GCCA_2010_05-10_program

THE CUNY GRADUATE CENTER

COMPOSERS’ ALLIANCE

COTANGENT BLUESMark Bradley, clarinet

Casey Hale

VITULATORY STRAINSJoshua Modney, violin

Daniel Colson

I CAN STILL HEAR YOUAngélica Negrón, accordionwith electronic playback

Angélica Negrón

—intermission—

THE CUNY CONTEMPORARY MUSIC ENSEMBLEVince Peterson, conductor

CLEPSYDRA Jeff Nichols

TODESFUGEDennis Tobenski, tenor

Casey Hale

THE PHD/DMA PROGRAMS IN MUSIC

Monday, May 10th, 2010, 8 pm Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall

Please switch off your cell phones and refrain from taking flash pictures.

THE CUNY CONTEMPORARY MUSIC ENSEMBLEVince Peterson, conductorMaureen Keenan, fluteKari Anderson, oboe/English hornYi-Chuan Chen, clarinetDaniel Liao, bassoonNate Cabana, saxBecca Bainbridge, hornAlex Samawicz, trumpetGreg Erickson, trombone

Ela Polak, violin 1Leigh Elliot, violin 2Brian Thomson, violaNoelle Casella, celloDan Colson, bassAleks Sarrest, pianoBrian Stephens, percussion

PROGRAM NOTES

COTANGENT BLUES is neither trigonometric nor a traditional blues. It was partially conceived in Florida in 2006 and premiered by Mark Bradley in Paris in 2008, then in Montreal in 2009. Many thanks to Mark for bringing it home to New York in 2010.—Casey Hale

These VITULATORY STRAINS for solo violin are indeed vitulatory, if ever such a word existed, both in spirit, since the performer and listener will do best (ignoring any physical, perceptual, or conceptual strains the composer has created) to allow for a maximal degree of spontaneous joyfulness—i.e. to vitulate, and in origin, since without the vitula, the etymological ancestor of the violin, no such piece ever would or could have existed; and they are strains insofar as the melodic fragments, seemingly diverse because constantly varied through changes of register, dynamic, and articulation, are grouped into three large sections—marked off by relatively long rests, by the addition and removal of a mute, and by changes in tempo—the first of which begins and ends high, the second of which is further subdivided into a slower section that gradually sweeps up 3 octaves from the violin’s lowest note and a fast section that settles into a comfortable middle register, and the third of which expands outward while making constant motivic references back to the first.—Daniel Colson

I CAN STILL HEAR YOU is a piece for accordion and pre-recorded electronics that explores the power some people may have over others as well as the capacity they might have to negatively affect and impact their lives with psychological distress and emotional trauma. The work incorporates found sounds, field recordings and micro-samples from some of my previous pieces to create electronic soundscapes that interact with short and fragmented accordion passages that suggest moments of nervousness, awkwardness and desolation. This process responds to my interest in exploring different ways of controlling temporality by capturing, evoking and retaining specific moments in time through my music.—Angélica Negrón

CLEPSYDRA was composed in August 2009 for Joshua Feltman and the Contemporary Music Ensemble. The title, which is the Greek word for water clock (meaning literally “water thief”), is from John Ashbery’s poem of the same name, which includes the following lines:

...The half-meant, half perceivedMotions of fronds out of idle depths that areSummer.

I was writing in summer, but Ashbery’s poem captured for me not only the mood of the season but also the quality of the compositional process for this piece. I was experimenting with harmonic processes of imitation by opposition: creating gestures and chords that had sharply different colors but a similar shape. Again, Ashbery says it better than I can:

...This means never getting any closer to the basicPrinciple operating behind it than to the distractedEntity of a mirage.

He writes a little further on:

The reply wakens easily, darting fromUntruth to willed moment, scarcely called into beingBefore it swells, the way a waterfallDrums at different levels. Each momentOf utterance is the true one; likewise none are true,Only the bounding from air to air

As my piece moves forward, each moment initially perhaps seems to exists independently of the others, the ebb and flow of activity is without apparent cause, but I hope underneath a sense remains that it all belongs together, as do the varied impressions of a place where something important happened. —Jeff Nichols

Paul Celan's TODESFUGE (Death Fugue) is one of the best-known poems on the Holocaust. It was written in the years after Celan himself was freed from internment in a Romanian forced labor camp in 1944, though its imagery is drawn from accounts of the death camps in Poland. The translation provided here is somewhat my own, though largely indebted to the efforts of Michael Hamburger, Karl S. Weimar and John Felstiner. —Casey Hale

COMPOSER BIOS

CASEY HALE is a composer and guitarist. Called by the Cleveland Plain Dealer "a skilled craftsman with a keen ear for colorful and yearning sonic possibilities," he has worked primarily in the context of orchestral and chamber music, and has written for the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Da Capo Chamber Players, and the Cygnus Ensemble, among others. As an instrumentalist, he has performed repertoire from the 15th century to the present in a broad range of styles, playing guitar and lute as a soloist and with ensembles both small and large. He currently performs with the CUNY Middle Eastern Music Ensemble. His composition teachers have included Joan Tower, Margaret Brouwer, Tania León, David Del Tredici, Zhou Long and Lee Hyla, and he has studied guitar with Luis Garcia-Renart, Gregory Dinger and David Leisner. He received his BA from Bard College and his MM from the Cleveland Institute of Music; he currently lives in New York City, where he is pursuing his PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaching at Brooklyn College. For more information, scores and recordings, please visit www.caseyhale.com.

DANIEL COLSON is pursuing his PhD at CUNY’s Graduate Center, where he studies with Jeff Nichols. A dedicated serial composer, he began his musical studies in Newburyport, MA at the musically suggestive age of 12. Before then he had know nothing of music besides his grandmother’s ragtime piano and his uncle’s jazz guitar. After trying his hand at those two instruments, he was convinced by a desperate jazz band director to play double bass. This terribly low instrument captured his heart. He became a classical bassist at the

Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, MA, where he was persuaded by his eventual composition teacher, Whitman Brown, to write some music. Colson soon dropped his bass and bow for a much lighter pair: paper and pencil. He earned his BM and MM in composition at the Juilliard School, where he studied with Samuel Adler and Milton Babbitt. His music has been premiered in the United States and in Germany, by Cultures in Harmony, Cygnus Ensemble, the Juilliard Orchestra with Jeffrey Milarsky, Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Second Instrumental Unit, and by students at the Universität der Kunst in Berlin; it has been performed in masterclass with the American Brass Quintet, and at such venues as Avery Fisher Hall, the Goethe House German Cultural Center in New York, and the Stone. Colson teaches as an adjunct at Hunter College.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist ANGÉLICA NEGRÓN was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1981 and is currently based in New York. Interested in creating intricate yet simple narratives that evoke intangible moments in time, she writes music for accordions, toys and electronics as well as chamber ensembles and orchestras. Angélica received an early education in piano and violin at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico where she later studied composition under the guidance of composer Alfonso Fuentes. Her music has been performed by the NYU Percussion Ensemble, Astoria Symphony Orchestra, TRANSIT ensemble, janus trio, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, NYU Symphony Orchestra and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and she has written music for documentaries, films, theater and modern dance. She holds a master’s degree in music composition from New York University where she studied with Portuguese guitarist and composer Pedro da Silva and film composer Ira Newborn. She also holds a bachelor’s in audiovisual communications from the University of Puerto Rico, and has contributed as a writer to the International Alliance of Women in Music Journal and the British magazine The Wire.

A long time member of the Puerto Rican underground music scene, Angélica is a founding member of the electro-acoustic pop outfit Balún where she sings and plays the accordion and violin. With her project Arturo en el Barco she concentrates on working with lo-fi ambient compositions and has released albums on Observatory (Austria) and Carte Postale Records (Belgium). She has performed in venues such as Mercury Lounge, Monkeytown, Galapagos Art Space, Roulette, The Tank, Glasslands and (Le) Poisson Rouge and in festivals like Pop Montreal 2007 (Montreal), Decibel 2008 (Seattle) and Festival de Música Electrónica Latina 2009 (Chicago). Also active as an educator, Angélica is a member of the Teaching Artist Collaborative from The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall and is currently working as a teaching artist for the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s School Residency Initiative program. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in music composition at The Graduate Center (CUNY), where she studies with Tania León.

JEFF NICHOLS (b.1957) began composing at the age of nine and soon thereafter was writing music inspired by the postwar European and American avant-garde. His principal teachers were Milton Babbitt and Donald Martino and he holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard Universities. Nichols’s music has been performed by leading new-music ensembles and soloists in the United States and in South Korea, Italy, Belgium and Germany. His music is published by Theodore Presser and C.F. Peters. Awards have included a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fromm Foundation commission. Nichols is Associate Professor of Music at Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY.

PERFORMER BIOS

Clarinetist MARK BRADLEY, originally from the United States, moved to Montreal to study clarinet with Simon Aldrich at McGill University, where he finished his Master's degree in

chamber music performance in May 2008. A former recipient of McGill's prestigious Schulich Scholarship, he currently freelances. He has appeared with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble Prima de Montréal, the Montreal International Jazz Festival Orchestra, and will soon make his début at the Festival de Lanaudière in Québec.

Mark particularly enjoys working with composers to create new works, and over the years he has premiered numerous solo and chamber works. In 2009, he was awarded a complete scholarship for a second internship at the Domaine Forget's New Music Session, with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne directed by Lorraine Vaillaincourt. He has also appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at the Casalmaggiore International Festival in Italy. In 2008, he participated in the European American Musical Alliance program at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, where he was involved in several world and European premieres. In March 2009, Mark appeared as soloist for Giacinto Scelsi's clarinet concerto "Kya" at the MusiMars Festival in Montreal. Last month, he appeared as a soloist with the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble directed by Denys Bouliane for the world premiere of "Mitya," a new concerto from Montreal composer Taylor Brook.

Violinist and violist JOSHUA MODNEY has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and ensemble member throughout the United States and Europe. As a specialist in contemporary music, Joshua is committed to presenting performances that are compelling and enlightening for all concertgoers. Joshua has appeared at venues in New York City including Zankel Hall and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, The Kitchen, Symphony Space, The Stone, Le Poisson Rouge, Galapagos Art Space, Tenri Cultural Institute, and Roulette. In a recent performance of Alban Berg’s Chamber Concerto for violin, piano, and wind ensemble, the New York Times lauded, “Joshua Modney, the violin soloist, was superb.” Joshua performs with Wet Ink Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, MIVOS quartet, Columbia Composers, Signal Ensemble, and the NYC-based trio YouCanJustParkRightHere. He was a fellow at the 2009 Lucerne Festival Academy under the direction of Pierre Boulez. As a recording artist, Joshua can be heard on Tzadik Records, New Amsterdam Records, and Carrier Records. He holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and Ithaca College. www.joshuamodney.com

VINCE PETERSON is the founding Artistic Director of Choral Chameleon. In addition, he currently serves as Director of Choirs and Coordinator of Ear Training Studies at Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. He holds the BMus in Composition from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Double MMus from Mannes College The New School for Music in Manhattan where he was the sole recipient of the 2007 Music Teacher's League Award upon his graduation. His principal composition teachers have included celebrated composers Conrad Susa and David Conte of SF Conservatory as well as Dr. Philip Lasser of The Juilliard School, among others. He studied conducting under Dr. Mark Shapiro, a critically acclaimed champion of new and obscure music as well as Sonja Neblett. His work has been profiled in The New York Times, The Brooklyn Eagle and several notable arts blogs. He also previously served as Assistant Conductor and Principal Accompanist for The Golden Gate Men's Chorus of San Francisco, under the direction of Grammy® Award-Winning conductor Joseph Jennings, a position to which Jennings appointed him. His thriving music program at The Union Church of Bay Ridge, a church community known for its commitment to the arts, has caused the church sanctuary to be named by The Brooklyn Eagle as Bay Ridge's “premiere performance hall".

Vince has worked in multiple capacities as a musician and within multiple genres of music. He has appeared all over the world including concert tours to Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, France, The Philippines, Canada and throughout the United States. As a hybrid composer/conductor, he has not only worked diligently to champion the works of many of his

composer colleagues, but also actively maintains his own catalogue of work. He has received performances and commissions from the likes of The San Francisco Arts Education Project, The DeLaSalle Institute (Napa, CA), his alma mater—Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory (SF), The Monmouth Civic Chorus of Red Bank, NJ and Cantori New York who will premiere his new work "Arizona DooWop" next season. Additionally, his arrangement of Chameleon soprano Erika Lloyd's song "Cells Planets" will be premiered and taken on world tour next season by the Grammy®-award winning ensemble Chanticleer.

Vince works actively in cabaret and musical theater in NYC as well, currently serving as Music Director/Arranger for the MAC® award-winning performer Cait Doyle in her hit show, "Hot Mess In Manhattan,” which has been nominated for MAC® awards in multiple categories for two seasons in a row.

Born on April 18, 1982, DENNIS TOBENSKI grew up in Kankakee, IL. In 2004, he graduated from Illinois State University, where he studied Vocal Performance with baritone John M. Koch, and Music Theory & Composition with composers Stephen Andrew Taylor, David Feurzeig and Serra Hwang. After finishing his Bachelor's degree, Dennis moved to New York City, where he studied privately for nearly three years with composer Daron Aric Hagen. Dennis completed his Master of Arts degree in Composition at the City College of New York, where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici.

In the Fall of 2002, Dennis was commissioned by the ISU School of Theatre to compose music for Shakespeare's The Tempest, the inaugural production of the newly-constructed Center for the Performing Arts, which led him to write for several subsequent School of Theatre mainstage productions, including The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Brecht), and Sophocles' Electra (McGuinness). The ISU College of Fine Arts commissioned the 2002 Elegy, a work for choir and chamber ensemble commemorating the events of September 11, 2001, and the 2004 Soliloquy for solo flute.

In 2002, Dennis was commissioned by baritone John M. Koch (whose 1996 performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Florentine Opera was broadcast on PBS) to write Three Poems of Thomas Hardy. He later wrote music for the 2004 Chicago production of The Living Canvas, a performance art work for theatre that combines movement and dance with photographed images projected on the unclothed human form.

Dennis has written numerous works for the ISU Madrigal Singers, and recently completed Fair Robin I Love, a new work commissioned for the 50th Anniversary Season of the ISU Madrigal Dinners – the oldest tradition of its kind in the Midwest.

Along with composer Jeff Algera, Dennis founded the Tobenski-Algera Concert Series, devoted to the presentation and promotion of new works by young and emerging composers. On the Series' inaugural concert in April 2006, Dennis' song cycle And He'll Be Mine was premiered by tenor Rob Frankenberry and pianist Marc Peloquin. Dennis also sang the premieres of Jeff Algera's cycle Songs of Sex, Love & Desire, and Whispers of Heavenly Death by Darien Shulman. Later that year, Dennis conducted the premieres of his own Songs of Love & Madness, Algera's XX, Shulman's Teyze Variations, and Chris Czubay's String Quartet No. 1. In June 2007, Dennis sang the premiere of the piano-vocal version of David Del Tredici's song cycle Gay Life with tenor Rob Frankenberry and Del Tredici at the piano. In addition to being a part of the Series, the concert was a New York Gay Pride event, and a part of Del Tredici's 70th birthday celebration. He will also sing the role of Stanley in the premiere of Roger Zahab's opera Hegemony in 2010.

Dennis has received fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Prairie Center of the Arts, the Ucross Foundation, and the Staunton Music Festival, and has had works performed by such ensembles as Percussia, The IonSound Project, the Illinois State University Madrigal Singers, the ISU Concert Choir, and members of the United States Coast Guard Band.

Current and recent commissions include: echoes (2008) for soprano and piano on poetry by Mark Statman, commissioned by the Staunton Music Festival in Staunton, VA; at least a moment (2008-2009) for soprano and harp, and plenty of time for soprano, baritone, and harp, on poetry by Kenneth Koch, commissioned by harpist Megan Sesma and soprano Patricia Schuman; a new work for piccolo trumpet and string quartet, commissioned by trumpet player David Glukh; a new work for violin and piano, commissioned by violinist Roger Zahab; Take All My Loves (2009), commissioned by Dr. Karyl Carlson and the Illinois State University Concert Choir; and Best at Dawn for pianist Marc Peloquin.

Dennis currently resides in New York City.

TODESFUGE by Paul Celan

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken sie abendswir trinken sie mittags und morgens wir trinken sie nachtswir trinken und trinkenwir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften da liegt man nicht engEin Mann wohnt im Haus der spielt mit den Schlangen der schreibtder schreibt wenn es dunkelt nach Deutschland dein goldenes Haar Margareteer schreibt es und tritt vor das Haus und es blitzen die Sterne er pfeift seine Rüden herbeier pfeift seine Juden hervor läßt schaufeln ein Grab in der Erdeer befiehlt uns spielt auf nun zum Tanz

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachtswir trinken dich morgens und mittags wir trinken dich abendswir trinken und trinkenEin Mann wohnt im Haus der spielt mit den Schlangen der schreibtder schreibt wenn es dunkelt nach Deutschland dein goldenes Haar MargareteDein aschenes Haar Sulamith wir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften da liegt man nicht eng

Er ruft stecht tiefer ins Erdreich ihr einen ihr andern singet und spielter greift nach dem Eisen im Gurt er schwingts seine Augen sind blaustecht tiefer die Spaten ihr einen ihr andern spielt weiter zum Tanz auf

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachtswir trinken dich mittags und morgens wir trinken dich abendswir trinken und trinkenein Mann wohnt im Haus dein goldenes Haar Margaretedein aschenes Haar Sulamith er spielt mit den SchlangenEr ruft spielt süßer den Tod der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschlander ruft streicht dunkler die Geigen dann steigt ihr als Rauch in die Luftdann habt ihr ein Grab in den Wolken da liegt man nicht eng

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachtswir trinken dich mittags der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschlandwir trinken dich abends und morgens wir trinken und trinkender Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland sein Auge ist blauer trifft dich mit bleierner Kugel er trifft dich genauein Mann wohnt im Haus dein goldenes Haar Margareteer hetzt seine Rüden auf uns er schenkt uns ein Grab in der Lufter spielt mit den Schlangen und träumet der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland

dein goldenes Haar Margaretedein aschenes Haar Sulamith

Black milk of daybreak we drink it at sundownwe drink it at midday and morning we drink it at nightwe drink and we drinkwe dig a grave in the air there one lies unconfinedA man lives in the house he plays with his serpents he writeshe writes at dusk to Germany your golden hair Margaretehe writes it and steps outside and the stars are sparkling he whistles his hounds beside himhe whistles his Jews before him has them dig a grave in the earthhe commands us to strike up for the dance

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at nightwe drink you at morning and midday we drink you at sundownwe drink and we drinkA man lives in the house he plays with his serpents he writeshe writes at dusk to Germany your golden hair MargareteYour ashen hair Sulamith we dig a grave in the air there one lies unconfined

He shouts stab deeper in the earth you here you others sing and playHe grabs at the iron in his belt he waves it his eyes are blueStab the spades deeper you here you others play on for the dance

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at nightwe drink you at midday and morning we drink you at sundownwe drink and we drinka man lives in the house your golden hair Margareteyour ashen hair Sulamith he plays with his serpentsHe shouts play death more sweetly death is a master from Germanyhe shouts stroke your strings more darkly then you rise like smoke in the airthen you have a grave in the clouds there one lies unconfined

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at nightwe drink you at midday death is a master from Germanywe drink you at sundown and morning we drink and we drinkdeath is a master from Germany his eye is bluehe hits you with leaden bullets he hits you truea man lives in the house your golden hair Margaretehe sets his hounds on us he gives us a grave in the airhe plays with his serpents and dreams death is a master from Germany

your golden hair Margareteyour ashen hair Sulamith

Spring 2010 Events

February1 Bonnie McAlvin, flute9 Monica Harte, soprano11 Chamber music performed by Ph.D. Students in Music Theory17 Miho Zaitsu, cello23 Naomi Perley, piano25 Music in Midtown [1:00pm] – Chamber Music on Fifth25 William McNally, piano

March3 Emily Eagen, soprano9 Oliver Markson, piano11 Music in Midtown [1:00pm] – Sonatas for Violin and Piano15 Composers’ Alliance17 Vocal Chamber Music17 Michael Haas, cello23 Marta Bedkowska, cello25 Music in Midtown [1:00pm] – Right Out of Winter: Songs of Tom Cipullo

April6 Kelli Kathman, flute8 Music in Midtown [1:00pm] – The Raphael Trio12 William Hakim, viola14 Alice Jones, flute20 Mary Hubbell, soprano22 Music in Midtown [1:00pm] – Windscape - Mitteleuropa22 Heesun Shin, violin26 Aleksandra Sarest, piano

May6 Music in Midtown [1:00pm] – American Beauty: A Program of Chamber Music for the Piano6 Cygnus Ensemble10 Composers’ Alliance [8:00 pm]18 Chih-tung Cheng, piano

Concert Office212-817-8607

Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall [email protected]

All concerts and events are FREE and begin at 7:30pm, unless otherwise indicated above.

For more information contact the Concert Office or visit our website at:http://web.gc.cuny.edu/Music/events/concerts.html