| September 13, 2013 | ||
| 7:30 pm |
PNC Recital Hall, Duquesne University
$10 suggested donation
Alia Musica to host five guest conductors in week-long Festival
Alia Musica Pittsburgh opens its 2013-14 Season with a redux of its notable Conductors Festival of the Fall of 2011. Five conductors will rehearse and perform Pittsburgh compositions during a week of activities at Duquesne University between September 9 and 13.
The Conductors Festival as an initiative was inaugurated in 2011, when renowned new-music conductor Cliff Colnot (International Contemporary Ensemble, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony MusicNOW series) led a field of four emerging conductors, in rehearsals and performances of six Pittsburgh compositions. The festival was a unique opportunity for both composers and conductors to work with a professional ensemble, build connections, and present their work publicly. “I don’t know anywhere else”, says Cliff Colnot, “in Europe or the US, where both areas [composition and conducting] concurrently have been addressed. It’s very powerful.”
Two years later, the organization has invited five other conductors, from Pittsburgh and abroad, for a week of rehearsals culminating in a public concert on September 13, at 7:30pm, at PNC Hall (Duquesne University). Visiting maestros Jeff Meyer (Ithaca College and St Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic) and Walter Morales (Edgewood Symphony, Pittsburgh’s Undercroft Opera) will be joined by emerging conductors Jacob Kallman (University of Madison-Wisconsin), JJ Pearse (Bowling Green University), and CMU graduate Daniel Curtis (CMU contemproary ensemble).
The repertory of the festival comprises compositions for chamber ensembles from between 11 and 15 performers. In addition to compositions by Alia Musica member composers, the program includes the premiere of “Angel Antiphons” by Duquesne University professor Zvonimir Nagy. Other premieres include Mark Fromm’s “Meden Agen,” Kerrith Livengood’s “Bird Convergence”, John Arrigo-Nelson’s “Phosphene”, and the concert is rounded off by Artistic Director Federico Garcia’s sinfonietta piece “Pluribus”, conducted by Daniel Curtis. Rehearsals are open to the public, as is a feedback session where the composers and conductors will share comments and thoughts about the experience.
The Conductors Festival opens Alia Musica Pittsburgh’s 2013-14 Season. Other highlights of the season include a tour of 2010 Pulizer Prize finalist opera “Comala”, by Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon (a partnership of Alia Musica, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Kentucky), and the Pittsburgh New Music Festival 2014, featuring local and national contemporary music acts, for which Alia Musica has been recently awarded a Heinz Endowments special grant.
Rehearsals are held at Duquesne University’s PNC Hall, and are open to the public. For information contact alia.musica.pittsburgh@gmail.com
You can see the full program below the fold.
PROGRAM
Friday, September 13, 7:30pm. PNC Hall, Duquesne University.
Kerrith Livengood:
Bird Convergence (2 flutes, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussionists, piano, harp, string quintet)
Premiere performance conducted by Jeff Meyer
Mark Fromm:
Meden Agan (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, harp, percussion, piano, harp, string quartet)
Premiere performance conducted by JJ Pearse
Federico Garcia:
Pluribus (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussionists, piano, string quintet)
Conducted by Daniel Curtis
John Arrigo-Nelson:
Phosphene (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussionists, piano, string quintet)
Premiere performance conducted by Jacob Kallman
Zvonimir Nagy:
Angel Antiphons (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, 2 percussionists, harp, string quintet)
Premiere performance conducted by Walter Morales