CCM's Music07 Festival Showcases New Musical Voices

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) presents Music07, the annual festival of new and unique music, June 10-16, 2007. Internationally recognized composers Michael Nyman, Zygmunt Krause and Frederic Rzewski and guest ensembles eighth blackbird and the Amernet Quartet join CCM faculty and a select group of visiting young composers for a week of performances, master classes and seminars.

Centered on the practice and performance of new works and chamber music classics, Music07 features veteran composers leading young composers and students in the rehearsal, performance and recording of their work. Each day of the festival culminates in evening concerts that are free, non-ticketed and open to the public.

“In Cincinnati, this is the only time and place one can experience a concert series of exciting, provocative and experimental chamber music performed by internationally recognized ensembles,” said Joel Hoffman, Music07 artistic director and CCM professor of composition. “Three of the most important composers of our time will be on hand, collaborating as performers and conductors as part of an intense, festival environment.”

This year’s event schedule opens with a special screening of Jane Campion’s 1993 feature film

The Piano

, featuring music by renowned film composer and Music07 guest artist Michael Nyman. More of Nyman’s work will be featured later in the festival, performed by the composer himself as well as Music07 young artists. The festival also includes the premiere of Rzewski’s

The Fall of the Empire

, commissioned specifically for Music07 to be performed by percussionist and CCM faculty member Allen Otte (founding member of cutting edge performance ensemble Percussion Group Cincinnati). New music group eighth blackbird and the Amernet Quartet each perform musical programs spotlighting composers from the 20th and 21st centuries.

A composition competition cosponsored by Music07 and eighth blackbird is another featured component of this year’s festival. Young composers from around the world submitted original work, from which two winners were chosen: Jeremy Sment (Pittsburgh, Penn.) and Anthony Cheung (San Francisco, Calif.). The winning pieces will receive their world premieres by eighth blackbird during the festival’s final concert on Saturday, June 16.

All Music07 performances are FREE and open to the public and will be held in Werner Recital Hall on the UC campus (unless otherwise indicated) – please see below for a complete performance schedule. Parking is available in the CCM Garage and garages throughout the UC campus. For more information visit the Music07 Web site at

www.ccm.uc.edu/musicx

.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman was born in England in 1944 and initially pursued a musical career as a pianist and composer. At the age of twenty he found that he could not accept the principles of all that he had been taught and simply “opted-out.” He turned to work as a music critic, working for The Spectator (U.K.) and started a project to edit the music of Purcell and Handel. His entry back into music composition came in 1969 when Harrison Birtwistle, musical director of the Royal National Theatre (U.K.), asked him to write the libretto for a new work Birtwistle was commissioned to write. Soon after Birtwistle asked Nyman to make arrangements of 18th century music for a play being staged at the theater. It was performed by a mixture of period and modern instruments, and Nyman was so pleased with the result that he kept the group together when the play closed. It was the beginning of the Michael Nyman Band, a group that was to take “classical” music down a new path. Nyman also coined the term “minimalism,” a word he used in one of his concert reviews, and it was in this musical style that he now started writing music for his band. The commercial aspects of his new style of composition soon found him in demand both in the concert hall, cinema and television, his music entering the pop charts as often as the classical ratings. Nyman may be best known for his film scores, including The Piano (1993), Gattaca (1997), The End of the Affair (1999), and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), to name a few.
Related Music07 event: A special screening of the feature film The Piano, featuring music by Michael Nyman, takes place Sunday, June 10. Nyman’s music will be performed Friday, June 15 at 8 p.m.

Zygmunt Krauze
Poland-born composer Zygmunt Krauze has had works performed at music festivals and concert halls around the world, including: Autumne de Paris; Musica (Strasbourg, France), Holland Festival; ISCM World Music Days; Warsaw Autumn; Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft (Vienna, Austria); Concertgebouw (Amsterdam); Bellas Artes (Mexico City); Suntory Hall (Tokyo, Japan); Palais de Festival (Cannes, France); and Beethovenhalle (Bonn, Germany). His operas have been produced by the Hamburgische Staatsoper, Grand Opera Theater (Warsaw), Wroclaw Opera, Theatre National de la Colline (Paris), Nationaltheater (Mannheim) and the Warsaw Chamber Opera. Since 1965 he has given seminars and master classes of composition and contemporary music performance in Poland and abroad, including prestigious centers of new music in Europe, the U.S., Japan and Israel. Since 2002 he has served as professor of composition at the Music Academy in Lodz, Poland. He is also a regular jury member at international composition and performance competitions. Among his honors are the Silver Cross of Merit of Poland (1975), the Medal of Distinction from Jeunesses Musicales in Poland (1979), Prize of the Ministry of Culture in Poland (1989), the Chopin Gold Medal from the Chopin Foundation (1994), Golden Cross of Merit of Poland (2004) and Annual Prize of the Polish Ministry of Culture (2005). In addition, he was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France (1984) and the Prize of the Polish Composers Union (1988).
Related Music07 event: Krauze performs his music in recital on Tuesday, June 12, at 8 p.m., and the composer’s music will also be performed on Wednesday, June 13, at 8 p.m.

Frederic Rzewksi
Frederic Rzewski studied with Walter Piston, Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt at Harvard and Princeton Universities. In 1960 he studied with Luigi Dallapiccola and began a career as a performer of new piano music. In Rome in the mid-60s, together with Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum, he formed the Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV) group, which quickly became known for its pioneering work in live electronics and improvisation. A professor of composition from 1977 to 2002 at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Liege, Belgium, he has taught at numerous other institutions including CCM. Rzewski is widely recognized as one of the most influential and original musical minds of our time.
Related Music07 events: Rzewski’s music will be performed on Thursday, June 14 at 8 p.m.

Amernet Quartet

The Amernet String Quartet, Ensemble-in-Residence at Florida International University, has garnered worldwide praise and recognition as one of today’s exceptional string quartets. The ensemble has been described by

The New York Times

as “an accomplished and intelligent ensemble”, and by the

Nürnberger Nachrichten

(Germany) as “fascinating with flawless intonation, extraordinary beauty of sound, virtuosic brilliance and homogeneity of ensemble.” The Amernet String Quartet was formed in 1991 and rose to international attention after only one year of existence, after winning the Gold Medal at the 7th Tokyo International Music Competition in 1992. Three years later the group was the First Prize winner of the prestigious 5th Banff International String Quartet Competition. From August of 2004 to July of 2005 the Amernet Quartet served as the Ernst Stiefel Quartet-in-Residence for the Caramoor Center for the Arts. From September of 2000 until May 2004 the ensemble was Corbett String Quartet in Residence at Northern Kentucky University, where they headed the Patricia A. Corbett String Program. Previous to that, the group held a residency at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where they taught chamber music for four years. Their busy performance schedule has taken the group to major musical centers and smaller cities across the United States as well as Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, Korea, Mexico and Romania. They maintain a connection with today’s composers and have worked closely with such composers as Anthony Brandt, John Corigliano, Stephen Dankner, David Epstein, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Gerhard Samuel, Morton Subotnick and Joel Hoffman.

Related Music07 event: The Amernet Quartet performs on Monday, June 11, at 8 p.m.

eighth blackbird

Regarded as one of the world’s premier new music groups, eighth blackbird has established a reputation for provocative and engaging performances. The winners of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the first contemporary ensemble to win first prize in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the group is a three-time recipient of the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. Other awards include top prizes at the Fischoff and Coleman National Chamber Music Competitions. The group has been featured on CBS’s “Sunday Morning” and was the subject of a profile in

The New York Times

. The ensemble is currently in residence at the University of Richmond in Virginia and the University of Chicago.

Related Music07 event: eighth blackbird performs on Saturday, June 16, at 8 p.m.

__________

University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
MUSIC07

Description:  
A seven-day festival of new and classic chamber music, featuring performances of work by noted visiting composers and others in collaboration with guest artists, CCM faculty and students. Featured visiting composers are Michael Nyman, Zygmunt Krauze and Frederic Rzewski, and guest artists include new music ensemble eighth blackbird and the Amernet Quartet.

Dates & Times: 
Sunday, June 10–Saturday, June 16 at 8 p.m. daily (unless otherwise noted)

Location: 
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (unless otherwise noted)

Tickets: 
All concerts are FREE and open to the public.

For Information: 
513-556-9198 or www.ccm.uc.edu/musicx

Parking: 
CCM Garage (at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the University of Cincinnati campus. For additional parking information or directions, please visit www.ccm.uc.edu.

Schedule: 

Sunday, June 10
8:00 p.m.: Special Film Screening ~ The Piano
Music by Michael Nyman, viewer discretion advised
Location: MainStreet Cinema, Tangeman University Center, University of Cincinnati

Monday, June 11
8:00 p.m.: Amernet String Quartet
Performing works by George Rochberg, Bela Bartok, Anton Webern and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall

Tuesday, June 12
8:00 p.m.: Zygmunt Krauze Piano Recital
Including Krauze’s own compositions and works by Simeon ten Holt and Boguslaw Schaeffer
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall

Wednesday, June 13
6:00 p.m.: Music07 Young Composers
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall

8:00 p.m.: Three Piano Quintets And...
Including works by Zygmunt Krauze, CCM professor Michael Fiday and Music07 young composers
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall

Thursday, June 14
6:00 p.m.: Music07 Young Composers
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall

8:00 p.m.: Music of Frederic Rzewski
Performed by Rzewski (piano) and CCM professor Allen Otte (percussion)
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall

Friday, June 15
6:00 p.m.: Music07 Young Composers
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall

8:00 p.m.: Music of Michael Nyman
Performed by Nyman (piano) and Music07 young artists
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall

Saturday, June 16
6:00 p.m.: Music07 Young Composers  
Location: Patricia Corbett Theater

8:00 p.m.: eighth blackbird
Performing compositions by Franco Donatoni, Dennis DeSantis, Stephen Hartke and Joseph Schwantner, as well as new works by Music07 composition competition winners Jeremy Sment and Anthony Cheung
Location: Robert J. Werner Recital Hall