PRESS RELEASE FOR SEPT. 8 REVISED August 4,...
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Transcript of PRESS RELEASE FOR SEPT. 8 REVISED August 4,...
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PRESS RELEASE FOR SEPT. 8 Press Contact: Sylvi Brown 310-702-5847
REVISED August 4, 2015
PIANO SPHERES PRESENTS THOMAS ADÈS IN A WORLD PREMIERE
OF CONCERT PARAPHRASE on Powder Her Face for TWO PIANOS/FOUR HANDS
Thomas Adès Joins Piano Spheres Artist Gloria Cheng in a Rare
Two Pianos/Four Hands Program on September 8, 2015 at Zipper Hall
Piano Spheres is pleased to announce an extraordinary program with Thomas Adès and Gloria Cheng in recital with the World Premiere of THOMAS ADÈS: CONCERT PARAPHRASE on Powder Her Face for TWO PIANOS, FOUR HANDS which was commissioned by the new music patron Sue Bienkowski for Piano Spheres. Featured, in the recital by these two celebrated pianists is LIGETI: Sonatina; NANCARROW arr. ADÈS: Studies No. 6 & 7; and MESSIAEN: Visions de l’Amen. The concert opens the Piano Spheres season entitled XPLORATIONS on Tuesday, September 8, 8:00pm at ZIPPER CONCERT HALL, 200 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012. The continuing series will be at REDCAT starting October 27 with Nadia Shpachenko, In Full Sails (more info at www.pianospheres.org ). Artistic Director Catherine Uniack commented, "Piano Spheres is thrilled to have the world premiere of this significant work by Thomas Adès. We are deeply grateful to Sue Bienkowski for funding the commission and sponsoring the concert, and we are delighted that Mr. Adès will participate in the entire program with Piano Spheres artist Gloria Cheng." Bienkowski explains her interest in the work, "I first heard Tom's music at the Long Beach Opera production of Powder Her Face in 2001. We talked about commissioning a piece for two pianos several years later. After hearing [Piano Spheres pianist] Mark Robson perform the Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face at the Hear Now Music Festival, Tom said he felt this version had enough music for two or three pianos. And that's how this commission came about. I had suggested in that first conversation that Tom and Gloria should perform it, so it seemed appropriate that the premiere would take place at Piano Spheres.” THE PROGRAM: György Ligeti: Sonatina (1950), for piano four-‐hands Conlon Nancarrow, arr. Adès: Studies No. 6 & 7, for two pianos Thomas Adès: Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face for two pianos (WORLD PREMIERE) Olivier Messiaen: Visions de l'Amen, for two pianos
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British composer Thomas Adès, who now makes his home in Los Angeles, has been called “one of the most imposing figures in contemporary music” (The New Yorker). He first composed Powder Her Face as a Chamber Opera In Two Acts and Eight Scenes For Four Singers and 15 Players (commissioned by Almeida Opera) and called “… dazzlingly precocious… a staggeringly brilliant addition to the ranks of contemporary music theatre” (San Francisco Examiner); and “...instrumental writing of a power and imagination that we haven’t heard anywhere," (The Guardian). Of the 2013 production the New York Times said “The music of manages to be eclectic in a way that never sounds like pastiche
and always sounds like Adès.” Revived in June of 2015 in Boston, The Boston Globe wrote “Adès’ vocal writing and instrumental score are dizzyingly inventive, ferociously difficult, and invariably rewarding.” Adès arranged two of Conlon Nancarrow’s pieces: NANCARROW, arr. ADÈS: Studies No. 6 & 7 for two solo pianos. “Study No. 6 is an untypically lazy piece …… The repeating bass line, maintained by the second pianist’s left hand throughout, is squashed and stretched by constant changes of rhythm and tempo, while the melody, whose returns are punctuated by up-‐down scales, develops bits of counterpoint along the way. Study No. 7 is bigger and much more complex, with scraps of tune and scales caught on rhythmic and harmonic cycles rotating at several different speeds simultaneously.” (LA Phil - Paul Griffiths). György Ligeti: Sonatina (1950), for piano four-‐hands is light-‐hearted, folk-‐derived music. “The composer’s crucial encounter with American Minimalism, as well as with Nancarrow’s player-‐piano studies made a significant impact on his style.” Visions de l’Amen, for two pianos was written by Olivier Messiaen for himself and his student Yvonne Loriod (later his second wife). “The piece points to the teacher-‐pupil relationship enshrined in the music; the way the simple chords in Loriod's part in the opening Amen de la création are given life and sustenance by the creation theme rising from the depths of Messaiens piano 2.” (Andrew McGregor).
Pianist Gloria Cheng is acclaimed as a discerning artist whose performances tap the emotional core of contemporary music. In recitals that explore significant interconnections amongst composers, Cheng has been presented by the Ojai Festival, Chicago Humanities Festival, William Kapell Festival, and the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. She has appeared on leading concert series including Carnegie Hall's Making Music, Cal Performances, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Engine408, Stanford Lively Arts, and at (le) Poisson Rouge.
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In recital and on recording, Cheng celebrates the kinships that exist amongst contemporary composers. About her Grammy-‐winning 2008 disc, Piano Music of Esa-‐Pekka Salonen, Steven Stucky, and Witold Lutosławski, The New York Times noted: "It's not just that Ms. Cheng plays these daunting pieces with such commanding technique, color and imagination. Her recordings include Piano Music of John Adams and Terry Riley on Telarc, her Grammy-‐nominated 2012 release, The Edge of Light: Messiaen/Saariaho, with contributions from the Calder Quartet and director Peter Sellars. Recently Cheng launched MONTAGE, a recording and documentary film featuring works composed for her by the greatest film composers of today. The film includes interviews with Bruce Broughton, Don Davis, Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Randy Newman, and John Williams, along with footage from the concert premiere and composer-‐led recording sessions. The film premiered in various venues in February 2015, to coincide with the CD release on Harmonia mundi. Founded by Leonard Stein, Piano Spheres supports and encourages the composition and performance of major new works for the piano. It expands the piano repertoire by commissioning new music and sustaining a concert series of the highest artistic quality which focuses primarily on pieces by contemporary composers.
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For tickets (800-‐595-‐4849) or more information visit www.pianospheres.org Single admissions $35, Seniors $30, Students $20 (one ticket per I.D)
Contact:
Information: Heidi Lesemann, 323-226-0326 – [email protected] Press: Sylvi C Brown, 310-702-5847 - [email protected] Artistic Director: Catherine Uniack, 323-935-0729 - [email protected]