Chorus will join them. The concert is free to the public and is supported by the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Department. Both concerts will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica, 1220 2^nd St., Santa Monica 90401. Tickets for the Sun., May 20, 6 p.m. concert are available at www.jacarandamusic.org, or by calling 1-800-595-4TIX. Purchased online, tickets are $35 general and $15 for students, or at the door the evening of the concert: $40 general, $20 for students. 
About JacarandaJacaranda, with a motto of  “music at the edge,” is a series of intimate concert adventures into the realm of new and rarely heard classical music designed to awaken curiosity, passion and discovery. Founded in 2003 by arts impresario Patrick Scott and conductor/organist Mark Alan Hilt, Jacaranda produces a series (11 concerts this season) in Santa Monica that features current and rising stars in the world of classical music performance. For information or to purchase tickets go to www.jacarandamusic.org or call (213) 483-0216.

The Bronx Arts Ensemble’s final 2011 – 2012 season 3 pm chamber music concert on Sunday, May 20 at the home of George and Katrin Phocas at 5020 Goodridge Avenue in the Bronx features Broadway guitarist Scott Kuney and BAE clarinetist Mitchell Kriegler. Concert program includes Robert Baksa’s “Nonet” as well as Boccherini’s “Quintet for Guitar and Strings in D, G.448 (‘Fandango’)” and Brahms’ “Quintet for clarinet and strings” and . Tickets to the May 20 concert are $25 and include an intermission reception to meet the artists. http://bronxartsensemble.org or 718.601.7399.

Steven R. Gerber’s Elegy on the Name of “Dmitri Shostakovich” will be performed by cellist Misha Quint on Friday, May 18 – 8:00 PM in Mannes Concert Hall of the Mannes Building, Mannes College The New School for Music, 150 West 85th Street in New York, New York.

The Elegy was written in 1991, and is available in versions for cello or viola.

Other composers on the program include Francoeur, Fauré, Tchaikovsky (Nocturne and Pezzo-Capriccioso for Cello and Piano), Schnittke (his Cello Sonata) and Granados (Intermezzo from the opera “Goyescas” and Danza Española). Mr. Quint will be joined by pianist Svetlana Gorokhovich. More about him at http://www.mishaquint.com/.

The May 18 concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 212-580-0210 or visit http://www.newschool.edu/mannes/.

Visit Steven R. Gerber at http://www.stevengerber.com.

Dan Locklair’s Phoenix Processional for solo organ will be performed by Margaret Chen on Thursday, May 17 – 12:15 PM in the Main Hall of Suntory Hall, Akasaka 1-13-1, Minato-ku in Tokyo, Japan. This will be part of the Organ Promenade Concert Series.

Phoenix Processional comes from a larger composition entitled Phoenix Fanfare and Processional for organ, brass quartet and percussion. The original three-minute Phoenix Fanfare was commissioned in 1979 by New York City’s Union Theological Seminary. In August of 1985, the scoring of Phoenix Fanfare was reduced to brass quartet and joined with a newly composed processional to become Phoenix Fanfare and Processional. It was first performed at the September, 1985, Opening Convocation of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The organ solo version of Phoenix Processional was created by Dan Locklair in 1996. It has been recorded by Marilyn Keiser for the Gothic/Loft CD The Music of Dan Locklair (LRCD-1110).

The May 17 concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call +0570-55-0017 or go to http://www.suntory.com/culture-sports/suntoryhall/.

For information about Dan Locklair, including a bio, list of works, discography and much more, please visit http://www.locklair.com.

Opera Moderne stages Benjamin Britten’s haunting chamber opera, Turn of the Screw, at Peter Norton Symphony Space for one night only on Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 8 pm. This 20th century masterpiece is a terrifying tale of the supernatural based on a story by Henry James.

The eerie tale is accentuated by Luke Leonard’s innovative stage direction which incorporates original sculptures by Maggie Hartzell into the set and employs unconventional lighting techniques including fluorescents by lighting designer Marie Yokoyama. Goose-bumps are virtually guaranteed!

The cast features tenor Glenn Seven Allen, soprano Anna Noggle and ‘boy wonder” Benjamin Wenzelberg.

The initial setting of Turn of the Screw is not at all spooky on its surface: An old and faithful housekeeper, two young orphan children and an eager new governess in a remote English country estate. But the scene is not so serene: spirits from the past encroach upon the living, as reality and the supernatural mingle. What exactly did happen between the children, their former governess and the deceased manservant, Peter Quint? This question weighs on the new governess’s mind, and issues of murder and molestation rear their ghastly heads.

Opera Moderne presents a new production of

Turn of the Screw

Music by Benjamin Britten

Libretto by Myfanwy Piper

Peter Norton Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95^th Street, NY, NY

Saturday, May 26th, 2012 at 8pm

Tickets:  $55 in advance; $65 day of show.

Tickets for Symphony Space members, seniors, and children: $45

Student tickets: $30.

Call Symphony Space box office 212-864-5400

Or visit SymphonySpace.org

Anna Noggle

Glenn Seven Allen

Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg

Temple Emanu-El, 1 East 65th Street, New York, NY    Tel: (212) 744-1400
I.M. Wise Hall (1 East 65th Street Entrance)
16 May 2012, 7:30 PM

- Admission Free -

Alban Berg – Three Pieces from the Lyric Suite (1926/1928)
Tristan Keuris – Variations for Strings (1985)
Nicola LeFanu – Wind-blown Seeds (2012) / World Première
Dmitri Shostakovich – Chamber Symphony (1960)

The Arcos Orchestra presents its Third European Tour Launch Concert, Trans-European Express on 16 May 2012 at New York’s historic Temple Emanu-El (I.M. Wise Hall, 1 East 65th Street). A pre-concert talk with composer Nicola LeFanu begins at 6:30 PM. The Arcos Orchestra will be conducted by its Artistic Director, John-Edward Kelly. Admission is free to both the pre-concert talk and the concert.

The 16 May 2012 program features the World Première of a new work written for the Arcos Orchestra in 2012 by the eminent UK composer Nicola LeFanu, Wind-blown Seeds. The program also presents performances of three other works from the 2012 European Tour Repertoire: the intriguing Three Pieces from the Lyric Suite (1928) by Alban Berg, the Variations for Strings (1985) by the extraordinary Dutch composer Tristan Keuris, and the dramatically expressive Chamber Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich in a new, authorized arrangement by Arcos Artistic Director John-Edward Kelly.

Oxford and Harvard-trained Nicola LeFanu (b. 1947) is the daughter of acclaimed British composer Elizabeth Maconchy and the grand-niece of the Irish Victorian writer Sheridan LeFanu. Praised by Michael Steinberg as “a composer of exceptional gifts of head and heart”, the depth of her cultural background is reflected in her poignant, individual compositional style. Arcos is thrilled to welcome Nicola LeFanu to New York for this exciting world-première. Alban Berg’s magnificent Lyric Suite was in many ways a turning point in his musical development, and his extensive re-composition of three of its movements resulted in one of the era’s defining works for string orchestra. The Arcos Orchestra presented the North American Première of Tristan Keuris’ marvelous little Variations for Strings at its very first public concert in 2007 and has championed this fascinating work ever since. Quickly accepted as one of the milestones of the string quartet repertoire, Dmitri Shostakovich authorized Rudolf Barshai’s arrangement of his 8th Quartet for string orchestra shortly before his death. Arcos Artistic Director John-Edward Kelly’s more restrained arrangement, which was authorized by the Shostakovich estate and publisher Hans Sikorski in 2009, has removed the augmentations of the earlier version, resulting in a more direct and emotionally intensive rendering of the original string quartet.

Click here to download the Press Release.

Further information can be found at www.emanuelnyc.org and www.arcosorchestra.org.

May 21 & 22 Roulette presents highly acclaimed, Los Angeles based ensemble, Eclipse Quartet. An all-female, musical powerhouse comprised of award winning musicians, Eclipse Quartet will present two fascinating evenings of programming featuring the New York premiere of Roscoe Mitchell’s 9/9/99 version II, Morton Feldman’s epic Piano and String Quartet, 1985 (featuring guest pianist Vicki Ray), String Quartet 1931 by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Amazing Grace by Ben Johnston and, the New York premiere of Sean Heim’s No Quartet.