Posts Tagged “North/South”
The 39th consecutive season of the Summer Music Associates will come to an end on Saturday evening August 18th, 2012, when pianist Max Lifchitz will perform exciting dance-inspired music by composers from throughout the Americas.
The special event will start at 7:30 PM and will be held at the auditorium of the First Baptist Church (451 Main Street) in New London, New Hampshire. While tickets will be available at the door, strongly recommended is to purchase them in advance by calling 603-526-8234
Max Lifchitz will perform piano music from the Americas including such famous and popular works as Aaron Copland’s El Salon Mexico and George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. In addition to performing his own composition Elegía, Mr. Lifchitz will perform works by the legendary 19th century American virtuoso Louis Moreau Gottschalk; the Argentinean masters Alberto Ginastera and Astor Piazzolla; and the ever-popular Heitor Villa-Lobos and Ernesto Nazareth from Brazil.
 Marilyn Ziffrin Of special interest will be the first performance of a work especially written for the occasion by Marilyn Ziffrin, the esteemed Sutton, New Hampshire composer who this year celebrates her 85th birthday.
The San Francisco Chronicle described Max Lifchitz as “a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist” while the New York Times praised him for his “clean, measured and sensitive performances.”
Active as pianist, conductor and composer, Max Lifchitz was born in Mexico City in 1948 and resided in New York City since 1966, until becoming head of the music department at Albany University in Albany, NY. Lifchitz was awarded the first prize in the 1976 Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music held in Holland. The founder and director of the New York City-based North/South Chamber Orchestra, Lifchitz has appeared on concert stages throughout Europe, Latin America and the US. His numerous recordings as pianist, composer and conductor are available for streaming and download through www.classicsonline.com/North_South_Recordings/.
Comments Off
New and Recent Chamber Orchestra Works
CHEN YAO Tangents II
DAVID FARRELL Re-Callings
CHRISTOPHER JAMES Bassoon Concerto
MAX LIFCHITZ Yellow Ribbons No. 40
Claudia Schaer, violin
Carolyn Beck, bassoon
Ann Ellsworth, French Horn
Max Lifchitz, conductor
The North/South Chamber Orchestra
Christ & St Stephen’s Church
120 West 69th St (bet Bway & Columbus), NYC
Free Admission. No tickets required.
http://www.northsouthmusic.org
North/South Consonance, Inc. concludes its 32nd consecutive season of free-admission concerts on Tuesday evening June 19, 2012 when the acclaimed North/South Chamber Orchestra performs four eclectic works by American composers.
The concert will start at 8 PM and will take place at the auditorium of Christ & St. Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th St – between
 Ann Ellsworth Broadway and Columbus) in New York City. Admission is free – no tickets needed.
The program will open with the first NY premiere of Tangents II by Chen Yao. Yao studied at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing before earning a doctorate in composition at the University of Chicago. He was recently invited to join the composition faculty of the School of Music at Illinois State University. Yao employs timbre, intonation, and pulse to bridge Eastern and Western musical traditions as well as rational logic with irrational mysticism.
 Claudia Schaer A native of Chicago, IL, David E. Farrell was educated at the University of Illinois and at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. His teachers included Claude Baker, Zack Browning, Don Freund and Richard Wernick. Last fall he joined the composition faculty of Metropolitan State University in Denver.
Re-Callings for solo violin and large mixed ensemble “bounces freely from one melody to another, tossing one aside in favor of the next, again and again. While this seems chaotic early in the piece, motives are freely recalled in altered states as the music progresses, bringing about a sense of unity and completion by the work’s end.”
Christopher James studied composition with Isaac Nemiroff and David Lewin at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and pursued graduate study under David Diamond and Milton Babbitt at The Juilliard School. Concerning his Bassoon Concerto James explains that “…in writing this work, my aim was above all to deal with the expressive capabilities of the bassoon– I dearly love the instrument, and I hope it shows. But in a concerto you want fireworks, so I threw in some fireworks. And not grudgingly! The composition of this extensive three – movement work spanned the
 Carolyn Beck period when I was an expectant father, and my first year and a half of fatherhood. This definitely explains appearance of the baby rattle in the finale, and very likely the predominantly sunny character of the piece.”
To conclude the program, the North/South Chamber Orchestra will perform a work by Max Lifchitz, its founder and music director. Lifchitz was born and educated in México City but has lived in New York since 1966. His Yellow Ribbons No. 40 belongs to a series of works being written as homage to the former American hostages in Iraq. The work is in four contrasting but inter-connected movements.
North/South Consonance’s 2011-12 season is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; grants from Columbia University’s Alice M. Ditson Fund, the Zethus Fund for Contemporary Music, the Music Performance Funds from the American Federation of Musicians, and contributions by many generous individuals.
For further information about North/South Consonance’s activities, including concerts and recordings, please visit http://www.northsouthmusic.org/
Comments Off
Art Songs by Composers from Brazil
Martha Herr, soprano
Israel Pessoa, bass
Max Lifchitz, piano
program will include songs by
Ernani Braga, Luciano Gallet, Camargo Guarnieri, Francisco Mignone, Ronaldo Miranda,
Alberto Nepomuceno, Marlos Nobre, Almeida Prado, Achille Picchi and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Christ & St Stephen’s Church
120 West 69th St (bet Bway & Columbus), NYC
Free Admission. No tickets required.
North/South Consonance, Inc. continues its 32nd consecutive season of free-admission concerts on Tuesday evening June 12, 2012 when acclaimed soprano Martha Herr, bass Israel Pessoa, and pianist Max Lifchitz join forces for an evening featuring exclusively art songs by Brazilian composers.
The concert will start at 8 PM and will take place at the auditorium of Christ & St. Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th St – between Broadway and Columbus) in New York City. Admission is free – no tickets needed.
The program will feature art songs by Brazilian composers from the 19th and 20th century including Ernani Braga, Luciano Gallet, Camargo Guarnieri, Francisco Mignone, Ronaldo Miranda, Alberto Nepomuceno, Marlos Nobre, Almeida Prado, Achille Picchi and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
The performers are available for interviews and other media events and may be contacted through the North/South office at ns.concerts(at)att.net.
North/South Consonance’s 2011-12 season is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; grants from Columbia University’s Alice M. Ditson Fund, the Zethus Fund for Contemporary Music, the Music Performance Funds from the American Federation of Musicians, and contributions by many generous individuals.
For further information about North/South Consonance’s activities, including concerts and recordings, please visit http://www.northsouthmusic.org/
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Soprano Martha Herr has received wide acclaim for her work in opera, oratorio, recitals and recordings. A champion of the vocal music of her adopted country Brazil, she has premiered operas by Arrigo Barnabé, Tim Rescala and Jorge Antunes. She also participated in the first Brazilian production of Wagner’s Rin in the historical opera house of Manaus in the Amazonas.
 Martha Herr Ms. Herr also participated in the premiere of Morton Feldman’s neither at the Rome Opera and John Cage’s Europera V at the North American New Music Festival. Her recordings include an album devoted to the songs by Virgil Thomson, and an album devoted to Brazilian songs including the ever-popular Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos. The Chair of the voice department at the State University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, Herr is a visiting professor at Bennington College this season.
Israel Pessoa, bass, was invited by the beloved Anna Moffo to participate in her master classes at the Metropolitan Opera House. After critically acclaimed appearances at the Sao Paulo Opera House, Pessoa was invited to perform with several US companies including, among others, the Tulsa Opera; the Athens Opera in Georgia; the Cava di Tirreni Festival in Italy; the NY Opera Forum; and the NY Cantata Singers.
A native of Goiania-Goias, Brazil, Pessoa trained as vocalist and choral conductor at the Sao Paulo Baptist Theological Seminary and at
 Israel Pessoa the State University Of Sao Paulo before relocating to the US in 1995. He is the featured soloist in the premiere recording of a Te Deum and a Mass by the 18th century Brazilian composer Tristao Mariano da Costa.
Pianist Max Lifchitz has appeared on concert stages throughout Europe, Latin America and the US. He was awarded the first prize in the 1976 Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music held in Holland.
The San Francisco Chronicle described Max Lifchitz as “a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist” while the New York Times praised Mr. Lifchitz for his “clean, measured and sensitive performances.”
A graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University, Lifchitz has appeared on concert stages throughout Europe, Latin America and the US. He was awarded the first prize in the 1976 Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music held in Holland. His numerous recordings as pianist, composer and conductor are available for streaming and download through www.classicsonline.com/North_South_Recordings/
Comments Off
The North/South Chamber Orchestra under the direction of its founder Max Lifchitz premieres works by Ada Gentile, Yalil Guerra, Victor Kioulaphides, Harold Schiffman and Aurelio de la Vega on Sunday, February 19 at 3 PM. Free admission!
Comments Off
 Max Lifchitz – the Mexican-born composer and long-time New York City resident — will appear as pianist in a program devoted entirely to his music planned for Saturday afternoon March 12 2011.
The event will be held in the elegant Bruno Walter Auditorium at the recently refurbished NY Public Library for the Performing Arts (40 Lincoln Center Plaza – Amsterdam Ave at 65th St). It will start at 2:30 PM. Admission is free (no tickets required).
For further information about the event as well as directions please visit
http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2011/03/12/concert-northsouth-consonance-featuring-pianist-max-lifchitz?nref=62993
A retrospective program, the concert will feature compositions written during the last four decades.
It will include Five Preludes for Piano (written in 1964); The Blood Orange (for narrator, violin and piano — written in 2006); Mosaico Latinoamericano (for flute and piano —written in 1991); Vignettes for woodwind quintet (written in 2005); as well as Yellow Ribbons No. 10 (for piano – written in 1981) and Yellow Ribbons No. 39 (for solo flute— written in 2005).
Mr. Lifchitz will be joined by several of the distinguished performers who have premiered and recorded his works. They include actress/narrator Norma Fire; flutist Lisa Hansen; violinist Claudia Schaer; and The Sylvan Winds.
Mr. Lifchitz will introduce his works to the public and meet with the audience during intermission and after the concert.
Lifchitz began his musical training in Mexico City under the direction of the Spanish composer Rodolfo Halffter. After moving to New York City in 1966 Lifchitz studied composition with Luciano Berio at Juilliard and Leon Kirchner at Harvard. His creative endeavors have been possible with grants from among others, the ASCAP, Ford and Guggenheim Foundations; the NYS Council on the Arts and the National Endowment on the Arts. He was awarded first prize in the 1976 Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music held in Holland. Lifchitz has been active in the New York new music scene since the late 1960’s and has toured throughout Latin America and Europe with grants from the US Artists at International Festivals Fund. He was honored with the 2009 Zethus Fund Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his tireless efforts on behalf of the music by living composers.
Mr. Lifchitz’s compositions and performances are available for streaming and download through the web at
http://www.classicsonline.com/North_South_Recordings/
http://www.dramonline.org/albums/music-of-max-lifchitz
Comments Off
TOQUES FEMENINOS
FEMININE TOUCHES
Piano music by Three Generations of
Women Composers from the Europe and the Americas
JUDITH LANG ZAIMONT (USA) Serenade (2006)
ALA BORZOVA (Russia/USA) Fairy Tale Pictures (1986)
JENNIFER CASTELLANO (USA) Sketches (2009)
ELISENDA FABREGAS (Spain/USA) Homenaje a Mompou (2006)
KATHERINE HOOVER (USA) Dream Dances (2008)
FAYE ELLEN SILVERMAN (USA) Three/Four (2007)
JACQUELINE NOVA (Colombia) Transiciones (1975)
ALA PAVLOVA (Russia/USA) Prelude (1995)
ALICIA TERZIAN (Argentina) Toccata (1954)
AWILDA VILLARINI (Puerto Rico) Bomba y Plena (1996)
MARGARITA ZELENAIA (Russia/USA) Impromptu (2006)
Max Lifchitz, piano
“
“A consummate musician …. one of America’s finest exponents of contemporary piano music.”
American Record Guide
Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 3 PM
Christ & St. Stephen’s Church
120 West 69th Street, NYC
(between Broadway & Columbus)
Free Admission
No Comments »
North/South Consonance’s 30th Anniversary Gala!
Chamber Orchestra Works by Composers from the Americas
featuring new and recent compositions by
Elizabeth Bell, Edward Green, Max Lifchitz
Hilary Tann & Stephen Yip
performers include
Arthur Campbell, clarinet
Megan Levin, harp
Helen Lin, piano
Max Lifchitz, conductor
The North/South Chamber Orchestra
Monday, March 8 at 8 PM
Merkin Concert Hall
129 West 67th St (bet Bway & Amsterdam), NYC
Free Admission.
First come first serve.
Tickets available at the Merkin Hall box office after 7 PM the evening of the concert
http://www.northsouthmusic.org
North/South Consonance, Inc. celebrates its 30th consecutive season of advocacy on behalf of music by living composers with a special chamber orchestra concert at New York City’s Merkin Concert Hall (129 West 67th St) on Monday, March 8, 2010 at 8 PM.
Distinguished guest artists including clarinetist Arthur Campbell; harpist Megan Levin; and pianist Helen Lin will join the GRAMMY nominated North/South Chamber Orchestra conducted by its founder Max Lifchitz for the special event. The program will include recent works especially written for the occasion by American composers Elizabeth Bell, Edward Green, Max Lifchitz, Hilary Tann and Stephen Yip.
Admission is free. First come first serve. Tickets may be picked up at the Merkin Concert Hall box office after 7 PM the evening of the concert.
No Comments »
Carlos Chavez: A Celebration!
 Carlos Chavez in 1940 Rachel Rosales, soprano
Claudia Schaer, violin
Bruce Wang, cello
Nuiko Wadden, harp
Max Lifchitz, piano
Saturday, Nov 14 at 3 PM
Bruno Walter Auditorium
Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts
111 Amsterdam Ave (at 65th St)
New York City
 Rachel Rosales On Saturday, November 14 at 3 PM North/South Consonance, Inc. will present a program devoted to the music of Carlos Chávez, the late Mexican composer and conductor who lived between 1899 and 1978.
The event will take place at the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Ave at 65th St) in New York City. Admission is free. No Tickets required.
One of Latin America’s most famous composers, Chávez was a powerful figure in México’s cultural life. He founded the National Symphony Orchestra and also directed México’s National Conservatory. In 1947, Chávez became the founding director of the National Institute of Fine Arts.
Well known in the US and Europe as a conductor and lecturer, Chavez appeared at the helm of most major symphony orchestras and delivered the 1959 Charles Elliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. His most popular work is the SinfonÃa India, an orchestral fresco full of vigorous, obsessive rhythms reminiscent of Aztec dances. His musical output is vast and exhibits great variety and diversity.
Chávez is closely identified with the artistic movement known as the “Aztec Renaissance.” This movement aimed to revive the music of Pre-Columbian México hence creating a true, non-European, Mexican sound.
The concert will feature vocal and instrumental compositions written during a span of approximately 55 years, from around 1915 until the early 1970′s. Included in the program will be the youthful arrangements of Mexican corridos (popular revolutionary songs) published in 1915 as well as the Madrigal for cello and piano written in 1920. Also included will be the three seminal Sonatinas written in 1924 (one for solo piano, one for violin and one for cello) written in 1924 that exhibit all the elements of Chávez’s mature, nationalistic style will also be performed. The Invention for Harp and High Vocalisse (1970) for coloratura soprano will also be performed. These works exemplify the composer’s infatuation with the modernism and experimentation rampant in the 1960′s and early 1970′s. Chavez’s masterful arrangement of Four Traditional Ecuadorian Songs written in 1942 while traveling in South America will also be performed.
For more information about this exciting concert series including complete schedule please visit
http://www.northsouthmusic.org
To stream and/or download the entire catalogue of recordings issued by the
North/South Recordings label please visit
http://www.classicsonline.com/North_South_Recordings
No Comments »
Villa-Lobos: Modinhas & Canções
Stela Brandão, soprano
Max Lifchitz, piano
Sunday, November 8 at 3 PM
Christ & St Stephen’s Church
120 West 69th St (bet Bway & Columbus), NYC
Free Admission. No tickets required.
Celebrating the 4th Annual Latin American Cultural Week in NYC
http://www.northsouthmusic.org
________________________________________
North/South Consonance, Inc. inaugurates its 30th consecutive season with a special concert focusing on the vocal music of Heitor Villa-Lobos, the great Brazilian master on Sunday, November 8 at 3 PM.
The event will feature soprano Stela Brandão accompanied by pianist Max Lifchitz in the performance of the complete cycle of Songs and Modinhas by Villa-Lobos. It will be held at the auditorium of Christ & St. Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th St) in Manhattan. Admission is free.
The concert is part of the 4th Annual Latin American Cultural Week in New York City organized by the Pan American Musical Art Research, Inc. (PAMAR).
A native of Rio de Janeiro, soprano Stela Brandão studied voice at the University of Brasilia before going on to earn a masters degree in performance from Brooklyn College (CUNY) and a doctorate from Teachers College at Columbia University. She advanced her vocal studies with Caroline Murdoch, Richard Barrett, Eleanor Clark and Jan Prokop and coached with, among others, Dalton Baldwin, Nico Castel and Eleanor Steber. A strong advocate of Brazilian music and culture, Ms. Brandão has performed throughout her native country as well as at the United Nations and the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. As a guest professor, she taught the course African Roots of Brazilian Music at Hunter College, and has been invited to teach Brazilian and Latin American repertoire nationwide at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Workshops (NATS), at Mannes College of Music, at the Project Canción Española in Granada, and at the Barcelona Festival of Song. She has also researched and written extensively about the Brazilian vocal repertoire including a highly regarded article about the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by the Brazilian master Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Active as pianist and composer, Max Lifchitz is a native of Mexico City and has resided in New York City since 1966. Described by the American Record Guide magazine as “one of America’s finest exponents of contemporary piano music,” Mr. Lifchitz has released 9 compact disc albums featuring piano music by composers from the Americas. A graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University, Mr. Lifchitz has appeared as soloist and recitalist throughout the US, Europe and Latin America. Praised by the New York Times for his “clean, measured and sensitive performances,” Lifchitz has performed in major Brazilian cities at the invitation of the Academia Brasileira de Musica and the Festival Musica Nova.
The artists will be available for interviews and other media related events. They may be contacted through our office at (212) 663-7566 or via e-mail at
North/South Consonance’s 2009-10 season is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support comes from the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University in the City of NY; the Music Performance Funds of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians; and contributions from many generous individuals.
For further information about its activities, including concerts and recordings, please visit http://www.northsouthmusic.org/
No Comments »
|
Entries (RSS)