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Press Releases
Claudia Schaer and Max Lifchitz to Appear at the Bar Harbor Music Festival on July 13 @ 8 PM
Violinist Claudia Schaer and pianist Max Lifchitz are scheduled to appear at the Bar Harbor Music Festival to perform works by composers from Europe and the US.
The program will feature two new works especially written for the occasion by Edmund Cionek and Max Lifchitz as well as recent works by Nico Muhly, Daria Semegen, Augusta Read Thomas and the late Italian master Luciano Berio.
The event - part of the 50th anniversary season of the Bar Harbor Music Festival - will start at 8 PM and end around 9:30 PM. It will be held at the auditorium of the Bar Harbor Congregational Church (29 Mount Desert Street) and be followed by a meet the artists and composers reception.
Tickets for the concert may purchased online at
http://www.barharbormusicfestival.org/2010_calendar.html
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS and their MUSIC
One of the most important Italian composers of the 20th century, Luciano Berio (1925-2003) achieved fame through his pioneering efforts in the development of electronic music. His Due Pezzi (Two Pieces) for violin and piano were composed in 1949 and subsequently revised in 1966 while the composer was living in the US. The two contrasting pieces -- one lyrical and the other whimsical -- are a great example of the composer's early exploration and experimentation with twelve-tone techniques.
Edmund Cionek's music is as vibrant and eclectic as New York, the city in which he lives. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Cionek has written for the theatre and also created arrangements and orchestrations for his wife, vocalist Patty Wiss. Written especially for this concert, Cionek's charming and delightful Stolen Moments in Green and Blue derives its inspiration from the playing of the legendary jazz violinist Joe Venuti.
Also being heard for the first time, Max Lifchitz's Yellow Ribbons No. 51 was written feverishly over two days after the composer learned of the tragic events that recently unfolded at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, FL. The music -- full of drama and tension -- is built around dissonant piano chords that resemble random gun shots as well as ghostly effects in the violin meant to evoke unjustified human suffering.
Nico Muhly is gaining a well-deserved reputation as an opera composer who began his career as an assistant to Philip Glass. A Hudson Cycle for solo piano was written as a wedding gift for two friends of the composer. Muhly states that the simple rhythmic figure used throughout the lyrical piece is meant to suggest "the onward rush of the titular river."
Daria Semegen studied at Yale University and has directed the electronic music studio at the University at Stony Brook since 1976. Written in 1977, her Music for Solo Violin was published in 1981 by Columbia University Press. A sense of urgency permeates the single movement composition featuring agitated rhythms as well as contrasting sonorities and dynamics.
Augusta Read Thomas served as composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony for nine years before accepting a professorship at the University of Chicago. In two contrasting movements performed without pause, Thomas' Toft Serenade was written in 2006 on commission from Christopher and Douglas Toft for their parents, Richard and Marietta, in honor of their respective 70th and 65th birthdays.
MEET THE PERFORMERS
Described by the press as a "rock-solid performer" and praised for her "outstanding musicianship," Canadian violinist Claudia Schaer trained at The Juilliard School and The University at Stony Brook. She has appeared as soloist and chamber musician at numerous international festivals including the Thy Chamber Festival in Denmark; the Berlin Philharmonic's Opera Barga Festival in Italy; the Luzerne Festival in Switzerland; and China's Nanning Festival, where she was invited to serve a Guest Professor for the Guangxi Arts College. Her recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas was recently released to much acclaim.
A dynamic figure in America's musical life, Max Lifchitz is active as composer, pianist and conductor, Lifchitz studied at The Juilliard School and Harvard University and was awarded first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth Century Music held in Holland. He has appeared on concert stages throughout Latin America, Europe and the United States and has recorded over 60 compact disc albums. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist" while The New York Times praised Mr. Lifchitz for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances." The American Record Guide referred to him as "...one of America's finest exponents of contemporary piano music."
The program will feature two new works especially written for the occasion by Edmund Cionek and Max Lifchitz as well as recent works by Nico Muhly, Daria Semegen, Augusta Read Thomas and the late Italian master Luciano Berio.
The event - part of the 50th anniversary season of the Bar Harbor Music Festival - will start at 8 PM and end around 9:30 PM. It will be held at the auditorium of the Bar Harbor Congregational Church (29 Mount Desert Street) and be followed by a meet the artists and composers reception.
Tickets for the concert may purchased online at
http://www.barharbormusicfestival.org/2010_calendar.html
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS and their MUSIC
One of the most important Italian composers of the 20th century, Luciano Berio (1925-2003) achieved fame through his pioneering efforts in the development of electronic music. His Due Pezzi (Two Pieces) for violin and piano were composed in 1949 and subsequently revised in 1966 while the composer was living in the US. The two contrasting pieces -- one lyrical and the other whimsical -- are a great example of the composer's early exploration and experimentation with twelve-tone techniques.
Edmund Cionek's music is as vibrant and eclectic as New York, the city in which he lives. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Cionek has written for the theatre and also created arrangements and orchestrations for his wife, vocalist Patty Wiss. Written especially for this concert, Cionek's charming and delightful Stolen Moments in Green and Blue derives its inspiration from the playing of the legendary jazz violinist Joe Venuti.
Also being heard for the first time, Max Lifchitz's Yellow Ribbons No. 51 was written feverishly over two days after the composer learned of the tragic events that recently unfolded at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, FL. The music -- full of drama and tension -- is built around dissonant piano chords that resemble random gun shots as well as ghostly effects in the violin meant to evoke unjustified human suffering.
Nico Muhly is gaining a well-deserved reputation as an opera composer who began his career as an assistant to Philip Glass. A Hudson Cycle for solo piano was written as a wedding gift for two friends of the composer. Muhly states that the simple rhythmic figure used throughout the lyrical piece is meant to suggest "the onward rush of the titular river."
Daria Semegen studied at Yale University and has directed the electronic music studio at the University at Stony Brook since 1976. Written in 1977, her Music for Solo Violin was published in 1981 by Columbia University Press. A sense of urgency permeates the single movement composition featuring agitated rhythms as well as contrasting sonorities and dynamics.
Augusta Read Thomas served as composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony for nine years before accepting a professorship at the University of Chicago. In two contrasting movements performed without pause, Thomas' Toft Serenade was written in 2006 on commission from Christopher and Douglas Toft for their parents, Richard and Marietta, in honor of their respective 70th and 65th birthdays.
MEET THE PERFORMERS
Described by the press as a "rock-solid performer" and praised for her "outstanding musicianship," Canadian violinist Claudia Schaer trained at The Juilliard School and The University at Stony Brook. She has appeared as soloist and chamber musician at numerous international festivals including the Thy Chamber Festival in Denmark; the Berlin Philharmonic's Opera Barga Festival in Italy; the Luzerne Festival in Switzerland; and China's Nanning Festival, where she was invited to serve a Guest Professor for the Guangxi Arts College. Her recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas was recently released to much acclaim.
A dynamic figure in America's musical life, Max Lifchitz is active as composer, pianist and conductor, Lifchitz studied at The Juilliard School and Harvard University and was awarded first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth Century Music held in Holland. He has appeared on concert stages throughout Latin America, Europe and the United States and has recorded over 60 compact disc albums. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist" while The New York Times praised Mr. Lifchitz for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances." The American Record Guide referred to him as "...one of America's finest exponents of contemporary piano music."
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