NoExit N

ew

Music E

nse

mble

from left to right; Jam

es Praznik, James Rhodes, Luke Rinderknecht, Eric G

onzalez, Timothy Beyer,

Nicholas U

nderhill, Sean Gabriel, N

ick Diodore and Cara Tweed.

12

Since it’s inception, the idea behind NoExit has been to serve as an outlet for the com

mission

and performance of contem

porary avant-garde concert music. N

ow in our eighth season and

with well over sixty comm

issions to date, NoExit is going strong in our efforts to prom

ote the m

usic of living composers and to be an im

petus for the creation of new w

orks. We have strived

to create exciting, meaningful and thought-provoking program

s; always w

ith the philosophy of bringing the concert hall to the com

munity (not the other w

ay around) and by presenting our program

s in a manner w

hich allows for our audience to really connect w

ith the experience......... free and open to the public in every sense.

For NoExit’s 2016-2017 concert season w

e’ve expanded our programm

ing to include more

than twice the num

ber of concerts than in previous years! We w

ill continue to participate in the N

eoSonicFest and produce our successful series of exchange concerts with the St.Paul,

Minnesota based new

music ensem

ble Zeitgeist, who w

e will be perform

ing with in C

leveland this January. And of course, unveiled before your very eyes, m

ore newly com

missioned pieces

will see their w

orld premiere this season than you can shake a stick at.

NoExit is grateful to have such an enthusiastic and engaged audience. W

e have so many

extraordinary things in store for you, so keep listening!

Thank you for your support.

Program

Friday, January 12 at Wolfs G

allery

Duo No. 2 - Bohuslav M

artinů G

od Bless the Child - Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.Tzim

tzum “W

orld Premiere” - Joshua M

usikantow

Intermission

Suburb - Colin HolterThe grace of presence - Jennifer Higdon

Varied Trio - Lou Harrison

Saturday, January 13 at Heights Arts and Sunday, January 14 at SPACES

No Exit for Zeitgeist “W

orld Premiere” - Nicholas Underhill

Spiral XIV “NIm

itta” - Chinary Ung

Intermission

Tzimtzum

“World Prem

iere” - Joshua Musikantow

Found Again, Secure in Migration - Eric M

. C. Gonzalez

Blurred - Bill Ryan

God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog Jr.

Duo N

o.2 - Bohuslav M

artinů

34

Corey Rubin (b.1983)Tzim

tzum - Joshua M

usikantow

Duo N

o.2 for Violin and Cello opens w

ith the fast paced, high energy of the Allegretto and m

oves to the evocative, haunting and at tim

es ethereal Adagio, and ends with the visceral, Bartok-tinged

Poco allegro. This piece epitomizes so m

uch of what is unique and

wonderful about M

artinu’s work.

The word ‘prolific’ is an understatem

ent when applied to M

artinů’s body of work. He wrote quickly - com

posing Duo N

o.2 in four days - and has an extensive catalogue of m

ore than 400 opus numbers

to show for it. Even being diagnosed w

ith stomach cancer in 1958 didn’t seem

to slow dow

n his output. M

artinů composed around thirty pieces in the year preceding his death. W

ritten in June - July of 1958, D

uo No.2 is am

ong his final works.

Widely considered to be the greatest C

zech composer of his tim

e, Bohuslav M

artinů (b.1890 - d.1959) w

as born in the small Bohem

ian-Moravian border tow

n of Policka. Because of his father’s position as the tow

n’s fire watchm

an and bell ringer, Martinů spent his early years living

with his fam

ily in cramped quarters situated at the top of a church bell tow

er. A popular anecdote states that as a result of his unusual childhood surroundings, a listener can hear a ‘bell sound’ in all of M

artinu’s pieces. You can still visit the room w

here he grew up w

hich has since been turned into a m

useum.

Despite periodic visits to the C

zech Republic, M

artinů spent most of his adult life as an

expatriate, calling both Paris and the United States hom

e for a time. This is no doubt largely due

to the Nazi occupation of the C

zech Republic follow

ed by the Soviet presence in his homeland.

I’ve always thought that part of M

artinu’s brilliance as a composer w

as his ability to write in

so many varied m

ediums and his rem

arkable aptitude to assimilate and adapt a w

ide range of genres and styles of m

usic into his own com

positions. Whether he incorporated Baroque

counterpoint, neo-classicism, C

zech folk melodies, im

pressionism, jazz or took a page from

D

ebussy’s, Stravinky’s or Bartok’s book, his works alw

ays clearly resonated in his own singular

voice. Who else w

ould compose a C

harleston to be performed w

ith kitchen utensils?

Classic songs have an ability to resonate in one way or another with every thoughtful listener. Billie H

oliday’s song God B

less the Child, created by her and Arthur Herzog Jr. following an

intense ght Holiday had w

ith her mother over m

oney, is a classic that inspired an impressive

list of composers and perform

ers to put their own creative spin on her w

ork. Eric Dolphy’s

interpretation, a bass clarinet solo from his 1963 album

“Here and There”, perfectly accentuates

the original’s representation of both the “sacred and profane” and adds a fragile intensity that m

agni es everything great about the 1939 original.

This version, transcribed by Roger Janotta, gives a 21 st century audience the unique ability to experience the em

otional impact of D

olphy’s creation in a live setting.

Tzimtzum

, Hebrew

for “contraction”, is a concept in the Lurianic Kabbalah that states that in order for G

od to create a space for lesser spiritual and physical planes to exist, G

od must contract,

or conceal his/herself. The expanding of creation is thus a divine w

ithdrawal. Each new

creation emerges from

the space created in G

od’s wake. H

owever, traces of the divine still rem

ain, surrounding everything.

Joshua Musikantow

(b.1981) is a twin-cities com

poser, author, and percussionist w

hose music has been perform

ed in concerts and festivals in England, France, Sw

eden, the Czech R

epublic, and across the United States. H

e has written com

missioned w

orks for N

oriko Kawaii, Zeitgeist, N

o Exit, Strains New

Music Ensem

ble, Duo G

elland, Without Fear

of Wind or Vertigo, The Spitting Im

age Collective, The G

regorian Singers, the Artemis Vocal

Ensemble, m

embers of the C

hicago symphony orchestra, Jam

es Dillon’s C

ontemporary M

usic W

orkshop, among m

any others. He has been a recipient of the M

cKnight Artist Fellowship,

the JFund award, the Zeitgeist call for scores, the FCA emergency grant, and is one of the

central figures and founding mem

bers of 113, a small, independent new

music organization that

champions underperform

ed, cutting edge music by living com

posers. He w

as a former editor of

the Tropos literary magazine, form

er editor-in-chief of the Wit literary m

agazine, and runner-up for the H

icks prize in poetry.

He earned his BM

in Music C

omposition and BA in English at Law

rence University, his M

A in M

usic Com

position at the University at Buffalo, and his PhD

in Music C

omposition at the

University of M

innesota. His dissertation advisor w

as the acclaimed Scottish N

ew C

omplexity

composer, Jam

es Dillon. H

e also studied with C

ort Lippe, Jeffrey Stadelman, Phillip Bodin,

Joanne Metcalf, Alex Lubet, Douglas G

eers, and Jason Hoogerhyde.

Cleveland-based and M

innesota ex-pat Colin Holter serves as the G

eneral Manager of the N

orthern Ohio Youth O

rchestra and the M

anaging Editor at 113 Com

posers Collective. Suburb is a

reflection on the complex, contradictory feeling of the com

poser’s return, after fifteen years in urban apartm

ents, to a tract house w

ith vinyl siding. The piece is dedicated to Patti Cudd and Stuart

Saunders Smith, tw

o inspirations.

65

Corey Rubin (b.1983)Varied Trio - Lou Harrison

Alternate tuning systems have been a hallm

ark of his musical language through out his

career. He has been especially involved in an em

erging tuning paradigm know

n as Regular

Temperam

ent Theory. Many of his w

orks also feature original text. Scores to his w

orks, Gespensterfelder, Lisp, and Autochrom

e Lumière are currently available at

113collective.com.

Varied Trio was w

ritten in 1987 for the Abel- Steinberg-Winant

Trio. The five movem

ents demonstrate a num

ber of compositional

concerns exhibited by Harrison throughout his career, including the synthesis of world m

usic traditions, use of Renaissance and Baroque m

usical forms and the use of new

ly invented or found instrum

ents.

Lou Harrison was one of the most inventive and individual of

American com

posers. His m

usic is noted for it’s pervasive integration of N

ative American and Asian m

usical in uences and its emphasis on m

elody and rhythm

, often avoiding harmony altogether. His fam

ily moved

from O

regon when he w

as nine, and continued to move frequently around the San Francisco

Bay area. The very diverse musical atm

osphere of San Francisco was the prim

ary formative

force in his life. He could hear C

antonese opera; Gregorian chant; Spanish, M

exican, and Native-

American m

usic; and jazz and classical music. The San Francisco Public Library, w

ith its strong m

usic department, enabled him

to take armloads of m

usic home to study. H

e studied jazz piano, G

regorian chant, and conducting while in high school. H

e took Henry C

owell’s course on «M

usic of the W

orld’s Peoples,» further studying counterpoint and composition w

ith Cow

ell.

He and John C

age both wrote percussion-dom

inated music and found new

percussion instrum

ents in automobile junkyards and im

port shops; one of their discoveries was the w

onderful pitched ringing sound produced by brake drum

s. Harrison eventually w

ent to the University of

Suburb - Colin Holter

The grace of presence - Jennifer Higdon

Jennifer Higdon is a major figure in contem

porary Classical m

usic, receiving the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in M

usic for her Violin Concerto and a 2010 G

ramm

y for her Percussion Concerto. H

igdon enjoys several hundred perform

ances a year of her works, and blue cathedral is one

of America’s m

ost performed contem

porary orchestral works, w

ith m

ore than 600 performances w

orldwide since its prem

iere in 2000. H

igdon’s most current project is an opera based on the best-selling

novel, Cold M

ountain by Charles Frazier. It w

as premiered by the Santa

Fe Opera in August of 2015 and w

ill travel to Opera Philadelphia, M

innesota Opera and N

orth C

arolina Opera. H

igdon holds the Rock C

hair in Com

position at The Curtis Institute of M

usic in Philadelphia. H

er music is published exclusively by Law

don Press. The grace of presence was w

ritten for percussionist Evelyn Glennie as part of her 50 for 50 com

missioning project.

California at Los Angeles to w

ork with its dance departm

ent. While there, he

was a com

position pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. Harrison had already developed a love of

Renaissance and earlier m

usic. He adopted the old dance form

“estampie,” a w

ord he translates as “stam

pede” for his own stam

ping, highly rhythmic fast m

ovements.

In 1943, he moved to N

ew York w

here he worked as a m

usician and writer. It w

as the unhappiest period of his life; he did not like the place, and found it dif cult to m

ake a living, although he did w

rite some 300 m

usic reviews for the H

erald Tribune from 1944 to 1947. H

e developed a stomach

ulcer and finally had a nervous breakdown. D

uring this period, he made the acquaintance of

Charles Ives and assisted the aged com

poser by editing and preparing for performances. Ives’

Third Symphony, w

hich Harrison conducted at its prem

iere. Ives assisted Harrison financially

when needed and, when the Third Symphony w

on the Pulitzer Prize in Music, Ives gave H

arrison half the m

oney.

The 1947 nervous breakdown resulted in H

arrison deciding to change his compositional style.

He began to im

itate the sounds of gamelan orchestra, w

hich he had rst heard at the 1939 Golden

Gate Exposition. H

e studied Harry Partch’s theoretical book G

enesis of a Music (a gift from

Virgil Thom

son) and was convinced to adopt various form

s of just-intonation rather than the standard 12-note scale. (H

e says he wishes m

usicians were num

erically trained, so that he could say, for instance, “C

ellos, you gave me a 10/9 there; please give m

e a 9/8 instead.”)

87

No Exit for Zeitgeist - Nicholas Underhill

No Exit for Zeitgeist w

as written in 2017 to celebrate the collaboration of the tw

o new m

usic ensem

bles, Zeitgeist and No Exit. If the title is a little threatening, just rem

ember that in N

o Exit w

e’ve had to live with that title for 10 years and nobody has gone really over the edge yet. The

combined ensem

ble has unusual redundancies, with 3 percussionists and 2 clarinets and 2

keyboards, as well as the m

ore usual single flute and strings. I wanted to highlight the particular

abilities of the talented players in the groups. There are indirect references to pieces by Saariaho and Andy R

indfleisch, in particular, as well as other solo pieces I have heard played in our

concerts.

The piece is based on a single scale, a hybrid of Mixolydian and H

armonic m

inor. At the beginning, the scale is used as a m

elodic idea, spread out over multiple octaves. As it progresses,

it becomes a chord. The first statem

ent of the chord is thoughtful, but becomes gradually m

ore rhythm

ic and insistent. In the middle section of the piece, there are solos in the cello, duos and

trios with the clarinets and flute, bow

ed cymbals and vibraphone, solos on viola, piano joined by

keyboard on celeste setting, and solo violin. Then the phalanx of percussionists starts to take over. It is joined by a reiteration of the original spread out scales and chords. At the very end there is sort of a ‘holiday leftover’ soup in w

hich the solos are all mixed together. It all ends in a

glorious crash.

See Personnel for Bio

Harrison subsequently resum

ed his high productivity, returned to the West coast in 1951 to

settle for life in Aptos, California and continued to w

rite music sounding prim

arily “Pan-Paci c” in style, often for unusual com

binations of instruments. He rst visited Asia in 1961 at a world

music sym

posium, afterw

ard, he became interested in establishing gam

elan orchestras in North

America, and devised an “Am

erican gamelan” m

ade by his partner William

Colvig from

readily obtainable m

aterials. He w

ent on to write hundreds of com

positions, and his works are often

recorded. Harrison developed a system

of musical organization based around m

elodic shapes he calls “m

elodicles” and analogous rhythmic patterns (“rhythm

icals”) and durations (“icti controls”). Lou H

arrison died in 2003 en route to an Ohio festival dedicated to perform

ances of his works. -

- Joseph Stevenson

ubin (b.1983)Spiral XIV “ Nlm

itta” - Chinary Ung

A Cam

bodian-American com

poser, Chinary Ung combines traditional

Cam

bodian and Western elem

ents in his works. It is a hallm

ark of C

hinary Ung’s m

usic to refer to Southeast Asian traditions insofar as the sound w

orld often contains similar figurative gestures (like

microtonal bends) and m

odal scales. Spiral XIV invokes ensemble

traditions such as the Khmer Pinpeat and Balinese G

amelan through

its use of mallet instrum

ents and bells in the two percussion parts.

In some w

ays, these are the surface aspects that align this music w

ith Ung’s native C

ambodia,

but the deep structure lies in the spiritual association of the voice. As musicians perform

their instrum

ents and vocalize they engage in two sim

ultaneous threads of inquiry associated with a

single character, each of equal weight and im

portance. The challenge of inhabiting these multiple

simultaneous dim

ensions is akin to a transcendental spiritual exercise. In Pali the word N

imitta

means a sign or im

age received through meditation. This im

age could be of the future or the past, or it m

ay be a manifestation of ultim

ate consciousness. Nim

itta is the result of a practice, or discipline, not unlike that w

hich is required to perform the m

usic.

ubin (b.1983)Found Again, Secure in M

igration - Eric M. C. G

onzalez

Found Again, Secure In M

igration consists of three short pieces about monum

ental life transitions. A

Recent D

istant Past (mvt 1) is about the consistency and reliability of hom

e, the fam

iliarity of life, and reminiscing on separation. A Forw

ard Moving Pilgrim

age (mvt 2) is

filled with a sense of w

onder at new opportunities, w

hile questioning our fortitude in the face of im

pending brutal winter clim

ate. Fortunate Com

panions (mvt 3) applauds our connection and

support for each other as we cross and traverse geography w

ith love and confidence, ready and eager to contribute to our new

comm

unity. We know

where w

e came from

, and we can see

clearly where we are headed.

See Personnel for Bio

910

ubin (b.1983)Special G

uest - Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist’s mission is to bring new

ly created music to life w

ith performances that engage and

stimulate. A quartet of m

usicians animated by a spirit of adventure and collaboration, Zeitgeist

presents works of substance w

ith passion and integrity, and strives to forge new links betw

een m

usicians and music lovers through concerts, com

missions, recordings, and dialogue with our

audience.

Ensemble Biography

Lauded for providing “a once-in-a-lifetime experience for adventurous concertgoers,” Zeitgeist

is a new m

usic chamber ensem

ble comprised of tw

o percussion, piano and woodw

inds. One of

the longest established new m

usic groups in the country, Zeitgeist comm

issions and presents a w

ide variety of new m

usic for audiences in the Twin C

ities and on tour. Always eager to explore

new artistic frontiers, Zeitgeist collaborates w

ith poets, choreographers, directors, visual artists and sound artists of all types to create im

aginative new w

ork that challenges the boundaries of traditional cham

ber music. The m

embers of Zeitgeist are: H

eather Barringer, percussion; Patti C

udd, percussion; Pat O’Keefe, w

oodwinds; N

icola Melville, piano.

Zeitgeist has maintained a fierce dedication to the creation of new

music for the past three

decades, comm

issioning more than 400 w

orks and collaborating with em

erging composers and

some of the finest established com

posers of our time, including Frederic R

zewski, Terry R

iley, John C

age, Pauline Oliveros, Paul D

resher, Mark Applebaum

, Arthur Kreiger, Scott Lindroth, Pam

ela Madsen, Edie Hill, Libby Larsen, John Luther Adam

s, Jin Hi Kim, M

ary Ellen Childs, M

artin Bresnick, Harold Budd, La M

onte Young, Guy Klucevsek, and C

hinary Ung. Zeitgeist’s

upcoming com

missioning projects include new

works by M

ary Ellen Childs, D

avu Seru, Andrew

Rindfleisch, and Pam

ela Z.

Further, Zeitgeist has earned an international reputation for superb craftsmanship, virtuosic

performance, and an innovative approach to the presentation of contem

porary music. H

ighlights include Sound Stage by Paul D

resher (2001), a music-theater w

ork featuring Zeitgeist and a 17-foot high m

usical pendulum, W

alker Art Center prem

ieres of Pine Eyes by Martin Bresnick (2006)

and The Making of Am

ericans by Anthony Gatto and Jay Scheib (2008), a 30th anniversary

celebration (2008) Glancing Back/C

harging Forward: 30 Years of G

roundbreaking Music

featuring the world prem

ieres of works by 30 M

innesota composers, For the Birds (2010), an

evening-length chamber suite w

ith narration by composer Victor Zupanc and hum

orist Kevin

Blurred - Bill Ryan

Blurred is to be perform

ed by piano and any additional instruments.

All instruments perform

from the score and play m

ostly in eight notes, deciding on their ow

n what pitches and w

hen to perform. H

owever, the

pitches they choose must be sounding in the piano part.

Rhythm

and tempo should be exact although perform

ers may anticipate

or delay pitches in the piano part. The duration of the composition can

also be free. Measures or sections m

ay be repeated as the ensemble

determines. The overall effect should be to produce a “blur” or “haze” of sound.

For the past twenty-five years Bill Ryan has been a tireless advocate of contem

porary music.

Through his work as a com

poser, conductor, producer and educator, he has engaged audiences throughout the country w

ith the music of our tim

e. He has w

on the American C

omposers

Forum C

hampion of N

ew M

usic Award, the M

ichigan Governor’s Aw

ard in Arts Education, the D

istinguished Contribution to a D

iscipline Award at G

rand Valley State University, and w

as a finalist for the M

ichigan Distinguished Professor of the Year aw

ard.

Bill’s compositions have roots in m

inimalism

, jazz and popular music. H

is music is energetic,

evocative and deeply personal, and has been described as “…constantly threatening to burst at

the seams, were those seam

s not so artfully structured...rarely has music this earthy been so

elegant.” [Gram

ophone Magazine]. H

is music has been perform

ed in major cities and venues

across the country including at le Poisson Rouge, G

alapagos, Symphony Space, and Lincoln

Center (N

ew York), W

oodruff Arts Center (Atlanta), the Atlas (W

ashington D.C

.), Constellation

(Chicago), M

OC

AD and the M

ax M. Fisher C

enter (Detroit), Initm

an Theater (Seattle), Hobby

Center (H

ouston), and internationally in Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. H

is music

has received awards from

Meet the C

omposer, ASC

AP, and New

Music U

SA.

Kling, the premiere of Spiral XIV “N

imm

itta” (2012) by Cam

bodian American com

poser Chinary

Ung, and Saint Paul Food O

pera (2016), a dining and music collaboration betw

een composer

Ben Houge and five Saint Paul chefs. U

pcoming collaborations include C

rocus Hill: A G

host Story, a m

acabre tale of a house possessed brought to life with cham

ber music, narration, and

video, by composer Julie Johnson and author C

heri Johnson.

Zeitgeist presents a full season of events for audiences in the Twin C

ities. Highlights of the

2016-2017 season at Studio Z include For the Birds (with Kevin Kling and Victor Zupanc), a

celebration of the release of a recording of this work; Saint Paul Food O

pera, a dining and music

collaboration between com

poser Ben Houge and five Saint Paul chefs; H

ere and There, featuring Zeitgeist and N

o Exit New

Music Ensem

ble (Cleveland) perform

ing music by Ann M

illikan, Tim

Beyer, Greg Theisen, Jam

es Praznik, Janika Vandervelde, and Randy Bauer; Playing it Close to H

ome, featuring w

orks by Mary Ellen C

hilds plus winning com

positions from our ever-popular

Eric Stokes Song Contest; Zeitgeist Early M

usic Festival, a four-day festival celebrating the music

of Lou Harrison; and Zeitgeist and Spitting Im

age Collective, featuring new

works by Katherine

Bergman, D

aniel Nass, and Josh C

lausen. Other perform

ances and projects include Lowertow

n Listening Sessions (a m

onthly performance/discussion series), educational residencies w

ith the Perpich C

enter for Arts Education, a residency in Cleveland, and regional tours of For the Birds

and Summ

er Rain (w

ith Nirm

ala Rajasekar). Active at hom

e and throughout the state, Zeitgeist w

ill present 40-45 performances, conduct num

erous educational activities, and carry out several w

orkshops to develop new w

ork.

Zeitgeist has developed several audience-building programs designed to create connections

with com

munities, diversify audiences and encourage individuals to participate in the creative

process of music-m

aking. These programs include the Eric Stokes Song C

ontest (amateur

composition contest), M

aking Music O

utside the Lines (new m

usic performance activities for

high school students) and A New

Music Stew

(a long-term com

position project with students

from St. Paul C

onservatory for Performing Arts). In addition, Zeitgeist operates Studio Z, a

performance space w

here audiences, composers, and new

music perform

ers can come together

to experience the music of our tim

e. Studio Z is home to m

ost of Zeitgeist’s local performances

and also hosts new m

usic performances by other local artists throughout the year.

Zeitgeist Personnel

Percussionist Heather Barringer joined Zeitgeist in 1990. She graduated from

the University of W

isconsin, River Falls w

ith a bachelor’s in M

usic Education in 1987 and studied at the U

niversity of Cincinnati-C

ollege Conservatory, studying w

ith Allen O

tte from 1988-90. In addition to perform

ing and recording w

ith Zeitgeist, she is a mem

ber of Mary Ellen C

hild’s ensemble,

Crash, and has worked with many Twin Cities organizations,

including Nautilus M

usic Theater Ensemble, The D

ale Warland

Singers, Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Ten Thousand Things Theater.

Woodw

ind player Pat O’K

eefe is a graduate of Indiana University, the New England Conservatory and the University of C

alifornia, San Diego. In San D

iego, he performed regularly w

ith the new m

usic ensemble SO

NOR as well as with the San Diego

Symphony, and he has perform

ed and recorded with m

any noted new

music groups around the country, including the C

alifornia EAR Unit, the Cleveland New M

usic Associates and Ensemble

Sospeso in New

York. Pat can also be heard performing

regularly with the Brazilian ensembles Brasam

ba and Batucada do N

orte (of which he is the co-founder and co-director),

the world m

usic group Music M

undial and the improvisation

ensemble AntiG

ravity. He is currently on the faculty of the U

niversity of Wisconsin-R

iver Falls.11

12

US-based N

ew Zealand pianist Nicola M

elville has been described as “having an original and intelligent m

usical mind”

(Waikato Tim

es), “a marvelous pianist w

ho plays with splashy

color but also exquisite tone and nuance” (American R

ecord G

uide), and “the sort of advocate any composer w

ould love” (D

ominion Post). H

er live performances and recordings have

been broadcast on Canadian, U.S., New Zealand, South African and Chinese radio, and she has been involved in num

erous interdisciplinary projects w

ith dancers, filmm

akers and visual artists, including perform

ances at the Kennedy Center,

Washington D

C, and W

eill Recital H

all at Carnegie H

all. Recent

performances include solo appearances and residencies in

Chile, New Zealand, Ohio, Florida, Chicago, Verm

ont and New York C

ity, and several collaborations with cellist Jeff Zeigler

(formerly of the Kronos Q

uartet), violinist Chris O

tto of the JACK quartet, and various m

embers

of the Minnesota, D

etroit, Boston, and Saint Paul Cham

ber orchestras. Upcom

ing engagements

will feature perform

ances in Birka, Sweden, H

elsinki, Wyom

ing, Arizona, Colorado, O

regon, New

York and a tour of N

ew Zealand. She is also w

orking on a multi-phased recording project w

ith the prolific N

ew Zealand/U

K composer, C

hristopher Norton, and w

ill be creating new w

orks with

Berlin-based media artist, M

ark Coniglio.

Nicola attended Victoria U

niversity School of Music, W

ellington, where she studied w

ith Judith Clark, and then earned M

asters and Doctorate degrees from the Eastm

an School of Music,

studying with R

ebecca Penneys. Nicola w

on both the National C

oncerto Com

petition and the Auckland Star C

oncerto Com

petition while in N

ew Zealand, and has been a prizew

inner in several com

petitions in the U.S., including being the w

inner of the SAI Concerto C

ompetition at

the Chautauqua M

usic Festival. While at Eastm

an, Nicola w

as awarded the Lizzie T. M

ason prize for O

utstanding Graduate Pianist, and the Perform

er’s Certificate. She has w

on grants from such

organizations as Meet the C

omposer, C

reative New

Zealand, the Argosy Fund for Contem

porary M

usic, and the Jerome C

omposers C

omm

issioning Program for the com

missioning and

performance of new

music. N

icola has recorded for the Innova and Equilibrium labels, including

a CD

of thirteen new solo pieces dedicated to her, entitled “M

elville’s Dozen.” N

icola is Associate Professor at C

arleton College, M

innesota, where she heads the piano and cham

ber music

programs, and is Artistic C

o-Director of the C

hautauqua Music Festival Piano Program

in New

York.

Dr. Patti Cudd is active as a percussion soloist, chamber

musician and educator. In addition to perform

ing with Zeitgeist,

she teaches percussion and new m

usic studies at the University

of Wisconsin-R

iver Falls and the College of St. Benedict/

St. Johns University. O

ther diverse performing opportunities

have included Sirius, red fish blue fish, CR

ASH, the M

innesota C

ontemporary Ensem

ble, SON

OR

, Minnesota D

ance Theatre and the Borrowed Bones Dance Theater. She received a D

octor of Musical Arts in C

ontemporary M

usical Studies at the University of California studying with Steven Schick, M

asters of M

usic at the State University of N

ew York at Buffalo w

here she w

orked with Jan W

illiams, undergraduate studies at the

University of W

isconsin-River Falls and studied in the soloist

1314

15

Personnel

Violinist Cara Tw

eed’s playing has been described as “dazzling” and “captivating”, finding “nuance and character in every part of the phrase”. As a m

usician, she embraces the classical

canon but eagerly explores new m

usic that spans a variety of genres. Cara is a founding m

ember

of the Cleveland based cham

ber groups noexit and Alm

eda Trio and has performed in concert

halls throughout the United States and abroad.

After throwing a tantrum in a toy store because her m

other would not buy her a Mickey M

ouse violin, C

ara began studying the violin at age five at The Cleveland Institute of M

usic’s Sato C

enter for Suzuki Studies. She holds degrees in violin performance from

The Cleveland Institute

of Music and C

leveland State University and counts D

avid Updegraff and Paul Kantor am

ong her m

ost influential teachers.

Cara w

as the principal second violinist of the Opera C

leveland Orchestra from

2004-2010 and has been a m

ember of The C

anton Symphony, C

ity Music C

leveland, red {an orchestra} and the Spoleto U

SA festival orchestra. She has performed as a violin soloist w

ith The Cleveland

Philharmonic, C

leveland State University O

rchestra, The Marion Philharm

onic and Cleveland’s

Suburban Symphony.

An avid educator, Cara has m

aintained a private violin studio for over ten years. She has been on the faculty of Cleveland State University, The Aurora School of M

usic and The Music Settlem

ent. Currently, Cara teaches at Laurel School in Shaker Heights, where she directs their M

usic Academ

y. Cara also enjoys conducting and coaching cham

ber music and has given M

aster Classes throughout the United States.

Cara lives in Cleveland Heights with her husband, cellist Nicholas Diodore, and their young sons.

16

Violist James Rhodes is a sought after perform

er and music educator. H

e has performed in

concerts throughout the United States and Europe. H

e has studied with teachers D

r. David

Dalton (BYU

), Dr. M

inor Wetzel (Los Angeles Philharm

onic), and Mark Jackobs (C

leveland O

rchestra, Cleveland Institute of M

usic). He holds a bachelor’s degree from

Cal State Fullerton,

and a master’s degree in viola perform

ance from the C

leveland Institute of Music. W

hile attending C

IM, Jam

es received his Suzuki training with Kim

berly Meier-Sim

s. He currently

preforms as a freelance violist and as a m

ember of the C

leveland based BlueWater C

hamber

Orchestra, and N

oExit, Cleveland’s prem

ier new m

usic ensemble. Jam

es is a co-founder of D

adBand, a two-viola tw

o-cello crossover string quartet. As a music educator, Jam

es has served on the faculty of Tim

berline Middle School in Alpine, U

tah where he directed the orchestra

program and he has also been a faculty m

ember of The C

leveland Music School Settlem

ent where he taught viola/violin, and directed youth orchestras. He currently is the m

usic director at Hudson M

ontessori School in Hudson, Ohio where he directs the Conservatory of M

usic, teaches Suzuki viola and violin, directs ensem

bles, coaches chamber m

usic, and teaches classroom

music to students ages 3-14. H

e is the co-founder of the Western R

eserve Cham

ber Festival, also located in H

udson, Ohio. Jam

es enjoys sports, the outdoors, history, and spending tim

e with his w

ife Carrie, and their four children R

ebecca, James, D

avid, and Isaac.

17

Cellist Nicholas Diodore was born in M

arion, Indiana to a musical fam

ily and quickly established a reputation as a very talented cellist. H

e won several com

petitions and was the recipient of

many awards before attending high school. He received his early m

usical instruction from

Geoffrey Lapin of the Indianapolis Sym

phony.

Mr. D

iodore attended high school at Interlochen Arts Academy in M

ichigan. There, as a student of C

rispin Cam

pbell, he excelled in the study of 20th century compositions as w

ell as in cham

ber music. D

uring the time he spent there, M

r. Diodore w

as a prize winner at the Fischoff

International Cham

ber Music com

petition and the Grand Prize w

inner of the Dow

nbeat Magazine

Cham

ber Music C

ompetition. H

e graduated in 1995 with the highest honors in both m

usic and academ

ics. In 1996 Mr. D

iodore attended the Cleveland Institute of M

usic where he w

as a student of Alan H

arris. While at C

IM he also studied w

ith Merry Peckham

of the Cavani Q

uartet and w

ith Richard W

eiss, assistant principle cellist of the Cleveland O

rchestra. He perform

ed in the m

aster-classes of Paul Katz and Gary H

offman.

Mr. D

iodore participated in several well-know

n summ

er music festivals. H

e was one of the

youngest participants in the Quartet Program

at Bucknell University. From

1996 to 1999 he spent his sum

mers at the Aspen M

usic Festival where he held third chair in the Aspen C

hamber

Orchestra. In 2000 and 2001 he w

as accepted to participate in the Caym

an Islands Music

Festival. Currently M

r. Diodore holds a faculty position at the Aurora School of M

usic and the C

leveland Music School Settlem

ent. In addition to maintaining a large private studio his duties

include regular performances of solo and cham

ber music. H

e also serves on the board of directors of the Cleveland Cello Society.

18

Pianist/composer Nicholas Underhill holds a M

asters Degree in Piano from the New England

Conservatory of M

usic. His teachers include Konrad W

olff, Katja Andy, Edmund Battersby and

Russell Sherm

an. Well know

n in Boston, New

York City and C

leveland as a champion of new

m

usic for the piano, he has performed solo recitals in C

arnegie Recital H

all, Weill R

ecital Hall

and Merkin C

oncert Hall. H

e was featured in the prestigious D

ame M

yra Hess M

emorial concerts

in Chicago in 1991. H

is collaborative recitals include programs w

ith his wife, M

ary Kay Fink. He

has taught piano at Mount U

nion College and H

iram C

ollege, and has performed on num

erous occasions w

ith the Cleveland Ballet O

rchestra, the Cleveland C

hamber Sym

phony and the Cleveland Cham

ber Collective.

As a composer, U

nderhill’s music has been perform

ed by the Cleveland O

rchestra, the Ohio

Music Teachers Association, The Fortnightly M

usical Club, The Cleveland Flute Society, The G

ramercy Trio, C

leveland Orchestra players M

ary Kay Fink, Takako Masam

e, Lisa Boyko, R

ichard King, and pianist Randall H

odgkinson.

19

Flutist Sean Gabriel earned perform

ance degrees from the Baldw

in Wallace C

onservatory of M

usic and the Indiana University School of M

usic, his principal teachers being William

H

ebert and James Pellerite. Sean began his perform

ing career in the 1980s with the O

hio C

hamber O

rchestra and Cleveland Ballet O

rchestra. Currently, M

r.Gabriel is the principal

flutist of the Blue Water C

hamber O

rchestra and the Cleveland C

hamber Sym

phony, C

leveland’s award-w

inning new m

usic ensemble. W

ith this group he has taken part in dozens of w

orld premiere perform

ances and recordings including a Gram

my Aw

ard-winning

recording of Olivier M

essiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques featuring pianist, Angelin C

hang. M

r.Gabriel has been a m

ember of the Erie Philharm

onic Orchestra of Pennsylvania for two

decades and was the principal flutist of the O

pera Cleveland O

rchestra from 2002 to 2010.

He has also been a m

ember of the Akron Sym

phony and performs regularly w

ith the Bach Festival C

hamber O

rchestra of Baldwin W

allace University.

Sean Gabriel serves on the m

usic faculties of Baldwin W

allace University and the C

leveland State U

niversity, where he is a frequent recitalist in both solo and cham

ber music program

s. H

e enjoys bringing rarely heard repertoire to the concert stage and has been an eager supporter of local com

posers in premiering new

works. Sean is proud to be a m

ember of the

noexit ensem

ble, to further the promotion of new

music in the C

leveland area and beyond. Sean’s strong interest in m

usic history has led to his appointment on the advisory board of

the Riem

enschneider Bach Institute at Baldwin W

allage University w

here he has presented a series of recitals featuring the com

plete flute sonatas of J.S.Bach. Mr.G

abriel has also given lectures on m

usic history at Cleveland-area high schools.

20

Clarinetist Gunnar O

wen Hirthe hails from

Green Bay, W

isconsin and is currently a doctoral candidate studying new

music for clarinet at Bow

ling Green State U

niversity’s Doctoral Program

in C

ontemporary M

usic under the mentorship of M

r. Kevin W. Schem

pf. This distinguished program

is focused on the artistic specialization of music from

the 20th and 21st centuries from

traditional to experimental and avant-garde to electronic. H

e is currently working on his

dissertation titled Identity in the Clarinet M

usic of Michael Finnissy and Evan Ziporyn. This

research aims to bring further understanding to the w

orld of music inspired by cultures other

than what w

e experience in the Western art m

usic tradition and what these intersections m

ean to these com

posers, the performer and their audiences.

Gunnar has had the privilege to perform

with professional cham

ber, wind, orchestral and

faculty ensembles in W

isconsin, Kentucky, Ohio, M

ichigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana; with Arlo

Guthrie at C

arnegie Hall in N

ew York; and for contem

porary classical composers such as D

avid M

aslanka, David Lang, Steven Stucky, Sean Shepherd, N

ils Vigelund, Michael Q

uell, Kieran M

cMillan, Am

y William

s, Roger Zahab, M

ikel Kuehn and John McC

owen. H

e was a soloist w

ith the G

reen Bay Youth Symphony, The O

hio State University Sym

phony Orchestra in C

olumbus,

OH

, the Suburban Symphony O

rchestra in Cleveland, O

H, the Pittsburgh N

ew M

usic Ensemble,

and has recently been appointed solo clarinetist with the N

o Exit New

Music Ensem

ble in Cleveland, O

H.

Gunnar currently holds the position of C

larinet Faculty at the Flint Institute of Music. H

e has taught individuals from

beginners to retirees and music students from

elementary to college.

During his tim

e at the Cleveland Institute of M

usic, he performed and taught individual and group

lessons via high-definition internet connection to various venues throughout the United States

as part of their nationally recognized Distance Learning Program

. While at The O

hio State and Bowling G

reen State Universities, Gunnar was a teaching assistant for the clarinet studios,

teaching applied clarinet to music m

ajors and non-majors of all levels and coaching w

oodwind

chamber m

usic ensembles. H

is current assignment is teaching Exploring M

usic: A Social

2221

Percussionist Luke Rinderknecht has performed as percussion soloist w

ith The Cleveland

Orchestra (Paul C

reston’s Concerto for M

arimba), C

ityMusic C

leveland (Avner Dorm

an’s Uzu and

Muzu from

Kakaruzu), and the Cleveland Youth W

ind Symphony (Jam

es Basta’s Concerto for

Marim

ba). Equally at home in cham

ber music and orchestral settings, he has prem

iered dozens of new

works w

ith the New

Juilliard Ensemble, M

etropolis Ensemble, and in recital. H

e was

recently appointed principal percussion of CityM

usic and is excited to join noexit, Cleveland’s new

m

usic ensemble. Last season he appeared w

ith Alarm W

ill Sound, Ensemble AC

JW, M

etropolis Ensem

ble, Glank, the C

leveland Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharm

onic Orchestra, and the W

est Virginia Sym

phony. In previous seasons he has also appeared with the M

etropolitan Opera, Q

atar Philharm

onic, Dirty Projectors, Festival C

hamber M

usic, St. Luke’s Cham

ber Orchestra, Virginia

Symphony, and in the pit of Broadw

ay’s Legally Blonde.

He can be heard w

ith The Buffalo Philharmonic O

rchestra on their double Gram

my aw

ard-winning

recording of John Corigliano’s M

r. Tambourine M

an, as well as with The Knights on three albums

from Sony C

lassical. He com

pleted Bachelor and Master of M

usic degrees at Juilliard, where he

studied with Daniel Druckman, G

ordon Gottlieb, and G

reg Zuber, and received the Peter Mennin

Prize for outstanding achievement and leadership in m

usic. In the summ

ers he is a faculty artist at the Bow

doin International Music Festival in Brunsw

ick, Maine, and has also perform

ed at the M

arlboro, Castleton, Verbier, Barbican Blaze, BBC Proms, and Seoul Drum

festivals. Luke grew up in Shaker H

eights and is delighted to call the Lomond neighborhood hom

e once again.

Experience where the focus centers on connecting non-m

usicians with the sounds and m

usic they encounter everyday and providing a perspective to understand m

usic in a social context both historically and currently.

Gunnar has earned Bachelor’s D

egrees in Music Education and Perform

ance from the U

niversity of Kentucky w

ith Dr. Scott J. W

right; a Master’s D

egree in Music Perform

ance from The O

hio State U

niversity with M

r. James M

. Pyne; and has a Professional Studies Diplom

a from the

Cleveland Institute of M

usic where he studied w

ith world-renow

ned clarinetist and former

Principal Clarinet of the C

leveland Orchestra, M

r. Franklin Cohen.

23

Artistic director/composer and Cleveland native, Tim

othy Beyer has been active as both a com

poser and performer in an eclectic range of m

usical medium

s. He has com

posed for a variety of concert m

usic genres, has scored for film, dance, and has produced m

any works in the

electronic music idiom

, which have garnered him

acclaim. As a perform

er, he was the

founding mem

ber and trombonist of C

leveland’s innovative Jamaican jazz band Pressure D

rop. H

e received his Masters of M

usic degree in music com

position from C

leveland State University.

Mr. Beyer’s m

usic has been performed throughout the U

.S. and Europe by artists such as clarinetist Pat O

’Keefe, flutists Carlton Vickers and Sean G

abriel, cellists David R

ussell and C

raig Hultgren, pianist Jenny Lin and contem

porary music ensem

bles Zeitgeist, the Verge Ensem

ble, the Cleveland C

hamber C

ollective and the Cleveland C

hamber Sym

phony. His

works have also been featured at the Aki Festival and the Utah Arts Festival in addition to many

radio broadcasts throughout the country. He is currently w

orking on several recording projects including a vocal/electronic collaboration w

ith composer Andrew

Rindfleisch, and a C

D project

featuring his “Amputate” series of electroacoustic w

orks.

The Washington Post has declared Tim

othy Beyerʼs music to be “as m

uch poetry as it was

music”. – Stephen Brookes [ The W

ashington Post, Apr. 2011]

24

Associate director/composer Jam

es Praznik is a composer, conductor, and pianist w

hose work

has garnered acclaim am

ong his peers as well as audiences. As a com

poser of highly expressive m

usic, James has com

posed music for concerts, stage productions and com

mercial videogam

es. H

e has participated in the Interlochen Com

poser’s Institute and the Cleveland State C

omposer’s

Recording Institute, and received honors such as the U

niversity of Akron Outstanding C

omposer

Award on two occasions the University of Akron Outstanding Pianist Award, and the Bain M

urray Award for M

usic.

James has been a guest com

poser, arranger, pianist and conductor for the “Monsterpianos!”

concerts in Akron, Ohio, and through the C

leveland Contem

porary Players workshops he

received recordings of his pieces made by som

e of today’s leading virtuosi. He has been

comm

issioned by the new music ensem

ble “noexit”, and N

ASA in conjunction with the C

leveland Ingenuity Festival. H

is music has been perform

ed at E.J. Thomas H

all, Cleveland State

University, The U

niversity of Akron, The Cleveland M

useum of C

ontemporary Art, The C

leveland Ingenuity Festival, Brandeis U

niversity and Wellesley C

ollege. As a pianist and a proponent of other com

posers’ music, Jam

es has performed on The O

hio State University new

music concerts,

the Kentucky New

Music Festival electro‐acoustic concerts, and as a m

ember of the Akron N

ew

Music Ensem

ble. He is an associate director of “noexit”, a C

leveland based new m

usic ensemble,

and is an original mem

ber of “Duo Approxim

ate”, a group that performs live soundtracks to silent

films. R

ecently James created sound effects for the film

“Shockwaves” by m

edia artist Kasumi.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in com

position and theory from the U

niversity of Akron where he

studied compostion w

ith Daniel M

cCarthy and N

ikola Resanovic (as w

ell as piano under Philip Thom

son) , and has recently received a master’s degree in com

position at Cleveland State

University w

here he studied with Andrew

Rindfleisch and G

reg D’Alessio. C

urrently James is

aPhD canidate at Brandeis University where he studies with Eric Chasalow, David Rakowski and Yu-H

ui Chang.

25

Assistant to the artistic director/composer Eric M

. C. Gonzalez is a com

poser of solo works,

chamber pieces, electroacoustic, electronic m

usic and works for film

and theater. Eric is the director and cellist of the string ensem

ble Forest City C

hambers. Eric studied com

position with

Andrew R

indfleisch and Greg D

’Alessio, cello performance w

ith David Allen H

arrell of The C

leveland Orchestra, and film

music w

ith Michael Baum

gartner at Cleveland State U

niversity.

Ensembles Eric has com

posed for include Cleveland State U

niversity Cham

ber Orchestra, the

Cleveland State U

niversity Experimental Ensem

ble, the JACK Q

uartet, The Genkin Philharm

onic. In 2011 and 2012, the w

orks Elliptical and A Priori Music N

o. 3 were recorded by engineer David Yost at the C

leveland Com

posers’ Recording Institute at C

leveland State University.

In 2014, Eric performed, arranged and com

posed music for the avant-garde m

ixed-genre m

usical Tingle Tangle, which consists of works for cello, electronics, guitar, vocals and percussion. Eric has com

posed music for plays w

ith the Cleveland Theater com

pany Theater N

injas, and Cleveland Public Theatre.

Eric won the noexit new

music ensem

ble Com

mission C

ompetition in 2011 and 2013, for w

hich he com

posed PILLS for solo piano, and Late Spring for piano quartet. In 2013, Eric was the

recipient of the Bain Murray Aw

ard for Com

position.

26

Art director Edwin W

ade is a modernist printm

aker and painter. Edwin designs all the print and

web m

aterials and is responsible for the visual aesthetic of noexit. An avid M

id-Century M

odern collector M

r. Wade lives w

ith his wife M

ary, son Jackson and their dog Pablo in Cleveland H

eights Edw

in’s work has been featured on H

GTV’s D

esign Star and NBC

’s Extreme H

ome Builders.

His w

ork can be found on Etsy, Minted and Just M

odern Hom

e Decor in Palm

Springs, CA

https://ww

w.etsy.com/shop/Edw

inWade

27

Act one begins

... WIT

H IN

VE

ST

ME

NT

BY

CU

YA

HO

GA

AR

TS

& C

ULT

UR

E

Cuyahoga A

rts & C

ulture (CA

C) uses public dollars

approved by you to bring arts and culture to every corner of our C

ounty. From grade schools to senior

centers to large public events and investments to

small neighborhood art projects and educational

outreach, we are leveraging your investm

ent for everyone to experience.

Visit cacgran

ts.org/impact to

learn m

ore.

Your Investment:

Strengthening C

omm

unity

Beck C

enter for the Arts

28

3029

31

Our fans and supporters

Michael W

olfW

olfs Gallery

Heights ArtsRachel BernsteinChristina Vassallo

Marilyn Ladd-Sim

mons

SPACES

Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, The Amphion Foundation and The Bascom

Little Fund for their generous support w

hich helped make this concert series possible.

noexit w

ould like to thank

noexitnewmusic.com

noexitnewmusic

32

The best way to let us know

that you like what w

e’re doing is w

ith your generous support.noexit is a 501(c)(3) organization so any donation that you m

ake is tax deductible.

Please visit our newly designed website to donate and stay informed

33