Programs 2019
Tuesday, May 14, 2019 6:00 pm
QNMF 2019 Kick-off Concerts:
Carpe Diem String Quartet
Carpe Diem String Quartet presents “From the Sands of Persia to Montana Newgrass”; four composers interpret folk music influenced quartets from Turkey, Persia and the United States.
A unique and sought-after chamber ensemble, the Carpe Diem String Quartet is a boundary-breaking quartet that has earned widespread critical acclaim. Carpe Diem defies easy classification with programming that includes classical, Gypsy, tango, folk, pop, rock, and jazz-inspired music. Carpe Diem has been awarded five transformative grants from the PNC Foundation for their community outreach in Central Ohio.
Program:
Erberk Eryilmaz (1989): Dances of the Yogurt Maker
Reza Vali (1952): Ashoob (Calligraphy No. 14)
Jessie Montgomery (1981): Strum
Korine Fujiwara: Fiddle Suite Montana
Tuesday, May 14, 2019 8:00 pm
RAM Presents: “Combo Bend”
Combo Bend explores works for the colorful combination of saxophone, violin, guitar, and contrabass. Taking inspiration from American popular idioms, this program combines the music of RAM composers and guest composer/performers Jeff Hudgins [saxophonist of Anti-Social Music] and Hilliard Greene[bassist]. Our guests join Nadav Lev [guitar] and Sabina Torosjan [violin] for an evening of fresh performances.
The RAM Players specialize in new music and are dedicated to delivering exciting performances of works by living composers. Musicians in the RAM Players have been described as passionate, brilliant, sensitive, and energetic by critics for their work in ensemble performances and as soloists with orchestras around the world.
Program:
Seth Boustead: Toxic Grace* for bari sax, violin, guitar, bass
David Fetherolf: Parar la Oreja: solo guitar
Gilbert Galindo: Spunk* for saxophone, guitar, violin, & bass
Alexandra Gardner: Mythimna Twilight: saxophone & guitar
Hilliard Greene: 20G*: solo bass
Jeff Hudgins: distended*: baritone sax & bass
Matthew Taylor: Let’s Meet At The Horizon; violin & bass
Frances White (RAM): Written on water*: violin & guitar
*World premiere
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 6:00 pm
RAM Presents: Spirituals & Art Songs,
Myroslava Khomik: Rhapsody
Soprano Yolanda F. Johnson, accompanied by the RAM players, shares a unique and wide-ranging program of traditional Spirituals, including a powerful new arrangement of “Go Down, Moses,” as well as art song selections by Florence Price and Nadine Shanti.
Johnson has performed nationally and internationally in several musical venues including opera, concert, oratorio and sacred music. She is an active recitalist/lecturer on spirituals as related to the Underground Railroad, and the works of women composers. David Fetherolf is a founding member of Random Access Music.
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David Fetherolf: Arrangements
Yolanda F. Johnson, soprano
Thomas Piercy, clarinet
Laura Jean Goldberg, violin
Kate Dillingham, cello
Marija Ilic, piano
Violinist Myroslava Khomik performs "Rhapsody" by Boris Skalsky (World Premiere). Myroslava Khomik commissioned “Rhapsody” for solo violin in memory of the innocent victims of political upheaval and violence in Ukraine, which was a very painful event for the Ukrainian diaspora all over the world. Now, it is a tribute to all innocent people who are victims of gun violence and political games which we see all around us.
Rhapsody by Boris Skalsky (World Premiere)
Myroslava Khomik, violin
Thursday, May 16, 2019: 8:00 pm
Kinga Augustyn: Exposed. 20th and 21st Century Unaccompanied Violin
The Secret Theatre
Violin soloist Kinga Augustyn offers a demanding program of 20th and 21st Century works that push the boundaries of both instrument and player. Sparks fly when bow meets string in this extraordinary salon-style performance.
Augustyn is a Polish-born, New York City-based classical concert violinist and recording artist. She has been described as stylish and vibrant (The Strad Magazine), and beyond amazing, one hell of a violinist! (Fanfare Magazine).
Program:
Luciano Berio (1925-2003): Sequenza VIII (1976)
Jakub Polaczyk (b.1980): Ink 2 (composed for Kinga Augustyn in 2017)
Piotr Drożdżewski (b. 1948): Caprice No. 1 “Paganini, Caprice No. 2 “Paganini” (1990)
Krzysztof Penderecki (b.1933): Capriccio (2008)
Elliott Carter: Rhapsodic Musings (2000)
Isang Yun (1917-1995): Koenigliches Thema (1976)
Kala Pierson (b.1977): Bright Curves (2012) (NY Premiere)
Rain Worthington (b.1949): Frost Vapors (2013)
Rain Worthington: An Evening Indigo (2014)
Jessica Meyer (1974): Confronting the Sky (2015)
Debra Kaye (b.1956): Turning in Time (composed in 2018 for Kinga Augustyn)
Friday, May 17, 2018 6:00 pm
ÆON Ensemble: Songs Are Sung
The Secret Theatre
Songs Are Sung is a musical meditation on the passage of time. Works by David Lang, Henryk Górecki, Brian Shank, Lawrence Wilde, and Charles Boguinia explore the acoustic synergy between the human voice and string instruments.
ÆON is a New York City-based chamber ensemble specializing in contemporary concert music. Founded by friends at the Juilliard School, ÆON has premiered over 25 new works at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and the DiMenna Center.
Program:
Lawrence Wilde (b.1991): Improvisations on De Profundis WP
Henryk Górecki (1933-2010): Songs are Sung, II. Largo, Cantabile from String Quartet No. 3
David Lang (b. 1957): Just (2015)
Brian Shank: Sappho 31 (2019) WP
Lawrence Wilde (b. 1991): will you not sleep? (2019) WP
Charles Boguinia (b. 1992): Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird (2019) WP
Friday, May 17, 2018 8:00 pm
RAM Presents: Consortium
The Secret Theatre
Inspired by the Baroque consort (a family of instruments), The RAM Players and guests perform new works by RAM composers as well as this year’s call for scores winners. In honor of Joan Tower’s 80th birthday, the program will end with Rising, for Flute and String Quartet, a work she wrote for flutist Carol Wincence.
Program:
Seth Boustead: Songs of Perception: string quartet & soprano
Gilbert Galindo: Víctor, Catarina!*: mezzo soprano, flute, and string quintet
Nicolai Jacobsen: Songs for a Winter’s Night: flute and cello**
Niloufar Nourbakhsh: White Helmets as white as death: flute, violin, and viola**
Frances White: Centre Bridge (dark river): string quintet and recorded sound
Joan Tower: Rising: flute and string quartet
*World premiere
**2019 RAM Call for Scores Winners
Laura Virella, mezzo-soprano
Lish Lindsey, flute
Laura Jean Goldberg, violin
Adrianne Munden-Dixon, violin
Liuh-Wen Ting, viola
Kate Dillingham, cello
Melody Giron, cello
Hilliard Greene, contrabass
Saturday, May 18, 2019 5:30 pm
Nelson Ojeda Presents: The Once and Future New Yorker, the Music of José Luis Greco
The Secret Theatre
Nelson Ojeda brings native New Yorker José Luis Greco back home after 35 years abroad, with a program of music spanning 11 years, including 3 world premieres, performed by some of America’s finest soloists.
You can take the boy out of New York, but you can’t take New York out of the boy. Its streets are still there; its shadows and light; heat and cold; days and nights. The parks and the rivers are there; its music, noise, and its quiet. In 2009, Gramophone magazine hailed Greco’s music: Stripping tonal music of its superficiality, [his] music brilliantly expands and exploits instrumental possibilities. In 2017, American Record Guide spoke of: …profundity and poignancy that linger after the players fall silent and the dreamer wakes. Mr. Ojedo offers a varied program of Greco’s music written between 2001 and 2012.
Nelson Ojeda Valdés is a New York based pianist who has toured widely performing solo and chamber works as well as a soloist with orchestras. Recently, Ojeda performed both the premiere of Frederick Lesemann’s “Bar Code: dance music for two pianos” and the two piano version of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring with Susan Svrcek at REDCAT (Disney Hall) in Los Angeles as part of the Piano Spheres series.
Program:
José Luis Greco: Wonderland: string trio (2001)
José Luis Greco: Some of My Best Friends Are: Sonata for piano (2011)*
José Luis Greco: When the World Was Still…: (2002)*
[3 Songs on Poems by G. Taggard, R.L. Stevenson and E. Lear]
José Luis Greco: “These Dreams of You” for piano quartet (2012)*
*World premiere
Performers:
Nelson Ojeda Valdés, piano
Myroslava Khomik, violin
Andy Lin, viola
Kate Dillingham, cello
Risa Renae Harman, soprano
Saturday, May 18, 2019 7:30 pm
Iktus Duo: Sceiron
The Secret Theatre
Ryan Howard: Skeiron: flute, percussion, and electronics
Skeiron, the Greek God of the northwest wind, is at once a reference to the prevalence of air and wind sounds in this composition (in both flutes and electronics), as well as an allusion to the associations of atmosphere and spaciousness the work evokes.
Iktus Duo (flute and percussion) returns to QNMF for a special free interlude, playing this work by composer Ryan Howard. Iktus is an ensemble based in New York City that specializes in commissioning, promotion, and educational outreach of new music
Ryan Howard (b. 1981) is a composer, scholar, and educator in the New York metropolitan area. He holds degrees from the City University of New York Graduate Center (Ph.D), Yale University (M.M., M.M.A.) and Indiana University (B.M.).
Hristina Blagoeva, flute
Chris Graham, percussion
Saturday, May 18, 2019 8:00 pm
Kathleen Supové: At Home In My Skin
The Secret Theatre
One of America’s most acclaimed and versatile contemporary music pianists, known for continually redefining what it means to be a pianist/keyboardist/performance artist in today’s world, Kathleen Supové presents At Home In My Skin—finding a home in the world and within one’s self.
Kathleen Supové annually presents a series of solo concerts entitled THE EXPLODING PIANO. In this series, she has performed and premiered works by a Who’s Who of contemporary music. The Exploding Piano is a multimedia experience using electronics, theatrical elements, vocal rants, staging, and collaboration with artists from other disciplines. She has performed with Yamaha Disklaviers, laptop orchestras, robots, and XReality. Upcoming projects include MIGRATION and a CD on the Starkland label, EYE TO IVORY.
Program:
Paula Matthusen: “…by the inexplicabilities we call coincidence” (2018) for zither and body fan+
Howie Kenty: “A Star In The Dim” (2019)*
Jay Derderian: “The People They Think We Are” (2018) for piano/video/soundtrack+
John King: “Douglass-Blues” (2018) for speaking piano soloist*
Richard Belcastro: “Overwhelming Presentness” (2018) for piano and ebow*
*World premiere
+New York premiere
Saturday, May 19, 2019 2:00 pm
Ju-Ping Song: All Varieties of Existence
The Secret Theatre
Pianist Ju-Ping Song showcases powerful, visceral works for solo piano, soundtrack, and video by four women with strong, individual voices. Their musical styles, while different in many ways, share a similar magnetic and irresistible approach to sound.
Ju-Ping Song is recognized as one of today’s champions of contemporary music. Her colorful and beyond-the-recital format performances have won her praise as “an extraordinary pianist” (Boston Globe). In the process, she has inspired the creation and commission of new works for piano and toy piano by today’s under-40 and distinguished composers.
Program:
Kate Moore: Bestiary: piano + soundtrack (2016, US premiere)
Rahilia Hasanova: Monad: piano (1993, NY Premiere)
Nicole Lizée: Lynch Études: piano + soundtrack + video (2016, NY Premiere)
Lois Vierk: Spin 2: piano + soundtrack (1995, new arr. 2018 US Premiere)
Saturday, May 19, 2019 5:00 pm
NakedEye Ensemble: Beating Back Boring Production Deadlines
The Secret Theatre
NakedEye Ensemble showcases its multi-faceted commissioning work from recent and on-going projects.
An eclectic eight-member electro-acoustic ensemble with classical, rock, and jazz DNA, NakedEye Ensemble commissions and performs seminal works by cross-over and cutting-edge composers. Presenting music of the imagination utilizing acoustic, electric, toy, kitchen, and noise-making instruments, NakedEye’s body of repertoire reflects the group’s mission to innovate and explore musical expression outside of convention.
Program:
Randall Woolf: Punching the Clock: fl.cl.sax.vc.e-guitar.perc.pf.elec.
Rusty Banks: Surface Tensions: fl.cl.sax.vc.e-guitar.e-bass.perc.pf.*
Aaron Jay Myers: Strabismus: fl.cl.sax.vc.e-guitar.e-bass.drum set.pf.*
Florent Ghys: Il va pleuvoir en fin d’après-midi: fl.cl.sax.vc.e-guitar.e-bass.vib.pf.elec.video*
Richard Belcastro: Nepetalactone: fl.cl.sax.vc.e-guitar.e-bass.drum set.pf.*
Frank Zappa: Sinister Footwear: fl.cl.sax.vc.e-guitar.e-bass.drum set.pf.
(1984/2016 arr. for NakedEye by Mike BiZs)
*NY Premiere
Saturday, May 19, 2019 7:00 pm
Random Access Music: Episodes & The End of Time
The Secret Theatre
The RAM players close the 2019 QNMF with performances of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ned Rorem and Olivier Messiaen. Rorem’s Nine Episodes represent moments or events in the life of Mr. Rorem and his friends. Messiaen’s Quatuor Pour le Fin du Temps was written while the composer was a World War II prisoner of war in German captivity. It was first performed by his fellow prisoners, outdoors and in the rain, on January 15, 1941. It has come to be recognized as one of his most important works, and one of the most important chamber works of the 20th century.
Program:
Ned Rorem: 9 Episodes
Olivier Messiaen: Quatuor Pour le Fin du Temps
Thomas Piercy, clarinet
Laura Jean Goldberg, violin
Kate Dillingham, cello
Marija Ilic, piano