Herding Cats

Argento New Music Project

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DiMenna Center for Classical Music

Argento produces and a performs a New York concert with friends and collaborators from the Baltimore-based icarus Quartet.<h1>PROGRAM</h1>Melodie – fallend (2003)Beat FurrerMiles Walter, pianoCamouflage (2012, 2017, 2022)Michel GalanteTwo keyboards, two percussionlittle things lost WORLD PREMIERE* (2022)Amy Beth KirstenTwo keyboards, two percussion-intermission-sensibilità assimilate WORLD PREMIERE (2023)Lang ChenFast Darkness III: Moonwards (2022)Chaya CzernowinFlute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola, celloGrowth (2010)Marcos BalterFlute, clarinet, saxophone, electric guitar, piano, violin, viola, cellolittle things lost is made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.<h1>ABOUT THE PROGRAM</h1>“In four of the pieces on this concert, audiences can hear how completely different musical personalities deal with ascending and descending lines, while the other three will be more like non-linear spaces that the listener inhabits. As rich as such connections are, when I look at the composers on this program, I just see completely different approaches to music, from five different continents and seven different generations. And it becomes clear to me as always that composers are intransigent. They all do their own thing, and go their own way, and that’s why we want to hear them. Trying to summarize them into a neat and tidy framework would be like trying to herd cats."-Michel GalanteAustrian Manuela Meier’s iterate no trace undermines the listener’s expectations by pushing the limits of what the clarinetist can do with single-line instrument harmonics. Austrian Beat Furrer’s aphoristic Melodie – fallend embodies the essence of linear music in under two minutes. American Michel Galante’s Camouflage takes musical lines and multiplies them exponentially, creating a sense of inevitability through a clash of numerous musical layers and tempi. Brazilian/American Marcos Balter’s Growth begins with staggered ascending figurations and, over time, transforms them into rich, sonorous timbral experiences. On this program, Argento presents the icarus Quartet, who perform a world premiere by American composer Amy Beth Kirsten. About her new work little things lost, Ms. Kirsten writes: “While writing this piece, I was reflecting on how much my life has changed over the last few years. The piece pays homage to those little things that have been lost, transformed, and rediscovered.” Argento performs the world premiere of sensibilità assimilate by Chinese composer Lang Chen, who creates an instrumental work entirely from a piece he first composed for electronics. Chaya Czernowin’s recently written Fast Darkness III: Moonwards. is “fast gestures, drawn by a sharp pen and loaded with excited energy [to] inform the listener of a large universe that they are enveloping.

icarus QuartetLike the mythological figure from which it draws its name, the half piano/half percussion icarus Quartet dares to fly towards the sun, aspiring to new heights of artistry. Following their Carnegie Hall debut, composer Paul Lansky simply remarked, “This is music making of the highest order.” The Wall Street Journal hailed icarus Quartet’s 2022 album, BIG THINGS, as “a beautifully immersive recording…an impressive calling card.”Winner of the 2019 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, icarus Quartet has given new life to old masterpieces as well as the future of their instrumentation. The quartet was chosen as Chamber Music Northwest’s 2020 Protégé Project Ensemble and was subsequently the first ensemble to hold the Klinger ElectroAcoustic Residency at Bowling Green State University. Past engagements include appearances at the Kennedy Center’s REACH, the Vienna Summer Music Festival, the Horowitz Piano Series, the Queens New Music Festival, the Adalman Chamber Series, and at Princeton University for a Lansky tribute concert held in honor of the emeritus professor’s 75th birthday.Fostering the development of new works through commissioning and collaborating lies at the core of the group’s mission, inspiring partnerships with titans of the classical contemporary field, established artists of electronic and indie music scenes, as well as gifted student composers through their annual “iQ Tests” program. Recent and upcoming collaborators include Nick Zammuto, Michael Laurello, Liliya Ugay, Douglas Knehans, Natalie Dietterich, Scott Lee, and Amy Beth Kirsten as well as 2022-23 iQ Test Scholars Matīss Čudars and Sam Wu. The ensemble’s work often extends beyond the realm of music; Wilderness Suite, an ongoing intermedia project combining icarus Quartet with the forces of composer Ruby Fulton, video artist Benjamin James, and geographer Teresa Cavazos-Cohn, examines the unique anti-development of the 2.4 million-acre Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness site through still imagery, data, film, recorded interviews, natural sound samples, and live music. Passionate about educating and engaging with the next generation of musicians, icarus Quartet thrives in school and university settings. They have given classes on chamber music and composition seminars on writing for their instruments at institutions including the Peabody Conservatory, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Bridgeport University, the University of Florida, the University of Northern Iowa, Florida State University, Lebanon Valley College, Yale College, Wright State University, and the University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton School of Music, in addition to presentations for grade school and Pre-K students.Larry Weng, Christopher Goodpasture, Matt Keown, and Jeff Stern are all celebrated soloists in their own rights, and together they have found a special chemistry and inimitable joy playing chamber music. They are dedicated to the discovery, creation, and performance of new music, but what distinguishes their approach to contemporary music is a strong training and background in the classical genre. icarus Quartet is committed to performing new works with a studied and convincing interpretation that mirrors the validity of works with performance practices developed over centuries.

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Herding Cats

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