Inner Book of Breathing: A Multimedia Recital

THURSDAY, SEP 25, 7:30 PM
Austrian Cultural Forum website
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Subway: B/D/F trains to Rockefeller Center; 6 train to 51st Street; E/V trains to 5 Avenue
Admission free, ticket required
Information: (212) 319-5300

Performing in the intimate theater of the Austrian Cultural Forum, flutist Erin Lesser joins Italian choreographer Luca Veggetti, lighting designer Roderick Murray, and dancers Frances Chiaverini and Brittany Fridenstinein in a unique collaboration which explores the particular nature of feminine energy in relation to sound, space, light, and movement.

Program

Franco Donatoni - Nidi
for piccolo

Toshio Hosokawa - Vertical Song I
for flute

Georg Friedrich Haas - …aus freier Lust…verbunden
for bass flute

Norbert Sterk - land der wachen spiegel
for flute

Paolo Aralla - Káros
for alto flute and tape
world premiere

Flutes: Erin Lesser
Dance: Frances Chiaverini, Brittany Fridenstine
Concept, choreography and costumes: Luca Veggetti
Lighting design: Roderick Murray

Moving Sounds Festival: Preview Concert

MONDAY, OCT 27, 7:30 PM
Leonard Nimoy Thalia website
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (at 95th Street)
Subway: 1 train to 96th Street
Admission: $15; $10 for seniors and students

In collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum, Argento presents a preview of the Moving Sounds Festival, 2009. Concert includes music by Austria’s leading composers: Beat Furrer's Gaspra, Georg Friedrich Haas' de terra fine, and two of Bernhard Lang's famous variation/repetition studies (Differenz/Wiederholung): DW 1 and DW 5.2 in a world premiere arrangement by Michel Galante for spatialized ensemble.

Program

Georg Friedrich Haas - De Terrae Fine

Beat Furrer - Gaspra

Bernhard Lang - Differenz/Wiederholung 1

Bernhard Lang/Michel Galante - Differenz/Wiederholung 5.2
world premiere

World Premieres:
Berlin, Paris, and New York Composers Exchange

SATURDAY, NOV 1, 8:00 PM
Merkin Concert Hall website
129 West 67th Street, New York
Subway: 1 train to 66th Street
Admission free; ticket required.
Box Office (212) 501-3330

In collaboration with the Berlin Hochschule, the Paris Conservatoire, and Columbia University, Argento showcases the next generation of composers active in Berlin, Paris, and New York.

Program
Filip Caranica (Berlin)
world premiere for septet

Iñigo Giner Miranda (Berlin)
world premiere for mezzo-soprano and sexet

Wang Lu (New York)
world premiere for septet

Adrian Borreda (Paris)
world premiere for septet

Laurent Durupt (Paris)
world premiere for sextet and electronics

Salihara Festival

TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY, NOV 18-19
Komunitas Salihara website
Jakarta, Indonesia

Argento celebrates the opening of the state-of-the-art concert hall with its first two performances in Southeast Asia. Concerts feature two world premieres by Indonesia's leading composer Tony Prabowo, as well as work by Beat Furrer, Bernhard Lang, Brian Ferneyhough, Tristan Murail, Gerard Grisey, Georges Aperghis, and Pierre Boulez.

Nov 18 Program

Tristan Murail - Garrigue
Asian premiere

Georges Aperghis - Le Corps Á Corps

Gérard Grisey - Periodes

Kee Yong Chong - One Thousand Ripples of a Lonely Bell

Michel Galante - Flicker

Elliott Carter - Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux

Tony Prabowo - Music for Seven Musicians
world premiere

Nov 19 Program

Bernhard Lang - Differenz/Wiedeholung 5.2
Asian premiere

Tony Prabowo - Quartet
world premiere

Brian Ferneyhough - La Chute d’Icare

Michel Galante - Melodies
world premiere

Pierre Boulez - Improvisé pour le Dr. K.

Beat Furrer - Gaspra

Composer Portraits: Georg Friedrich Haas

FRIDAY, FEB 6, 8:00 PM
Miller Theatre website
2960 Broadway (at 116th Street), New York
Subway: 1 train to 116th Street
Admission: $25; $15 students; $7 Columbia University students
Box Office (212) 854-7799

The long-awaited U.S. premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas's in vain , a shocking, opulent, 24-member chamber orchestra work performed largely from memory in complete darkness. Fellow Austrian composer Bernhard Lang declared, "in vain sounds like no piece you've ever heard before, it is a complete enhancement of the senses."

Program

Georg Friedrich Haas - in vain
U.S. premiere

Georg Friedrich Haas: Encore

MONDAY, FEB 9, 7:30 PM
Austrian Cultural Forum website
3524 International Court, N.W., Washington, D.C. directions
Admission free, ticket required. Information: (202) 895-6714

Argento premieres Kimmy Szeto's chamber transcription of Schumann's ultra-compact musical journey from the exuberant to the sublime, paving the way for an encore performance of Haas's in vain.

Program

Robert Schumann, arr. Kimmy Szeto -
      Scherzo and Adagio from Symphony No. 2 - world premiere

Georg Friedrich Haas - in vain

Haas at ACF-NY

TUESDAY, FEB 10, 7:30 PM
Austrian Cultural Forum website
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Admission free, ticket required. Information: (212) 319-5300

Argento performs the U.S. premiere of Trio ex Uno by Georg Friedrich Haas, a sextet based on fragments of Josquin Deprez, and solo works for violin and bass flute. Haas’s work is contextualized with a performance of Périodes, for septet, by his fellow spectral composer Gérard Grisey.

Program

Georg Friedrich Haas - Trio ex uno for sextet
Georg Friedrich Haas - de terrae fine for solo violin
Georg Friedrich Haas - aus freier Lust..verbunden for solo bass flute
Gérard Grisey - Charme for solo clarinet
Gérard Grisey - Périodes for septet

Monday Evening Concerts

MONDAY, FEB 16, 8:00 PM
Zipper Hall at the Colburn School website
200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012 directions
Admission: $25; $10 students. Box Office (310) 836-6632

By magnifying the physical sounds of the instruments and gradually transforming them through time and space, Gérard Grisey proposes a radical alternative to established musical norms in the first 3 movements of his groundbreaking cycle Les Espaces Acoustiques : Prologue , for solo viola, Périodes , for septet, and Partiels, for chamber orchestra. Program also to include reknowned percussion ensemble Red Fish, Blue Fish performing Grisey's surround sound percussion sextet, Tempus ex machina.

Program

Tempus ex machina
for percussion sextet

Les Espaces Acoustiques, Part I:
I. Prologue, solo viola
II. Périodes, for chamber ensemble
III. Partiels, for chamber orchestra

Yale University Residency

WEDNESDAY, FEB 18
TUESDAY, MAR 3, 5:00 PM
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library website 121 Wall Street, New Haven, CT
Admission free

Argento premieres new chamber ensemble works by Yale composers.

Peak Performances presents U.S. premiere of Lolita

FRIDAY, APR 3, 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, APR 4, 8:00 PM
SUNDAY, APR 5, 3:00 PM
Alexander Kasser Theater website
1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ directions
Admission: $15. Box Office (973) 655-5112

The most vilified romantic character in literary history stands trial amidst a classical chamber orchestra, live-electronics, video screens, and modern choreography. Vladimir Nabokov's Humbert Humbert, as reconditioned by JOJI (Wooster Group choreographer Johanne Saunier and director Jim Clayburgh), by actor François Beukelaers, and by American composer Joshua Fineberg, presents himself as an amalgam of horrifying and seductive personalities no more in conflict than Hannibal Lecter and Cyrano deBergerac. Video preview

Cutting Edge Concerts: Music of the Mind

MONDAY, APR 13, 7:30 PM
Pre-concert discussion with composers and performers at 6:30 PM
Leonard Nimoy Thalia at the Peter Norton Symphony Space website
2537 Broadway (at 95th Street)
Subway: 1 train to 96th Street
Admission: $15; $10 for seniors and students

Argento presents music by Fred Lerdahl and world premieres of Victoria Bond and Michel Galante. Video preview

Program

Fred Lerdahl - Duo for violin and piano

Fred Lerdahl - Chasing Golberg for solo piano

Victoria Bond - Bridges
for pipa, erhu and clarinet, with video

Michel Galante/Luke DuBois - Modern Prometheus
for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble, with video
world premiere

Steven Takasugi - Iridescent Uncertainty
for sampled kotos, shamisen, Hardanger fiddle and cello
New York premiere

Guowei Wang, erhu; Zhou Yi, pipa; Miranda Cuckson, violin;
Bo Chang, mezzo-soprano; Joanna Chao, piano
Argento Chamber Ensemble. Michel Galante, conductor

Celebrating American Composers and Their Influences

TUESDAY, APR 14, 8:00 PM
Le Poisson Rouge website
158 Bleecker St (between Thompson and Sullivan St), New York
Admission: $10

Argento performs music by American composers Fred Lerdahl, Michel Galante and Steven Takasugi. Concert also showcases music by spectralist Philippe Hurel, avant-garde composer Vinko Globokar and his disciple Magnus Lindberg.

Program

Fred Lerdahl - Duo for violin and piano

Fred Lerdahl - Chasing Golberg for solo piano

Vinko Globokar - Corporel for solo, shirtless percussionist

Michel Galante - Flicker for clarinet and piano

Magnus Lindberg - Ablauf for clarinet and percussion

Steven Takasugi - Iridescent Uncertainty
for sampled kotos, shamisen, Hardanger fiddle and cello

Philippe Hurel - Loops for solo flute

University of Memphis Residency

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, APR 14-15
Rudi E Scheidt School of Music
Music Building, 3775 Central Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee

Argento workshops new chamber ensemble works by University of Memphis composers.

Birds of Feather: Messiaen and his Legacy
A celebration of Olivier Messiaen's 100th birthday

TUESDAY, MAY 5, 8:00 PM
Merkin Concert Hall website
129 W67th Street, New York
Subway: 1 train to 66th Street
Admission: $25; students half price
Box Office (212) 501-3330

Three ensembles team up to celebrate the 100^th year of Messiaen in a concert featuring U.S. premieres of four of his leading protégés, including Pierre Boulez and Allain Gaussin. Highlights include:

Subterrain Electronica

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 8:00 PM
Austrian Cultural Forum website
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Subway: B/D/F trains to Rockefeller Center; 6 train to 51st Street; E/V trains to 5 Avenue
Admission free, ticket required. Information: (212) 319-5300

Argento teams up with Austrian DJ Christopher Just in a program juxtaposing the work of emerging American composers, DJs and turntable artists. The program includes the world premiere of Michael Klingbeil’s Subterrain for clarinet, ensemble and live electronics.

The Kate Weare Dance Company Collaboration

THURSDAY-SATURDAY, JUNE 25-27, 8:30 PM
Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery website
131 East 10th Street, New York
Admission $18, $12 members. Information: (212) 674-8112

Argento teams up with choreographer Kate Weare, lighting designer Brian Jones, and visual designer Kurt Perschke to explore a dynamic transversality of disparate art forms.