Ensemble Dal Niente Premieres New Work by Anthony Cheung

by Ted Gordon on Jan. 23, 2017, 3:33 p.m.

Anthony Cheung is a composer with deep roots in both New York and Chicago. In one city he studied and still co-directs the Talea Ensemble, and in the other has been composing and teaching at the University of Chicago. Three members of Ensemble Dal Niente, one of Chicago's most dynamic new music ensembles, brings Cheung's music back to New York for an evening of works that bridge these two cities, featuring works for solo instruments and ensemble that travel between simplicity and virtuosity, meditation and play. 

On January 23rd at Spectrum NYC, flutist Emma Hospelhorn, oboist Andrew Nogal, and clarinetist Katie Schoepflin perform works by Cheung and several other composers based in Chicago and elsewhere. The instrumentalists will begin with solo works, including Cheung's Après une lecture for solo oboe, Toshio Hosokawa's Vertical Song I for solo flute, and Pierce Gradone'sAutomaton for solo bass, before moving on to ensemble works by Alex Temple, Carola Bauckholt, and Joël-François Durand. Check out Bauckholt's Zopf below. 

Ted Hearne's "Coloring Book" On Tour with Roomful of Teeth

by Ted Gordon on Jan. 19, 2017, 3:24 p.m.

Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth is currently touring the country, with stops in Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, DC, Rochester, and many more in between. Their program features Ted Hearne's  Coloring Book, which they commissioned and premiered in 2015. Coloring Book consists of five songs, which set text by Zora Neale Hurston, Claudia Rankine, and James Baldwin.

Hearne's musical and political work is tied deeply to current issues surrounding power, identity, and resistance in contemporary America. After premiering in 2014 at BAM, his ambitious "modern-day oratorio" The Source, which sets texts from Wikileaks and deals with the life of Chelsea Manning, has been performed at the LA Opera, reviewed by Pitchfork, and released as an album on New Amsterdam Records. With Manning's recent presidential pardon by Barack Obama, Hearne's music is more powerful and topical than ever. 

Hearne's music will also be heard at National Sawdust on February 3rd, in an evening of music performed by The Crossing and produced by Beth Morrison Projects. Sound from the Bench collects works by Hearne that set legal and judicial texts to music, directly addressing the affective power that the American justice system has over our everyday lives. Sound from the Bench includes a performance of Hearne's Consent, for 16 voices. An album of Hearne's choral works recorded by The Crossing will be released via Cantaloupe Music on March 24. Check out an excerpt of Consent below. 

Fidelio Trio Premieres Ann Cleare's "93 Million Miles"

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 13, 2016, 11:30 a.m.

The fourth annual Fidelio Winter Chamber Music Festival, held on December 4th, saw the world premiere of a new commission for string trio by PSNY composer Ann Cleare, titled 93 Million Miles. The estimated distance between the earth and the sun—which has been subject to numerous conspiracy theories and tireless debate—forms the central metaphor for this piece, which juxtaposes what Cleare calls "two blocks of material, two distant places [...] always so infinitely close, and so infinitely far."

To get a sense of Cleare's writing for strings and piano, check out her 2009 work, inner, for cello and piano: