Apr. 18 & 20: Composer/Violinist Curtis Stewart Premieres Recomposition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Phoenix Symphony

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
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Phoenix Symphony’s REVERB Festival 
Features Multi-GRAMMY-Nominated 
Composer and Violinist Curtis Stewart 

Featuring Stewart in the World Premiere of his own Afrofuturist
Recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, titled Seasons of Change

Plus Excerpts from GRAMMY Award-Nominated Project, of Love.

Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 7:30pm 
Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 7:30pm

“Using virtuoso violin playing, electronica, multimedia, and audience participation,
he brought full-scale entertainment to the classical milieu.” – Third Coast Review

“Mr Stewart bends his mind like a proverbial, supple reed planted by the side of a river of
sound sweeping into his consciousness.”  – That Canadian Magazine

www.curtisjstewart.com
 

Phoenix, AZ  (March 28, 2024) – On Thursday, April 18, 2024 and Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 7:30pm in Herberger Theater, the Phoenix Symphony presents composer and violinist Curtis Stewart in the 3rd annual REVERB: Contemporary Music Festival. Called “capable of practically anything” by Downbeat, Stewart curates and performs a varied and engaging program that includes an expanded concept of his GRAMMY-nominated project, of Love. and the world premiere of his Afrofuturist meditation on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Seasons of Change for solo violin, orchestra, electronics and video.

Conducted by Tito Muñoz, Seasons of Change frames both evenings with an acoustic/electronic musical dreamscape on climate change, class and the nature of digital memory. These 4 new works are paired alongside works from of Love., as well as symphonic works by inti figgis vizueta and Leyou Wang, winners of American Composers Orchestra's National call for scores: Earshot.

REVERB: Contemporary Music Festival is an exploration and celebration of works from the current musical landscape through intimate concerts, panel discussions and behind-the-scenes events to explore the repertoire and learn more about the living composer. As part of Stewart’s curation, the program will also feature the voices of the unhoused community in Phoenix, recorded conversations with Circle the City clients weave in and out of the program, centering their stories as a new and personal motivation for art to advocate for climate change. The primary question driving this evening is “Who will climate change erase first?”

Tackling the topic of climate change as an issue that affects every community very differently, Stewart shares in his program notes, “The purpose of this work is to document the effects of climate change on those who are unhoused as well as those greatly affected by that environmental change with very little institutional support. I aim to trigger segments of these recorded anonymous conversations in performance of a recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, tapping into the cultural relevance of that historic “classical” work on orchestral concert stages and directing conversations in those spaces toward the support of organizations that interact with the unhoused population, especially as they adapt to environmental issues in their day to day lives. I plan on creating different audio interviews triggered in the various communities where the work is performed to address the issues and needs of that specific community on our orchestral stages. My hope is the ethos and pathos of these conversations will drive support of those sitting in symphonic audiences toward those individuals and institutions already doing the effective work to combat the effects of climate change.”

Stewart has toured solo selections from Seasons of Change to Death of Classical’s The Crypt Sessions in Brooklyn, and to venues in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Vancouver, Canada. In the 2024-2025 season, the program appears in NYC and Seattle, among others.

Program Details
Phoenix Symphony Presents REVERB: Contemporary Music Festival
Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 7:30pm and Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 7:30pm
Herberger Theater | Phoenix, AZ
Tickets: $25-$45
Link: www.phoenixsymphony.org/show/reverb-contemporary-music-festival-2324/

Program:

Stewart – Seasons of Change
    I. A.Recent.Summer
    II. Fallback 
   III. Again.
   IV. Life Times 

Curtis Stewart, curator, composer, violin
Tito Muñoz, conductor
Musicians from the Phoenix Symphony

About Curtis Stewart
Praised for “combining omnivory and brilliance” (The New York Times), three-time GRAMMY Award-nominated violinist and composer Curtis Stewart translates stories of self determination to the concert stage. Tearing down the facade of “classical violinist,” Stewart is in constant pursuit of his musical authenticity, treating art as a battery for realizing citizenship. As a solo violinist, composer, Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra, professor at The Juilliard School, and member of award-winning ensembles PUBLIQuartet and The Mighty Third Rail, he realizes a vision to find personal and powerful connections between styles, cultures and musics. JazzTimes raves, “he shows his audience the colors inside of himself—color(s) not yet invented. Far from self-indulgent, it is self-revelatory. It is vulnerable. It is creation.”

As a soloist, Curtis Stewart has been presented by Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Cal Performances, Washington Performing Arts, Virginia Arts Festival, The Juilliard School, and the 2022 GRAMMY Awards, among many others. He has made special appearances with Los Angeles Opera and singer-songwriter Tamar Kali; as curator and guest soloist with Anthony Roth Costanzo and the New York Philharmonic “Bandwagon,” touring performance installations from NYC’s Whitney Museum, Guggenheim Museum, and Museum of Modern Art; to MTV specials with Wyclef Jean; and sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden with Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and Seal. Stewart’s 2021 album of quarantined song cycles and art videos, Of Power (Bright Shiny Things), was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo.

Stewart has been commissioned to compose new solo, chamber, and orchestral works by the Seattle Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall’s Play/USA, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and members of the New York Philharmonic, The Knights, La Jolla Music Society, Sybarite5, the New York Festival of Song, Newport Classical Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Eastman Cello Institute, and more. In 2022, he was named Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra, a national organization dedicated to the creation, celebration, performance, and promotion of orchestral music by diverse and innovative American composers.

Curtis Stewart is a member of award-winning ensembles, PUBLIQuartet (Chamber Music America Visionary award, winner Concert Artist Guild, 2023 Grammy Award Nomination) and The Mighty Third Rail (Best Music, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Comic Book Theater Festival). PUBLIQuartet’s album What Is American (Bright Shiny Things) was nominated for a 2023 GRAMMY Award. He has held chamber music residencies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Sawdust, and made return appearances at the Newport, Detroit, Vision, NYC Winter Jazz Festivals. Curtis Stewart has worked with many of today's forward-thinking musicians, including Henry Threadgill, SilkRoad Ensemble, Jessie Montgomery, Alicia Hall-Moran and Jason Moran, Mark O’Connor, Julia Bullock, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Billy Childs, Alarm Will Sound, Linda Oh, JACK Quartet, members of Snarky Puppy, Don Byron, Matt Wilson, among many others.

An avid teacher, Curtis Stewart teaches Chamber Music, Improvised Chamber Music, and “Cultural Equity and Performance Practice” at The Juilliard School; directs the Contemporary Chamber Music program at the Perlman Music Program; served on the board of Concert Artist Guild; conducted several orchestras and opera pit orchestras; and for 10 years led all levels of music theory and string orchestra at the Laguardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City. 
Stewart was born into a musical family – his father is avant jazz tuba pioneer Bob Stewart and mother Elektra Kurtis, a soulful Greek jazz violinist – who formed the framework of his sound world through daring improvisation, rigorous western classical training, and conceptual composition. Learn more at www.curtisjstewart.com.

About The Phoenix Symphony
The Phoenix Symphony is Arizona’s largest performing arts organization and one of the state’s most important cultural assets. In addition to performing traditional and modern repertoire in Symphony Hall and around the Valley, its world-class musicians are actively engaged in the community thanks to generous foundation, corporation, and individual support. The Symphony is strengthened by collaborating with renowned guest conductors and artists. The core mission of The Phoenix Symphony is to provide extraordinary musical experiences that inspire and advance our community, enriching the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds. Annually, orchestra members empower more than 125,000 students through education and partnerships and create opportunities for deeper connection for tens of thousands of adults experiencing homelessness, in Alzheimer’s care facilities, in hospitals and in hospice. To learn more, please visit phoenixsymphony.org. 

*Photo Credit: Steven Pisano

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