LUNAR ENSEMBLE

Tickets: $10/$5 students

PROGRAM

DAVID SMOOKE – Hazmats
EMILY KOH – Frigia
MICHAEL SHEPPARD – Mad World Fantasy (performed by Michael Sheppard)
JOHN HARBISON – The Mirabai Songs (performed by Lisa Perry and John Wilson)
JAKE RUNESTAD – The Soul, Like the Moon
MICHAEL KIBBE – Death in the Backyard
PAUL MATHEWS – Im Spiegel

MUSICIANS OF THE LUNAR ENSEMBLE

MARTIROS SHAKZHADYAN – Violin
PETER KIBBE – Cello
STEPHANIE RAY – Flute/ Piccolo
JENNIFER HUGHSON – Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet
JOHN WILSON – Piano
LISA PERRY – Soprano
GEMMA NEW – Conductor
MICHAEL SHEPPARD - Piano, Guest Artist

The Lunar Ensemble aims to promote fresh new contemporary music composed by Peabody students and alumni, and other talented composers from across America. Formed in 2009, this chamber ensemble features fine instrumentalists and singers affiliated with the prestigious Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University. The ensemble has performed in various venues, including the An Die Musik Hall of Baltimore, MD and the new Steinman Hall for the LAUNCH Music Festival in Lancaster, PA. While last season showcased world premieres alongside canonical giants of 21st Century music, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, this season we want to focus more on music that is exciting, new and hot off the press.

NOTES

DAVID SMOOKE – Hazmats
Composer David Smooke (b. 1969) currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland, where he teaches music theory, rock music history, and composition, and is the Chair of the Music Theory Department at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. The Washington Post claims that "Smooke has some of the most uninhibited brain cells around" and describes his music as "superb [...] a kaleidoscopic sonic universe where anything could happen"; the Baltimore Sun adds that it is “a highly creative, absorbing experience.” His honors include those from the Maryland State Arts Council, BMI, and the MacDowell Colony, and commissions for groups including the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and CUBE. In addition to his composition activities, David performs improvisations on toy piano with the support of Schoenhut toy pianos, co-curates League of the Unsound Sound (LotUS) and writes a weekly column for NewMusicBox, the online magazine of the American Music Center.

This piece was written for the California E.A.R. Unit to perform at Arcosanti, the famous Paolo Soleri-designed ecologically-sound planned urban environment in the high Arizona desert. As with most of my music, it explores the relationship between humanity and nature. The bird calls that appear throughout are generally evocative rather than an exact transcription of any specific bird. They are heard in all octaves and in each instrument and their distorted nature gives the sense of being dropped into an eerie landscape. These calls eventually coalesce into an extended melody near the end of the piece. Atmospheric textures and asymmetrical grooves ebb and flow, at times serving as the ground over which the birds roam and at times altering the calls. This piece creates a range of sounds despite using very limited compositional resources, in that sense perhaps reflecting the purpose of Arcosanti.

EMILY KOH – Frigia
Emily Koh is an award-winning young composer of contemporary classical music based in Boston MA, and a native of Singapore. She is the winner of the 2011 Composers Conference at Wellesley College commission, 2011 Prix d'Ete, 2011 ABLAZE Millennial Masters competition, 2011 National Arts Council Composition Competition amongst others, and her works have been performed in festivals, conferences and various venues in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

Emily is currently a doctoral fellow at Brandeis University, where she is completing her Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory. She also holds degrees and diplomas from the Peabody Conservatory, the National University of Singapore, the Trinity College of Music and the Royal Schools of Music. Frigia is inspired by the changing foilage of the New England fall and winter seasons, and is set to text written by the composer. Like the text, the piece is a skewed palindrome, with the outer sections mirrored around the word 'frigia'. The music's noir and psychedelic qualities, painted in part by the low soprano writing and the juxtaposition of microtonal and diatonic clusters in the instrumental ensemble, are a reflection on the composer's reinterpretation of beauty.

The word frigia is from the Flash Gordon comic series, where it the name of an ultra-modern ice kingdom ruled by Queen Fria, on the rogue planet Mongo.

MICHAEL SHEPPARD – Mad World Fantasy
Already a rising star of his generation of artists, Michael Sheppard is a pianist of dazzling virtuosity and penetrating musicianship. Trained at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, he studied with the great Leon Fleisher and Ann Schein. In addition to being a Classical Fellow of the American Pianists Association, Sheppard has also been a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and the La Gesse Foundation and a prizewinner in the National Federation of Music Clubs National Competition. Deeply committed to new music, he has worked closely with composers Nicholas Maw, Michael Hersch, Robert Sirota and John Corigliano. Sheppard is a composer in his own right and often programs his original compositions. This is the premiere of his new Mad World Fantasy.

JAKE RUNESTAD – The Soul, Like the Moon
Award-winning composer Jake Runestad (b. 1986) is noted for his versatility and wide range of expressive capabilities with music driven by soaring melodies, driving rhythms, and lush textures. Considered “highly imaginative” (Baltimore Sun) and “...a voice for the future of composition” (Jeffrey Biegel, pianist), his diverse musical experiences, spanning several continents, have inspired him to create music that captures the emotional vibrancy of life experiences while transcending diverse musical genres. Find out more at www.JakeRunestad.com

MICHAEL KIBBE – Death in the Backyard
Kibbeʼs total creative output is over 200 concert works, including pieces for band, orchestra, concertos, and a large variety of chamber music. His award winning compositions have been performed throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe, Israel and China. Mr. Kibbe plays most of the woodwind instruments, and currently plays 1st oboe with Los Angeles Pierce College Symphonic Winds and with Composers Ensemble Los Angeles, and oboe or English horn with the San Fernando Valley Symphony. Further information about his works can be found on my web site: www.michaelkibbe.com.