Ursula Oppens And Friends Join Forces In A Celebratory Recital Honoring Her Legendary Life As A Musician At Merkin Concert Hall, February 3, 2024

The greatly influential pianist Ursula Oppens will be fêted in an event entitled “Ursula and Friends,” presented by Merkin Concert Hall on Saturday afternoon, February 3, 2023, 3 p.m. The performance will feature eight compositions written specifically for her, over a period of several decades, played by longtime colleagues and devoted students, including Carl Patrick Bolleia, Han Chen, Matthew Griswold, Steven Beck, Ice Wang, and Natasha Gwirceman.  Ms. Oppens opens the concert with a rendition of “Old and Lost Rivers,” by Tobias Picker, and will be joined by her life companion and collaborator Jerome Lowenthal for “12 Blocks,” composed for the couple by Michael Stephen Brown. The celebration also includes works by American luminaries Charles Wuorinen, Conlon Nancarrow, John Corigliano, Elliott Carter, Joan Tower, and Tania Leon.

Tickets at $30 are available for purchase in person through the Merkin Hall Box Office at 129 W. 67^th Street, by phone at (212) 501-3330, or online at Kaufman Music Center’s website.

 

URSULA AND FRIENDS

 

 

Ursula Oppens, a legend among American pianists, is widely admired particularly for her original and perceptive readings of new music, but also for her knowing interpretations of the standard repertoire. No other artist alive today has commissioned and premiered more new works for the piano that have entered the permanent repertoire. “Titan of the contemporary keyboard, Ursula Oppens is a rarity among artists living today,” wrote Adam Sherkin in The Whole Note, September 21, 2021. “She is the stalwart bearer of a mid-century musical torch that apparently burns eternal. How fortunate we are to have such musicians as Oppens still making music with fortitude, passion and tireless faith.”

 

A prolific and critically acclaimed recording artist with five Grammy nominations to her credit, Ms. Oppens is renowned for her cult classic The People United Will Never Be Defeated by the late iconoclastic composer Frederic Rzewski. That 1979 release, for the Vanguard label, marked her first Grammy nomination. In 2016 she put out a new recording of The People United Will Never Be Defeated, also nominated for a Grammy, and earlier Grammy nominations were for Winging It: Piano Music of John Corigliano; Oppens Plays Carter; a recording of the complete piano works of Elliott Carter for Cedille Records (also named a “Best of the Year” selection by The New York Times long-time music critic Allan Kozinn); and Piano Music of Our Time featuring compositions by John Adams, Elliott Carter, Julius Hemphill, and Conlon Nancarrow for the Music and Arts label. Ms. Oppens recently added to her extensive discography by releasing Fantasy: Oppens plays Kaminsky in 2021 for the Cedille label. She also recorded Piano Songs, a collaboration with Meredith Monk, as well as a two-piano CD for Cedille Records devoted to Visions de l’Amen of Oliver Messiaen and Debussy’s En blanc et noir performed with pianist Jerome Lowenthal.

 

During the pandemic, Ms. Oppens concertized both live and online. In May 2021 she was chosen to re-open the New York City Bargemusic series in person. Performing works by Chopin, Carter, and a newly composed piece entitled Friendship, by Frederic Rzewski, prompted Harry Rolnick of concertonet (May 22, 2021) to review in glowing terms:

[in] her extraordinary one-hour concert last night…her fingers danced over the difficulties of Carter’s Caténaires with the same effortless elegance as she played five Chopin Nocturnes. And she gives her music the oomph, the bravado, the vivacity which they deserve…Her virtuosity goes hand in hand–literally–with her understanding. And yes, her attitude, her beatific smile after each work, her nuances that we in the audience are the important visitors, make a concert a thing of joy. But most important for this listener is that she can take the most supposedly recondite algorithmic composition and make it absolutely logical. Not logical philosophically or structurally, but with a logic of understanding. As possibly the world’s most accomplished extant of Frederic Rzewski, I am certain her performance of Rzewski’s Friendship was authoritative…Ms. Oppens creates the universe of great artists without judgments, only the obligation to offer her frequently ineffable artistry.                                             

In early 2019, Ms. Oppens performed a recital at Merkin Concert Hall for a celebration of her 75^th birthday, inaugurating the Kaufman Music Center’s series, Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight. Her program showcased all works written for her by Elliott Carter and John Corigliano, and gave the world premiere of a piano quintet by Laura Kaminsky—commissioned by the pianist for the occasion with production support from the Newburgh Institute for The Arts & Ideas—alongside the Cassatt String Quartet and Tobias Picker’s Ursula for solo piano, a birthday present for his dear friend and collaborator.

 

Of Ms. Oppens’ Merkin Hall concert, David Wright of New York Classical Review wrote on February 3, 2019:

Merkin Concert Hall was packed Saturday night…for a celebration of the pianist’s 75^th birthday on its exact date. Here one was especially aware of the quality of Oppens’ tone—full and projected even in the softest pianissimo, and capable of producing tremendous impact in forte chords without sounding pinched or banged. Her pedaling was unusually subtle for new-music interpretation, managing resonances and overlapping tones like an expert Chopin player.

 

Over the years, Ms. Oppens has premiered works by such leading composers as John Adams, Luciano Berio, William Bolcom, Anthony Braxton, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Anthony Davis, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, David Hertzberg, Laura Kaminsky, Tania Leon, György Ligeti, Erik Lundborg, Witold Lutoslawski, Harold Meltzer, Meredith Monk, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Bernard Rands, Frederic Rzewski, Allen Shawn, Alvin Singleton, Joan Tower, Lois V Vierk, Amy Williams, Christian Wolff, Amnon Wolman, and Charles Wuorinen.

 

As an orchestral guest soloist, Ms. Oppens has performed with virtually all of the world’s major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and the orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Milwaukee. Abroad, she has appeared with such ensembles as the Berlin Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Deutsche Symphonie, the Scottish BBC, and the London Philharmonic Orchestras. Ms. Oppens is also an avid chamber musician and has performed with the Arditti, Cassatt, JACK, Juilliard, and Pacifica quartets, among other chamber ensembles.

 

Ms. Oppens is a Distinguished Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City; she also joined the faculty of Mannes College, The New School, in fall 2017. In 2019, Ms. Oppens was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The New England Conservatory. From 1994 through the end of the 2007-08 academic year she served as John Evans Distinguished Professor of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. In addition, Ms. Oppens has served as a juror for many international competitions, such as the Bachauer, Busoni, Concert Artists Guild, Young Concert Artists, Young Pianists Foundation (Amsterdam), and Cincinnati Piano World Competition. Ms. Oppens lives in New York.

 

The Composers:

Tobias Picker, called by The Wall Street Journal “our finest composer for the lyric stage,” is a prolific American composer, pianist, and conductor, who is well-known for his sweeping orchestral works.

 

Charles Wuorinen, was an American composer, pianist and conductor of contemporary classical music. His acclaim as a composer was cemented by The Pulitzer and MacArthur awards, and he continues to exert his far-reaching influence on generations of contemporary composers.

 

An American-Mexican composer who lived in obscurity until the 1980s, Conlon Nancarrow is known as one of the first composers to use auto-playing musical instruments. Considered a modern, avant-garde musician, Nancarrow was a pioneer of contemporary electronic music.

 

John Corigliano, an American contemporary classical composer, has written more than one hundred scores.  He has won five GRAMMY Awards, the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, a Pulitzer Prize, and an Oscar.

 

Considered one of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20^th century, Elliott Carter combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra-modernism" into a distinctive style with a personal harmonic and rhythmic language. He was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

 

Joan Tower, who is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist, conductor, and educator, had been lauded by The New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time". During the span of her sixty-year career Ms. Tower has made lasting contributions to musical life in the US.

 

Renowned Cuban American composer, pianist, conductor, and educator, Tania Leon, who was the first African American to win a Pulitzer prize, is recognized for her large scale works as well her chamber compositions.

 

Michael Stephen Brown, hailed by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers”, is a much-honored American classical pianist and composer who is also known for his prolific recording oeuvre.

 

 

The Performers:

 

A former student of Ms. Oppens, Carl Patrick Bolleia is a composer, pianist and conductor, who has performed as pianist and historical keyboardist throughout North America, Europe, and China, at venues including Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall and at the Philharmonie de Paris.

 

A native of Taichung, Taiwan, Han Chen has emerged among the new generation of concert pianists as a uniquely fearless performer whose virtuosity is enriched by a probing commitment to new and lesser-known works. He has been praised by by The New York Times for his “graceful touch,” “rhythmic precision,” and “hypnotic charm.”

 

Self-taught through high school, award–winning concert pianist and composer, Matthew Griswold learned to play entirely by ear and memorized large-scale works and concerti by listening to recordings. He won First Prize in the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, after initially being turned away with a request to return only after learning to read music.

 

Steven Beck is an expert performer and recording artist of new music, who has worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, George Perle, and Fred Lerdahl. As an orchestral musician he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Orpheus, and the Mariinsky Orchestra among others.

 

Ice Wang is studying for a master’s degree in piano performance at Mannes School of Music with Ms. Oppens. She has given performances at the Yun Song Concert Hall in Shenzhen, China, Slosberg Recital Hall and Anderson House in Boston, Tishman Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall, and Stiefel Hall in New York City. Ms. Wang has premiered works by Matthew Ricketts, Ania Vu, and Minjoo Kim with the Mannes Orchestra and MACE in 2023.

 

New York City native Natasha Gwirceman is a soloist, collaborator, and teacher. While new music is a central part of her repertoire and she regularly premieres works by contemporary composers, Natasha is also deeply committed to chamber music. She has collaborated with Tyshawn Sorey, Michael Gordon, and Bang on a Can, and has performed at Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall.

 

A Juilliard faculty member since 1991, Jerome Lowenthal is a legendary classical pianist who made his debut at the age of 13 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is recognized as a great interpreter of Franz Liszt, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Béla Bartók, and late romantic music in general. He has played sonatas with Itzhak Perlman, piano duos with Ursula Oppens, as well as quintets with the Lark Quartet, Avalon Quartet, and Shanghai Quartet.

 

 

For further information, please contact Hemsing Associates at (212) 772-1132 or visit www.hemsingpr.com.

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