Presents

Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Courtney Sherman, soprano &

& &

Music and Performances by

John Edward Cantrell Michael Dewhirst Michelle McQuade Dewhirst Adam Gaines Ladislava Gaines Erin Rogers Zach Seely

Courtney Sherman Jeff Weston Viola Yip

1:00PM Sunday, January 12, 2014

Jan Hus Church 351 East 74th Street, New York City

Courtney Sherman, soprano, holds a Master's degree in opera/musical theatre performance and a Doctorate in voice performance from Arizona State University. She did her undergraduate work in music at Michigan State University and Western Michigan University. Her role credits include Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, and Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Dr. Sherman has performed soprano solos in Bach’s Mass in B-Minor, Orff's Carmina Burana, Mozart's Vesperae solennes de confessore, and Handel’s Messiah, among others, and has performed a wide range of art song repertoire. She is Assistant Professor of Voice at UW-Green Bay, teaching courses

for both the Music and Theatre programs. Dr. Sherman was recently seen as the conductor and music director for UW-Green Bay's production of Cabaret in the Weidner Center's Cofrin Family Hall, and also as the soprano soloist for The Dudley Birder Chorale of St. Norbert College’s performance of Mozart’s Requiem. a very small consortium is based at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and is

dedicated to the performance of miniature masterpieces. We do more with less. We get to the point. We do small music, but we have big plans. This iteration of a very small consortium will consist of Courtney Sherman, soprano; Lada Gaines, soprano saxophone; Adam Gaines, trumpet, Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, horn; David Severtson, piano; Michael Dewhirst, cello.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame is a collection of 15 one-minute works composed specifically

for a performer or ensemble. The purpose of Fifteen Minutes of Fame is to promote a great variety of contemporary music to audiences hungry to hear what living composers are writing today. The project seeks one-minute music compositions from composers working in any style and aesthetic. Vox Novus places a call for scores and 15 pieces are chosen from the works submitted. The works are then premiered on the Composer Voice concert series in New York City. The idea grew out of a celebratory

concert in 2009 for the birthday of Robert Voisey who is the founder of Vox Novus and known for his 60x60 project.

(measure/weight) Jeff Weston

For suspended cymbal, snare drum, amplified piano, 2 amplified voices, cello, computer timer (laptop), 2 loudspeakers

Defeat

Zach Seely Soprano, Saxophone, Trumpet, Horn, Cello, and Piano

Two Weeks After Election Night, Mitt Romney Takes in Disneyland With His Grandkids

Michelle McQuade Dewhirst for a very small consortium

Why  Art  Thou  Cast  Down,  O  My  Soul  Scott Brickman……………………….……….…………..Gender Issues Dominic Blake………………………………….……………..Deus Meus Sandra Emiline Goss Norell...George Sand: An Autobiographical Scene Akmal Parwez………………………………………………………Rubaaii Douglas Wagoner…………………….The Sleepers in that Quiet Earth Traci Mendel………………..………….….……………….The Sick Rose Phil Taylor……………………………………………….A Persian Secret David Bohn…………………………….……….…………………..Silence Ethan Helm………………………………….………This Seems a Home David J. Ramsey, Jr…………………………………………………stay... Alexander Nohai-Seaman……….….…………….…Flower of Farewell Nicholaus Meyers……….……………..………………………….Staying David A. Miller………………………..…She Sings (from In a Gondola) Eurydice V. Osterman……….…Why Art Thou Cast Down, O My Soul Brennan Stokes……………………………………………...The Bubbles

Fifteen-Minute-of-Fame Performed by……………………Courtney Sherman & a very small consortium

Act Viola Yip

for solo unaccompanied baritone saxophone

Shallow Erin Rogers

for alto and tenor saxophone

Performance by *a very small consortium* (Courtney Sherman, voice; Lada Gaines, soprano saxophone; Adam Gaines, trumpet; Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, horn; Michael Dewhirst, cello; John Cantrell, piano), Geoff Landman, Erin Rogers and Kristen McKeon.

A performer who is comfortable with many genres, John Edward Cantrell, is known to his colleagues as a "musician's musician." From Carnegie Hall to Rock Arenas, John has performed as an organist, pianist, and multi-instrumentalist throughout the United States, England, Ireland, and Western Europe. John holds a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from Yale University and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Louisville. His teachers have included noted performers and scholars Melvin Dickinson, Thomas Murray, and Martin Jean. While at Yale, John received private coaching sessions with artists Susan Landale, Ludger Lohman, and Charles Kriegbaum. John is

the Choirmaster & Organist for St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Michael Dewhirst, cellist performs and teaches in the Green Bay area. Co- founder of the Chicago Miniaturist Ensemble, and 'a very small consortium', he is also active in several orchestras, rock/jazz bands, and chamber ensembles. Additionally, he serves as ad-hoc music faculty at UWGB, the Fine Arts Institute at East High School, and clinician with the Green Bay Symphony Youth Orchestras.

Michelle McQuade Dewhirst studied horn and composition at Ithaca College and earned her master’s and Ph.D. in composition at the University of Chicago. An active horn player, Michelle specializes in contemporary solo repertoire and performed her own 15 Minutes of Fame for solo horn in March of 2012. She is on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Adam Gaines is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin -

Green Bay. In addition to teaching the trumpet studio, Dr. Gaines directs the Jazz Ensemble II and the New Music Ensemble, and teaches jazz history, brass methods, and music technology courses. Dr. Gaines has performed as a soloist in his native Kentucky, as well as throughout Indiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Slovakia, Austria, and at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals. He holds degrees from the University of Louisville (Bachelor of Music, 1999) and Ball State University (Master of Music, 2001 and Doctor of Arts, 2005). Dr. Gaines frequently travels to Slovakia to perform in jazz and classical idioms and to spend time with his wife Ladislava’s family.

Ladislava Gaines (soprano saxophone) is originally from Humenne, Slovakia, and now lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Before moving to the U.S. in December 2011, Lada lived and worked in the Slovak capital Bratislava at the Music Centre Slovakia, a government agency devoted to the creation and dissemination of Slovak music. Lada holds a master's degree in musicology and a doctoral degree in saxophone performance. She is an active performer on both saxophone and accordion.

Erin Rogers is a Canadian saxophonist/composer based in New York City. Her works have been performed by groups such as the Gotham Ensemble, IKTUS, Anubis Quartet and Madrid’s Tribuna Sax-Ensemble. She performs regularly with a variety of New York-based bands and ensembles and is a founding member of the performance group thingNY and New Thread Quartet. In 2013 Erin received a JFund award for her work “Mother Earth,” which will be performed by flutist Andrea Smith and New Thread at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in June. Erin completed undergraduate studies at the University of Alberta and received master’s degrees in composition and performance from Bowling Green State

University. Visit www.erinmrogers.com for more information.

Zach Seely is a composer, conductor, and guitarist/improvisor from New York. He is currently a master's degree student at Bowling Green State University, majoring in music composition, and studying with Elainie Lillios. Zach's primary composition teachers have included Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Arthur Kampela, and Annette LeSiege. His music often explores silence coupled with complex rhythms and a wide range of timbres employed through the use of extended-techniques. When describing his compositional goals, Zach says “I want my music to be honest. It serves as an extension of my life, which is my ultimate artwork.” More information about his work can be found on www.zachmusicseely.com

Jeff Weston composes music at the University of Pittsburgh, where he works toward a PhD. His music is concentrated on exploring modes of expressivity through the interactions of balance, repetition, space and physicality. Teachers have included Amy Williams, Eric Moe, Louis Andriessen, Christopher Dietz, Mikel Kuehn and Elainie Lillios. Weston has garnered performances and fellowships at such venues as the International Young Composers’ Forum, Cal State University New Music Festival, Red Note New Music Festival, North American Saxophone Alliance National Conference, Contagious Sounds Series, Iowa Composers’ Forum, Bowling Green State University New Music Festival, University of Alberta NCounters

Festival, University of Toronto, soundSCAPE Festival-Maccagno, Italy and Radio France.

Viola Yip, a native of Hong Kong, is a Brooklyn-based composer and performer who tries to find and push the boundaries in her imaginary sound world. Her compositions are not limited to acoustic music, electronic music, graphic scores and structured improvisation. Recent works appeared in ArtX at Bowling Green State University, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Ravinia Festival, Fresh Inc Festival, soundSCAPE Festival, TEDXSMU, University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NASA saxophone conference, ThingNY spam v3.0 concert, Quiet City concert, Vox Novus Concert, Musicarama 2012 (Hong Kong) and PAUSA Art House in Buffalo. As a new music advocate, she also performs contemporary works regularly as a pianist and an

improviser. Her recent interest falls on using human natural voice as an instrument and explore its expressivity and musicality.

COMPOSER’S VOICE COMING EVENTS

Sunday, January 26, 2014 (NYC): World Premiere of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: andPlay, Maya Bennardo, violin & Hanah Levinson, viola + DANCE EXTRAVAGANZA featuring choreography & dance by Erin Bomboy, Callie Hatchett, Stanton Jacinto, Lee Katherine, Jessica Mego, Andrea Skurr, Allison Schieler Music & Performances by Greg Bartholomew, Julius Bucsis, Alex Kruchoski, Vivian Li, Douglas DaSilva, Conway Kuo, Pamela Sklar, Denise Stillwell, Douglas Townsend, Diego Vasquez, and Robert Voisey Monday, January 27, 2014 (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall): Duo Anova: Susan [Davita Mandel, cello & Kenji Haba, guitar] & Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Bateira Trio [Sandy Hughes, flute; Conway Kuo, viola; and Satoshi Okamoto, double bass] and works by Vivian Li, and Erwin Schulhoff.   Sunday, February 9, 2014 (NYC): World Premiere of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Iceland-Land of Mystery & Trolls with Eva Ingolf, violin. Music & performances by Mary Hubbell, Alice Jones, Skip La Plante, Melanie Mitrano, David Morneau, Eric Nathan, David Rimelis Guest curator: David Morneau Friday, February 14, 2014 (Cartagena, Spain): World Premiere of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Javier Perez-Garrido: Romances for solo clarinet Sunday, February 23, 2014 (NYC): 4th Annual Trajetória Brasileira concert featuring the World Premiere of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: David Souza, tenor & Annoush Moazzeni, piano with music and performances by Ensemble Tom do Brasil, Cristian Amigo, Angela Babin, Rodrigo Baggio, Craig Bitterman, Douglas DaSilva, Emilio Guarino, Rob Helsel, Kristen Mather de Andrade, Marcos dal Medico, David Morneau, Sergio Roberto de Oliveira, Jon Russell, Dafina Zeqini Nushi, Yan Pang Sunday, March 9, 2014 (NYC): Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: William Bruce Curlette, Clarinet-In Memoriam: D. Stanley Hasty and Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame AND : Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Daniel Sachs, piano - Hommage à Ravel

Sunday, March 30, 2014 (NYC): Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Shannon Roberts, soprano & Yumi Suehiro, piano. Music and performances by: Beth Anderson, Elisenda Fabregas, Julie Mandel, Nailah Nombeko, Adrienne Patino, Alla Pavlova Guest Curator: Nailah Nombeko

Sunday, April 14, 2014 (NYC): 3rd Annual Japan Perspective concert featuring the World Premiere of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Thomas Piercy, clarinet &

Vilian Ivantchev, guitar and music and performances by Kenji Bunch, Masatora Goya, Conway Kuo and more!

Composer’s Voice

Vox Novus collaborating with the Remarkable Theater Brigade and Jan Hus Church to produce a monthly concert series promoting the chamber works of contemporary composers.

Vox Novus promotes contemporary music and its creators through concerts, recordings, publications, broadcasts, and online publicity. Vox Novus believes strongly in the intrinsic value of contemporary music, recognizing it as a force in the advancement of culture and art. Our goal is to keep music alive by strengthening the connection between composer and audience, providing greater exposure to new music.

Remarkable Theater Brigade founded by Christian McLeer, Dan Jeselsohn and Monica Harte, creates and produces new operas and musicals and takes children's versions out to special-needs and at-risk children free of charge. Remarkable Theater Brigade creates and produces new works including operas, orchestral pieces, ballets, musicals, and electro-acoustic works and co-produces the Composer's Voice Concert Series concerts.

Jan Hus Church

This is the place you were welcome, long before you arrived! Donations of food &clothing are greatly appreciated for the Homeless Outreach Advocacy Program (HOAP)

www.janhus.org