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Seymour Lipkin, renowned pianist, teacher and conductor to be honored at Weill Recital Hall: A Memorial Concert
November 9, 2016

With performances by his students and colleagues, pianists Koji Attwood, Steve Beck, Andrius Zlabys, Jenny Q Chai, Rieko Aizawa, Lora Tchekoratova, and Ieva Jokubaviciute; joined by Laurie Smukler, violin and Joel Krosnick, cello.

Proceeds from ticket sales to benefit the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival in Blue Hill, Maine, one of the country’s leading chamber music schools that Mr. Lipkin led as director for nearly 30 years.

Click HERE to purchase tickets.

Tickets: From $25 to $150
Box-Office Phone Number: 212-247- 7800

Seymour Lipkin, noted pianist, teacher and conductor, passed away in November  2015 (New York Times Tribute). One year later, his former students and contemporaries will pay tribute to the teacher, musical collaborator, and mentor who impacted them so greatly in a memorial concert to be held at New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on November 9, 2016 at 7:30pm. The concert will feature a robust program (see program below) with performances by pianists Koji Attwood, Steve Beck, Andrius Zlabys, Jenny Q Chai, Rieko Aizawa, Lora Tchekoratova, Ieva Jokubaviciute, as well as Laurie Smukler, violin and Joel Krosnick, cello (see bios below).

All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival. Located in Blue Hill, Maine, Kneisel Hall, known as “the cradle of chamber music in America,” has provided musicians with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the chamber repertoire since 1902, realizing founder Franz Kneisel’s vision for over 100 years. During his nearly 30 years as director, Lipkin shaped the culture of the school and fortified its mission with a seriousness of purpose as Kneisel Hall evolved into a leading institution in the teaching of chamber music.

Says pianist Lora Tchekoratova of Mr. Lipkin, “He taught us to have the utmost respect for the great classical composers, to devote our lives to in-depth study of their music, to find a way to get as close as possible to their intentions, and to channel their spirit in our interpretations. Many of his students went on to have great careers as soloists. He inspired a diverse group: some dedicated their lives to new music, quite a few became great chamber musicians, others went on to become teachers themselves. Under his leadership Kneisel Hall became one of the leading chamber music schools in the country, where all young artists are selected very carefully and attend on full scholarship.”

Location: Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall – 881 7th Ave, New York, NY

Tickets: From $25 to $150

Website: www.carnegiehall.org

Box-Office Phone Number: 212-247-7800


Works to be performed include:

J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue No. 22 in B-flat Minor, BWV 867

Steve Beck, piano

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Barcarolle, Op. 11#1 in G minor from Six Morceaux, originally for 4 hands, arranged by Attwood

Koji Attwood, piano

Marco Stroppa: Tangata manu from Miniature Estrose Book I

Jenny Q Chai, piano

César Franck: Prelude, Chorale and Fugue

Andrius Zlabys, piano

Franz Schubert: Variations on an Original Theme, D. 813

Rieko Aizawa and Lora Tchekoratova, piano four hands

Dvorak: Piano Trio in F minor, Op. 65

Laurie Smukler, violin; Joel Krosnick, cello; Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano

I first wanted to be musician at age 3. I never made a conscious decision, it was just such a big part of my life-and I never considered anything else. There was never any question about it, or thought that I would be, say, an economist, God forbid.” -Seymour Lipkin

  portrait-seymour_lipkinAbout Seymour Lipkin

Born in Detroit in May 1927, Seymour Lipkin was instantly surrounded by music. His Grandfather was an accomplished violinist, and his parents encouraged his interest in music throughout his childhood. Mr. Lipkin received a Bachelors of Music from Curtis Institute of Music in 1947 and later joined their faculty. In addition, Mr. Lipkin was a faculty member at Juilliard beginning in 1986 and taught at Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Marymount College. Highlights of his extensive career include first prize in the Rachmaninoff Fund Piano Contest in 1948, solo performances with the Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic, and the conducting of various shows including the New York City Opera and the Joffrey Ballet.

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About Steven Beck

Steven Beck is an experienced performer of new music, having worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, George Perle, and Fred Lerdahl, and performed with ensembles such as Speculum Musicae, the New York New Music Ensemble, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. He is a member of the Knights and the Talea Ensemble. He is also a member of Quattro Mani, a piano duo specializing in contemporary music. Mr. Beck’s discography includes Peter Lieberson’s third piano concerto (for Bridge Records) and a recording of Elliott Carter’s “Double Concerto” on Albany Records. stevenbeckpiano.com
 

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About Koji Attwood                                             

A Kansas native, made his solo debut at the age of ten, and one year later won 2nd prize at the Young Keyboard Artists International Competition. Mr. Attwood has performed numerous solo recitals across the country, including concerts in Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center, and on the Kosciuszko Foundation Concert Series. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. He then went on to earn a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School. Mr. Attwood’s recent performances include a highly acclaimed d recital at Merkin Hall in New York City, a European debut at the prestigious Husum festival in Germany, and invitation by the Fondation Cziffra to perform at the Chapelle Royale Saint-Frambourg in France.        yamaha.com/artists/kojiattwood.html 

unnamedAbout Jenny Q Chai
An artist of singular vision, pianist Jenny Q Chai is widely renowned for her ability to illuminate musical connections throughout the centuries. With razor-sharp intention, Chai integrates her prodigy’s training with personal fascinations in the latest in live electronics, artificial intelligence, and environmental research, creating layered multimedia programs and events which explore and unite elements of science, nature, and art. Also of note, Ms. Chai designs all her performance gowns and some jewelry, in order to present a more united performance aesthetic, akin to the idea of Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk. Ms. Chai has performed across the globe, headlining venues from Carnegie Hall in New York City to the National Performing Arts Center in Beijing, China. JennyChai.com

 

shapeimage_1 About Rieko Aizawa

Praised by the NY Times for her “impressive musicality, a crisp touch and expressive phrasing,” Japanese pianist Rieko Aizawa has performed in solo and orchestral engagements worldwide, including Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. Ms. Aizawa received her Masters Degree from the Juilliard School.  She is also a graduate of the Curtis Institute of
Music in Philadelphia, where she was awarded the prestigious Rachmaninoff Prize. March 2005 marked the release of Ms. Aizawa’s first solo recording on the Japanese label Altus Music. Ms. Aizawa lives in  New York City, and she is on the faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College.  riekoaizawa.com/

 lora-current_croppedAbout Lora Tchekoratova

Lora Tchekoratova has been praised for her virtuoso performances of piano music from the 19th and 20th centuries. In her vast repertoire, she shows a particular interest towards the music from Eastern Europe. Ms. Tchekoratova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. She began her piano studies at age four. Although she is a sought-after soloist, she spends significant time performing chamber music. She has made numerous recordings for radio and television stations in the United States, Finland, Sweden, and Bulgaria. In 2005, together with distinguished Bulgarian musicians, and the American Foundation for Bulgaria, she co-founded the concert series Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York at the   Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria in New York. bceny.org/Lora-Tchekoratova

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About Laurie Smukler

Admired for her vivid musical ontensity and the beauty of her sound, Laurie Smukler is an artist who is active as soloist and recitalist, as well as being a much sought after chamber musician. Ms. Smukler received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School. As the original and founding first violinist of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, she spent eight years with that group, traveling and performing internationally. She also performed and toured as the first violinist of the Bard Festival String Quartet and the Purchase Faculty String Quartet. She has performed and toured with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and Music From Marlboro. Laurie Smukler is a dedicated and passionate teacher. She is a respected member of the faculties of the Julliard School,
Manhattan School of Music, and the Conservatory of
Music at Bard College. juilliard.edu/faculty/laurie-smukler

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About Ieva Jokubaviciute

Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute’s intricately crafted performances and ability to communicate the essential substance of a work has led critics to describe her as possessing ‘razor-sharp intelligence and wit”; (The Washington Post) and as ‘an artist of commanding technique,
refined temperament and persuasive insight’ (The New York Times). In 2006, she was honored as a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. A much sought after chamber musician, Ieva’s collaborative endeavors have brought her to major stages around the world, such as: Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Washington DC’s Kennedy Center. In the fall of 2015, Ieva began her tenure as Assistant Professor, Piano at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA. ievajokubaviciute.com/

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About Andrius Žlabys         

Grammy-nominated pianist Andrius Žlabys has received international acclaim for his appearances with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including The New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Symphony, and Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires. Born in Lithuania and trained at the Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Žlabys was 18 years old when the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Pianist-composer Andrius Žlabys is one of the most gifted young keyboard artists to emerge in years.”  Mr. Žlabys’s concerts have included appearances on many of the world’s leading stages, such as Avery Fisher    Hall at Lincoln Center, Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Phillips Collection, Teatro Colón, Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Suntory Hall. andriuszlabys.com

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About Joel Krosnick

Joel Krosnick has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician around the world. As a member of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1974, he has performed the great quartet literature throughout N
orth America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. With his sonata partner of more than 30 years, pianist Gilbert Kalish, Mr. Krosnick has performed recitals throughout the U. S. and Europe. Since 1976, they have given annual series of recitals in New York City and in 2007 presented the series “American Milestones of the Last 100 Years” at The Juilliard School. A dedicated teacher, Mr. Krosnick is chair of the cello department of The Juilliard School and is a member of the faculty of Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Maine. juilliardquartet.org/joel-krosnick

Piano concert using cutting-edge music technology to highlight works by composers Jaroslaw Kapuscinski and Robert Schumann.

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On Sunday, January 10th, 2016 at 3:30pm, Shanghai/Paris-based pianist Jenny Q Chai (www.jennychai.com) will be performing Where is Chopin? at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY.

Seated tickets are $20 advance, $25 day of show. Standing tickets are $15 advance, $20 day of show, and are available for purchase at lpr.com or by calling 212.505.FISH.

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In her exploratory new program Where is Chopin?, the second in her Piano Steampunk series, Jenny Q Chai explores the relationship between piano and electronics. The program will create a vivid musical story, making use of storytelling techniques common to novels and films, along with cutting edge music technology, such as the artificial intelligence program Antescofo, which is used in Jaroslaw Kapuscinski’s music. Mr. Kapuscinski, who will be present at the performance, is known for his unique compositions, where visuals/audio are equally important, reacting almost note by note, transforming the piano into a new instrument that combines the auditory and the visual. The audience will be invited to join these notable musicians for a journey to redefine classical music by simultaneously looking to the past, as well as ahead towards the future of composition.

Works to be performed during the “Where is Chopin?” program include:

Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Oli’s Dream
Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Where is Chopin?
Robert Schumann, selections from Carnaval:
Eusebius
Valse Noble
Chiarina
Reconnaissance
Valse Allemande
Paganini
Robert Schumann, Chopin

“I believe we should talk about all classical music-especially the connection between new music and old music- and not keep it caged in an ivory tower anymore” – Jenny Q Chai

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About Jenny Q Chai

An artist of singular vision, pianist Jenny Q Chai is widely renowned for her ability to illuminate musical connections throughout the centuries. With razor-sharp intention, Chai integrates her prodigy’s training with personal fascinations in the latest in live electronics, artificial intelligence, and environmental research, creating layered multimedia programs and events which explore and unite elements of science, nature, and art. Also of note, Ms. Chai designs all her performance gowns and some jewelry, in order to present a more united performance aesthetic, akin to the idea of Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk. Ms. Chai has performed across the globe, headlining the most impressive venues from Carnegie Hall in New York City to the National Performing Arts Center in Beijing, China.

 “Jenny Q Chai, who has studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, is following the more eclectic path…” The New York Times.

Website: www.JennyChai.com

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Choreographer Henning Rübsam presents a tribute to his late mentor BEVERLY BLOSSOM at THE KAYE PLAYHOUSE at Hunter College, 68th Street & Lexington Avenue, NYC on Sunday, November 1, 2015, 7pm.

Tickets for this event are $15 (students), $29 (general seating), and $49 (prime seating) and are available at www.sensedance.org, by calling (917) 720-4697, or at the box office.

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The BEVERLY BLOSSOM MEMORIAL GALA on November 1 is a tribute with guest stars from around the country to the late “doyenne of robust eccentricity” on the very anniversary of her passing. A kaleidoscope of Blossom’s best work is shown on this exciting program. Renowned solo artists Douglas Nielsen and Betsy Fisher will perform Losing You and Blossom’s signature solo Dad’s Ties respectively. A group of dancers from the University of Illinois will perform her group work Brides. Ella & Mark Magruder, former company members of Beverly Blossom, dance her earliest work Black Traveler as well as the gender-bending Besame Mucho and the poignant Last Bow. Henning Rübsam recreates Shards, a poetic solo Blossom first performed in homage to her late mentor Alwin Nikolais. Former fellow Nikolais dancer Christine Reisner will join Rübsam in Fan Dance which they both danced when members of Blossom’s company.

For your information, please find Blossom’s obituary by Jennifer Dunning for the NYTimes.

 

“Beverly Blossom was “a modern-dance choreographer and teacher and a daring, vividly imaginative solo performer … a “solo dancer with a ‘voice’.
– Jennifer Dunning, NY Times

 
Also at The Kaye Playhouse: Rübsam shows new work with his company SENSEDANCE in the program AND THERE WAS MORNING. His ensemble will perform three world premieres to new music by contemporary composers, Monday – Wednesday, November 2 – 4, 2015. All curtain times are at 7:00pm.

The BEVERLY BLOSSOM MEMORIAL GALA & AND THERE WAS MORNING are sponsored by the Hunter College School of Education.

SENSEDANCE is represented by Jessica Marino of River City Artists Management in the U.S. and Canada: http://www.rivercityartists.com/sensedance/

 

www.sensedance.org
MICHAEL CORDA • [email protected]
VARIAN HUDDLESTON • [email protected]
PETER MCDOWELL • [email protected]

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Composer Gerald Cohen has been receiving quite a lot of attention lately, and there’s good reason why: His compositions are passionate, dramatic and lyrical. The International Clarinet Association‘s F. Gerrard Erante calls his work “rhythmically vital, virtuosic, and haunting” and Gramophone notes his “linguistic fluidity and melodic gift”.

 
 
 


Upcoming Events

 

2102fe11-46a7-4ff9-8151-fd83558c12fcSunday, May 17th: Members of the Grneta Ensemble (Vasko Dukovski, clarinet; Alexandra Joan, piano) will be joined by pianist Jennifer Choi to perform Variously Blue (from Gerald Cohen’s Navona Records release Sea of Reeds). This performance is part of the program “Fireflies” at the Tribeca New Music Festival.

The Cell, New York, 4pm matinee
$25 Adults ($20 Online);
$15 Students & Seniors ($10 Online)

 


Sunday, May 31st: Excerpts of Cohen’s Opera Steal a Pencil for Me will be performed as part of the concert “Music in Our Time“, a presentation of the American Society for Jewish Music.

Steal a Pencil for Me is based on the wartime lovestory of Holocaust survivors Jaap and Ina Polak, and has received praise from The Jewish Week, Lucid Culture, and WQXR’s Operavore.

Center for Jewish History, New York, 3pm
$18 General Admission; $12 ASJM Members;
$9 Students & Seniors

 

unnamed (2)Sunday, June 14th: L’dor Vador will be performed as part of ChoralFest USA, an celebration of American choral music.

Recently, the International Jewish High School Choir HaZamir premiered Cohen’s L’dor Vador (From Generation to Generation) at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center), which can be seen on YouTube.

Symphony Space, New York, 3pm
Free Admission

 
 

Recent News

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One of Cohen’s best-known pieces was featured on the BBC series Songs of Praise with a performance of his “Adonai Ro’i” (Psalm 23), lovingly interpreted by acclaimed British tenor Matthew Sandy and
the Blue Coat School Choir.

 
 
 
nv5979_seaofreeds_frontcoverCohen’s latest recording Sea of Reeds (Navona Records) has also been getting celebrated. Second Inversion (KING-FM Seattle) featured the CD as “Album of the Week” and interviewed him.

Sea of Reeds has also been given “three cheers” by both Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review and critic James Wegg, and applauded by Sequenza 21babysueWRUV, Touching Extremes, and Yale Alumni Magazine. (Listen to a sampler Sea of Reeds on Soundcloud, available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.)

 
American Public Media’s nationally syndicated Performance Today recently closed their programming block with a stream of Cohen’s Le Poisson Rouge performance, alongside Prokofiev, Brahms, and Chopin.

For more news and information, please visit geraldcohenmusic.com.

Story Binge Promo with Images and Copy V2

 

“[Experiments in Opera] is telling stories that are not being told in other places…Exploring what opera means.” – The Wall Street Journal

 

Brooklyn, NY — Following the success of their production last month of Sisyphus, Experiments in Opera now presents STORY BINGE: seven new operas in a two-night “operathon” at Brooklyn’s own Roulette on April 1 & 2, 2015, 8pm. Roulette is located at 509 Atlantic Avenue (corner of 3rd Avenue) Brooklyn, NY. Tickets are $20 for each night, $15 for students.

Over the course of this opera binge, you will hear the work of seven composers, whose arrival at opera couldn’t be more roundabout. The resulting pieces, each from 20 to 30 minutes long, are one-act shorts and opera excerpts in concert and staged performances. Through these works, the composers tell a range of absurd, abstract, historical and hilarious stories. Composers include Sam Hillmer, Nick Hallett, Matthew Welch, Gelsey Bell, Jason Cady, Aaron Siegel, and Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum.

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1

Sam Hillmer (a.k.a. Diamond Terrifier) details the disconnect between spoken words and thoughts in his autobiographical multi-media experience titled this is soon, and that was the web this is going to be. It’s a tribute to the confused and every variety of psychic other.

With: Sam Hillmer, Laura Paris, Lawrence Mesich, Patrick Higgins, Angus Tarnawsky, Max Alper, Michael Beharie, Data Garden and Marley G.

 ***

Nick Hallett’s To Music (Scene 1) looks at the nature of inspiration, originality, and illusion through the cautionary tale of a composer’s behavior on social media.

Nick Hallett, music, librettist; Josh Thorson, video design, Peter Alex Stewart, composer

With: Amelia Watkins, Norma; Nick Hallett, Lawyer; Emily Manzo, piano; Pauline Kim Harris, violin; Jeanann Dara, viola

***

Matthew Welch explores his family memoirs of wartime Philippines with his ensemble, Blarvuster in And Here We Are. The impact of cultural collisions is stressed, with text focused on the accounts of Welch’s great-uncle Edgar, an opera singer isolated by his move to Asia and internment.

Matthew Welch, composer; Daniel Neer, librettist;

Based on memoirs by: Edgar Kneedler, Ethel Kneedler and Donald Kneedler

With: Matthew Welch’s Blarvuster: Daniel Neer, baritone; Ben Holmes, trumpet; Joe Bergen, vibraphone; Emily Manzo, piano; Ian Riggs, bass guitar; Mike Pride, drums; Matthew Welch, alto sax and conductor

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THURSDAY, APRIL 2

thingNY’s Gelsey Bell presents an excerpt of Rolodex Opera: a fractured story of social relationships based on a Rolodex of characters. Rather than introducing all 26 characters (a.k.a. letters of the alphabet), this performance will involve only the Accompanist, the Creator, the Dad, the Ghost/Grandparent, the Husband, the Kid, the Sibling, the Teacher, the Wife, and X.

With: thingNY: Gelsey Bell, at least voice and synths; Andrew Livingston, at least voice and bass; Paul Pinto, at least voice and percussion; Erin Rogers, at least voice and saxophone; Dave Ruder, at least voice and guitar; Jeffrey Young, at least voice and violin

 ***

When the aliens visited Earth in Jason Cady’s The Captives, they accidentally brought germs that killed off most of humanity. But alien zoologists are trying to make right by conserving the human species through a captive breeding program. The story focuses on one couple: John and Sarah, whom the aliens locked up together to reproduce. John loves Sarah, but she is not interested in him. And Sarah is not sure that humanity ought to be saved.

With: Vince B. Vincent, tenor, keyboard; Katie Eastburn, contralto, keyboard; James McHugh, bass guitar; Nick Rifken, percussion; Jason Cady, modular synthesizer, pedal steel

***

Aaron Siegel’s Laughing investigates the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac through the eyes of a performance artist who struggles to find an outlet for his strange visions. Wrestling for understanding, the performance artist faces disorienting loss and looks to ancient stories to understand his predicament.

With: Matt Evans; Mike Sperone; Cory Bracken; Sam Livingston; Austin Vaughn; Sam Sowyrda; Carson Moody; Stuart Jackson; Mark Utley; Sayun Chang; Adam Holmes; Robby Bowen, percussion

 ***

Finally, Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum spreads the myth of Sasquatch in the aptly titled Sasquatch: The Opera. The story is about a small town family’s ‘Bigfoot Tours’ and the fallout when their daughter runs away with the real Sasquatch. Part folklore, part love story, the opera follows the demise of the family and a taboo love affair that blossoms in its aftermath.

Roddy Bottum, composer, librettist; Vaughan Alexander, costume design; Joe Foley, video

With: Robbie Daniels, Sasquatch; Colin Self, Faye; Stephen Wood, Fodder; Paul Soileau (a/k/a Christeeene), Val; Frank Haines, drum machine

 ***

Experiments in Opera’s 2014-15 Season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. To Music: Scene 1 is made possible by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.

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ABOUT SAM HILLMER

Sam Hillmer (a.k.a. Diamond Terrifier) is a musician, artist, and curator living in Brooklyn, NY. He is the creator of seminal Brooklyn noise band/chamber ensemble ZS, the You Are Here Festival (aka the maze) which he conceives and produces with his visual art duo Trouble, and Representing NYC, the community hip hop moniker that has released records for The Fly Girlz and Nine 11 Thesaurus on True Panther Sounds and The Social REGISTRY respectively. As a curator Sam is currently co-founder and director of programming at Queens based outsider music venue Trans-Pecos, has run weekly and monthly out music parties such as ‘PRACTICE’ which took place at the erstwhile Williamsburg venue Zebulon until the time of Zebulon’s demise, and is a founding member of the ensemble, composers group, and presenting organization Wet Ink. Sam performs extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

ABOUT NICK HALLETT

Nick Hallett is a composer, vocalist, and cultural producer. His first opera, a collaboration with visual and performance artist Shana Moulton, Whispering Pines 10, has been staged at The Kitchen, New Museum of Contemporary Art, SFMOMA, Warhol Museum, Carolina Performing Arts, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art’s TBA Festival, and Cricoteka (Kraków). It is currently being adapted for the Internet. Nick is the Music Director of the Joshua Light Show, a team of projection artists with roots in the 1960s Psychedelia movement, which performs worldwide, and co-directs the Darmstadt music series with Zach Layton.

ABOUT MATTHEW WELCH

Named one of “14 artists changing the future of opera,” by Huffington Post and regarded as “a composer possessed of both rich imagination and the skill to bring his fancies to life” by Time Out NY, Matthew Welch’s musical adventures and collaborative spirit have brought him to work with some of today’s most noted musical personalities, Alvin Lucier, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Julia Wolfe, Zeena Parkins, and Ikue Mori. His third disc of his own music, Dream Tigers (Tzadik, 2005), containing his critically lauded string quartet, Siubhal Turnlar, made both Time Out New York’s classical and non-classical top-ten CD lists for the year 2005. Mr. Welch’s compositions run the gamut from opera, to traditional-like bagpipe tunes, electronic pieces, improvisation strategies and fully notated works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestras, gamelans and other non-western instruments. Matthew is co-founder of Experiments in Opera. http://blarvuster.com

ABOUT AARON SIEGEL

Aaron Siegel is one of the co-founders of Experiments in Opera and contributed to February 2015’s ‘Sisyphus’ opera at Abrons Arts Center. His second work for the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, “The Mysteries of Nothing” will be premiered at their Radio Radiance concert in April 2015. Other recent works include the operas ‘Brother Brother,’ and ‘The Collector,’ as well as ‘Science is Only a Sometimes Friend,’ for eight glockenspiels. He is currently working on a series of ‘Dioramas’ for prepared vibraphone. He has toured and recorded with Anthony Braxton, Memorize the Sky and as a solo project, “Your People.”

ABOUT GELSEY BELL

Gelsey Bell is a singer, songwriter, and scholar. Described by the New York Times as a “brandy-voiced” “winning soprano” whose performance of her own music is “virtuosic” and “glorious noise,” she has released multiple albums and her work has been presented internationally. She is a core member of thingNY and Varispeed, and she has worked with numerous performance creators including Robert Ashley, Matthew Barney and Jonathan Bepler, Ne(x)tworks, Kimberly Bartosik, Yasuko Yokoshi, Dave Malloy, Rachel Chavkin, John King, Chris Cochrane and Fast Forward (as the Chutneys), Kate Soper, and Rick Burkhardt, among others. Gelsey also has a PhD from New York University in Performance Studies. www.gelseybell.com.

ABOUT JASON CADY

 The Wire described Jason Cady’s Post-Madonna Prima Donna as, “thoughtful satire, sharp composition.” WQXR praised his opera Happiness is the Problem for keeping “the energy hovering at 11 consistently, fusing the coloratura of Mozart’s ‘Queen of the Night’ with Glass at his most hyper-caffeinated; you’re left gasping at the end, while admiring the psychological underpinnings.” New Music Box raved about the “colorful scoring, sassy rhythms, and sweetly angular melodies” in his one-act opera, The Mother. Cady’s CDs have been released on Lockstep records and Peacock recordings. He was featured in NPR’s “The Mix: 100 Composers Under 40.” He was born in 1974 in Flint, Michigan and has lived in Brooklyn, New York since 2001.

ABOUT RODDY BOTTUM

Roddy Bottum is a NYC based composer and artist best known for his work in the seminal art rock band, Faith No More and indie rock band Imperial Teen. He’s releasing Sol Invictus this May with FNM, their first record in nearly 15 years and will tour the world with it. He also works as a composer for film and TV. Sasquatch, The Opera is his first foray into musical theater.

ABOUT EXPERIMENTS IN OPERA

Co-founded by composers Matthew Welch, Jason Cady, and Aaron Siegel, Experiments in Opera is a composer-driven initiative, featuring recent and new works with innovative answers to the traditional questions about how to connect words, story and music. Our activities respond to the pronounced need to nurture composers who are exploring musical work beyond a strictly concert setting, but furthermore into the hybrid genre of opera. Additionally Experiments in Opera builds supportive and informed audiences that are capable of contributing to its work.

Since 2011, Experiments in Opera has produced thirty new operas, collaborating with over one hundred performers, designers and directors from the New York City artist community. Experiments in Opera has presented the work of more than 20 composers including Jason Cady, Aaron Siegel, Matthew Welch, Georges Aperghis, John Zorn, Robert Ashley, Joe Diebes, Ruby Fulton, Gabrielle Herbst, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Justin Tierney, Leaha Maria Villarreal, the Cough Button collective, Jessica Pavone, Paul Pinto, Jonathan Mitchell, John King, Dave Ruder and Daniel Kushner. Venues have included Abrons Arts Center, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and Issue Project Room.

All of the work developed with Experiments in Opera is documented extensively in videos, images and writings that are available in an online catalogue at experimentsinopera.com. These insightful looks into the origins of artists’ ideas and their working habits help to support EIO’s mission of building a more robust conversation about how and why opera works the way it does.

 ABOUT ROULETTE

In 1978, three young composers, Jim Staley, David Weinstein and Dan Senn, founded Roulette Intermedium and began to present concerts of music, dance and intermedia art in a Tribeca loft. Weinstein had written a piece, Café Roulette, an homage to Dada and to chance operations in music. Perhaps the three artists had some premonition that an organization dedicated to experimental art was a gamble, that the odds of its survival were long. But they invoked the hazards of chance the element of risk, and thirty-four years later, their bet is still paying off.

Thousands of artists have presented their work at Roulette, including world-renowned figures such as: Maryanne Amacher, Robert Ashley, John Cage, Anthony Braxton, Bill Frisell, Philip Glass, Oliver Lake, Leroy Jenkins, Christian Marclay, Meredith Monk, Ikue More, Pauline Oliveros, Zeena Parkins, Kaija Saariaho, Henry Threadgill and John Zorn. But every season scores of young avant-garde artists make their first professional statements at Roulette.

In November 2011, Roulette moved from a 74-seat loft to a 400-seat theater with superb acoustics, and gloriously equipped thanks to the generosity of our funders – individuals, foundations, corporations, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn Borough President, Steve Levin, our Council Member, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

In an astonishingly short time Roulette has become an epicenter for our Brooklyn neighborhood, and for the arts organizations of New York City. It occupies a unique position in New York City’s cultural landscape as one of the most creative and prolific centers for experimental art in the United States.

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