Talea Ensemble Performs Georg Friedrich Haas’ Solstices on the Winter Solstice, December 21 at PS21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katlyn Morahan | Morahan Arts and Media
katlyn@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646-378-9386

Talea Ensemble Performs Georg Friedrich Haas’ 
Solstices on the Winter Solstice, 
December 21 at PS21 

"meticulously prepared and compellingly rendered" – The New York Times

taleaensemble.org

New York, NY (October 31, 2023) — Talea Ensemble – comprised of sixteen bold and boundary-breaking  musicians, with a mission to champion musical creativity, cultivate curious listeners, and bring visionary new works to life – gives a repeat performance of Georg Friedrich Haas's Solstices in the U.S. on the winter solstice, Thursday, December 21, 2023 at sunset (approximately 4:26pm) in PS21’s Black Box Theater in Chatham, NY.

Composed for ten musicians in complete darkness, the absence of light adds a new lens to our ability to relate to sound, bringing together performers and audiences through intensive listening. Solstices is an immersive, sensory work expanding the listening experience through worlds of microtones and overtones and evoking the natural phenomena of planetary movement. Solstices runs approximately 75 minutes and begins with a few minutes of darkness before the piece begins, so that audiences can acclimate to the room.

Next, Talea Ensemble continues its 15th season with a week-long composer reading and recording workshop to be held from Monday, January 15 to Saturday, January 20, 2024 at Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music. The ensemble will work with a group of early-career composers to workshop their recent pieces and produce high-quality professional recordings for the composers’ use. A full schedule of public professional development workshops and a final residency concert will be announced at a later date. The Talea Recording Workshop is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Talea Ensemble is currently comprised of the following members: Tara Helen O’Connor and Barry Crawford (flutes), Rane Moore and Marianne Gythfeldt (clarinets), Adrian Morejon (bassoon & Executive Director), Karen Kim (violin), Hannah Levinson (viola), Chris Gross (cello), Greg Chudzik (double bass), Sam Jones (trumpet), Mike Lormand (trombone), Steven Beck and Stephen Gosling (piano), Matthew Gold (percussion), Michelle Farah (oboe), Sae Hashimoto (percussion), David Adamcyk (electronics), and James Baker (Principal Conductor).

Talea Ensemble is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Talea Ensemble's 2023-24 season projects are supported in part by the Alice M. Ditson Fund, Amphion Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, and generous donors like you. Talea Ensemble’s season is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Concert Information
Solstices
Thursday, December 21, 2023 at Sunset (approximately 4:26pm)
PS21 | 2980 NY-66 | Chatham, NY
Tickets: $35, $10 for students
Link: https://www.simpletix.com/e/ps21-winter-celebration-the-talea-ensemble-tickets-146949 

Program:
Georg Friedrich Haas: Solstices (2017)

Artists:
Barry Crawford, flute
Marianne Gythfeldt, clarinet
Mike Lormand, trombone
Sae Hashimoto, percussion
Steven Beck, piano
Dan Lippel, guitar
Karen Kim, violin
Hannah Levinson, viola
Chris Gross, cello
Greg Chudzik, bass
____________________________________

Early Career Composer Recording Workshop 
Monday, January 15 to Saturday, January 20, 2024
Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College | 65-30 Kissena Blvd | Flushing, NY

About the Talea Ensemble
Heralded as “a crucial part of the New York cultural ecosphere” by The New York Times, the Talea Ensemble’s mission is to champion musical creativity, cultivate curious listeners, and bring visionary new works to life with vibrant performances that remain in the audience’s imagination long after a concert. Recipients of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the ensemble has brought to life over 45 commissions of major new works since it since it was founded in 2008, including bold and inventive productions that span multiple genres, bringing together music and other contemporary art forms such as theater and visual art. Talea has helped introduce NYC audiences to important works of seasoned composers such as Pierre Boulez, Georg Friedrich Haas, Beat Furrer, Olga Neuwirth, Unsuk Chin, and Hans Abrahamsen, and has regularly commissioned composers of the following generations. 

The Talea Ensemble’s work has spanned imaginative performances, collaboration with composers, artist development projects, discussion, and reflection around music. Highlights from Talea’s most recent performance seasons have included: world premieres by Wang Lu, Tyshawn Sorey, Sarah Hennies, Natacha Diels, Anthony Cheung, Agata Zubel, Mark Applebaum, and more; a production of Georg Friedrich Haas’s concert-length Solstices in complete darkness; the US premiere of the immersive theater work Love & Diversity by Manos Tsangaris; and a performance of Julius Eastman’s Femenine in the NY Philharmonic Artist Spotlight Series. 

Festival engagements have included performances at Lincoln Center Festival, Donaueschingen Musiktage, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, TIME:SPANS, Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Wien Modern, Vancouver New Music, Festival Musica, and many more. The ensemble has also partnered with institutions from across disciplines, such as the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, the City of Ideas Festival in Mexico, and the Storm King Art Center. 

Talea undertakes residencies in music departments around the country to support early career composers. Residencies in the current season include the Peabody Institute, Rice University, Hunter College, Brown University, Ithaca College, and Queens College. Since 2020, Talea has targeted support to early career composers through the Talea Access Project, which includes a commissioning program and a composer recording workshop. Talea is committed to continuing to build these artist development programs in the upcoming seasons.  

Image at top of release by Beowulf Sheehan

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