Keeril Makan's Composer Portrait at Miller Theatre

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 1, 2014, 8 a.m.

Columbia University's Miller Theatre has been a singular venue in New York for their Composer Portrait series, which explores the works of single composers in depth. Recent Composer Portraits have featured the works of Chaya Czernowin and Bernard Rands, both performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble. On Friday, December 5th, the Either/Or Ensemble, led by Richard Carrick, will perform an evening of works by Keeril Makan, including the World Premeire of If We Knew The Sky, composed in 2014, and the New York Premeire of Letting Time Circle Through Us, commissioned and premiered in 2013 by Either/Or. 

Either/Or and Makan have enjoyed numerous collaborations, with the ensemble's sensitive, virtuosic playing nurturing Makan's compositional focus on stillness, flow, timbre, and reverberation. Makan has written eloquently in the New York Times about his compositional process, and we have featured his work here on the PSNY Blog. Check out a performance of Makan's The Noise Between Thoughts by Either/Or: 

Don't miss The New Yorker's portrait article on Makan, writen by Russell Platt, in anticipation of his Miller Theatre concert on Friday.

 

Matthias Pintscher on the East Coast: Upcoming Curtis, Washington, DC Concerts

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 4, 2012, 9:52 p.m.

Matthias Pintscher, who in 2013 takes up the reigns of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, isn't leaving the States quite yet: this weekend, December 8th and 9th, Pintscher conducts a series of two concerts featuring eighth blackbird and Curtis 20/21, the Curtis Institute of Music's resident student new music ensemble, in Philadelphia. With Pintscher conducting, the two ensembles perform a program of works curated by Pintscher including his solo piano work, on a clear day, as well as works by Berio, Donatoni, and Schoenberg. The performances are free and open to the public, and take place in Curtis' Gould Rehearsal Hall. 

And if you can't make the performances in Philadelphia, check out Pintscher in Washington, DC: on December 13th, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) presents their Composer Portrait on Matthias Pintscher at the Phillips Collection. The program also includes on a clear day, as well as a rare performance of dernier espace avec introspecteur, for accordion and cello, featuring accordion player William Schimmel. 

Watch Claire Chase of ICE and Melissa Smey of Columbia's Miller Theater discuss this Composer Portrait concert below: 

We're sure these are concerts you won't want to miss!

Fred Lerdahl's Complete String Quartets Performed in Boston

by Ted Gordon on Oct. 18, 2012, 2:06 p.m.

On October 18th, 2012, the Deadalus Quartet performs the complete String Quartet Cycle of Fred Lerdahl (Nos. 1, 2, & 3) at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, presented by Columbia University's Miller Theatre. This program is a touring composer portrait presented by the Miller Theatre, which presented the Deadalus Quartet performing Lerdahl's String Quartet No. 3 in 2010. Don't miss this concert!

Fred Lerdahl, who since 1991 has been the Fritz Reiner Professor of Music at Columbia University, began composing string quartets in 1978 with String Quartet No. 1, later returning to the form with his second quartet in 1982, and finally composing his latest quartet specifically for the Daedalus Quartet in 2008. Lerdahl writes,

"The Third Quartet is the finale of a large-scale work that begins with the First Quartet and continues with the Second. The First Quartet takes the form of 15 geometrically expanding variations, starting with a simple chord and elaborating gradually into a variation six minutes long. Its sequel, the Second Quartet, continues the expansion with two more variations of nine and 13 minutes. The Third Quartet constitutes in its entirety a last expanded variation. At the same time, it periodically interposes reminiscences from the two earlier quartets, progressing through the Second back to the First. The coda of Third Quartet comes full circle by stating in reverse order the brief opening variations of the First Quartet."

All three Quartets are available on a CD released by Bridge Records, performed by the Daedalus Quartet and released in 2008. Don't miss your chance to see these works performed live!