Living Music - contemporary compositions Sat, 05/13/06 (1574 days ago)   From: 08:00 PM To: 09:30 PM   Location: An die Musik Live! Contact: henry@andiemusik.com (410) 395-2638   Tickets $8/$5 students     Living Music Music of: Ying-Chen Kao David Witmer Osvaldo Golijov Christopher Theofanidis Artists: Jesse Irons, violin Sonya Chung, violin Karin Hardin, viola Sam Matthews, cello Caleb Jones, cello Hui-Chuan Chen, piano David Witmer, Piano Stephen Pfleiderer, Clarinet This program will focus on the works of two Peabody composers, Ying-Chen Kao and David Witmer, as well as the music of the well-known composers Osvaldo Golijov and Christopher Theofanidis. The artists are a group of ambitious, young musicians from the Peabody Institute, who are enthusiastic and experienced in performing contemporary music. The idea behind these concerts is to encourage and facilitate the performance of contemporary music written by living composers. Meet the Composers: Christopher Theofanidis (b. 1967) has had works performed by many leading orchestras from around the world, including the National Symphony, the London Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Moscow Soloists, the Atlanta and Houston Symphonies, the California Symphony (for which he was composer-in-residence from 1994 to 1996), the Oregon Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, among others. He will serve as Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony for their 2005-2006 Season. Mr. Theofanidis holds degrees from Yale, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Houston, and has been the recipient of the Masterprize, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Barlow Prize, six ASCAP Gould Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship to France, a Tanglewood Fellowhship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Charles Ives Fellowship. Mr. Theofanidis' recent projects include an opera for the Houston Grand Opera, a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre, and a work for the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus based on the poetry of Rumi. He has served as a delegate to the US-Japan Foundation's Leadership Program and currently teaches at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Juilliard School in New York City. Born in La Plata, Argentina, Osvaldo Golijov lived there and in Jerusalem before moving to the United States in 1986. He studied with George Crumb at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his doctorate, and with Lukas Foss and Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood, where he received the Koussevitzky Composition Prize. He now lives in Newton, Massachusetts, and teaches at the College of the Holy Cross. He has won two Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards for chamber music composition, in 1993 for Yiddishbbuk and in 1995 for The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind. Other recent awards include the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Stoeger Prize for Contemporary Music, the BMW prize for music theatre composition awarded by the jury of the Munich Biennale, and the Paul Fromm Award. He has received commissions and grants from the Koussevitzky, Guggenheim, Barlow, Wexner, and Fromm Foundations; Chamber Music America; Meet The Composer; and the National Endowment for the Arts. Golijov's music has been performed internationally from Washington's Kennedy Center to Tokyo's Suntory Hall, and at festivals including Tanglewood, Spoleto USA, Oregon Bach Festival, and Germany's Munich Biennale. His music can be heard on the Elektra/Nonesuch label, which recently released a CD of The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, recorded by the Kronos Quartet and David Krakauer. His 1996 premieres were Last Round, an hommage to Astor Piazzolla, commissioned by the Contemporary Music Group of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (UK), and Oceana, premiered at the Oregon Bach Festival. Current projects include new works commissioned for the Kronos Quartet, Dawn Upshaw, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a chamber opera for Boston Musica Viva. Ying-Chen Kao is currently pursuing a Masters degree in composition at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She holds her Bachelors degree in Theory Composition from the University of Miami. She started playing the piano at the age of 5, and began composing at the age of 15. She attended Kuang Jen High School, an elite music school in Taiwan for musically gifted students. In 2000, she enrolled at the University Of Miami School Of Music, where she performed extensively as an instrumental and vocal accompanist, and was recipient of the Austin Weeks Scholarship, the Maxwell R. Lepper Endowment Scholarship, and the Lawrence Friedman Music Scholarship. Her composition Toccata for Viola and Piano was premiered in the Emerging Young Composer Contest at the Festival Miami. It was described as a challenging and rich work in the Coral Gables Gazette. Her composition 530.623 (Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Viola) won the 2005 Peabody Camerarta Composer Contest. In 2005 August, 530.623 won the ERMmedia Masterworks of the New Era competition. Recently, she finished, Cloud Burst (Cello and Piano), commissioned by cellist Michael Kannen, head of Peabodys chamber music department, and founding member of the Brentano String Quartet. In 2006 Ying Chen received an Encore Grant from the American Composers Forum for her piece Haunted by an Angel, which was written for the Nietzsche Ensemble. She currently studies composition with Christopher Theofanidis. She also studied composition with John Van der Slice, Robert Gower, Paul Wilson and Lu Wen-Tze, and studied piano with J.B Floyd. David Witmer was born in Pennsylvania in 1976. At the age of four he started taking piano lessons. He went on to study piano at New England Conservatory Preparatory Program, North Carolina School of the Arts, Longy School of Music, and Boston Conservatory. He is currently enrolled at Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, studying composition. David has been awarded several named scholarships such as: The Rothschild Scholarship, The Glass Scholarship, and most recently the Lee Mitchell Endowed Memorial Scholarship. He has recently been commissioned to write a Baritone and violin piece for the Nietzsche Ensemble, and he has just recorded his first orchestra piece, Oscha, with the Kiev Philharmonic. David has studied piano, duo piano, saxophone, and Jazz performance. He is an avid performer of contemporary music, and has premiered many new compositions for chamber music and solo piano throughout the North East. He has studied piano with Sr. Anita Marchessaullt, Seth Kimmelmann, Ludmilla Lifson, Clifton Mathews, and Dr. Ernie Ragogini. David has studied composition with Yachov Gubabov, and is currently studying with Christopher Theofanidis. Meet the Artists: Born in Berlin, Vermont, Jesse Irons has been praised as a "polished and sensitive" violinist, his performances "moving... with a perfect mix of passion and precision." He serves as graduate assistant in chamber music at the Peabody Conservatory, where he is pursuing a Graduate Performance Diploma studying with Pamela Frank. As a founding member of the Rivendell String Quartet, he has appeared across the United States, as well as in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Singapore, and has worked extensively with many of the world's foremost musicians, including Joan Tower, Kim Kashkashian, and the Tokyo String Quartet. Exploring music outside the classical mainstream, Jesse has performed with Yo-Yo Ma at Carnegie Hall, following a workshop on the music and traditions of the Silk Road. Jesse is a member of CAGE, the Conservatory Avant-Garde Ensemble, and has performed as soloist with the Peabody Camerata in Alban Berg's Kammerkonzert. Sonya Chung is currently a student of Violaine Melancon at the Peabody Conservatory. She has appeared as soloist with the Richmond, Williamsburg, and New River Valley Symphonies, and the Brahms Society Orchestra in Cambridge, MA. Upcoming performances include a guest appearance with the Peabody Trio in April 2006. Sonya received her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Harvard College in 2003. A past participant of Yellow Barn Music Festival, she plans to attend Tanglewood Music Center this summer. Karin Hardin began playing the viola at age 9 in associations with her elementary school music program. She chose the viola because she wanted to be different than all the other aspiring violinists around her! She has never regretted her choice. Karin began taking lessons at age 12 with Barbara Poularikas, and then with David Holland at Interlochen Arts Academy. After she received her high school diploma in performance, she went on to Louisiana State University to study with Jerzy Kosmala and Borislava Iltcheva. Karin has attended numerous summer festivals, including Eastern Music Festival, Quartet Program, National Symphony Workshop, and Aspen Music Festival. She has shared the stage with conductors such as Michael Stern, Federico Cortese, and David Zinman. She has worked with Joshua Bell, Laurie Carney, Roberto Diaz, Charlie Castleman, Renato Bonacini, James Lyon, Diane Monroe, Paul Neubauer, and members of the Ying, Cavani, and Cleveland quartets. Karin currently studies under Victoria Chiang at the Peabody Conservatory, and will graduate in May with her Master's of Music in performance. Sam Matthews began his cello studies at age 15, after switching from violin. The next Spring he performed Haydn C-Major Cello Concerto with his youth orchestra in Springfield, Missouri. The following year he won the Paff Young Artist Competition and performed the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Springfield Symphony. In 1999, Mr. Matthews came to Peabody to study under Mihaly Virizlay in the Bachelors degree program. After finishing his degree in 2002, he won the Acting Assistant Principal Cello position in the Akron Symphony. He then returned to Peabody in 2003 to begin his masters degree with Amit Peled. During the 2003-2004 school year, he was awarded the IsraelMemorial Award and two Peabody/Singapore Fellowships. After completing his Masters in May, Sam has been performing locally and regionally, as well as competing in an international competition. In the Fall, he will begin the post of Director of Orchestras at the Shanghai American Schoo.l Hui-Chuan Chen is currently pursuing her graduate degree in piano performance at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded a full scholarship as a graduate assistant in piano accompanying. Hui-Chuan has performed internationally as a solo and chamber pianist. She was born in Kaohsiung Taiwan, and started to play the piano at the age of six. She attended Kaohsiung Senior high-school, which is an elite school for the musically gifted. Hui-Chuan has participated in Master Classes with Leon Fleisher, Christopher Elton, Ju-Ying Song, and Huang-Kuan Chen. Hui-Chuan has been involved in many competitions including the Kaohsiung City Competition, where she placed second, the Kawai Piano Competition where she placed third, and most recently was awarded third prize for playing Beethovens 3rd piano concerto in the National Taiwan Normal University Piano Competition. Hui-Chuan has also performed extensively as a chamber pianist. In the 2002 and 2004 concert seasons, she worked as a rehearsal pianist with National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. While with the National Symphony she performed the operas, Tosca and Don Giovani. She has also accompanied the renowned singer, Shou-Huo at the Recital Hall of the National Taiwan Normal University in 2003. Hui-Chuan will be accompanying Chi-Chun Chan on July 1st of 2006, in the National Concert Hall of Taipei Taiwan. Cellist Caleb Jones has gained a reputation for being a multifaceted musician. His repertoire ranges from Bach and Beethoven to Muczynski and new works by young composers such as Ryan Dorsey and Andrew Winn. In 2002, Mr. Jones won the Greenville Symphony Orchestra (South Carolina) apprenticeship and received second-place in the 2002 SCMEA All-State Solo Competition. In 2003, he was the recipient of the Emerson Scholarship of the Interlochen Arts Camp for the state of South Carolina. In the summer 2005, he attended the prestigious Music Academy of the West where he studied with Alan Stepansky and David Geber and chamber music with Peter Salaff and Jerome Lowenthal. Mr. Jones is currently a third-year student of Alan Stepansky at the Peabody Institute in the Performer's Certificate program and is a recipient of the Steven Kates Memorial Scholarship. At Peabody, he has worked with many composers and premiered many new works of varied instrumentation, including unaccompanied cello. Mr. Jones gave an unaccompanied recital for the 2006 "Peabody at Homewood Concert Series", which included works by Bach, Crumb, and a composition of his own. In March 2006, he was guest soloist and masterclass clinician with Maryland's Frederick Youth Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme. Stephen Pfleiderer, who originates from Palo Alto, California, is currently a junior in the bachelor of music program at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he is studying clarinet and bass clarinet with Edward Palanker. His former teachers include Luis Baez, Carey Bell, Don Carroll, and David Henderson. He was a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and has participated in the Eastern Music Festival, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts summer festivals. He is also the associate principal clarinetist and bass clarinetist with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.         Classical Events List Monthly Calendar (May 2006) Weekly Calendar (Week 19) Daily Calendar (Saturday, May 13 2006) Chronological Events List