CROSS ISLAND's "Quiet Strength"

CROSS ISLAND - cellist Suzanne Mueller, pianist Elinor Abrams Zayas, clarinetist Joseph Rutkowski, Jr.

Join CROSS ISLAND – Suzanne Mueller, cello,  and Elinor Abrams Zayas, piano – and clarinetist Joseph Rutkowski, Jr. as we celebrate the release of our new CD, Quiet Strength, in a concert on the Classical Concert Series at Saint Peters Church, renowned for its amazing acoustics.

The program is an eclectic one, spanning genres, styles, and centuries. Works by living composers are:
Roger Blanc – Saint Vitus Was Here (clarinet/cello)
Keri Degg – Fuerza Tranquila (cello/piano)
James Grant – To Become World (clarinet/cello)
Andreas van Haren – The Lost Child (cello/piano) and Nature Awakes (cello/piano)
Jeffrey Harrington – Nocturne (cello/piano)
Mark McCarron – The Big Picture(trio)
Paul Schoenfield – Andante (Mvt. 2, Cafe Music (trio)
Rick Sowash – Lullabye for Kara (cello/piano)
Meira Warshauer – In Memoriam, September 11, 2001 (clarinet/cello) and Bracha (cello/piano arrangement created collaboratively with teh composer; not on the album – a concert “bonus track”)

Other contemporary composers include Ruth Schonthal and Arkadie Kouguell. There will also be music by Cecile Chaminade and Frank Bridge.

Composers Roger Blanc, Mark McCarron, and Meira Warshauer will be in attendance, as will artist Rasisy Derzey, who provided the beautiful painting used on the CD and package, Giverny Revisited.

Suggested donation: $10, including a complimentary CD.
Saint Peter’s Church: 619 Lexington Avenue @ 54th Street, New York, NY

For more information, contact CROSS ISLAND or go to our website, http://crossisland.net.

KALEIDOSCOPE   万華鏡   MANGEKYOU

Music of Japan   日本の音楽

CLARINETIST THOMAS PIERCY   ~ PIANIST MIKA TANAKA

GUEST ARTIST, PIANIST CLAUDINE HICKMAN

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

8:00 pm

Gershwin Hotel ~ 7 East 27th Street  ~ New York, NY 10016

Tickets: $10 at the door.

info@TonadaProductions.com

Clarinetist Thomas Piercy and Pianist/Composer Mika Tanaka perform “KALEIDOSCOPE 万華鏡 MANGEKYOU” –  a kaleidoscopically varied concert of music of Japan including traditional Japanese folk songs, contemporary Japanese popular music, and recent contemporary classical compositions.  Pianist Claudine Hickman will appear as a special guest artist.

“KALEIDOSCOPE 万華鏡 MANGEKYOU” will feature a world premier by Jun Nagao (Your Kindness), pieces written for Mr. Piercy and Ms. Tanaka by Yohei Kurihara, and “Un nuage de tristesse” by composer/pianist Mika Tanaka.  Other composers featured on the program include Kozaburo Hirai (Paraphrase on Sakura Sakura),   Academy Award-nominated Joe Hisaishi (Summer/The Rain, Les Aventuriers, Okuribito), Amy Madoka Ito (Tsukiyo no Kojou), Yumi Kimura (Itsumo nando demo), Yoshinao Nakada (Sakura Yokocho), Yutaka Ozaki (I Love You), Academy Award-winner Ryuichi Sakamoto (Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence), and  Ippo Tsuboi (Far Away In Time).

For more information:

http://www.tonadaproductions.com/kaleidoscope_199753377537857_mangekyou.html

presents

“Songs & Soundscapes: A Musical Exploration”
(voice, cello, piano, improvisations & compositions)

at

Tenri Cultural Institute of New York
Friday, September 23, 2011 at 7pm

Brazilian native and Parisian resident renaissance man Pedro de Alcantara visits New York this fall to present “Songs & Soundscapes: A Musical Exploration” at Tenri Cultural Institute of New York on Friday, September 23, 2011 at 7pm. This program of original compositions and improvisations explores the frontier between the ordinary and the sacred in music, a place where nothing is as you expect it to be. The voice becomes a trumpet and beacon, the cello becomes a harp and a lute, and the piano becomes a resonating chapel of vibrations and oscillations.

Immediately following the concert, Pedro will be hosting a reception for his latest book, Integrated Practice: Coordination, Rhythm & Sound, published by the Oxford University Press in June, 2011.

Location: Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A West 13th Street between 5th & 6th Avenues in New York

Tickets: $20 available at the door and via Brown Paper Tickets.

Directions to Tenri:
• F, V & L trains to 14th Street & 6th Avenue
• 1, 2, & 3 trains to 14th Street & 7th Avenue
• N, Q, R, W, 4, 5 & 6 trains to 14th Street-Union Square

About Pedro de Alcantara

Pedro de Alcantara has redefined the role of the creative artist for the 21st century, showing that music, literature, teaching, and healing all flow from a single source.

After growing up in São Paulo, Brazil, Pedro studied at the State University of New York’s Purchase College (BFA in Music, 1981) and the Yale School of Music (MM in Music Performance, 1983). In 1986, while living in London, Pedro became a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, a problem-solving method based on the idea that good health is a creative act. In 1990 he moved to Paris, where he still lives.

Pedro’s first book, Indirect Procedures: A Musician’s Guide to the Alexander Technique, with a foreword by Sir Colin Davis, was published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) in 1997. Its French version came out in 2000, followed by a German translation in 2002 and a Japanese version in 2009. Also in 1997, the French publisher Editions Dangles published his second book, La Technique Alexander: Principes et Pratique, which he wrote in French (his third language, Portuguese being his mother tongue). Afterwards he rewrote the book in English. Titled The Alexander Technique: A Skill for Life, it was published by the Crowood Press in England in 1999. A translation of A Skill for Life was published in Japan in 2011.

In 2008, Pedro was named the editor of a new book series at the OUP. Titled THE INTEGRATED MUSICIAN, the series highlights the musical philosophy he has developed over the past twenty-five years and will include volumes for string players, singers, pianists, and other musicians. In the fall of 2008, AlumniVentures, a new initiative at the Yale School of Music, awarded Pedro a grant to support the series’ dedicated website. Pedro’s first volume for the series, Integrated Practice: Coordination, Rhythm & Sound was published in the summer of 2011 to wide acclaim.

In the process of preparing Indirect Procedures, Pedro discovered a passion for writing itself. From this passion poured a number of works including poems, short stories, and novels for young readers. Befiddled, his first novel, was published in 2005 by Delacorte Press – an imprint of Random House. It tells the story of 13-year-old violinist Becky Cohen and her struggles against a mean teacher, an overburdened mother, and really bad hair. Delacorte Press published Pedro’s second novel in 2009. Backtracked is a time-travel epic of New York City, in which the vessel of time travel is the city’s subway system. Currently, Pedro is working on The Divine Computer, a new novel for young readers, as well as a manual for writers titled Rhythm & Flow in a Writer’s Career.

Pedro has given seminars and presentations throughout Europe and the US, as well as Australia and New Zealand. His forthcoming visit to Japan will include a class at Nihon University, the country’s largest and most prestigious university. Pedro’s music students include the members of first-rate orchestras like the Orchestre National de Lille, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and many others. His teaching practice is broad-based and includes writers, artists, dancers, actors, and creative individuals in all fields.

Pedro’s compositions and improvisations highlight the vibrational and metaphysical aspects of music. He is currently preparing a CD of his works, scheduled for release in November, 2011.  More details at:  www.pedrodealcantara.com.

Joseph Rutkowski, Jr., clarinet; Suzanne Mueller, cello; Elinor Abrams Zayas, piano

CROSS ISLAND – cellist Suzanne Mueller, and pianist Elinor Abrams Zayas – are joined by Joseph Rutkowski, Jr., clarinetist  to finally play the concert postponed from August 14 due to severe weather – closing out the 2011 West Porch Beech Tree Concert Series at Old Westbury Gardens with a really special program of music they love from across the centuries, the world, and the musical spectrum.

Music by living composers will include:

The Big Picture, a jazz waltz by Mark McCarron, which will open the concert (and will be heard on CROSS ISLAND’s new CD, Quiet Strength, scheduled for a November 1 release)

Bracha, a breathtaking work by Meira Warshauer, in a new cello/piano transcription created in collaboration with the composer (also on  Quiet Strength, scheduled for a November 1 release).

Funeral for a Ball, a new solo cello work by Douglas DaSilva.

Relentless Machine, the third of Karel Husa’s Three Studies for Solo Clarnet, performed in honor of the composer’s 90th birthday this summer.

The Andante of Paul Schoenfield’s Cafe Music (another Quiet Strength track) .

Other composers on the program will be Morton Gould, Arkadie Kouguell, Jacques Offenbach, George Gershwin, Cecile Chaminade, Enrique Granados, and Francisco Canaro, and there will also be a trio free improvisation.

Old Westbury Gardens is one of our favorite destinations on Long Island. With its historic mansion and incredibly gorgeous grounds (featured in movies from  Love Story and North by Northwest to Hitch and American Gangster, and in television shows including Sex and the City and, most recently, Royal Pains), it’s a great place to spend the day.

Unless we have an Indian Summer day, the concert will be in the Red Ballroom, with it’s crystal clear acoustics and beautiful Steinway. If the weather cooperates, though, we’ll be under the majestic tree that gives the series its name. Regardless, while you’re there, take a tour of the house and/or gardens – the docents are both knowledgeable and welcoming.

The concert is free. Admission to the Gardens (including tours) is $10 for adults; $8 for mature adults (over 62); $5 for children 7-12; and free for children under 7.

For directions, and to learn more about Old Westbury Gardens, go to http://www.oldwestburygardens.org.

To keep up with CROSS ISLAND’s news, hear tracks, and watch performance videos, go to http://crossisland.net.

For information about the West Porch Beech Tree Concert Series or its performers, contact Suzanne Mueller  at cambiatagn@yahoo.com.

The Extensible Toy Piano Festival
Sunday, June 12, 2011 3pm
Bargemusic
Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn Bridge
Tickets: $25 ($20 Seniors; $15 Students)
Suggested Ages: 3 and up; kids are free!
Please make your reservations by emailing: reserve@bargemusic.org. You will receive an email confirmation.
Cash/Credit Cards accepted at the door.

About the Program

Phyllis Chen
Carousels, for toy piano and music box
Colura, Double Helix and Hallucinate, for toy piano and bowls
Taroko Hypnos, for toy piano and music box
Munin Raven, for music box and electronics

Phyllis Chen

Karlheinz Essl
Whatever Shall Be, toy piano and gadgets

Karlheinz Essl

Konrad Kaczmarek
32 Grains-Toy Piano, toy piano and electronics

Konrad Kaczmarek

David Claman
Piece of Work, laptop

David Claman

John McDonald
Two Formican Lullabies, toy piano, grand piano, and mezzo-soprano
Four Stand-ins, toy piano

John McDonald

Matthew Malsky
heterogeneous, toy piano and electronics

Matthew Malsky

Atsushi Yoshinaka
Bokura no Ayumi, toy piano, Japanese speaker and English speaker

Atsushi Yoshinaka

Jessica Bowers

Nancy Newman

CROSS ISLAND - Elinor Abrams Zayas; Joseph Rutkowski, Jr.; Suzanne Mueller (photo by Tiffany Thomas 2009)

CROSS ISLAND – Clarinetist Joseph Rutkowski, Jr., cellist Suzanne Mueller, and pianist Elinor Abrams Zayas – present an evening of music by Jewish composers at Bnai Israel Reform Temple, 67 Oakdale-Bohemia Road, Oakdale, NY 11769.

This program covers a wide array of music, exploring the diversity of music in this category, and includes music by contemporary composers including Leo Kraft, Kalmen Opperman, Paul Schonfield, Alex Shapiro, and Mira Warshauer:

We open with Jacques Offenbach’s beloved barcarolle, O Belle Nuit, from Les Contes d’Hoffmann.

Then, Suzanne and Joe switch up the mood with Ruth Schonthal’s dramatic yet playful Tango for Two.

Then, Joe flies solo on Leo Kraft’s New Songs for Old.

Next, it’s Suzanne’s turn to solo – on Kalmen Opperman’s beautiful Un Seul, in a transcription by Thomas Piercy.

Then, Suzanne and Ellie join forces for Edwin Finckel’s Willow Variations (built upon Willow Weep for Me, by Ann Ronell) .

Then, the trio regroups for Alex Shapiro’s beautiful trio, Elegiac.

Next, Suzanne and Ellie play Suzanne’s cello transcription of the fourth movement of Erwin Schulhoff’s jazzy Hot Sonate.

We finish out the pre-intermission set with two works by George Gershwin: First, Ellie’s rendition of the moody, atmospheric Prelude No. 2; then, a trio setting of I Got Rhythm.

After intermission, things re-start with Suzanne’s trio arrangement of Ernest Bloch’s Prayer, from his collection,” Jewish Life.

Then, staying in the traditional vein, Joe and Ellie perform Gzregorz Fitelberg’s The Wedding, from his Four Pieces in Klezmer Style.

Then, the trio plays the slinky second movement of Paul Schonfield’s Cafe Music.

Next, Joe and Suzanne join forces again, for three selections from Morton Gould’s Benny’s Gig.

Then, Suzanne and Ellie perform Meira Warshauer’s breathtaking Bracha, in a cello/piano transcription created in collabration with the composer this year.

Then, for another taste of the familiar, Joe and Ellie play Leonard Bernstein’s One Hand, One Heart, from West Side Story.

And the program ends with Melodie et Danse Hebraique, a trio by Arkadie Kouguell

(We’ve got one more short, sweet “bonus track” waiting for the audience, if they’re so inclined, but we’ll keep that to ourselves for now. ;-D)

There will also be a drawing for a copy of CROSS ISLAND’s 2010 cd, EXPLORATIONS.

Reception to follow.

Tickets are $15. For more information call 631/563-1660 or e-mail fundraising@bnai-israel.org.

Inquiries about CROSS ISLAND may be directed to crossislandensembles@gmail.com, and tracks and videos of them are available on MySpace and on Facebook.

on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at doors: 6:30 PM / Concert 7:30

Admission is $15.00 at the door or

http://lepoissonrouge.com/events/view/2155

This performance will feature one of the works on his newest CD released by Eroica Classical: the “Wanderer Fantasy” by Franz Schubert. Other works to be performed will be Johann Sebastian Bach, Italian Concerto; and Feruccio Busoni, “All’ Italia”, “Turandot’s Boudoir”; and “Carmen Fantasy”.

Andreas Klein has established himself as a dynamic and compelling performer who captivates with a wide range of tonal colors and possesses a brilliant technique. “A fascinating artist with all the indispensable qualities: temperament, taste, touch, tone, the four Ts of pianism” and “A pianist who makes silences sound like music” – New York Times

Andreas Klein’s career as soloist has taken him to the world’s most prestigious venues: London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and to Berlin, Rome, Milan, Bern, Leipzig and Dresden. He has toured Europe, the Middle East and the US, appearing on major concert series in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Cleveland, Houston and Seattle to name a view. The Tagesspiegel wrote of his concert with the Berlin Philharmoniker playing Mozart’s Concerto KV459, “Humorous flamboyancy and impeccable technique, grace, melodious sound and plenty of brilliance.”

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

Program to include:
Luigi Nono: Sofferte Onde Serene..(1976).  Video by Charles Woodman here
John Cage: Etudes Australes (1974-75)
Alvin Lucier: Memory Space (1970)
Stephen Gorbos: Echoes of Amber (2010).  Video by Charles Woodman here
Christopher Bailey: Harvest Kitchen IIa (2010)
Iannis Xenakis: Mists (1980)

+ Original video works by Charles Woodman, Kirby Pilcher, and Kichiiro Muto.
+ Performances by Augustus Arnone, Alejandro Acierto, Gary Ianco, and Noah Getz.
+ Exhibition of contemporary photography curated by Michael Mazzeo, of the Michael Mazzeo Gallery. Photography to include work by Christopher Rauschenberg, Eric William Carroll, Caleb Charland, John Chervinsky, Sebastian Lemm, Chris McCaw, and Marina Berio.

MORE:
Collide-O-Scope Music is proud to present Dream of the Noctilucent City, its second concert of the season devoted to the close interinvolvement of a variety of media forms, both sonic and visual, acoustic and electronic. Dream of the Noctilucent City features music by Iannis Xenakis, Luigi Nono, Stephen Gorbos, Christopher Bailey, John Cage, and Alvin Lucier, performed by pianist Augustus Arnone, saxophonist Noah Getz, and clarinetist Alejandro Acierto.

The program draws its inspiration from the phenomenon of noctilucent clouds, which offer a diaphanous window partially obscuring the intense light of higher, more brightly dense cloud layers. The works, which were chosen to evoke the brightly lit density of these clouds as they occur in an urban environment, includes Iannis Xenakis’s arborescent masterpiece Mists, as well as the undulating waves of intensity in Luigi Nono’s electroacoustic …Sofferte Onde Serene. A little higher up in the atmosphere we’ll find excerpts from John Cage’s Etudes Australes. Also on the program are a number of works directly employing sounds form the urban environment: Alvin Lucier’s classic Memory Space, reinterpreted across two cities, Stephen Gorbos’s Echoes of Amber, which uses field recordings made in Jaipur, a city in Rajasthan, India, and Christopher Bailey’s iridescent and explosive Harvest Kitchen. The music, presented as a continuous set, will be accompanied by videos by Kichiiro Muto, Kirby Pilcher, and Charles Woodman, and a dynamically assembled video exhibition of contemporary photography, curated by Michael Mazzeo of the Michael Mazzeo Gallery. Photography to include work by Christopher Rauschenberg, Eric William Carool, Caleb Charland, John Chervinsky, Sebastian Lemm, Chris McCaw, and Marina Berio.

Monday, October 25, 2010 at 8 p.m.

Frederick Loewe Theatre
35 West Fourth Street
New York, NY

This concert is presented by New York University as part of its Distinguished Faculty series.  It is open to the public and admission is free.

The program features the Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78 by Johannes Brahms, the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Leos Janacek, Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 7 by Anton Webern and the Sonata No. 9 (“Kreutzer”), Op. 47 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Stephanie Chase is “one of the violin greats of our era.” — Newhouse Newspapers

“Pianist William Wolfram combined elegance and clarity in his playing, with the virile, propulsive energy and mercurial shifts of mood needed to make this music come to life.” — Jules Langert, San Francisco Classical Voice

For more information about this event, call (212) 998-5424 or visit the NYU calendar at www.events.nyu.edu.  For more information about Stephanie Chase, please visit www.stephaniechase.com.