May 15, 16: Music of the Americas Presents the International Contemporary Ensemble in the NY Premiere of Vivier's Kopernikus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214

 
Music of the Americas Presents the International Contemporary Ensemble in
the New York Premiere of Claude Vivier's Chamber Opera Kopernikus, May 15 & 16 

Kopernikus Video Preview: https://youtu.be/FVaJWpFJbow 
 

New York, NY (April 2, 2019) — Music of the Americas presents the New York premiere of Canadian composer Claude Vivier's chamber opera Kopernikus, performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble and Meridionalis conducted by Sebastian Zubieta, with live video by Sergio Policicchio.

There will be two presentations, the first on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 7:00pm and the second on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at 7:00pm at 22 Boerum Place in Brooklyn, NY. 

Described by Vivier as a "ritual opera of death," Kopernikus centers around a young woman named Agni, who descends into a dream world where "mystical beings borrowed from stories, gravitate around her: Lewis Carroll, Merlin, a witch, the Queen of the Night, a blind prophet, an old monk, Tristan and Isolde, Mozart, the Master of the Waters, Copernicus and his mother. These characters could be Agni’s dreams that follow her during her initiation and finally into her dematerialization."

Vivier abandons traditional modes of storytelling, drawing upon classical philosophy and sciences and telling his story via sound, ritual, and symbol. The plot defies precise interpretation, offering multiple, often contradictory meanings. At the center of the quest is the composer’s fascination with the perennial majesty of the cosmos and his belief that “art will no longer be the sweet panacea that we apply to a wounded body, [but] will be the body.” The production – originally designed for a planetarium, premiered in Buenos Aires in 2018 – joins Agni’s trajectory, submerging the audience in light that emanates from celestial projections and abstracted nature footage.  

Program Information
Kopernikus
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 7:00pm
Thursday, May 16, 2019 at 7:00pm
22 Boerum Place | Brooklyn, NY
Tickets: Free for Americas Society and Young Professionals of the Americas members; $20 General Admission.
Link: https://www.kopernikus.nyc  

Performers:
Sebastian Zubieta, conductor
Meridionalis
     Katharine Dain, coloratura soprano
     Amy Goldin, soprano
     Hai-Ting Chinn, mezzo-soprano
     Kirsten Sollek, contralto
     Christopher Herbert, baritone
     Joseph Beutel, baritone
     Steven Hrycelak, bass
International Contemporary Ensemble
     Josh Modney, violin
     Gareth Flowers, trumpet
     Michael Lormand, trombone
     Michelle Farah, oboe
     Joshua Rubin, clarinet 1
     Madison Freed, clarinet 2
     Zachary Good, clarinet 3

Program:
Claude Vivier (1943-1983): Kopernikus (New York Premiere) 

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife Foundation. The Spring 2019 Music program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional support for this program is provided by the Consulate General of Canada in New York, Québec Government Office in New York, and The Amphion Foundation, Inc. 

About Claude Vivier
Born in Montreal, Claude Vivier (1943-1983) grew up in a working-class part of the city. As an adolescent, he attended a boarding school run by the Marist Brothers that prepared pupils for life in the priesthood. There, the young Claude discovered music while singing in a midnight mass and he began to compose. He was advised to leave the seminary at the age of 18 due to his "sensitive and excitable temperament." He studied composition at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec (Montreal) with Gilles Tremblay, and spent a few years in Europe at the Institute of Sonology (The Hague) and Hochschule für Musik (Cologne), where he had the opportunity to study with Stockhausen. He also traveled to Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia, whose culture and rhythms had a deep effect on his compositional output. After encountering spectral compositions of Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail, Vivier traveled to Paris in 1982, where he was murdered the following year. Many of his compositions were not heard during his lifetime, and he remains a tragic figure in the canon of 20th-century music.

About Sergio Policicchio
Sergio Policicchio (b. 1985, Buenos Aires) relocated to Ravenna, Italy in 2004, where he pursued studies in visual arts and mosaics at the Academy of Fine Arts. He lives and works between Italy, Argentina, and Moldova. Recent exhibitions include La visione dell'invisibile (solo, Vibra gallery, Ravenna, 2017); tsu-na-gu (collective, Shimadai gallery, Kyoto, 2016); Partiture eventual (site-specific installation, Emergenze creative 2015 in Ravenna); and Quelqu'un(collective, M comme mosaique gallery, Paray-le-monial, France, 2015). 

About Meridionalis and Americas Society
Established in 2010, Meridionalis is Americas Society’s critically acclaimed vocal ensemble, comprised of leading singers in New York City and conducted by Sebastian Zubieta. Since its debut in 2010, Meridionalis has presented early and contemporary music from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Spain. Collaborating with musicologists and instrumental ensembles from the region, Meridionalis has contributed to the rediscovery of seldom-performed music, including the first modern performances of anonymous music from the cathedral in Ibarra (Ecuador) and by 17th century Mexican composer Francisco López Capillas. The ensemble has been lauded for its "well-blended, joyous sound" and "beautifully rendered programs" by The New York Times. Their debut CD, dedicated to music by Pablo Ortiz, was released by NAXOS in March 2019.

Meridionalis has performed at Symphony Space, The Hispanic Society of America, Americas Society, St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University, and Trinity Wall Street in New York. The group has also toured abroad, having appeared at the Biblioteca Juan Angel Arango in Bogota in 2013, Festival Esteban Salas in Havana in 2016 and 2017, Festival de Musica Sacra de Quito in 2017, and Festival de Nueva Opera de Buenos Aires in 2018.

Americas Society is the premier forum dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Its mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social, and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship. Read more at www.musicoftheamericas.org. 

About the International Contemporary Ensemble
The International Contemporary Ensemble is an artist collective that is transforming the way music is created and experienced. As performer, curator, and educator, the Ensemble explores how new music intersects with communities across the world. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

A recipient of the American Music Center’s Trailblazer Award and the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the International Contemporary Ensemble was also named the 2014 Musical America Ensemble of the Year. The group currently serves as artists-in-residence at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Mostly Mozart Festival, and previously led a five-year residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The International Contemporary Ensemble was featured at the Ojai Music Festival from 2015 to 2017, and at recent festivals abroad such as gmem-CNCM-marseille and Vértice at Cultura UNAM, Mexico City. Other performance stages have included the Park Avenue Armory, The Stone, ice floes at Greenland’s Diskotek Sessions, and boats on the Amazon River.

New initiatives include OpenICE, made possible with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which offers free concerts and related programming wherever the Ensemble performs, and enables a working process with composers to unfold in public settings. DigitICE, a free online library of over 350 streaming videos, catalogues the Ensemble’s performances. The International Contemporary Ensemble’s First Page program is a commissioning consortium that fosters close collaborations between performers, composers, and listeners as new music is developed. EntICE, a side-by-side education program, places Ensemble musicians within youth orchestras as they premiere new commissioned works together; inaugural EntICE partners include Youth Orchestra Los Angeles and The People's Music School in Chicago. Summer activities include Ensemble Evolution at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, in which young professionals perform with the Ensemble and attend workshops on topics from interpretation to concert production. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the Ensemble. Read more at www.iceorg.org.  

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