Ensemble for These Times announces 'Expression: Ism'

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

 

Media Contacts:

Nanette McGuinness / nanette@E4TT.org

Hannah Chen / hannah@e4tt.org

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 14, 2024

 

Ensemble for These Times

 

Announces

 

Expression: Ism

 

An Evening of Music Featuring

Three World Premieres, one of a new chamber arrangement by Alban Berg’s early masterpiece, Sieben Frühe Lieder, by TJ Martin, and two commissioned trios by E4TT co-founder David Garner and Valerie Liu, along with works by Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Adam Schoenberg (b. 1980), and more.

 

Performed by

Soprano and E4TT co-founder Nanette McGuinness and emerita pianist Dale Tsang,

with guest artists vibraphonist Elizabeth Hall, English hornist Laura Reynolds, violinist Lylia Guion,

cellist Amy Brodo, and pianist Taylor Chan.

 

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

Barbro Osher Recital Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music

with livestreaming on the Conservatory’s Vimeo Channel

 

(Full calendar listing below)

 

San Francisco – Ensemble for These Times presents "Expression: Ism," a multimedia dialogue between music by the Second Viennese School triumvirate of Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern and contemporary pieces by composers inspired by their groundbreaking work. In collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) Department and featuring images by Schoenberg himself and various Expressionist painters, plus videos by Stephanie Neumann and real-time processing, “Expression: Ism” will be performed at Barbro Osher Recital Hall in the Bowes Center at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on Friday, April 5, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., with attendance free of charge.  Soprano and E4TT co-founder Nanette McGuinness and emerita pianist Dale Tsang will be joined by guest artists vibraphonist Elizabeth Hall, English hornist Laura Reynolds, violinist Lylia Guion, cellist Amy Brodo, and pianist Taylor Chan.

 

"Expression: Ism" is made possible through the Musical Grant Program, which is administered by InterMusic SF, and supported by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. E4TT's 2023/24 season is sponsored, in part, by grants from the Ross McKee Foundation and SF Grants for the Arts and  supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.

 

ABOUT “EXPRESSION: ISM”

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 will aim a spotlight on his music, his circle, and his influence, by placing works by the Second Viennese School triumvirate of Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern in a multimedia dialogue with contemporary pieces by composers inspired by their groundbreaking work in “Expression: Ism.” This provocative program—the group’s ninth annual commissions concert—will be presented free of charge on April 5, 2024, at the Barbro Osher Recital Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in E4TT’s fourth collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) Department. The program will explore musical Expressionism—which 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,” is designed to draw attention to that description, breaking the word in two to highlight the dual aspects of Expressionism: the artist’s internal landscape as expressed externally, along with her/his subjective "I.”

 

“Expression: Ism” will feature the World Premiere of a new chamber arrangement of Berg’s evocative Sieben Frühe Lieder (1905-1908), for soprano, English horn,  cello, and vibraphone, by percussionist/composer TJ Martin, plus two World Premieres: the first, Piano Trio No. 2 by E4TT co-founder and  Senior Artistic Advisor David Garner using tonal serialism (a technique he developed in direct reference to Schoenberg's atonal serialism); and the second, “Mystic Trio” for English horn, cello, and piano by The American Prize Honorable Mention winner, Valerie Liu. All of these works will be placed in a musical dialogue with two piano works of the Viennese School—Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11, #1 and 3 (1909) for piano by Schoenberg and Sonatensatz (Rondo) für Klavier (Sonata Movement [Rondo] for Piano, 1906) by Webern—plus “Olive Orchard” from “Picture Etudes” (2013) for piano by contemporary composer Adam Schoenberg (b. 1980) and “unmuted" (2024) by Britney Do, the winning multimedia work from the TAC student composition competition. The program will feature images by Arnold Schoenberg himself and various Expressionist painters, plus videos by Stephanie Neumann and real-time processing.

 

Soprano and E4TT co-founder Nanette McGuinness and emerita pianist Dale Tsang will be joined by several outstanding guest artists, including vibraphonist Elizabeth Hall, English hornist Laura Reynolds, violinist Lylia Guion, cellist Amy Brodo, and pianist Taylor Chan.  The concert will also be livestreamed on the Conservatory’s Vimeo channel and preceded by a pre-concert composer talk with David Garner and Valerie Liu. There will be a short preview on Monday, March 25 at 1:00 p.m. at the Etude Club of Berkeley.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Cellist AMY BRODO performed for many years in Italy, Israel, and England before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, with positions including assistant principal cellist of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Italy, and cellist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In the Bay Area, Brodo has performed on viola da gamba and Baroque cello with groups that include Lux Musica, Sex Chordae Consort of Viols, Magnificat Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, El Mundo, Musica Angelica, Archetti and Albany Consort, California Bach Society, and on over twenty commercial recordings. She plays principal cello with the Livermore Opera Company, recently performed as principal cello with West Edge Opera and Solo Opera.  She was a founding member of the Persephone Chamber Ensemble and her baroque group, Harmonia Felice, is an affiliate of San Francisco Early Music Society and performs Rameau operas for small forces. 

 

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.

 

LYLIA GUION has performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician in France and in the Bay Area. Her extensive orchestral experience includes the Orchestre Philharmonique of Radio-France (Paris) before moving to California in 1997, pursuing with Berkeley, Oakland, California, Marin and Skywalker Symphony, as well as Pacific Chamber Orchestra and Midsummer Mozart Festival. She served as concertmaster with Livermore and Pocket opera. As an avid educator, she has taught in various music schools, coached youth orchestras and organized community concerts. She became a Feldenkrais practitioner and now applies this method at her busy private violin studio in Alameda where she lives with her husband and raised three grown-up children.

 

ELIZABETH HALL is a San Francisco-based percussionist who has enthusiasm for chamber music and contemporary music. She is the co-founder of Prism Percussion, a duo which champions the music of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Women, and Queer composers and has worked to commission, perform, and record new works. She has played with many local ensembles including San Francisco Opera, New Century Chamber Orchestra, One Found Sound, Opera on Tap, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and Santa Cruz Symphony. Comfortable with many musical styles, Hall can also be seen playing cajon and singing with The North Beach Ramblers and Julie and the Warm Bodies. Hall has recorded an album with Americana duo, Gutter Swan and is always excited for collaborative opportunities. She began her journey at Heidelberg University and received her Bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University and her Master's degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

 

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 a PhD in Music at UC Berkeley, MM in Vocal Performance from Holy Names College, and BA in Music from Cornell University. 

 

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. Reynolds 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.

 

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. E4TT’s fifth recording, “Emigres & Exiles in Hollywood” will be released on the Centaur label later this spring.

 

CALENDAR LISTING

 

“Expression: Ism”

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

Artists: E4TT (soprano Nanette McGuinness) and emerita pianist Dale Tsang, with guest artists vibraphonist Elizabeth Clark Hall, English hornist Laura Reynolds, violinist Lylia Guion, cellist Amy Brodo, and pianist Taylor Chan.

Repertoire: Three World Premieres: Piano Trio #2, by E4TT c gso-founder and Senior Artistic Advisor David Garner (b. 1954); “Mystic Trio” for English horn, cello, and piano by Valerie Liu; a new chamber arrangement for soprano, English horn, cello, and vibraphone by TJ Martin (b. 1995) of Sieben Frühe Lieder (1905-1908) by Alban Berg (1885-1935); Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11, #1 and 3 (1909) for piano by Arnold Schoenberg; Sonatensatz (Rondo) für Klavier (“Sonata Movement [Rondo] for Piano,” 1906) by Anton Webern (1883-1945); “Olive Orchard” from “Picture Etudes” (2013) by Adam Schoenberg (b. 1980) and “unmuted" (2024) by Britney Do, the  winning piece from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) Department student multimedia composition competition.

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, San Francisco

Livestream: On the Conservatory’s Vimeo Channel (https://vimeo.com/event/2047379/3c5297069b)

Free Preview: Monday, March 25, 1:00 p.m., at the Etude Club of Berkeley, Hillside Club, Berkeley

Info: http://www.e4tt.org/expressionism.html

RSVP: https://sfcm.edu/experience/performances/expression-ism-ensemble-these-times-tac-collaboration 

 

For more information about E4TT’s 2023/24 Bay Area Home Season, please visit our website.

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

 

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