Contempo 2013-2014 Schedule

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With characteristic élan and zealous dedication to the cause, University of Chicago resident ensemble Contempo dedicated their Harris Theater concert last night to the music of Sofia Gubaidulina.  Like her mentor Dimitri Shostakovich, Gubaidulina forged an independent musical path despite disapproval from Soviet officials and censors, eventually emerging as one of the leaders of Russian music in the 20th century.  In recent decades, her compositions have become even more widely known, with artists like Gidon Kremer and Anne-Sophie Mutter championing her works and prominent features at the Proms and Stuttgart Bach Academy introducing her music to new audiences.

Like Bach, the composer to whom Gubaidulina is perhaps most dedicated, her music has an inherent spiritualism, manifested over a wide tonal palette.  Sometimes it’s most present in Pärt-like mystical minimalism and static textures, while elsewhere it’s more outward and more fervent, with Sprechstimme text pleading for salvation.  At other times, Gubaidulina’s spiritualism glides beneath the surface, an ever-present force that shapes her musical language but isn’t necessarily expressed through text or direct references.

This is the case in Garden of Joy and Sorrow, which Contempo flutist Tim Munro opened with a series of ever-widening flute arabesques that tumbled over atmospheric harmonics played by violist Masumi Per Rostad and otherworldly vibrato effects given by harpist Alison Attar.  The trio’s broad pointillistic texture recalls Webern in its succinctness and restraint, characteristics that Gubaidulina found appealing in her literary inspirations for the work (Iv Oganov’s Sayat-Nova and Francisco Tanzer’s poetry).  This focus on single musical elements was broken only a few times by the ensemble roaring forth together, a mighty force that diminished to just the viola in its extreme upper register by the piece’s conclusion.

Scored for cello and the bayan–a Russian accordion developed in the early 20th century– Gubaidulina’s In Croce depicts a musical cruciform, with the two instruments approaching each other at seemingly right angles, intersecting, and continuing on their original path, newly altered.  This concept is nothing new–Bach’s B Minor Mass, for example, is filled with chiasmus–but Gubaidulina’s approach is singular.  The cello’s declamatory and leaping opening is in direct contrast to the bayan’s semitone drone and flitting upper register forays.

Gradually, as the bayan progresses on its long-term journey to the depths of its register, the two instruments meet with aggressive music of great conflict. The interaction develops into a less adversarial and more conversational relationship, and they continue on their opposing journeys.  Just when it seems as if they’ve reached the extreme limits of their instruments, cellist Brandon Vamos joined bayan player Stanislav Venglevski with a mighty downward slide.

An ideal closing piece that brought a satisfying conclusion to Contempo’s concert, Sofia Gubaidulina’s Perception is collection of thirteen movements for soprano, baritone and strings set to texts by Francisco Tanzer.  Though baritone Ricardo Rivera teetered on the edge of being overtheatrical at times, all the musicians on stage attacked this music with boundless energy and an insatiable appetite for expression.  Interesting elements in the text- such as the juxtaposition of a supplicating soprano (Tony Arnold)  in “Am Meer” with interjections of a more earthly nature, or the repeated-syllable wordplay of “Ich und du”- were presented faithfully and clearly, allowing for recurring themes in the text to be readily understood.  Perhaps most rewardingly, Perception touches on elements present in Garden and In Croce, highlighting both Contempo’s intelligent programming as well as Sofia Gubaidulina’s multifaceted depth as a composer.

How odd that the music of Sofia Gubaidulina, generally considered to be the most important composer to have emerged from the former Soviet Union since Shostakovich, turns up so infrequently in performance — as opposed to recordings, where it’s well represented.

So the concert presented by Contempo in honor of Gubaidulina’s 80th birthday season, Wednesday night at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, carried a rightful sense of occasion, with performances worthy of a widely respected contemporary figure who, last June, became the first composer ever to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Chicago.

“In Croce” was heard in its 1991 version for cello and bayan, a Russian accordion. The instruments approach each other almost furtively, from opposite registers; when their lines cross, it provokes a furious climax, giving way to a dying fall of the cello’s slithering over the bayan’s toneless murmurs. The committed performers were Brandon Vamos on cello and Stanislav Venglevski on bayan.

Contempo 2011-12 Schedule (11MB PDF)

Though Shapey accepted a conducting position at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963, he moved to the composition faculty of the University of Chicago as a Professor of Music just a year later. It was during his first year in Chicago that Shapey founded the Contemporary Chamber Players, serving as both its music director and conductor for almost the next 30 years. As a composition professor, he taught many eminent composers, including Pulitzer Prize winner Shulamit Ran, now the Artistic Director of Contempo and a Professor of Music at the University of Chicago.

Shapey wrote more than 200 works, receiving commissions from such distinguished organizations as the Fromm Foundation, the Library of Congress-Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, the Koussevitsky Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, among them the George Gershwin Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, a Friedheim Award, the Brandeis Creative Arts Award, a National Foundation of Arts and Letters Award and over a dozen ASCAP awards. He was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1989 and to the American Academy of Arts and Science in 1994.

As a conductor, Shapey led numerous ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony, the London Symphony, the London Sinfonietta and the New York Philharmonic Chamber Music Society. He is the author of A Basic Course in Music Composition, published by Theodore Presser, and is recorded on the CRI, Opus One and New World record labels. Shapey died on June 13, 2002.

Shapey’s Website

Ran has been awarded most major honors given to composers in the United States, and her numerous prizes, fellowships and commissions include those from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund, the Ford Foundation, three commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, two fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fromm Music Foundation, WFMT, Chamber Music America, the American Composers Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Baltimore Symphony, the National Flute Association, and the Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress. Her Symphony earned both the 1991 Pulitzer Prize and the first place 1992 Kennedy Center Friedheim Award.

Performances of Ran’s music have been given by the New York Philharmonic on a Young People’s Concert, the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and Gustavo Dudamel, the Chicago Symphony under both Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Gary Bertini, the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph Von Dohnanyi in two U.S. tours, the National Symphony in Washington D.C., the Baltimore Symphony, the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s under Lord Yehudi Menuhin, the Louisville Orchestra, the Jerusalem Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Da Capo Chamber Players, New York New Music Ensemble, Twentieth Century Consort, string quartets including the Avalon, Brentano, Cassatt, Lark, Mendelssohn, Penderecki, and Taneyev quartets, Peabody Trio, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Santa Fe and Yellow Barn, among others. Her works are recorded on more than a dozen labels including Albany , Angel, Bridge, CRI, Erato, Koch International Classics, New World, and Warner Classics.

In 1990 Ran was appointed by Daniel Barenboim to be Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as part of the Meet the Composer Orchestra Residencies Program, a position she held for seven seasons. From 1994 to 1997 she also served as the fifth Brena and Lee Freeman Sr. Composer-in-Residence with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Ran was Visiting Professor at Princeton University in 1987, and is an elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1992 and the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2003.

Ran’s Website

One of few musicians to have studied orchestral repertory with Daniel Barenboim, Colnot has served as assistant conductor for Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Workshops for young musicians from Israel, Egypt, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries. Colnot has also worked extensively with Pierre Boulez and has served as assistant conductor to Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy.

In addition to conducting Contempo and collaborating regularly with the internationally acclaimed contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird, Colnot has been principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary MusicNOW series since its inception and is principal conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, an orchestra he has conducted since 1994. Colnot also conducts the DePaul University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, and orchestras at Indiana University. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, and Ancora Chamber Orchestra, and has had collaborations with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), with whom he recorded Richard Wernick’s The Name of the Game for Bridge Records.

Colnot is also a master arranger. His orchestration of Shulamit Ran’s Three Fantasy Pieces for Cello and Piano was recorded by the English Chamber Orchestra. He was commissioned to arrange Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony No. 10, Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande (both published by Universal) and Manuel De Falla’s Three Cornered Hat for Elena Bashkirova and the chamber orchestra of the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. For ICE and Julia Bentley, Colnot arranged Olivier Messiaen’s Chants de Terre et de Ciel for chamber orchestra and mezzo-soprano, also published by Universal. He has also been commissioned to write works for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Percussion Scholarship Group. His orchestration of Duke Ellington’s New World Coming was premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim as piano soloist, and Colnot also arranged, conducted, and co-produced the CD Tribute to Ellington featuring Barenboim at the piano. He wrote music for the MGM/UA motion picture Hoodlum and has written for rock-and-roll, pop, and jazz artists Richard Marx, Yo-Yo Ma, Phil Ramone, Hugh Jackman, Leann Rimes, SheDaisy, Patricia Barber, Emerson Drive, and Brian Culbertson.

Colnot graduated with honors from Florida State University and in 1995 received the Ernst von Dohnányi Certificate of Excellence. He has also received the prestigious Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University, where he earned his doctorate. In 2001 the Chicago Tribune named Cliff Colnot a “Chicagoan of the Year” in music, and in 2005 he received the William Hall Sherwood Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts. He has studied with master jazz teacher David Bloom and has taught jazz arranging at DePaul University and film scoring at Columbia College. He also teaches advanced orchestration at the University of Chicago. As a bassoonist, he was a member of the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, Music of the Baroque, and the Contemporary Chamber Players.

“Cliff Colnot conducted the excellent International Contemporary Ensemble in an alluring performance.” —  Anthony  Tommasini, New York Times

“To every score, conductor Cliff Colnot brought a dedication, virtuosity, and intensity of feeling new music needs but doesn’t often receive.” —  John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

“Everywhere [in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1] were signs of meticulous preparation and keen stylistic acuity.” —  Michael Cameron, Chicago Tribune

eighth blackbird \ˈātth ˈblak-ˌbərd\ slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1. verb. to act with commitment and virtuosity; to zap, zip, sock.
2. adjective. having fearless (yet irreverent) qualities.
3. noun. a flock of songbirds, common in urban areas since 1996.

eighth blackbird lives dangerously. The Chicago-based, two-time GRAMMY Award-winning sextet combines the finesse of a string quartet with the energy of a rock band and the audacity of a storefront theater company. Its musical aerobatics delight, provoke and entertain audiences around the world.

The lure of wet ink draws eighth blackbird into collaborations with a motley crew of composers, young and old, modernist and indie. Recent commissions include Steve Reich’s Double Sextet, Jennifer Higdon’s On a Wire and Steve Mackey’s Slide, and future collaborators include Amy Beth Kirsten, Brett Dean, Aaron Jay Kernis, John Luther Adams and Mayke Nas.

During the 2011/12 season eighth blackbird tours Australia twice, making debuts at the Sydney Opera House and the Brisbane Festival, and with the symphony orchestras of Melbourne and Tasmania. The ensemble plays in New York (SONiC festival), Kansas City, Ithaca and Mexico City. Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire is presented at the Kennedy Center and the McAninch Arts Center. Chicago performances include a Reich-fest in Millennium Park, Composition Competition finals, a premiere by Nico Muhly, and a mini-festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

eighth blackbird holds ongoing Ensemble in Residence positions at the University of Richmond and the University of Chicago, and will commence a three-year, Mellon Foundation-funded term as Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music in Fall 2012. A fruitful, ongoing relationship with Chicago’s Cedille Records has produced four acclaimed recordings. The ensemble has won two Grammy Awards, for strange imaginary animals (Best Chamber Music Performance, 2008) and Lonely Motel: Music from Slide (Best Small Ensemble Performance, 2012).

eighth blackbird’s members hail from America’s Great Lakes, Keystone, Golden and Bay states, and Australia’s Sunshine State. There are four foodies, three beer snobs and one exercise junkie. The name “eighth blackbird” derives from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens’s evocative, aphoristic poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (1917).

eighthblackbird.com

Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices, over the past two decades the Pacifica Quartet has gained international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The Pacifica tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, performing regularly in the world’s major concert halls. Named the quartet-in-residence at Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music in March 2012, the Pacifica was also the quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009 – 2012) – a position previously held by the Guarneri String Quartet – and received the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.

Formed in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet quickly won chamber music’s top competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 2002 the ensemble was honored with Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award and the appointment to Lincoln Center’s CMS Two, and in 2006 was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming only the second chamber ensemble so honored in the Grant’s long history. Also in 2006 the Quartet was featured on the cover of Gramophone and heralded as one of “five new quartets you should know about,” the only American quartet to make the list. And in 2009, the Quartet was named “Ensemble of the Year” by Musical America.

The Pacifica Quartet has carved a niche for itself as the preeminent interpreter of string quartet cycles, harnessing the group’s singular focus and incredible stamina to portray each composer’s evolution, often over the course of just a few days. Having given highly acclaimed performances of the complete Carter cycle in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Houston; the Mendelssohn cycle in Napa, Australia, New York, and Pittsburgh; and the Beethoven cycle in New York, Denver, St. Paul, Chicago, Napa, and Tokyo (in an unprecedented presentation of five concerts in three days at Suntory Hall), the Quartet presented the monumental Shostakovich cycle in Chicago and New York during the 2010-2011 season and in Montreal and at London’s Wigmore Hall in the 2011-2012 season. The Quartet has been widely praised for these cycles, with critics calling the concerts “brilliant,” “astonishing,” “gripping,” and “breathtaking.”

An ardent advocate of contemporary music, the Pacifica Quartet commissions and performs many new works, including those by Keeril Makan, in partnership with the Celebrity Series of Boston and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, during the 2012-13 season, and Shulamit Ran, in partnership with the Music Accord consortium, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. In 2008 the Quartet released its Grammy Award-winning recording of Carter’s quartets Nos. 1 and 5 on the Naxos label; the 2009 release of quartets Nos. 2, 3, and 4 completed the two-CD set. In 2012 Cedille Records released the second of three CDs comprising the entire Shostakovich cycle, along with other contemporary Soviet works, to rave reviews: “The playing is nothing short of phenomenal.” (Daily Telegraph, London)

The members of the Pacifica Quartet live in Bloomington, IN, where they serve as quartet-in-residence and full-time faculty members at the Jacobs School of Music. Prior to their appointment, the Quartet was on the faculty of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana from 2003 to 2012. The Pacifica Quartet also serves as resident performing artist at the University of Chicago.

pacificaquartet.com

Boyer received formal training at the Philadelphia College of Art (1970-1973), the Pennsylvania Academy for Fine Arts (BFA 1975), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA 1985).

rebekahboyerart.com