Monday, October 26, 2009

A Short Film for the End of Time


On Tuesday, October 27 (7:30 pm), the Slee Sinfonietta serves up a quartet of chamber works at Lippes Concert Hall, dating from Messaien's spellbinding Quartet for the End of Time (1941) to conductor Harvey Sollberger's 1987 original substance/manifests/traces, with new UB faculty member Barry Crawford on flute. Franco Donatoni's fleet and inventive Arpège (1986) and Toru Takemitsu's enchanting Rain Spell (1983) round out the program. Regarding the latter work, Stylus magazine noted that its "relatively rich, shimmering textures place it again in Debussy territory as sort of an atonal take on Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun." Ticket information is available here.

Here's a remarkable short film that visual artist Zach Smithey and director Tristan Cook made for a performance of Quartet for the End of Time at Lincoln Center. (Note: this will not be shown at UB.) 


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Slee Sinfonietta rocks Ligeti, Bach, and Bloch, part 2


Just added to the Audio page on the Center's website: excerpts from the Slee Sinfonietta's September 15 concert at Lippes Concert Hall, including works by Bach, Bloch, and Ligeti. Click the "+" sign on the music player, then choose "Slee Sinfonietta 2009" to listen.