Ensemble for These Times announces “In Motion”

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

Media Contacts:
Nanette McGuinness / nanette@E4TT.org
Jessica Folson / jessica@E4TT.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2, 2024

 

Ensemble for These Times

Announces

“In Motion”

Featuring

Commissioned World Premieres by Ursula Kwong-Brown, Darian Donovan Thomas and

Mary Bianco, Moto Perpetuo Movements by Britten and Bowen, and

Music by Four 21st Century Composers

 

Performed by

E4TT Pianist Margaret Halbig with Oboist/English Hornist Laura Reynolds,

Violinist Lylia Guion, and Cellist Megan Chartier

 

Friday, November 8, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.

In-Person at and Livestreamed at Old First Concerts in San Francisco

(Full calendar listing below)

 

San Francisco - Award-winning SF contemporary group Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) will kick off its 17th Home Season on November 8, 2024 at Old First Concerts in San Francisco, with “In Motion,” a far-reaching musical conversation about kinesis in all its forms, featuring: three commissioned World Premieres, by Ursula Kwong-Brown, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Mary Bianco; moto perpetuo movements by 20th century British composers Benjamin Britten and York Bowen; and four works by 21st century composers Lisa Bielawa, Vivian Fung, Sage Shurman, and Zhou Tian. “In Motion” will be livestreamed for free ($20 donation encouraged) and also performed for an in-person audience at Old First Concerts on Friday, November 8, 2024 at 8:00 p.m., preceded by a live pre-concert composer talk at 7:30 p.m.

 

ABOUT “IN MOTION”

E4TT’s begins its 17th Home Season with “In Motion,” a musical conversation around about kinesis in all its forms. The concert features three exciting world premieres—“And I Made My Way, Deciphering My Fire,” for piano trio by emerging Chinese-American composer Ursula Kwong-Brown (b. 1987)—a title inspired by Pablo Neruda’s 1964 anthology Memorial de la isla Negra—“Ubi Lux Floret” (“Where Light Blooms,” in Latin) by Black queer composer Darian Donovan Thomas (b.1993), and an oboe/piano duo by Mary Bianco (b. 1939). Paired with these will be two moto perpetuo movements by 20th century British composers Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) and York Bowen (1884-1961)—from Cello Sonata, Op. 65 and Suite Mignonne, Op. 39, for piano, respectively. Finally, four pieces by 21st century composers will round out the program, with “Synopsis #10: I Know This Room So Well” (2008) for solo English horn, by Guggenheim Fellow Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968), “Ominous Machine” (2020-21) for piano trio by JUNO award-winning Chinese-Canadian composer Vivian Fung (b. 1975), “composure” (2021) for piano trio by emerging composer Sage Shurman (b. 2005), and “Majestic Bells” (2022) for solo piano by Grammy nominated Chinese-American composer Zhou Tian (b. 1981).

Guest artists will include oboist/English hornist Laura Reynolds, violinist Lylia Guion, and cellist Megan Chartier, who will join E4TT pianist Margaret Halbig. The concert will also be livestreamed on O1C’s YouTube channel.

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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, performing with the Berkeley, Oakland, California, Marin and Skywalker Symphonies, 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 children.

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 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 instrumentalists. During the summer, Halbig is Collaborative Piano Coordinator of Interlochen Arts Camp. An advocate of new and contemporary music, Halbig is the pianist for Ninth Planet, a San Francisco-based new music collective where she also serves on the board. She is a member of Frequency 49, a wind and piano sextet, which performs all over the Bay Area. Margaret earned her DMA from the University of California Santa Barbara under the tutelage of Robert Koenig and also holds performance degrees from the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory and University of Evansville, Indiana.

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. She currently holds positions as principal cellist of Opera San Luis Obispo and section cello in the Vallejo Symphony, following her positions as core cellist of the Astralis Chamber Ensemble, principal cellist of the Miami Symphony Orchestra, and extra cello of San Antonio Symphony. Chartier holds a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from Eastern Michigan University, and a Master of Music in performance from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She teaches cello at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

 

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. In California, E4TT has performed at the Paderewski Festival, the LAMOTH, UCLA, and in the Bay Area 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. In July 2024, E4TT released its fifth album, “Emigres & Exiles in Hollywood,” featuring music by some of the talented émigré composers who fled persecution during WWII for Hollywood, changing movie music as we know it. E4TT’s other four albums have all 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. The group launched the second season of its podcast of conversations with underrepresented creatives, “For Good Measure.”

CALENDAR LISTING

Friday, November 8, 2024 at 8:00 p.m., San Francisco
“In Motion”

Artists: E4TT pianist Margaret Halbig with guests oboist/English hornist Laura Reynolds, violinist Lylia Guion, and cellist Megan Chartier

Repertoire: “And I Made My Way, Deciphering My Fire” (2024, World Premiere) for piano trio by Ursula Kwong-Brown (b. 1987); “ubi lux floret” (2023, World Premiere), by Darian Donovan Thomas (b. 1993); Duo for oboe and piano (2024, World Premiere) by Mary Bianco (b. 1939); moto perpetuo from Cello Sonata, Op. 65 by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976); moto perpetuo from Suite Mignonne, Op. 39 for piano by York Bowen (1884-1961); “Synopsis #10: I Know This Room So Well” (2008) for solo English horn by Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968); “Ominous Machine” (2020-21) for piano trio by Vivian Fung (b. 1975); “composure” (2021) for piano trio by Sage Shurman (b. 2005); and “Majestic Bells” (2022) for solo piano by Zhou Tian (b. 1981).

Pre-concert programming: Composer talk at 7:30 p.m.

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

Tickets: $30/$10 (in person); free (live stream, suggested $20 donation)

Info: https://www.e4tt.org/inmotion.html

Purchase tickets: https://www.oldfirstconcerts.org/performance/ensemble-for-these-times-in-motion-friday-november-8-at-8-pmor https://bit.ly/3X10M2d

For more information about E4TT’s 2024/25 Bay Area Home Season, please visit our website.
High resolution jpgs are available for download at http://www.e4tt.org/presskit.html.

For more information about E4TT’s latest recording, “Emigres & Exiles in Hollywood,”
please visit https://E4TT.org/emigresEPK.html or contact Max Horowitz 347.267.9563/ maxcrossover@gmail.com

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