Shanghai/New York based pianist Jenny Q Chai (www.JennyChai.com) will perform a concert entitled Acqua Alta (High Water), at New York City’s Spectrum on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 8pm. Spectrum is located at 121 Ludlow St., New York City. Admission is $15 general / $10 students & seniors.

Acqua Alta (High Water) will be the anchor of a month-long programming focus on global warming at Spectrum, with installations based on data curated by Ian Fenty, whose doctoral dissertation at MIT addressed global warming and its effects on our oceans.

“I wanted to create a program that is multifaceted like the surface of a sparkling stream in Venice,” says pianist Chai. “The music on this program features the piano’s range of expression, from exquisite nuance to bold gesture.”

John Cage’s athletic Water Walk is the centerpiece of the program. Written in 1959, John Cage’s Water Walk is scored for a number of objects, including bathtub, rubber duck, prepared piano and five radios. It was originally premiered on the Italian TV show Lascia O Raddoppia. Ninnananna from Marco Stroppa’s Miniature Estrose—a lullaby in which its out of worldly tremors creates a gentle watery shimmer and explores the two relations between two states of mind, with initiated knowledge one might trace hidden lullabies by Brahms, Schubert, Stravinsky and an Italian lullaby Stroppa’s mother used to sing to him. Scarlatti and Gibbons provides the sensation of traveling back in time in Italy, while Debussy and Ravel adds their watery imagery. Three world premieres by Nils Vigeland, Milica Paranosic and Michael Vincent Waller reflect contemporary composers’ take on global warming.

Acqua Alta (High Water) Concert Program:

• Milica Paranosic Bubble World Premiere
• Kurtag Hommage à Scarlatti
• Scarlatti, Sonatas
• Gibbons, Allemande (1613)
• Marco Stroppa, Ninnananna from Miniature Estrose
• Liszt, La lugubre gondola
• Debussy, Prelude La cathédrale engloutie
• Ravel, Une Barque Sur L’océan  from Miroirs
• Nils Vigeland, I Turisti World Premiere
• Michael Vincent Waller Acqua Santa World Premiere
• John Cage, Water Walk

Recently having made her Carnegie Hall debut at Zankel Hall, pianist Jenny Q Chai was praised by the New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini for her “resourceful technique and sensitivity” as well as playing that is “admirable for its refinement and directness.” Of her performance at the Keys to the Future Festival, Zachary Woolfe wrote, also in the New York Times: “Jenny Q Chai opened the concert playing two of Ligeti’s Études with rich tone and rhythmic clarity; especially strong was her “Cordes à vide.” In addition to Carnegie Hall, Jenny has played at New York venues such as Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, Symphony Space, the Stone and recently made her Chicago debut playing Schumann’s Kreisleriana at the Dame Myra Hess Series.

An adventurous and prodigiously talented young player, Jenny Q Chai cultivates a mercurial and engrossing stage presence and seeks to create “fairy tales for grown-ups” in her themed and multimedia concert performances. Ms. Chai’s unique programs include standard classical repertoire such as Schumann and Debussy to 20th and 21st century piano works, often by living composers, such as Marco Stroppa, with whom she has a close affiliation.

Recipient of the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust’s 2011 Pianist/Composer Commissioning Project, first prize winner of the Keys to the Future Contemporary Solo Piano Festival, and recipient of the DAAD Arts and Performance award in 2010, Chai has premiered, most notably, Life Sketches and Five Pieces (for Jenny Q Chai) by Nils Vigeland, Intimate Rejection by Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang, Messiaen’s Canteyodjaya (China premiere) and Marco Stroppa’s Innige Cavatina (US premiere). Chai has also premiered “Marriage (Mile 58) Section F” from The Road by Frederick Rzewski in Ghent, Belgium, where she was given the Logos Award for the best performance of 2008. Chai played the first contemporary solo piano concert in China this June at the National Performing Arts Center in Beijing; and she recently had the privilege of introducing the concept of prepared piano to a Chinese audience, with the world premiere of Mallet Dance by John Slover, in Shanghai Concert Hall.

Ms. Chai is currently working on a CD of the works of composer Nils Vigeland for Naxos Records.

On Sunday, March 24, puppet theater company Blair Thomas & Co. will perform their adaption of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant at the Milwaukee Art Museum as part of of their Family Saturdays, sponsored by Kohl’s Art Generation. The Selfish Giant will begin at 2:30 p.m. and is free with museum admission.

Thomas is a “master puppeteer,” whom Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times has likened to a “latter-day Hans Christian Andersen.” A collaboration with singer-songwriter Michael Smith, The Selfish Giant adapts a revered fairy tale by Oscar Wilde into 45 minutes of music, magic, and impressive puppetry. “Thomas’s work is always best in an intimate setting,” says Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune, and there are few venues more perfectly suited to Thomas’ work than the Milwaukee Art Museum (not in the least because the building itself is a puppet in its very design).

Blair Thomas & Company is a national and international touring puppet theater company that was founded in 2002 by puppeteer and director/designer Blair Thomas. They have made over a dozen original puppet theater pieces including: Cabaret of Desire, a staging of short works by Federico Garcia Lorca; The Ox-herder’s Tale an interpretive staging of the Buddhist parable of 10 painting of enlightenment; A Kite’s Tale an original silent narrative staged to Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition for orchestra or solo piano. They have also toured with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They have made collaboration productions with other companies such as Pierrot Lunaire a staging of Arnold Schoenberg’s song cycle with the chamber music ensemble eighth blackbird; an original adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant and an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s The Houdini Box both with the Chicago Children’s Theatre. Twice Blair Thomas & Company has received the international UNIMA awards for excellence in the art of puppetry. Twice the company has performed at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, once during when Blair was the first artist chosen to fill the Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence position at the University of Maryland.

On March 30, pianist Inna Faliks will present “Three Jewish Composers” at Baruch Performing Arts Center, Baruch College, 25th Street, New York City. This lecture is combined with performances of the work with Schoenberg, Gershwin, and Zhurbin. Click here for more information.

Called “adventurous” and “passionate” by The New Yorker and “poetic” by Time Out New York, Ukrainian-born, New York City-based pianist Inna Faliks (www.innafaliks.com) has established herself as one of the most passionately committed, exciting and poetic artists of her generation. After her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages, with numerous orchestras, in solo appearances, and with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin and Keith Lockhart. Critics praise her “courage to take risks, expressive intensity and technical perfection” (General Anzeiger, Bonn), “poetry and panoramic vision” (Washington Post), and “riveting passion, playfulness” (Baltimore Sun). Her acclaimed CD on MSR Classics, “Sound of Verse”, was released in 2009.

Ms. Faliks has performed numerous recitals and concerti in prestigious venues in the US and internationally. She has been featured on radio and international television broadcasts, and has performed in major venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paris’ Salle Cortot, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and in numerous important festivals.

On Sunday, March 17, Lawler and Fadoul will present Katherine Hoover’s Two Preludes: Uptown and Out of Town as part of the New York Flute Club Flute Fair, at the Lighthouse, 111 East 59th Street, New York City. This world premiere was commissioned by the flute/marimba duo as part of  their Gronica Project, and anticipates the release of their next CD Prelude Cocktail, due out later this year. They will also be celebrating the composer’s 75th birthday. More information and tickets here.

Listen to Lawler and Fadoul’s music on InstantEncore.

The engaging and illuminating duo of Zara Lawler, flutist, and Paul J. Fadoul, marimbist offer audiences an unexpected mélange of classical virtuosity, lively commentary, theatrical flair and a small dose of indie rock sensibility. Their repertoire ranges from delightful arrangements of classics to newly written pieces for their unusual instrumentation, and even includes a few one-act plays. This season’s highlights include a residency at the Yellow Barn Music School in Putney, VT, the premiere of their new arrangements of Preludes and Fugues by Bach and Shostakovich, an appearance at St. Mark’s in the Bowery in New York City, a children’s concert in Lawler’s home town of Nyack, NY, and a tour of their dance-inspired program, Tango Sandwich.

Lawler & Fadoul have a long history of collaboration, both as a duo, and previously, as members of the innovative ensemble Tales & Scales. Since 2004, they have performed together in many of the country’s most prestigious venues, including the Kennedy Center, Strathmore, the Cerritos Center, the Kravis Center, Trinity Wall Street, and the Tribeca Performing Arts Center.

Lawler & Fadoul are dedicated to increasing the repertoire for their unique combination. In addition to their insightful interpretations of the standards, they create their own arrangements for the duo, and are pursuing commissions of new works. Their Gronica Project, a multi-year program of increasing the repertoire for flute and percussion, begins this year with their own transcriptions of Preludes and Fugues by both Bach and Shostakovich.

Also dedicated and inspiring educators, Lawler & Fadoul are teaching artists for the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC. On behalf of the NSO, they create in-school interactive concerts for children from pre-K thru 6th grade, and perform in public schools throughout the DC metro area.

A soprano-in-demand throughout the United States and Europe, Michelle Areyzaga will be in New York performing a selection of love songs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on March 8, 2013. Inspired by the real-life love drama that occurred between Brahms and Schumann, close friends and bitter rivals during their lifetimes, the program will feature a neat selection of lieder by both composers, as well as love songs by Ullman and Berg.

COMPLETE DETAILS

Michelle Areyzaga Appears with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
March 8, 2013, 8:00 PM
$28-$60
70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-6582
For more information and tickets, please visit chambermusicsociety.org.

As a diverse and coveted singer, Michelle Areyzaga’s musical origins are in Chicago where she is much in demand among highly regarded companies, as well as throughout the United States and Europe. She has sung most recently with New York City Opera in her debut (Orpheus-Telemann) and has appeared with Chicago Opera Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s In the Neighborhoods programs, Grant Park Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Chicago Light Opera Works, Chicago Chamber Opera, Chicago Master Singers, Apollo Chorus, Camerata Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center to name a few.

Ms. Areyzaga’s operatic roles have included Cunegonde, Candide; Adina, L’elisir d’amore; Sandman and Dew Fairy, Hänsel und Gretel; Despina, Così fan tutte; Zerlina, Don Giovanni; Pamina, Die Zauberflöte; Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro; Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi; Musetta, La bohème and Casilda in The Gondoliers.

She has championed the works of Bernstein through numerous orchestral engagements with the Rochester Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Springfield Symphony, Bartlesville Symphony and San Antonio Symphony.

Ms. Areyzaga is a frequent guest of the New York Festival of Song under the direction of Steven Blier and Michael Barrett and has sung with Orquesta Sinfónia del Estado de México, New York City Opera’s VOX Series, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Opera, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Lake Forest Symphony, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra and the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. As a recorded artist, she has performed song cycles by Gwyneth Walker on The Sun Is Love (Proteus). Other recordings include Songs from Spoon River (Cedille) by Lita Grier and The Small Hours, songs by William Ferris. She has sung numerous times in both live and programmed broadcasts on Chicago’s classical music radio station WFMT.