European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

Johannes Maria Staud at The Kennedy Center’s Music of Budapest, Prague and Vienna Festival

Mar. 06, 2012

Johannes Maria Staud at The Kennedy Center’s <em>Music of Budapest, Prague and Vienna</em> Festival

The Kennedy Center’s Music of Budapest, Prague and Vienna festival welcomes Johannes Maria Staud this month as the composer curates a portion of the festival’s Three Cities Chamber Music Marathon on March 11. The Third Conservatory Project Chamber Ensemble, made up of musicians from each of the 15 participating conservatories, colleges and universities of The Kennedy Center’s Conservatory Project, performs Staud’s ensemble works Sydenham Music, Lagrein, and Esquisse retouchée (Incipit II) alongside György Kurtág's Signs, Games and Messages, Hommage à R. Sch and works by Martin Smolka.

The marathon also includes performances by members of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Takács Quartet in a program of 20th-and-21st-century music. Staud’s Sydenham music, for flute, viola and harp, is an homage to the Sydenham borough of London where the composer experienced a profound connection to the work of the impressionists, specifically, Pissarro’s The Avenue Sydenham and Debussy’s Sonate pour flute, alto et harpe. Staud explains:

What unites both works for me is the ambiguity between fragility and brightness, precision and blurred lines, melancholy and optimism, pastoral interest and a rational mind. If one believes in synaesthesia (I am not sure if I do), Pissarro’s canvas would surely sound like Debussy’s sonata (and vice versa).

After living in Sydenham myself for two and a half years (and tracing Pissarro’s footsteps through Lawrie Park Avenue at least twice a week on my way to Crystal Palace park), I finally felt that it was time to pay tribute to this inspiring suburban area of London. This time I did an unusual thing, for I chose this most tender instrumentation and tried to write a thoroughly quiet and fragile piece. As it happens, I could not completely do justice to this intention, as a stirring sonority forced itself finally and suddenly to the surface.

Running February 25 through March 29, The Kennedy Center’s Music of Budapest, Prague and Vienna festival, under the guidance of NSO Music Director Christoph Eschenbach, explores the rich musical heritage of these three European cities that proved central to Classical and Romantic music and altered the course of artistic history. The festival features performances by the NSO, the Takács Quartet, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Prague Philharmonia and musicians from The Kennedy Center’s Conservatory Project as well as a series of engaging lectures and discussions.

For more on Johannes Maria Staud, please visit www.universaledition.com.

Details on Music of Budapest, Prague and Vienna are located at www.kennedy-center.org.

Johannes Maria Staud
Sydenham music (2007)
for flute, viola and harp
7’

Lagrein (2008)
for violin, clarinet, cello and piano
13’

Esquisse retouchée (Incipit II)(2001-2002)
for trombone (with bass drum)
9’

News