Ensemble for These Times Announces its 2023/24 Home Season “Expression: Ism”

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

 

Media Contacts:

Nanette McGuinness / nanette@E4TT.org

Brennan Stokes / brennan@E4TT.org

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 12, 2023

 

Ensemble for These Times

Announces its 2023/24 Home Season 

“Expression: Ism”

 

September 22, 2023: "Transformations" 

Featuring Verklärte Nacht by Arnold Schoenberg (arr. Eduard Steuermann)

 

January 20, 2024: "Quest: Music by Women and Nonbinary Composers"

With a World Premiere of “Spent,” by Tamara McLeod and a New Call for Scores with Luna Composition Lab alums

 

April 5, 2024: "Expression: Ism" 

With World Premieres of Commissions by David Garner and Vivian Liu and Alban Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder 

 

June 15, 2024: “Émigrés & Exiles in Hollywood: The Album"

Celebrating the release of our new release of music from E4TT’s popular series plus Cabaret Songs by Arnold Schoenberg

 

With Performances by

Soprano Nanette McGuinness, Cellist Abigail Monroe, and Pianist Margaret Halbig, With Guests Soprano Chelsea Hollow, Violinist Jennifer Redondas, Cellist Megan Chartier, E. hornist Laura Reynolds, and Pianists Dale Tsang and Taylor Chan

 

San Francisco – Following its wildly successful 15th anniversary celebration season, Ensemble for These Times is excited to announce its 2023/24 hybrid Home Season entitled "Expression: Ism,"  in honor of the sesquicentennial of towering Second Viennese composer, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Diversity and innovation will continue as hallmarks of season programming, including that of the season opener, "Transformations,"  on September 22, 2023, at Old First Concerts in San Francisco, with Schoenberg’s early, Expressionist masterpiece Verklärte Nacht (piano trio arrangement) in a musical conversation with works by Darian Donovan Thomas, inti figgis-vizueta, and Lisa Bielawa. This program will be followed by "Quest: Music by Women and Nonbinary Composers,"  the next edition of E4TT’s popular annual series, on January 20, 2024, at the Center for New Music, in a program that includes the World Premiere of “Spent,” a new piano trio about climate change by Tamara McLeod; works from E4TT’s newest Call for Scores for Luna Composition Lab alums; and music by Jennifer Higdon, Tania León, Jessica Mao, Claudia Montero, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Florence Price, Gabriella Smith, and Alex Temple. The season title program, E4TT’s newest commissioning initiative—to be presented on April 5, 2024 at the Bowes Center in the group’s fourth multimedia collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) Department—will feature a new chamber arrangement of Sieben Frühe Lieder by Alban Berg (1885-1935), paired with new works by E4TT co-founder/ Senior Artistic Advisor David Garner and “For Good Measure” composer Valerie Liu. The season will close on June 15, 2024, with a program celebrating the release of E4TT’s new recording, “Émigrés & Exiles in Hollywood: The Album” at the Berkeley Piano Club, featuring selections from the album and Schoenberg’s "Cabaret Songs" (Brettl Lieder). All concerts will be offered for both in-person and livestream attendance.   

 

ABOUT ENSEMBLE FOR THESE TIMES

Winner of The American Prize in 2021 for Chamber Music Performance, ENSEMBLE FOR THESE TIMES (E4TT) consists of award-winning soprano/ Artistic Executive Director Nanette McGuinness, cellist Abigail Monroe, pianist Margaret Halbig, and co-founder/ Senior Artistic Advisor composer David Garner. 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 2022, 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 has released four albums, all of which have medaled in the Global Music Awards: “The Guernica Project” (2022), commemorating the 85th anniversary of the horrific carpet bombing of civilians and Picasso’s masterwork in response; “Once/ Memory/ Night: Paul Celan” (2020), honoring the centennial of the seminal 20th century poet; “The Hungarians: From Rózsa to Justus” (2018), with works by Hungarian émigré Miklós Rózsa, and three of his compatriots who perished in the Holocaust; and “Surviving: Women’s Words,” (2016), new music to poetry by women Holocaust survivors.

 

ABOUT E4TT’S 16TH BAY AREA HOME SEASON

What would today’s music be like without the work of the towering artistic figure and American immigrant Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)? Many argue that contemporary classical and film music would have followed a vastly different course without his powerful, liberating influence, his exploration of atonality and serialism, and his Expressionist compositions.

With the 150th anniversary of Schoenberg’s birth in 2024, E4TT’s 16th season will aim a spotlight on his music, his circle, and his influence, placed in a musical dialogue with works by composers of today. Ensemble for These Times will perform "Expression: Ism,"  the group’s 16th annual Home Season, from September 2023-June 2024 at various Bay Area venues in a hybrid format with attendance at our self-presented performances free. Programming for the 2023/24 season will, as in the past, be characterized by diversity and innovation, as follows: 

 

September 22, 2023: “Transformations”

E4TT will kick off the season on September 22 at Old First Concerts in San Francisco, with “Transformations,” a concert about various kinds of transformation—physical, biological, emotional, environmental, and musical. The highlight of the program will be Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Op. 4 (1899), arranged for piano trio by Eduard Steuermann and inspired by the eponymous poem in which a couple’s love is transformed by compassion. It will be placed in a musical dialogue with three contemporary chamber works:  "The Dragon and the Girl" (2014) for cello by Guggenheim Fellow Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968, photo upper left), "Fluid"  (2016) for violin and tape by exciting emerging composer Darian Donovan Thomas (upper right), and "a bridge between starshine and clay" (2018) for piano by ASCAP Foundation Fred Ho Award winner inti figgis-vizueta (b. 1993, lower left), plus songs by Austrian composer Franz Schreker (1878-1934, lower right) from his Acht Lieder Op. 8 (1898-1900). Guest violinist Jennifer Redondas will join E4TT soprano Nanette McGuinness, cellist Abigail Monroe and pianist Margaret Halbig. The concert will also be livestreamed on Old First Concerts’ YouTube channel, and there will be a noontime preview performance of selections on September 21 at Café Europa, JCC East Bay in Berkeley.

 

January 20, 2024: “Quest: Music by Women and Nonbinary Composers”

E4TT continues the season with our annual  concert of music by women and nonbinary composers. The program will feature the World Premiere of a commissioned piano trio by Tamara MacLeod (b. 1999, photo upper left), “Spent,” focusing on the climate crisis, global warming, and resource depletion (postponed from 2023 at the composer’s request);  works from E4TT’s newest Call for Scores from Luna Composition Lab alums; and music by three-time Grammy winner Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962), Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León (b. 1943, upper right), emerging Bay Area composer Jessica Mao (b. 1998), Latin Grammy winner Claudia Montero (1962-2021), Opera America Discovery Grant recipient Niloufar Nourbakhsh (b. 1992, lower left), exciting emerging composer Gabriella Smith (b. 1991), Arizona State University professor Alex Temple (b. 1983, lower right), and much-lauded historical composer Florence Price (1899-1952). Guest violinist Jennifer Redondas will join E4TT soprano Nanette McGuinness, cellist Abigail Monroe and pianist Margaret Halbig. The concert will also be livestreamed at no charge (donations welcome) on E4TT’s YouTube channel.

 

April 5, 2024: “Expression: Ism”

The highlight of E4TT’s 2022/24 season will be our annual commissions concert and our fourth collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) Department, exploring Expressionism—music that emphasizes the expression of strong feelings, often involving the distortion of shapes, images, and colors to create wildly unrealistic works of art. The concert title, “Expression: Ism,” breaks the word in two, highlighting the two primary aspects of Expressionism: the artist’s internal landscape as expressed externally and the artist’s subjective "I," much as can be seen in Arnold Schoenberg’s own painting, “Alliance” (upper left).  For this concert, E4TT will create a multimedia dialogue between music by two of Schoenberg’s best-known students—Alban Berg (1885-1935, upper right) and Anton Webern (1883-1945, middle right)—and new music inspired by their groundbreaking work, with World Premieres of new works by two outstanding Bay Area composers: Piano Trio #2, by E4TT co-founder and Senior Artistic Advisor David Garner (b. 1954, middle left) using tonal serialism (a technique he developed in direct reference to Schoenberg’s atonal serialism), and a trio for English horn, cello, and piano, by The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention winner Valerie Liu (lower left). E4TT has also commissioned SF Conservatory of Music graduate, percussionist/composer TJ Martin (lower right) to create a new chamber arrangement of Berg’s major early twelve-tone song cycle, Sieben Frühe Lieder (1905-1908), for soprano, English horn, cello, and vibraphone. The program will be rounded out with Sonatensatz (Rondo) für Klavier (Sonata Movement [Rondo] for Piano, 1906) by Webern, “Olive Orchard” and “Kandinsky” from Picture Etudes (2013) by Adam Schoenberg (b. 1980), and the winning piece from the TAC student multimedia composition competition. E4TT soprano Nanette McGuinness will be joined by guests percussionist Adrienne Anaya, cellist Megan Chartier, violinist Jennifer Redondas, English hornist Laura Reynolds, pianist Taylor Chan and E4TT emerita pianist Dale Tsang. The concert is free to attend and will also be livestreamed at no charge on the SF Conservatory of Music’s Vimeo channel. RSVP recommended.

 

June 15, 2024: “Emigres & Exiles in Hollywood: Album Release Concert”

E4TT will close the season by celebrating the release on the Centaur label of our fifth album in Spring 2024, with a program that will include selections from the new  recording by Erich Korngold (1897-1957, “The Adventures of Robinhood,”  photo left), Miklós Rózsa (1907-1985, “Ben Hur”), and Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986, “Paris Underground”), along with Arnold Schoenberg’s Brettl Lieder (“Cabaret Songs,” 1901, image by Arnold Schoenberg, right). Guest coloratura soprano Chelsea Hollow will join E4TT soprano Nanette McGuinness, cellist Abigail Monroe and pianist Margaret Halbig. The concert will also be livestreamed at no charge on E4TT’s YouTube channel.

 

PODCAST, “For Good Measure”: Da Capo Conversations Mini-Series

E4TT’s podcast, For Good Measure—interviews with BIPOC and women creatives every Monday, which launched on June 6, 2022—will continue with “Da Capo Conversations,” a new mini-series with a topical twist, in which we revisit artists’ responses to shared topics about various aspects of musical artistry and lived experience. “Da Capo Conversations,” begins August 14; our second regular season will begin in April 2024. Available on all podcast channels. 

 

“Expression: Ism” is made possible in part through the Musical Grant Program, which is administered by InterMusic SF, and supported by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, and San Francisco Grants for the Arts. E4TT’s 2023/24 season is sponsored, in part, by a grant from the Ross McKee Foundation. “For Good Measure” and E4TT’s 2023/24 season are supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. E4TT's "Emigres & Exiles in Hollywood" recording is supported by the Koret Foundation, Dennis Schumann Foundation, and the Ross McKee Foundation.

 

ABOUT THE SEASON’S ARTISTS 

ADRIENNE ANAYA earned her MM in Percussion Performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is continuing her studies for her Performance Certificate with San Francisco Symphony Principal Timpanist Edward Stephan and Principal Percussionist Jacob Nissly. Anaya completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Houston Moore School of Music, where she was the 21st annual recipient of the A. Clyde Roller Award and studied with Dr. Blake Wilkins and Alec Warren, as well as with Houston Symphony Associate Principal Timpanist and Section Percussion Matthew Strauss. Anaya has had orchestral training experience at the Brevard Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Hot Springs Music Festival, and PRISMA. 

 

Pianist TAYLOR CHAN learned the art of collaboration—in music and in life—while completing her MM in Collaborative Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is currently a staff accompanist and coach to voice students. She has also held various administrative positions at SFCM and is proud to have expanded her skillset to include technical writing, data management, building time-saving systems, and identifying ways to optimize collaborative workflow. Her current pursuit is to codify methodologies and create course materials to support the musical andragogy of undergraduates.

 

Cellist MEGAN CHARTIER is “unafraid to display gutsy abandon,” as described by the South Florida Classical Review.  She has performed throughout North America and Europe as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral cellist. Her current positions include core cellist of the Astralis Chamber Ensemble and principal cellist of Opera San Luis Obispo in California. In recent seasons, she has served as principal cellist of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and principal cellist of the Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy in Vancouver, and also recently performed with orchestras including the San Antonio Symphony, One Found Sound in San Francisco, Nu Deco Ensemble, and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.  A Semi-Finalist in the 2017 PRISMA Concerto Competition, she won 1st prize in the Ann Arbor Society of Musical Arts’ 2015 Young Artist Competition and the 2015 Miami Music Festival Concerto Competition, conducted by Grzegorz Nowak of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. www.meganchartier.com

 

?E4TT Pianist MARGARET HALBIG is in high demand as a collaborative artist in both the instrumental and vocal fields. She is currently associate chair of the Voice Department and principal vocal coach at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she also frequently collaborates with faculty and student singers and instrumentalists.  In 2023, Halbig was appointed collaborative piano coordinator of Interlochen Arts Camp and has been the pianist for Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco since 2014.  An advocate of new and contemporary music, she is the pianist and a board member of San Francisco-based new music collective Ninth Planet and has also. Halbig earned her DMA from the University of California Santa Barbara and performance degrees from the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory and University of Evansville, Indiana. 

 

Coloratura soprano CHELSEA HOLLOW is known for her “soaring high range” and “stage panache” and has built a reputation for premiering new works, including the roles of Helen Chavez in Dolores (2023) by Nicolas Benavides and Fenghuang in Hutong (2020) by Kui Dong. Hollow “has rewritten the book on the potential of musical activism," exploring ways to make new and traditional classical music exciting to new audiences. In recognition of this work, she presented on “Art and Activism” (2021) for the United Nations’ Office of Human Rights. Hollow recently released her debut album “Cycles of Resistance” with Aerocade Music, featuring 22 of her commissions chronicling examples of human resilience in Mandarin, Dutch, Turkish, Arabic, Sanskrit, and Czech in addition to English. www.chelseahollow.com

 

Soprano and E4TT co-founder and Artistic Executive Director NANETTE MCGUINNESS has performed in 13 languages on two continents in over 25 roles with the Silesian State (Czech Republic), Opera San Jose (Opera in the Schools), and West Bay Opera, Pacific Repertory Opera, Trinity Lyric Opera, and Livermore Valley Opera, 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. McGuinness has been featured on seven albums with Centaur and Yuggoth Records, and her CD of music by 19th and 20th century women composers, Fabulous Femmes (Centaur)—was called “perfect for the song recital lover” by Chamber Music Magazine. She earned her PhD in Music (specializing in Musicology) at UC Berkeley, MM in Vocal Performance from Holy Names College, and BA in Music from Cornell University. www.nanette.biz

 

E4TT cellist ABIGAIL MONROE hails from New Mexico and holds her Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in cello performance under the instruction of Jennifer Culp. A member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, she has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician, and large ensemble musician in venues across the United States. Abigail performs frequently throughout the Bay Area and Midwest and 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 the soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the New Mexico Philharmonic.

 

Originally from Cuba, violinist/violist JENNIFER REDONDAS has performed as a soloist in the U.S., Netherlands, Italy, Austria, France and Cuba in venues that include the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Mozarteum in Austria. As a historical violinist and violist, she has participated in the Oregon Bach Festival and Berwick Academy under the direction of Jos van Veldhoven. Her passion for Cuban music and jazz has led her to perform at SF Jazz with renowned artists such as Chris Potter, Anat Cohen and Chucho Valdés. An active member of the “Adventures in Music” program at the San Francisco Symphony, Redondas was a Fellow for the Classical Tahoe Orchestra 2023 season. She holds a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

 

LAURA REYNOLDS is an active chamber and orchestral performer throughout Northern California and serves as Principal Oboist with the Santa Rosa Symphony, California Symphony, and Second Oboe and English horn with Marin Symphony. A chamber music enthusiast, she is a member of the wind quintet Avenue Winds and former member of the wind trio Trois Bois and wind quintet Citywinds. Laura is a member of the Applied Faculty of Sonoma State University as well as of the Pre-College and Continuing Education Divisions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she additionally works as an arts administrator. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, her principal teachers were Harry Sargous and William Bennett. 

 

Pianist DALE TSANG earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California, her MM from the University of Michigan, and her DMA from Rice University. She is a faculty member at Laney College, teaches an inspiring assortment of adult students, and serves as a competition adjudicator for a number of local and statewide piano competitions. A winner of numerous competitions and an active solo and chamber musician, she frequently performs locally and in Europe and Asia. As a core member of Ensemble for These Times, she championed 20th and 21st century music and collaborated in many commissions, premieres and international performances. She continues to enthusiastically disseminate the music of living composers.

 

CALENDAR LISTINGS

 

Friday, September 22, 2023 at 8:00 p.m., San Francisco

“Transformations”

Artists: E4TT (soprano Nanette McGuinness, cellist Abigail Monroe, and pianist Margaret Halbig) and guest violinist Jennifer Redondas

Repertoire: Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Op. 4 (1899), by Arnold Schoenberg, arranged for piano trio by Eduard Steuermann; “The Dragon and the Girl” (2014) for cello by Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968); “Fluid” (2016) for violin and tape by Darian Donovan Thomas; “a bridge between starshine and clay” (2018) for piano by inti figgis-vizueta (b. 1993); selected songs from Acht Lieder, Op. 8 (1898-1900) by Franz Schreker (1878-1934).

Venue: Old First Concerts, 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, and livestreamed on O1C’s YouTube channel

Tickets: $25 (in person)/ $20 (suggested donation for livestream)

Free Preview: Thursday, September 21, 12 p.m., Café Europa, JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley, CA

Info: https://E4TT.org/transformations.html or https://bit.ly/3Ot3pWy 

 

Saturday, January 20, 2022 at 7:30 p.m., San Francisco 

“Quest: Music by Women and Nonbinary Composers”

Artists: E4TT (soprano Nanette McGuinness, cellist Abigail Monroe, and pianist Margaret Halbig) and guest violinist Jennifer Redondas

Repertoire: “Spent” (2023) for piano trio (World Premiere) by Tamara MacLeod (b. 1999); works chosen from E4TT’s newest Call for Scores from Luna Composition Lab alums; “Blue Hills of Mist,” (2006) for violin and piano by Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962); Elegia a Paul Robeson (1987) for piano trio by Tania León (b. 1943), “Fulgurance” (2021) for violin and cello by Jessica Mao (b. 1998); Soy (2018) for voice and piano trio by Claudia Montero (1962-2021); “Quest” (2013) for solo piano by Niloufar Nourbakhsh (b. 1992); “An April Day” (1949) for soprano and piano by Florence Price (1899-1952); "Imaginary Pancake" (2020) for solo piano by Gabriella Smith (b. 1991), and “Microphages” (1999/2019) for solo piano by Alex Temple (b. 1983). The concert will also be livestreamed at no charge on E4TT’s YouTube channel.

Venue: Center for New Music, 55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, and livestreamed on YouTube

Tickets: $15/10 (in person); free (livestream, donations welcome)

Info:  https://E4TT.org/quest.html or https://bit.ly/3Oo4BKw

Friday, April 5, 2024 at 7:30 p.m., San Francisco

“Expression: Ism”

Artists: E4TT (soprano Nanette McGuinness) with emerita pianist Dale Tsang and guests percussionist Adrienne Anaya, pianist Taylor Chan, cellist Megan Chartier, violinist Jennifer Redondas, and English hornist Laura Reynolds

Repertoire: Three World Premieres: Piano Trio #2, by E4TT co-founder and Senior Artistic Advisor David Garner (b. 1954); ubi lux floret (2023) for piano trio by Darian Donovan Thomas; a trio for English horn, cello, and piano by Valerie Liu; Sieben Frühe Lieder (1905-1908) by Alban Berg (1885-1935), in a new chamber arrangement by TJ Martin (World Premiere); Sonatensatz (Rondo) für Klavier (“Sonata Movement (Rondo) for Piano,” 1906) by Anton Webern (1883-1945); “Olive Orchard” and “Kandinsky” from Picture Etudes (2013) by Adam Schoenberg (b. 1980) and the winning score from the student composition competition with the San Francisco Conservatory’s Technical and Applied Composition Department.

Pre-concert programming: Composer talk at 7:00 p.m.

Venue: Barbro Osher Recital Hall, Bowes Center, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 200 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, and livestreamed on Vimeo

Tickets: FREE in person and online (livestreamed)

Info: https://E4TT.org/expressionism.html

 

Saturday, June 15, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., Berkeley

“Émigrés & Exiles in Hollywood: The Album”

Artists: E4TT (soprano Nanette McGuinness, cellist Abigail Monroe,  pianist Margaret Halbig), with guest coloratura soprano Chelsea Hollow

Repertoire: Brettl Lieder (“Cabaret Songs,” 1901) by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951); and selections from the new recording by Erich Korngold (1897-1957), Miklós Rózsa (1907-1985), and Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986).  

Venue: Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste Street, Berkeley, and livestreamed on YouTube

Tickets: $30/$15/$5 (in person); free (livestream, donations welcome)

Info: https://E4TT.org/album.html or https://bit.ly/44ZNiH2

 

For more information about E4TT’s 2023/24 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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