The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra finish off June in Buffalo 2013!

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

We’re excited about the final concert of June in Buffalo 2013 with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, which will conclude the festival on Sunday, June 9th, at 2:30 p.m. in Slee Hall at the University at Buffalo. This year’s festival has been especially inspiring, not only because of the great mix of faculty and participant composers, but also because of the inauguaration of the June in Buffalo Performance Institute, which helped finish off the festival with concerts on both Friday and Saturday. Music journalist Daniel J. Kushner recently published an insightful and enthusiastic review of Friday night’s concert under the title “Eclectic Performance Institute is a fine fit for June”, which can be found in the Buffalo News. We've also received some great recent press from Jan Jezioro, who has published a nice write-up on the BPO at June in Buffalo at the Artvoice, which includes a fantastic quote by Alex Ross, “Having appeared in Spring for Music [at Carnegie Hall], the Buffalo Philharmonic will return home for June in Buffalo, which this year presents a particularly fascinating lineup of resident composers as well as a new, contemporary-oriented Performance Institute under the direction of Eric Huebner.” Read Jezioro's full piece here.

JoAnn Falletta

The final concert on Sunday, with the BPO under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, will begin with David Felder’s Linebacker Music, originally written for the BPO in 1993. You can sample the beginning of Linebacker Music on the Center’s soundcloud.

The second piece of the concert will be by composer Augusta Read Thomas, described in October 2012 by the New Yorker as “a true virtuoso composer”. The BPO will perform her recent work Aureole, which was just given its world premiere by the DePaul Symphony Orchestra only a week ago.

The final piece of the concert, which will follow without an intermission, will be Yehudi Wyner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Piano Concerto Chiavi in Mano, and will feature soloist Geoffrey Burleson. We recently blogged about Chiavi in Mano, read more about it here. 

Ticket information can be found here. We look forward to seeing you at Slee Hall!

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June in Buffalo Performance Institute concert June 7th!

Eric Huebner, JiB Performance Institute Director

The June in Buffalo Performance Institute has been going strong since last Thursday, May 30th, when the JACK Quartet inaugurated the Institute with a gorgeous performance of Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No. 1 at the beautiful M&T Bank in downtown Buffalo. Since then Performance Institute participants have been working closely with the JACK Quartet, Eric Huebner, and Tom Kolor and members of the Talujon Percussion Ensemble preparing for Friday (June 7th) night’s concert at 7:30 p.m. in Baird Recital Hall at the University at Buffalo.

The full list June in Buffalo Performance Institute participants:

Ross Aftel, percussion

Hangyu Bai, piano

T.J. Borden, cello

Jade Conlee, piano           

Nicholas Emmanuel, piano

Matthew Geiger, percussion

Manuel Laufer, piano

Michiko Saiki, piano

Friday night's concert will also feature a guest appearance by violinist Irvine Arditti, who will perform Brian Ferneyhough's Intermedio alla Ciaconna, the full program is below.

June in Buffalo Performance Institute Concert, June 7th, 7:30 p.m., UB Baird Recital Hall

Chinary Ung:  Spiral no. 1                                               

Ross Aftel, percussion, T.J. Borden, cello, and Nicholas Emmanuel, piano                                                                                                      

Anton Webern:  Bagatelles, op.9                                               

members of the JACK Quartet with T.J. Borden

Brian Ferneyhough:  Intermedio alla Ciaconna                                   

Irvine Arditti, violin

                                               

                                             ---  intermission ---

Ralph Shapey:  Gottlieb Duo                          

Matthew Geiger, percussion, Manuel Laufer, piano

Anton Webern:  Two Pieces (1899), Three Little Pieces op. 11   

Hangyu Bai, piano, and Jonathan Golove, cello

                       

Charles Wuorinen:  Fifty-Fifty                                                 

Jade Conlee and Michiko Saiki, pianists           

The next day, on Saturday, June 8th, JiB Performance Institute faculty and participants will perform works by JiB composers Clint Haycraft and Megan Buegger, and works by Zimmerman, Cage, Babbitt, Carter, Stockhausen, Sciarrino, and Rivas. The concert will begin at 3:45 p.m. in B1 Slee Hall for the first piece by Megan Beugger, and then move up to Baird Recital Hall at 4:00 p.m. for the rest of the program. Check out the Performance Institute website, like their page on facebook, or follow the Center for 21st Century Music on twitter for more updates.

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Yehudi Wyner's Piano Concerto "Chiavi in Mano" at June in Buffalo 2013

We’re enjoying having Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Yehudi Wyner on the Composition Faculty of June in Buffalo 2013, and looking forward to hearing his music this week. On Wednesday, June 5th, Talea Ensemble will give a concert featuring Wyner’s Refrain, and on Saturday, June 8th, SIGNAL's concert will feature Wyner’s Passage, which will be conducted by Brad Lubman, and feature soloists Irvine Arditti on violin and Ken Radnofsky on saxophone. Both concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. in Slee Hall.

Yehudi Wyner

The final concert of June in Buffalo 2013 will be on Sunday, June 9th, at 2:30 p.m. in Slee Hall, when the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will perform works by JiB Faculty composers that will conclude with Wyner’s Piano Concerto, Chiavi in Mano, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006. Our guest Geoffrey Burleson will join JoAnn Falletta and the BPO as the piano soloist on Chiavi in Mano – Burleson’s playing has been described as “vibrant” and “compelling”  by the New York Times, who also praised his “command, projection of rhapsodic qualities without loss of rhythmic vigor, and appropriate sense of spontaneity and fetching colors.”

A recent 55-minute audio interview with Yehudi Wyner, by Christopher Lyon, is available at the Huffington Post. For a little more information, we’ve excerpted a small bit from Wyner’s biography and reproduced it below, the complete bio can be found at the Milken Archive:

“For nearly a half century Yehudi Wyner has been recognized as one of America’s most gifted composers. Although born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he grew up in New York City. His father, Lazar Weiner (1897–1982), was a leading exponent of Yiddish high musical culture, both as a choral conductor and as a composer, and is now the acknowledged avatar of the Yiddish art song medium. Throughout his youth, Wyner was exposed to his parents’ Yiddishist intellectual milieu, and their home was frequented by literati and artists from the Yiddish cultural orbit. (His father had the spelling of his children’s surname changed—though not his own—to preclude a common mispronunciation.)

“By the age of four or five, no doubt inspired by the music he heard in that environment, Wyner began improvising short pieces that had an eastern European Jewish folk or Hassidic character. He started his formal musical life as a pianist, although he never studied with his father—who was himself a brilliant pianist. While a piano student of Loni Epstein at The Juilliard School, Wyner became increasingly attracted to composition, which he then studied at Yale with Richard Donovan and Paul Hindemith, and at Harvard with Randall Thompson and Walter Piston. After completing his undergraduate work, he spent a summer in residence at the Brandeis Arts Institute in Santa Susana, California, a division of the Brandeis Camp, where the music director was Max Helfman (1901–1963), one of the seminal figures in Jewish music in America. That program brought together college-age students as well as established Jewish—and especially Israeli—composers, in an effort to broaden the Jewish artistic horizons of young musicians. There, Wyner came into contact with some of the most creative and accomplished Israeli composers and other artists of that period, and he was introduced to new artistic possibilities inherent in modern Jewish cultural consciousness.”

Check out the video below of Yehudi Wyner's Quartet for Oboe and String Trio, performed by the Mimesis Ensemble at Fenway Park:

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Charles Wuorinen receives honorary doctorate from UB, conducts Slee SInfonietta at June in Buffalo 2013!

Charles Wuorinen

We’re looking forward to Tuesday, June 4th, when University at Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi will present June in Buffalo 2013 Faculty Composer Charles Wuorinen with an honorary doctorate from UB. The brief award ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Slee Hall, after which two recent works by Charles Wuorinen will be performed. First will be Wuroinen’s Piano Quintet, to be performed by the JACK Quartet and pianist Eric Huebner. Wuorinen will then pick up the baton and lead the Slee Sinfonietta in his It Happens Like This, a dramatic and sometimes jocular cantata in which the composer has set text from seven poems by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Tate. It Happens Like This will feature 12 members from Slee Sinfonietta, who will be joined by four vocalists: soprano Sharon Harms, alto Laura Mercado Wright, tenor Steven Brennfleck, and bass Ethan Herschenfeld.

The Slee Sinfonietta performing Ligeti's Piano Concerto

Charles Wuorinen has been a friend to the Center for 21st Century Music for many years now – his full biography can be found on our new webpage: Slee Sinfonietta Artist Bios, which includes full biographies and pictures of all of the composers, performers, and staff that make up the Slee Sinfonietta.

The Sinfonietta presents a series of concerts each year that feature performances of challenging new works by contemporary composers and lesser-known works from the chamber orchestra repertoire. Founded in 1997 by composer David Felder, and comprised of a core group including UB faculty performance artists, visiting artists, national and regional professionals and advanced performance students, the group is conducted by leading conductors and composers. More can be found on the history of the Sinfonietta at their program archives. 

Like us on Facebook and/or follow us on twitter for more updates on the Slee Sinfonietta and June in Buffalo 2013. 

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JACK Quartet, Eric Huebner, Jonathan Golove, Talujon, kick off opening weekend of June in Buffalo 2013!

We’re looking forward to the opening weekend of June in Buffalo 2013! The festival will kick off with a concert by the JACK Quartet on Thursday, May 30, at 6:30 p.m., at One M&T Plaza, a special historical building in downtown Buffalo which was designed and built in 1966 by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect for the World Trade Center in New York City. In addition to opening JiB 2013, the concert is also part of the Center for 21st Century Music’s Music in Buffalo’s Historic Places series (more on the event and the series here), and will open with a brief presentation by UB Professor of Architecture, Brian Carter, who recently published M&T Bank, a book detailing the history and design of the building. 

The concert, which starts at 7:00 p.m., will consist entirely of Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No. 1, performed by the JACK Quartet. There will be a nice reception with wine and light snacks before the concert, hosted by M&T Bank, and it’s likely the concert will sell out, so we recommend you RSVP.

Eric Huebner

Jonathan Golove

The concert on the following day will be held here at UB in Slee Hall on Friday, May 31st, at 7:30 p.m., and will feature soloists Eric Huebner on piano, and Jonathan Golove on cello and Theremin cello. The program will include Iannis Xenakis' Kottos for solo cello (1977), Roger Reynolds' imAge/E and imagE/E (2007), Edgard Varése's Density 21.5 (1936, revised 1946) arranged for Theremin cello by Jonathan Golove, the world premiere of Eric Wubbels' Psychomechanochronometer (2013), which was commissioned with support from the Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, Elliott Carter's Sonata for cello and piano (1948), and some selections from György Ligeti's Études (1985-94).

Saturday, June 1st, boasts another concert of virtuosic contemporary music in Slee Hall, this time performed by the Talujon Ensemble. Their concert will feature Brian Ferneyhough's Fanfare for Klaus Huber (1987), Charles Wuorinen's Marimba Variations (2012), Marc Mellits' Gravity (2013), Ross Bauer's Echometry (2013), and Iannis Xenakis' Okho (1989).

Talujon Ensemble

RSVP here for the inauguration of the June in Buffalo Performance Institute on Thursday, May 30th, at 6:30 p.m., with the JACK Quartet -- we'll be keeping everyone updated on June in Buffalo 2013 at the Center for 21st Century Music, as well as through facebook and twitter. Also, stay tuned for more on our finale concert on Sunday, June 9th, at 2:30 p.m. with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, with pianist Geoffrey Burleson, featuring the work of JiB faculty composers at the University of Buffalo in Slee Hall.

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Ensemble Signal returns for June in Buffalo 2013

Ensemble Signal 

We’re looking forward to Ensemble Signal joining us for June in Buffalo 2013 – we just recently enjoyed hosting them for the world premiere of David Felder’s recent Koussevitsky commission Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux, where they assembled an orchestra of 35 musicians and were joined by soprano Laura Aikin, bass-baritone Ethan Herschenfeld, and 12 channels of electronics. Check out more on the premiere from our friends at the Buffalo News, Artvoice, and Sequenza21.

More recently, Signal celebrated the release of their Helmut Lachenmann DVD on Mode Records, which features a performance of Zwei Gefühle with Lachenmann himself, which they performed here at Slee Hall back in 2010. Other recent projects of Signal’s include a staged production of the NY Premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s It Happens Like This at the Guggenheim Museum, performing the music of Brian Ferneyhough at The Tanglewood Festival of Comtemporary Music, and the recent premiere of Señales by Hilda Paredes, written for Signal and Irvine Arditti.

Signal will be rehearsing and performing the works of June in Buffalo composer participants on June 4th, and on June 8th they will offer a concert of June in Buffalo faculty composers, including Brian Ferneyhough’s Terrain (1992), Charles Wuorinen’s Big Spinoff (2011), Augusta Read Thomas’ Carillon Sky (2005), and Yehudi Wyner’s Passage (1983). Brad Lubman will be wielding the baton and will be joined by Irvine Arditti on violin and Kenneth Radnofsky on saxophone.

Enjoy the excerpt below of Signal’s recent Lachenmann release on Mode Records:

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Composer Brian Ferneyhough at June in Buffalo 2013

We’ve been profiling some of the June in Buffalo 2013 ensembles and faculty composers, and thought we’d take a quick look at composer and longtime friend of the Center for 21st Century Music, Brian Ferneyhough.

Brian Ferneyhough

Ferneyhough was here for June in Buffalo 2005, and his music enjoyed some sensitive and virtuosic performances: Ensemble SurPlus performed his chamber work Incipits, Quatour Diotima interpretted his String Quartet No. 2, and pianist Ian Pace performed Epigrams. Ferneyhough later returned here for a short residency in February of 2009 alongside composer Hilda Paredes and the Arditti Quartet, who performed a concert in Slee Hall, as well as workshopped and recorded UB student works.

More on Ferneyhough can be found through his publisher Edition Peters, on his wikipedia article, and at the guardian.

Ferneyhough will be giving daily master classes to June in Buffalo composers during June in Buffalo 2013, as well as give a lecture on his recent projects. His music will be featured throughout the evening concerts during the week, including his chamber work Terrain, to be performed by Ensemble Signal, and Mnémosyme, for bass flute and tape, to be performed by Ensemble Linea.

Check out the video of below of Ensemble Linea interpretting Ferneyhough’s 2008 ensemble piece Chronos Aion:

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Augusta Read Thomas at June in Buffalo 2013

Augusta Read Thomas

We'd like to welcome Augusta Read Thomas to the composition faculty of June in Buffalo 2013. We're excited to have her here for a week of masterclasses and concerts, beginning on June 3rd,  when the JACK Quartet will perform her string quartet Rise Chanting, from Sun Threads.

The rest of the week will feature several other works by her, including Caprice, for solo violin, to be performed by the Talea Ensemble, Carillon Sky for saxophone and small orchestra, to be performed by Ensemble Signal, and her recent Aureole, for orchestra, to be performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Thomas is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as an Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, and is currently the University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music at the University of Chicago.

Enjoy the video below of Thomas talking about the inspiration for her violin duet, Double Helix, commissioned for the grand opening of the Mansueto Library, and leading us through her creative process:

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Talea Ensemble at June in Buffalo 2013!

We’re gearing up for June in Buffalo 2013 and preparing to host the renown Talea Ensemble for the festival, from June 3 – 9. They’ll be traveling here from New York City with conductor James Baker, and will be rehearsing and performing pieces by June in Buffalo student composers, and offering an evening concert of works by June in Buffalo Faculty composers.

Talea has been very active recently – just last year they released an exquisite album of music by Fausto Romitelli on John Zorn’s label, Tzadik, which they recorded at EMPAC. The CD features five very thoughtfully interpretted chamber ensemble pieces: Amok Koma (2001), Domeniche alla periferia dell”impero (2000), La sabbia del tempo (1991), Nell”alto dei giorni immobili (1990), and Blood on the Floor, Painting 1986 (2000). 

Talea Ensemble

Currently, the Talea Ensemble is preparing a concert of pieces by Austrian composer Beat Furrer, which they’ll be presenting at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York City on May 14th. Two days later, they’ll give the U.S. premiere of Beat Furrer’s opera Fama, on both May 16th and 17th. More on the premiere here.

One thing we love about Talea is their indefatigable enthusiasm for the music of our time, and the tremendous energy they bring to contemporary American musical life. A bit from their mission statement below:

“In music, the term talea (literally, “cutting” in Latin) refers to collections of repeating, cycling rhythmic patterns. Most often, these patterns are associated with the ars nova period of Medieval music in which new techniques of musical composition were emerging.Talea has also been used in several other traditions including Indian classical music (tala in Sanskrit – a wonderful linguistic coincidence), and throughout the ages in Western music, from the composer Guillaume de Machaut in the 14th Century to Olivier Messiaen and Gérard Grisey in the 20th Century. This idea of a global, timeless, and cutting-edge musical practice, inventive in its construction and beautiful in its execution, is at the root of the Talea Ensemble’s artistic direction.

“The Talea Ensemble is committed to promoting new, groundbreaking music through innovative programming thereby communicating the distinctive voices of composers that deserve to be heard. By commissioning and programming these progressive works alongside the established literature of modern and contemporary repertoire, the ensemble creates a dialogue that challenges the boundaries of music and fosters a greater understanding of the works of today. Additionally, the Talea Ensemble wishes to support and advance familiarity with contemporary American works by bringing it to concert halls and venues not only in New York but also abroad. By developing an interactive relationship between the composers, performers and audience, the Talea Ensemble builds an environment of reciprocal inspiration that sparks the imagination of all.”

Below is a video excerpt of Talea offering a gorgeous interpretation of Helmut Lachenmann's Trio Fluido:

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Welcoming French composer Raphaël Cendo to June in Buffalo 2013!

Following up on our last post on Ensemble Linea and the French constituency at June in Buffalo 2013, we thought we’d introduce French composer Raphaël Cendo, who will be on the June in Buffalo 2013 composition faculty. Cendo was born in Paris in 1975 and was educated at IRCAM, where he specialized in composition and electronics. Cendo has been teaching composition at the Conservatory of Nanterre since 2008.

Raphaël Cendo

Raphaël Cendo has had a very illustrious education and career, and has studied with many great composers, including Allain Gaussin, Brian Ferneyhough, Fausto Romitelli, and Philippe Manoury, and has had works commissioned and performed by L’Itinéraire, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Nouvel Ensemble Modern, Ictus, and MusikFabrik, among many other ensembles.

Alex Ross featured an interesting post on Raphaël Cendo and his percussion piece Scratch Data, performed by Belgian percussionist Tom De Cock, which can be found here.

Cendo's music has enjoyed tremendously popularity, as well as many performances at a diverse array of festivals, including Ars Musica Brussels, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Voix Nouvelles Royaumont, Présences, and Musica Strasbourg. From 2009 until 2011 he lived and worked at the Villa Medici in Rome.

Below is the audio from Cendo’s remarkable Charge, for seven instruments and electronics:

Link to this post here.

Ensemble Linea at June in Buffalo 2013!

We’re looking forward to having Ensemble Linea for June in Buffalo 2013 – they were a big hit here in 2011 and we’re happy to have them back for round 2. Adding to the French constituency will be composer Raphaël Cendo, who will be accompanying them from France as part of this year’s JiB Composition Faculty. While they’re here they’ll be interpreting works from June in Buffalo composition students, as well as JiB 2013 Faculty Composer Brian Ferneyhough’s flute piece Mnémosyne, and a fresh concert of contemporary music pieces from France.

Ensemble Linea

A little more on their approach and background from their mission statement:

“Founded in Strasbourg by pianist and conductor Jean-Philippe Wurtz in 1998, Ensemble Linea has, since its beginnings, been committed to promoting a democratization of contemporary music, giving priority to the encounter with the audience, to openness towards other artistic disciplines, and to an active booking strategy.

“Beyond any schools and trends, the artistic project of Linea covers quite diverse aesthetic perspectives, from musical theater to electronic music, from Western music to the rich Asian repertoires. Based in Alsace (eastern France, bordering on Germany and

Ensemble Linea

Switzerland), at the crossroads of many different cultures, Linea naturally approaches the repertoires in their multicultural dimension. Linea advocates an engaged music anchored in modernity: it favors works that question the mutations and complexities of our era.”

Coincidentally, another connection currently exists between Ensemble Linea and the University at Buffalo Music Department, as Daniel Bassin, the current conductor and music director of the University at Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, is now studying at the Abbaye de Royaumont Conductor Master Class, where he is rehearsing with Ensemble Linea the works of Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti, Hanna Eimermacher, and others, under the tutelage of Péter Eötvös.

Below is a video of Ensemble Linea’s beautiful performance of Gerard Grisey’s Talea from June in Buffalo 2011:

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June in Buffalo 2013 composers announced!

June in Buffalo and the Center for 21st Century Music are pleased to announce the 29 composers welcomed to June in Buffalo 2013, running from June 3–9, alongside the JiB Performance Institute, who will be writing for  Ensemble Linea,
 JACK Quartet, 
SIGNAL,
 Slee Sinfonietta,
 Talea Ensemble, 
and Talujon Percussion Ensemble. More on June in Buffalo 2013 can be found here. 



The decision-making process was quite difficult as we had over 80 applications from very creative composers from all over the world. All 29 accepted composers for June in Buffalo 2013 are listed below:

Jeffrey Holmes, University of Southern California

Tomas Gueglio, University of Chicago

Marek Poliks, Harvard University

Andrew Greenwald, Stanford

Steven Weimer, University of Cincinnati

Clint Haycraft, University of Buffalo

Ursula Kwong-Brown, University of California-Berkeley

Jonghee Kang, University of Pittsburgh

Megan Beugger, University of Buffalo

Kurt Isaacson, Stanford

Stylianos Dimou, Eastman School of Music

Matt Sargent, University of Buffalo

Osnat Netzer, New England Conservatory

Lesley Hinger, Boston University

Eric Stewart, University of Toronto

Nicholas DeMasion, UCSD

James Young, Peabody Conservatory

Ben Phelps, University of Southern California-Thornton

Ross Scott Griffey, Julliard

John Chittum, University of Missouri-Kansas City

Brien Henderson, San Francisco State University

Zihua Tan, McGill University

James Bean, University of Oregon

Jason Thorpe Buchanan, Eastman School of Music

Esin Gunduz, University of Buffalo

Jenny Beck, Rutgers University

Brian Herrington, Royal Academy of Music

Valentina Velkovska, University "Goce Delcev" FMU

Colin Tucker, University at Buffalo

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New UB Office of the President Signature Series kicks off with David Felder's Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux April 23!

Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux World Premiere

We're very excited to announce the World Premiere of David Felder's Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux, which will be part of a two day series of events presented by the University at Buffalo Office of the President. The events will inaugurate the Signature Series, a new university tradition, which President Satish K. Tripathi has introduced to "to celebrate UB's legacy of innovation and distinction in arts and letters." The premiere of the work, commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation, will take place on Tuesday, April 23rd, at 7:00 p.m. in Slee Hall, and feature a 30+ chamber orchestra of musicians including the Slee Sinfonietta, Ensemble SIGNAL, soprano Laura Aikin, bass-baritone Ethan Herschenfeld, and ten channels of electronics. Last month's full press release can be found here.

The two days worth of events include an open rehearsal, a luncheon dialogue, a panel discussion, a pre-concert reception, and concludes with the premiere. The complete two-day schedule follows below in the press release from The University at Buffalo Office of the President:

WORLD PREMIERE PRESENTED BY THE UB OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND THE ROBERT AND CAROL MORRIS CENTER FOR 21ST CENTURY MUSIC

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 | 7 p.m.

University at Buffalo President
Satish K. Triparthi

LIPPES CONCERT HALL, SLEE HALL, NORTH CAMPUS

The premiere is the focal point of a two-day program that marks the start of a new university tradition called the Signature Series, which President Satish K. Tripathi has introduced to celebrate UB's legacy of innovation and distinction in arts and letters.

An internationally acclaimed composer of contemporary music, David Felder has long been recognized as a leader in his generation of American composers. His works are known for their highly energetic profile, lyrical qualities and for his use of technological extension and elaboration of musical materials. Felder is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Birge-Cary Chair in Composition at UB.

LES QUATRE TEMPS CARDINAUX

“Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux” is a complex song cycle for two solo voices, a 35-piece orchestra and twelve channels of electronics. Commissioned in 2011 for the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, “Les Quatre” is dedicated to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky. The work was composed from fall 2011 through spring 2013, and was written for Ensemble Signal, The Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Slee Sinfonietta, and for singers Laura Aikin and Ethan Herschenfeld. Additional support was provided by the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music at UB, the Cameron Baird Foundation, the Birge-Cary Chair at UB, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Ethan Herschenfeld

Schedule of Premiere and Related Events

MONDAY, APRIL 22

2—3:30 PM

Open rehearsal of "Les Quatre"

Open to the public, RSVP requested

Lippes Concert Hall

Join music enthusiasts from UB, other local colleges and schools, and the community as the composer, conductor, vocalists, and ensemble allow the public to observe one of the final rehearsals of "Les Quatre" prior to its world premiere.

Laura Aikin

TUESDAY, APRIL 23

1—2 PM

Luncheon Dialogue: “Inside the Making of ‘Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux’”

Open to the public, registration limited to 60, RSVP required

Slee Lobby

Composer David Felder and others involved in the premiere will hold a lunchtime discussion of the process of bringing "Les Quatre" from conception to fruition. A complimentary light lunch will be provided for all registered participants.

3:30—5 PM

"Textural Signatures": A Panel Discussion

Open to the public, RSVP requested

Baird 250

Slee Sinfonietta
photo by Irene Haupt

Faculty and students from the departments of English, Music, and Theatre and Dance, joined by the biographer of poet René Daumal (whose poetry is musically interpreted in "Les Quatre"), will explore the relationship between texts and the arts, with attention to the particular poems featured in Professor Felder's composition.

5:30—6:45 PM

Pre-concert reception, sponsored by University at Buffalo Alumni Association

Ticketed event limited to 100, RSVP required

Black Box Theater, Center for the Arts

Gather with others prior to the premiere for drinks and hors d'oeuvres, with remarks by E. Bruce Pitman, Dean of UB's College of Arts and Sciences, and composer David Felder (schedule permitting). Reception cost includes admission to the 7pm concert.

Brad Lubman and
 Ensemble SIGNAL

Single Ticket: $30; $25 for UBAA members.

Pair of Tickets: $55; $45 for UBAA members.

7—8:45 PM

Concert

Lippes Concert Hall, Slee Hall

The Slee Sinfonietta presents The Signal Ensemble:

   •  Brad Lubman, conductor

   •  Laura Aikin, soprano

   •  Ethan Herschenfeld, bass-baritone

Program features the world premiere of David Felder's “Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux,” preceded by a performance of Felder's percussion concerto "Tweener."

Advance tickets: $12/$9/$5

Door: $20/$15/$8

Admission is free for UB students with a student ID

Slee Hall: http://www.slee.buffalo.edu/

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