Music from Copland House Brings Tales of Identity and Migration to Graduate Center, Cuny

Music from Copland House Concert Offers NY Premieres by Jalbert, and Lam, Plus Other Works Inspired by Heritage, History, and Ancestry

NEW YORK, NY (February 13, 2020). Migration Tales – a global musical remix of three generations of dynamic American composers drawing upon their ancestral roots and cultural heritage – takes center stage at Music from Copland House’s next concert on its ambitious new series at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The performance by the internationally-acclaimed ensemble takes place on Monday, March 2nd at 7.30pm in the acoustically-superb Baisley Elebash Powell Hall, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street).

Infused with the sound and spirit of China, India, South America, Quebec, and the Middle East, Migration Tales features three Copland House commissions by Angel Lam, Reena Esmail, and Pierre Jalbert, and other works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Saad N. Haddad, and David Schiff. Lam’s Fragrance of the Sea and Jalbert’s Crossings, in their New York City Premieres, trace the multi-generational journeys of each composer’s ancestors across oceans and continents. Esmail’s Tasveer and Haddad’s Thulathi explore the sound, sense, and vocabulary of the two composers’ ancestry in India and the Middle East, respectively. Schiff’s Divertimento from "Gimpel the Fool" and Frank’s Cuatro Bosquejos Preincaicos travel back in time to summon ancient peoples and civilizations.

Music from Copland House’s featured performers at this concert are flutist Beomjae Kim, clarinetist Derek Bermel, violinist Curtis Macomber, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and pianist Michael Boriskin. A post-concert TalkBack features several of the composers.

Following the ensemble’s Graduate Center series launch last fall, New York Classical Review reported that “there is good news: Copland House concerts now come to Manhattan,” and hailed the “warm performances, full of humanity and empathy, confident and transparent ... completely exciting, grabbing the body and fascinating the mind.” Music from Copland House is the celebrated resident ensemble of the award-winning creative center for American music based at composer Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in Westchester County (NY). It has been engaged by Tanglewood, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, and other major venues; appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, the European Broadcasting Union, and Sirius; and recorded for the Koch, Arabesque, and Copland House Blend labels. The ensemble’s roster of Founding, Principal, and Guest Artists includes some of America’s most celebrated performers, of whom The Chicago Tribune has raved, “Copland would have been proud of all of them.”

TICKETS:
Individual tickets: $30.
Discounts for CUNY Faculty, Staff, and Students; Friends of Copland House; and seniors over 65: $20.
Subscriptions for any 3 concerts: $81, or $54 with discount.
Tickets may be purchased securely online.
Find more concert information online, via Copland House at (914) 788-4659, email, or www.coplandhouse.org.