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Mar. 12: Composer Robert Honstein Releases New EP and Film, Middle Ground, Featuring Violinist Kate Stenberg on Other Minds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214
Composer Robert Honstein Releases New EP and Film,
Middle Ground, Featuring Violinist Kate Stenberg
Watch the Trailer for Middle Ground
Out Friday, March 12, 2021 on Other Minds
“smart, appealing works” – The New Yorker
Cast in three movements – “Too Far,” “Too Close,” and “Bridging the Gap” – Middle Ground searches for a common space between opposites. Ague poses, “The violin’s most airy tones complement its most full-bodied resonances, as if they might be a perfect blend in some alternate universe – or perhaps they already are. Honstein explores this contrast, and its potential commonality, on Middle Ground, which funnels his unembellished compositional style into a search for the middle ground between far-reaching pitches. The work is subdued and poignant, imbuing powerful sentiment into each bold, unadorned melody and subtle electronic manipulation.”
She continues, “His long-form explorations mine the endless possibilities of the instruments he chooses to write for, focusing on each instrument’s capabilities to find complexity. Each movement of Middle Ground highlights a different aspect of the violin’s wide range: The first, a delicate exploration of the instrument’s highest tones; the second, a frenzied, dark journey of its deepest pitches; the third, a tense almost-resolution between the two. Stenberg’s unwavering performance highlights the pitches, rhythms, and melodies themselves, focusing on crisp performance of the unadorned melodies rather than flashy technique… Middle Ground is, ultimately, an exercise in finding unity through dissimilarity.”
In the ethereal film created by Philadelphia-based videographer team Four/Ten Media, Kate Stenberg’s violin comes to life with shimmering effects and swirls of light. Honstein writes of his collaboration with Four/Ten, “For the film I asked Four/Ten to focus on the performance itself, highlighting the work’s dramatization of the violin’s sonic palette. Set against the nocturnal backdrop of Philadelphia’s idyllic East Park Reservoir, I was so excited to see how they used light to visualize the physicality of Kate’s playing. The understated approach compliments the music’s pared back aesthetic, providing an elegant frame for Kate’s beautiful performance.”
Middle Ground was commissioned by Kat Kroll, Barbara Sapienza, and Nancy Karp Dancers and premiered on February 10, 2016 by Kate Stenberg at the ODC Theater, San Francisco, CA.
About Robert Honstein
Celebrated for his “waves of colorful sounds” (The New York Times) and “smart, appealing works” (The New Yorker), Robert Honstein (b. 1980) is a New York based composer of orchestral, chamber, and vocal music. Fueled by an omnivorous musical appetite, Honstein's compositions are noted for their “dry humor” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “breathless eruptions” (The New York Times) and “devilishly fun writing” (The Arts Fuse). A growing interest in story-telling, expression, and physicality infuses his work with a direct, evocative sensibility that is equal parts riotous frenzy, austere lyricism, and minimalist-tinged romanticism.
Performers of Honstein's music include the Albany Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique du Mulhouse, Slovenian National Theater Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, American Composers Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Dal Niente, Present Music, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Third Angle New Music, New Music Detroit, Quince, Mivos Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, Argus Quartet, Hub New Music, Chatterbird, TIGUE, New Morse Code, Colin Currie, Theo Bleckmann, Doug Perkins, Michael Burritt, Karl Larson, Michael Compitello and Ashley Bathgate, among others. Interdisciplinary collaborators include photographer Chris McCaw, projection designer Hannash Wasileski, graphic designer Laura Grey, director Daniel Fish. His music has also been choreographed by numerous dance companies such as the Cincinnati Ballet, Nancy Karp and Dancers, Backhaus Dance, Urbanity Dance, and Frame Dance, among others.
Honstein is a founding member of the New York based composer collective Sleeping Giant, a group of “five talented guys” (The New Yorker), and projects have included evening length works for Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble ACJW the Deviant Septet, and the Albany Symphony, and cellist Ashley Bathgate. With a commitment to building community around the music of our time, Honstein co-founded Fast Forward Austin, an annual marathon new music festival in Austin, TX and Times Two, a Boston based concert series that paired artists from diverse backgrounds in a laid back, accessible context. As an educator, he has participated in outreach projects around the country, while also serving as Program Manager and Composition Faculty at NYU, Steinhardt.
Honstein's debut album, RE: You, was released by New Focus Recordings in 2014 and his second album, Night Scenes from the Ospedale – a collaboration with the Sebastians – was released on Soundspells Productions in 2015. In 2018, his album An Economy of Means featuring Doug Perkins and Karl Larson was released on New Focus Recordings. NPR included his piece Pulse from Eighth Blackbird’s Hand Eye as one of their top 100 songs of 2016. Learn more at www.roberthonstein.com.
About Kate Stenberg
Kate Stenberg’s violin playing has been described as “highly virtuosic and deeply communicative…full of character and presence” (NewMusicBox), as heard in performances in a dozen countries and on numerous CDs from New World Records, Sono Luminous, Newport Classics, Decca Records, Other Minds and New Albion labels. She is a leading interpreter of contemporary chamber music having premiered over 100 works, including pieces incorporating multimedia and improvisation. Hailed as a "Bay Area new-music luminary” (San Francisco Chronicle) Stenberg has commissioned, recorded and premiered new works by Tania León, Jack Body, Mason Bates, Per Nørgård, Charles Amirkhanian, Chinary Ung, Ronald Bruce Smith, Kui Dong and many others. Her CD Scenes from a New Music Séance (Other Minds Label) with pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann has received special notice and features groundbreaking, innovative works by Pelle Gudmundsen Holmgreen, Ruth Crawford Seegar and George Antheil.
Kate Stenberg’s passion for chamber music led her to develop and commission new chamber music as co-founder of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (1993-1998) and Real Vocal String Quartet (2004-2006). From 1995-2015 she served as the first violinist of the renowned Del Sol String Quartet, which fostered the string quartet repertoire through the collaboration and commissioning of emerging and established composers. During her two decade tenure with the quartet, Stenberg worked closely with many composers including Joan Tower, Wadada Leo Smith, Pawel Mykietyn, Peter Sculthorpe, Kui Dong, Mohammed Fairouz, Reza Vali and Hyo-shin Na performing at such venues as the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Symphony Space, National Gallery of Art and on KQED’s Spark series. The quartet expanded its outreach to numerous educational institutions including the Manhattan School of Music, Dartmouth, MIT, and the San Francisco and Peabody Conservatories of Music and was a top winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.
Stenberg collaborated and premiered work at San Francisco Performances alongside Joan Jeanrenaud and Daniel Bernard Roumain, and with choreographers, Garrett Moulton Productions on StringWreck. Her festival performances have included Other Minds, Ojai Music Festival, Tanglewood, Centre Acanthes (France), Banff (Canada), Chengdu Contemporary Music Festival (China), Nirmita Composer’s Institute (Cambodia), and Chengdu Contemporary Music Festival (China), Nirmita Composer’s Institute (Cambodia and Thailand), Chautauqua, and the Cabrillo Festival. Stenberg can also be heard on recordings with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, New Music Works and with tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and sarod master Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
Currently, Stenberg performs regularly with pianist Sarah Cahill. The Stenberg|Cahill Duo is dedicated to promoting the American experimental tradition and expanding it through the commissioning of new work. Recent appearances include performances at the San Francisco Performances PIVOT Series with percussionist William Winant, Berkeley Museum of Art and Pacific Film Archive, Other Minds New Music Séance, Garden of Memory at the Julia Morgan Chapel of the Chimes, and Memory/Place with Nancy Karp Dancers at ODC Theater. Learn more at www.katestenberg.com.
Middle Ground Track List
Robert Honstein – Middle Ground (2016)
1. Too Far [7:54]
2. Too Close [4:47]
3. Bridging the Gap [7:09]
Kate Stenberg, violin
Total Time - 19:50
Recorded and edited by Ryan Streber in December 2017 at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, NY
Mixed by Devin Greenwood in January 2019 at The Honey Jar in Brooklyn, NY
Mastered by Andrew Weathers
Album design by Laura Grey with Molly Haig
Video by Four/Ten Media
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