55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA, 94102/ E4TT.org/ (510) 684-0505

 

Media Contacts:

Nanette McGuinness /nanette@E4TT.org

Brennan Stokes /brennan@E4TT.org

             Roziht Edwards/ Roziht@E4TT.org

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 14, 2022

Ensemble for These Times

Announces

Dark Universe/ Mysterious Spaces

 

With Six Commissioned World Premieres by: 

Vivian Fung, David Garner, Andrew Harlan, Seo Yoon Soyoona Kim,  

Stephanie Neumann, and Nicholas Denton Protsack

 

Performed by

Pianist Margaret Halbig, Cellist Abigail Monroe and 

Guests Percussionist Hyunjung Juli Choi, and Double Bassist Yuchen Liu

 

Saturday, April  9, 7:30 p.m. 

In-Person at and Live-Streamed from the Chi Cha Ming Recital Hall, 

SF Conservatory of Music, Bowes Center, San Francisco

(Full calendar listing below)

 

San Francisco – Ensemble for These Times continues its spring season with their commissions concert “Dark Universe/ Mysterious Spaces,”* a program featuring six World Premieres by composers Vivian Fung, David Garner, Seo Yoon Soyoona Kim, Stephanie Neumann, Andrew Harlan, and Nicholas Denton Protsack, plus music by inti figgis-vizueta, Eric Moe and Milad Yousufi. “Dark Universe/ Mysterious Spaces” will be live streamed for free (donations welcome), in collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Technology and Applied Composition (TAC), and will also be performed for an in-person live audience at the Chi Cha Ming Recital Hall, SF Conservatory of Music, Bowes Center on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at 7:30 p.m., preceded by a live pre-concert composer talk at 7:00 p.m., as well as an introduction to Protsack’s new piece by Dr. Jack Dumbacher from the California Academy of Sciences. 

                                  

About “Dark Universe/ Mysterious Spaces”

As the saying goes, space is the final frontier. For E4TT’s 2022 commissions concert, the group will turn to the various manifestations of space. Whether considering the explorations and discoveries from the Mars rover, Perseverance, in outer space, the inner biological space of COVID and CRISPR DNA research, or even the unfathomable ocean depths, recent history has shown us that we have much to discover and unravel in order to ensure the survival of our planet and our species. These mysteries are the inspiration for E4TT's 2022 commissions concert, which will take place on April 9, 2022, in a hybrid (online and live) multimedia performance, produced in collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) in the Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall at the new Bowes Center. 

 

As befits the topic, "Dark Universe/Mysterious Spaces" will feature adventuresome new commissions, with six World Premieres, all by composers with Bay Area connections: “Shimmer” a new work for percussion by JUNO Award winning Canadian-Chinese composer and Santa Clara University faculty member Vivian Fung (b. 1972, pictured top), with images by E4TT videographer MisterWa; "Four-Vectors" by E4TT co-founder and San Francisco Conservatory faculty member, David Garner (b. 1954 pictured second from top), for cello, vibraphone, and double bass; plus works by four emerging composers: “HydroCosmic Echoes” for fixed media, cello, double bass, vibraphone, and piano by emerging Mills College graduate Stephanie Neumann (b. 1989, pictured bottom); ”Where the Sun Blazes Like an Immortal Being" for solo cello by GLFCAM alumna Seo Yoon (Soyoona) Kim; “Umbra” for solo double bass by UC Berkeley doctoral candidate Andrew Harlan; and "A Mind in the Branches" for soprano, cello, double bass, vibraphone, and piano by 2018 San Francisco Conservatory graduate in cello and composition, Canadian composer Nicholas Denton Protsack (b.1994). The program will also feature the world premiere of the prize-winning score in the TAC Department student composition competition.

 

Finally, “Dark Universe/ Mysterious Spaces” will also include three pre-existing works: "Mystery" (2020) for solo cello by New York-based Afghanistan refugee Milad Yousufi (b. 1995), plus "a bridge between starshine and clay" (2018) by two-spirit Quechua-Latinx composer, E4TT’s #MeetTheArtist in April 2021, inti figgis-vizueta (b. 1993) and “Where Branched Thoughts Murmur in the Wind” (2000) by Eric Moe (b. 1954), both for solo piano. E4TT’s cellist Abigail Monroe, and pianist Margaret Halbig) will be joined by guest artists percussionist  Mika Nakamura and double bassist Yuchen Liu.

 

*“Dark Universe/ Mysterious Spaces” is sponsored in part by grants from The Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation and the Ross McKee Foundation, and supported in part by grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Violinist ILANA BLUMBERG has appeared across the United States and internationally, in solo appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, the Albany Symphony (NY), Symphony Napa Valley, and the Merced Symphony, as well as performances at the prestigious Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Marlboro Music Festival, the La Jolla Summerfest as a 'Rising Star', the Aspen Music Festival, and many others. She appears frequently throughout the Bay Area with the Marin, Silicon Valley, West Edge Opera, Berkeley, and California Symphonies, as well as with the Golden Gate String Quartet, eco ensemble, and Left Coast Chamber Ensemble.

 

 Pianist MARGARET HALBIG is in high demand as both an instrumental and vocal collaborative artist. On staff at the SF Conservatory of Music since 2011, she regularly performs recitals and masterclasses and has collaborated with many esteemed Bay Area musicians including mezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade, SF Symphony Principal Trombonist Timothy Higgins and Principal Tubist Jeffrey Anderson. An advocate of new music, Halbig is the pianist for Ninth Planet, an SF new music collective and a member of the wind-and-piano sextet Frequency 49. Halbig was a Collaborative Teaching fellow at Interlochen Arts in 2017 and 2018 in collaborative and solo piano and has been the pianist for Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco since 2014.

 

Double bassist YUCHEN LIU regularly plays with the San Francisco Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Stockton Symphony and the Napa Valley Symphony. She began her musical studies at age nine, starting her professional training as a musician three years later at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 2008, she received a full scholarship from the National University of Singapore, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music for her Bachelor of Music. Liu attended the Festival Contrabass Kaleidoscope 2013 in Berlin, where she was invited to perform as a soloist at the closing concert, and was the bassist for the Phantom of the Opera World Tour in 2014 in Singapore.

 

 

 

Soprano and E4TT co-founder and Artistic Executive Director NANETTE MCGUINNESS has performed in 12 languages on two continents in over 25 roles with the Silesian State (Czech Republic), Opera San Jose (Opera in the Schools), and West Bay, Pacific Repertory, Trinity Lyric, and Livermore Valley Operas, among others. Solo concert engagements include Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, as well as Shéhérézade (Ravel), Nuits d’étés (Berlioz), Stabat Mater (Rossini), Requiem (Fauré), Gloria (Vivaldi), Lord Nelson Mass (Haydn), Vesperae Solennes (Mozart), and Handel’s Messiah and Solomon. Her CD of music by 19th and 20th century women composers, Fabulous Femmes (Centaur)—which was called “perfect for the song recital lover” by Chamber Music Magazine—features several premiere recordings.

 

E4TT cellist ABIGAIL MONROE hails from New Mexico and holds a Bachelor’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in cello performance under the instruction of Jennifer Culp. She has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician, and large ensemble musician in venues across the United States. As a San Francisco resident, Abigail performs frequently throughout the Bay Area as both a classical cellist. She has served as both Principal cellist of the SFCM Orchestra, as well as the Miami Summer Music Festival Symphony Orchestra. As the winner of the Jackie McGehee Young Artists Competition in 2019, Abigail was also featured as cello soloist performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the New Mexico Philharmonic.

 

 Hailed as a dynamic, versatile, sensitive performer,  San Francisco-based percussionist HYUNJUNG JULIE CHOI has performed with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the United States and South Korea, including Camerata New York Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, Stroke Percussion Ensemble, Manhattan School of Music Symphony, MSM Percussion Ensemble, MSM Jazz Symphony, MSM Opera, MSM Musical theater, San Francisco Conservatory of Music Symphony, SFCM Percussion Ensemble as well as SFCM New Music Ensemble.  Currently completing her Bachelor of Music at the Manhattan School of Music, Choi’s primary studies were with Jacob Nissly, Edward Stephan and Jack van Geem at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

 

ABOUT ENSEMBLE FOR THESE TIMES

Winners of The American Prize in 2021 for Chamber Music Performance, E4TT consists of award-winning soprano and Artistic Executive Director Nanette McGuinness, cellist Abigail Monroe, pianist Margaret Halbig, and Senior Artistic Advisor and San Francisco Conservatory of Music faculty member, composer David Garner. The group focuses on 20th and 21st century music that is relevant, engaging, original and compelling—music that resonates with today and speaks to tomorrow, that harnesses the power of artistic beauty, intelligence, wit, lyricism, and irony to create a deep understanding of our times and the human condition. E4TT made its international debut in Berlin in 2012; was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Budapest for a four-city tour of Hungary in 2014; and performed at the Krakow Culture Festival in 2016 and at the Conservatorio Teresa Berganza in Madrid in 2017. E4TT has performed locally at the German Consulate General, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Old First Concerts, JCC Peninsula, Trinity Chamber Concerts, and Noontime Concerts, among other venues. E4TT’s critically acclaimed recordings include “Once/Memory/Night: Paul Celan,” which was released in 2020 in honor of the centennial of this seminal 20th century poet, and won a Silver Medal in the Global Music Awards. The group’s debut CD, “Surviving: Women’s Words,” released on the Centaur label in 2016, was also honored with a Silver Medal in the Global Music Awards. E4TT’s second CD, “The Hungarians: From Rózsa to Justus” (Centaur Records, 2018), features a cello duo by Hollywood movie maven and Hungarian émigré Miklós Rózsa, along with works by three of his compatriots who perished in the Holocaust; “The Hungarians” won a Gold Medal in the Global Music Awards the year of its release.

 

CALENDAR LISTING

Saturday, April  9, 2022 at 7:30 p.m., San Francisco
“Dark Universe/ Mysterious Spaces”
Artists: E4TT (cellist Abigail Monroe, pianist Margaret Halbig), and guests percussionist Julie Choi and double bassist Yuchen Liu)
Repertoire: “Shimmer” (World Premiere) by Vivian Fung (b. 1972) for percussion; “Four-Vectors” (World Premiere) by David Garner (b. 1954) for cello, vibraphone, and double bass; “HydroCosmic Echoes” (World Premiere) by Stephanie Neumann (b. 1989) for cello, vibraphone, double bass, piano, and fixed media; “Where the Sun Blazes Like an Immortal Being” (World Premiere) by Seo Yoon (Soyoona) Kim (b. 1988) for solo cello; “A Mind in the Branches” (World Premiere) by Nicholas Denton Protsack (b. 1994) for soprano, cello, double bass, percussion and piano; “Umbra” (World Premiere) for double bass by Andrew Harlan (b. 1995); “a bridge between starshine and clay” (2018) for solo piano; “Mystery” (2020) for solo cello by Milad Yousufi (b. 1995); “Where Branched Thoughts Murmur in the Wind” (2000) for solo piano by Eric Moe (b. 1954); and the winning score from the student composition competition with the San Francisco Conservatory’s Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) Department.
Pre-concert programming: A live composer talk with all commissioned composers at 7:00pm
Venue: Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall, Bowes Center, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 200 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, and live-streamed
RVSP: (online attendance): https://darkuniversemysterious.eventbrite.com

RSVP: (in-person attendance):

https://sfcm.edu/reserve?event=11801AKPSMNLHVNHMDJQKSBJCLCVQPNQJ&nid=16523 

Info: www.E4TT.org/darkuniversemysterious.html, 

 

For more information about E4TT’s 2021/22 Bay Area Home Season, please visit our website.

High resolution jpgs are available for download http://www.e4tt.org/presskit.html. 

 

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