PAST SEASONS
PAST SEASONS
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Mahler – Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen & Symphony No. 10 (arranged by Michel Galante)
July 21, 2018
Kaaterskill Church
Tannersville, NY 5942 Main St.
Click here for google maps link
Argento presents Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with soprano Sharon Harms, as well as a work in progress of the first and second movements of Mahler's Symphony No. 10 as part of the 23arts Summer Music Festival in Tannersville, located in the beautiful Catskill Mountains region of upstate New York. Symphony No. 10 will be a pre-premiere performance of the complete 5-movement form arranged by Argento's artist director Michel Galante and conducted by Jonathan Yates, director of the classical series at the festival. The final revised version will be premiered on October 4 as part of the Moving Sounds Festival® in New York City.
Clarinetist Carol McGonnell will open the concert with Tracing Hollow Traces, a solo by Andile Khumalo.
Honey, I Shrunk The Orchestra
March 05, 2018
Irish Times critic Michael Dervan once said: "Classical music audiences know what they like and like what they know, whereas contemporary music audiences seek new musical works and experiences."
As part of Argento’s ongoing effort to bring together these two audience groups, "Honey, I Shrunk The Orchestra" will feature two orchestral works that were re-scored for 13 players: Kimmy Szeto’s version of Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, Rhenish, and the world premiere of a new chamber ensemble version of Fred Lerdahl’s Chords, reductions that reveal a new clarity of orchestration and virtuosity of ensemble performance from works of both past and present.
Chords is a mosaic of consonant and dissonant chord colors, revolving closely and distantly around a focal sonority. This new chamber ensemble version exploits the virtuoso aspects of the piece that, according to the composer, were never realized in the previous orchestral settings.
The surprisingly opaque orchestration of Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, Rhenish was the composer’s strategy to manage the mediocre Düsseldorf Orchestra through the scoring itself, often with many pages of doublings. In the New York Times review of Kimmy Szeto’s arrangement, James Oesterreich wrote: “Even for a listener not much bothered, as some are, by Schumann’s sometimes thick orchestrations, this reduction made for a fascinating exercise, clarifying myriad details."
Highlighting Schumann’s relevance today, Argento will perform two contemporary chamber works: György Kurtág’s Hommage à R. Sch. for clarinet, viola, and piano references Schumann’s two personae “Eusebius and Floristan,” and Martin Bresnick’s Bird As Prophet for violin and piano is based on Schumann’s late piano work “Vogel als Prophet,” op. 82 no.7.
PROGRAM
György Kurtág – Hommage à R. Sch., op. 15d (1990)
for clarinet, viola, and piano
Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Stephanie Griffin, viola; Margaret Kampmeier, piano
Martin Bresnick – Bird As Prophet (1999)
for violin and piano
Doori Na, violin; Margaret Kampmeier, piano
Fred Lerdahl – Chords (1974/1983, arr. 2018)
(world premiere of the chamber ensemble version)
Intermission
Robert Schumann / Kimmy Szeto – Symphony No. 3, Rhenish (1850) arranged for chamber ensemble (2013)
The Conversion Factor
December 05, 2017
At the end of his life, Gérard Grisey, an iconic figure in modern music, turned his attention to the dark and mystical songs of Hugo Wolf. Argento’s final concert of 2017 highlights works by composers inspired by previous musical compositions, transforming them into new works that are a reflection of their time, that reveal their own compositional voice. Alongside three exciting works by New York composers Sang Song, Du Yun and Taylor Brook, Argento will be joined by soprano Sharon Harms in Wolf Songs by Gérard Grisey, the iconic spectral French avant-garde composer who found in his penultimate work an unlikely source of inspiration in the 19th-century Austro-Slovene composer Hugo Wolf. Grisey orchestrates four of Hugo Wolf’s expressionistic lieder with forbidding texts of Eduard Mörike, creating four dark meditations on religion, nature, and time.
Two Asian American composers will be featured in this program. Argento will perform the world premiere of Korean American composer Sang Song’s Scars, a work that highlights the effects of post-traumatic stress syndrome that includes the experience of mourning, embodied by tragic musical quotations from Verdi’s Otello. For portions of this work, the audience will have the option of hearing processed sounds through headphones distributed at the performance. In her duet for violin and piano, When a Tiger Meets a Rosa Rugosa, Pulitzer Prize winning Chinese American composer Du Yun transforms the poem “In me, past, present, future meet” by the war-damaged British poet Siegfried into a wordless vocalise.
Early in the 20th century, Hungarian composer Béla Bartók devotedly traveled to remote villages of Transylvania to make the first outdoor field recordings of folk music, which he admired for its robust expressive power. Using seven of these recordings, Bartok composed his Romanian Folk Dances, presenting them to audiences within a classical concert framework that adds many levels of nuance and color to the original songs. Audience will hear the original field recordings before Argento's performance of Bartok’s concert settings of these vernacular discoveries.
The program ends with Taylor Brook’s Arrhythmia, a musical re-imagining of the first movement of Mahler’s 9th Symphony. Brook asked himself what Mahler would have done if he were to write this piece today, and wrote a microtonal string quartet of which James Oestreich of the New York Times calls “gripping from the outset and engrossing throughout.” Argento will give the premiere performance of this quartet in an expanded version scored with percussion.
PROGRAM
Sang Song – Scars (World Premiere)
for ensemble and electronics
Béla Bartók – Romanian Folk Dances
for ensemble
~ intermission ~
Du Yun – When a Tiger Meets a Rosa Rugosa
for violin and piano
Ken Hamao, violin
Euntaek Kim, piano
Gérard Grisey – Wolf Lieder
for voice and ensemble
Sharon Harms, soprano
Taylor Brook – Arrhythmia (World Premiere)
Conditions of Light
October 20, 2017
Concert dates:
October 20, 2017
Saint Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Avenue at 54 St, New York
November 20, 2017
La Marbrerie, 21 Tue Alexis Lepere, Montreuil, France
Argento will travel to France to repeat this performance for French audiences on November 20, 2017.
Internationally-acclaimed Ensemble Cairn travels from Paris to join forces with Argento in our season opener, on October 20, 2017, 7:30 PM at Saint Peter’s Church in New York City. Under the baton of the Guillaume Bourgogne (1st prize BRAVO! 2012 for "Best classical music recording"), French-American violinist Elissa Cassini will perform the world premiere of Jérôme Combier’s Koussevitsky commission Conditions de Lumière, a concerto for violin and ensemble.
During a pessimistic moment in international relations, Argento and Ensemble Cairn wish to highlight the positive, idealistic, generous, and creative potential of international collaborations.
This concert, the result of an intense transatlantic exchange of music between the two ensembles, will feature both French and American composers. In addition to Jérôme Combier’s coloristic style, Gérard Pesson takes familiar rhythms and vernacular influences and orchestrates them with “noises” from all the instruments. Franck Bedrossian also explores musical “noise,” but for its darker, more dramatic potential. On this side of the Atlantic, we perform American composers Michel Galante and Nina C. Young (Rome Prize in Composition 2015-16). Michel Galante’s Camouflage (world premiere) features a large ensemble flanked on either side by virtuoso marimba players. In contrast to the large ensemble works on the program, flutist Emi Ferguson and violist Ken Hamao will play Nina C. Young’s poetic duet L’heure bleue.
Suggested Donation: $15 General / $10 Students and Seniors
PROGRAM
Jérôme Combier – Conditions de lumière (2017)
WORLD PREMIERE commissioned by the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation
for violin and large ensemble
Michel Galante – Camouflage (2017)
WORLD PREMIERE for large ensemble
Gérard Pesson – Carmagnole (2015)
for large ensemble
Jérôme Combier – Dog eat dog (2013)
for guitar and cello
Nina C. Young – L'heure bleue (2013)
for flute and viola
Franck Bedrossian – Innersonic (2012)
for accordion and electric guitar
Major support for this concert is provided by the French American Cultural Exchange.
Taking Apart Your Universe
October 24, 2016
Argento proudly announces our 2016 - 2017 season premiere in partnership with Lex54 Concerts at Saint Peter’s Church. This event features two composers that represent the Irish avant-garde, Karen Power and Ann Cleare, with two works that pair soloists with mixed ensembles.
Soloist Carol McGonnell will give the WORLD PREMIERE of composer Ann Cleare’s eyam ii (taking apart your universe), a concerto for contrabass clarinet and ensemble. A commission from Culture Ireland, this is one of the only concertos for the contrabass clarinet. Ann Cleare's eyam ii is the result of six years of work and a close collaboration between the soloist and composer, as many of the techniques of the contrabass clarinet have never before been explored in a concerto context. In it, a varied ensemble of strings, winds, brass, percussion, and electric guitar deconstruct the “universe” of the contrabass clarinet.
In contrast to Ann Cleare’s rigorously controlled timbral concerto, Karen Power’s work armed only with nuts relies on improvisation to create a theatrical experience that mixes vocal with instrumental textures. The work is entirely different each time it is performed. Soprano Sharon Harms joins Argento in this unpredictable adventure.
The program also includes Salvatore Sciarrino’s Introduzione all’oscuro for string quintet, woodwind quintet, trumpet, and trombone. Michel Galante’s Megalomania for solo piano will be postponed until Argento's November 21st concert on the Lex54 Series.
PROGRAM
Salvatore Sciarrino – Introduzione all'oscuro (1981)
Karen Power – armed only with nuts (2012)
Ann Cleare – eyam ii (taking apart your universe) (2012)
for contrabass clarinet and ensemble
world premiere - Carol McGonnell, contrabass clarinet
Argento New Music Project – Michel Galante, conductor
Founder's Day at the Library of Congress
October 29, 2016
Coolidge Auditorium, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St SE, Washington, DC [map]
Pre-concert conversation at 6:30 in Whittall Pavilion (no tickets required)
Free tickets available online beginning at 10am on September 14
PROGRAM
Salvatore Sciarrino – Introduzione all'Oscuro (1981)
Ann Cleare – eyam i (it takes an ocean not to) (2013)
for solo clarinet
Ann Cleare – eyam ii (taking apart your universe) (2012)
for contrabass clarinet and ensemble
Carol McGonnell, clarinet and contrabass clarinet
Michel Galante – Flicker
for clarinet and piano
Gustav Mahler – Andante-Adagio and Scherzo from Symphony No. 10
arranged for chamber ensemble by Michel Galante
Argento New Music Project — Michel Galante, conductor
Last Winter
November 21, 2016
Saint Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Avenue at 54 St, New York [map]
Suggested Donation: $15
Sang Song explores isolation through modern means of microamplification: headphones. Proximity and intimacy is magnified – every whisper of the instruments is directly channeled into the listener's ears.
** Please bring photo identification to procure headphones necessary to experience this exciting world premiere.
PROGRAM
Sang Song – Last Winter (2016)
world premiere, headphones powered by Quiet Event
Beat Furrer - aer (1991)
Morton Feldman – Bass Clarinet and Percussion (1981)
Carol McGonnell, bass clarinet
Beat Furrer – voicelessness (1986)
Joanna Chao, piano
Michel Galante – Megalomania (2012)
Stephen Gosling, piano
Conjugal Music
April 06, 2017
Thursday, April 6, 2017, 7:00 PM
Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston [map]
Monday, April 10, 2017, 12:30 PM
Saint Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Avenue at 54 St, New York [map]
Suggested Donation: $15
The concert features the world premiere of Hochzeitsmarsch, an ambitious work by leading Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas. Haas wrote this work to celebrate his much publicized wedding to Molina Haas-Williams. Rather than referring to the institutional or traditional trappings of wedding, the work is one single enormous accelerando that goes through numerous transformations before settling on a cumulative arrival of all its instrumental forces. While Hochzeitsmarsch celebrates the more heated side of love, das Ende der Sehnsuch, also written for the Williams/Haas marriage, which celebrates the deeper, more sublime connections of their bond.
Violist Stephanie Griffin will perform Tristan Murail's C'est un jardin secret, ma soeur, ma fiancée, une source scellée, une fontaine close…, written as a wedding present for two of the composer’s friends. This solo work summarizes many characteristics of the composer’s music into a work for a single instrument. A short sequence of processes, featuring sliding tempi and subtle fluctuations of finger and bowing pressure, is neatly concluded by a mysterious ascending figure. To complement this work, Argento programs two other Murail miniatures: flutist Emi Ferguson will perform Unanswered Questions; violinist Doori Na and clarinetist Carol McGonnell will perform Les ruines circulaires.
Argento will perform the US premiere of Ryan Beppel’s Sterbetourismus, a string octet with two conductors dedicated to the marriage of Ken and Alana Bergman who married in 2013. Two conductors are required to realize the overlapping acceleration structures that have become a hallmark of Beppel’s work.
Finally, the program will include Siegfried Idyll, a birthday gift that Richard Wagner wrote for Cosima Wagner celebrating the birth of their son Siegfried.
PROGRAM
Tristan Murail – C'est un jardin secret, ma sœur, ma fiancée, une source scellée, une fontaine close... (1976)
for viola
Stephanie Griffin, viola
Tristan Murail – Les ruines circulaires (1998)
for clarinet and violin
Doori Na, violin, Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Tristan Murail – Unanswered Questions (1995)
for flute
Emi Ferguson, flute
Georg Friedrich Haas – das Ende der Sehnsucht (2015)
World premiere (Boston), New York premiere (Lex54)
Ryan Beppel - Sterbetourismus (2013)
for string octet
U.S. premiere (Lex54)
Georg Friedrich Haas - Hochzeitsmarsch (2015)
World premiere
Richard Wagner – Siegfried Idyll (1870)
symphonic poem for chamber orchestra
Argento New Music Project — Michel Galante, conductor
Southern Exposure New Music Series
August 28, 2015
School of Music Recital Hall (Room 206), University of South Carolina
813 Assembly Street, Columbia
Pre-concert conversation at 6:00 ; educational concert at Dreher High School on Aug 27 ; masterclasses at USC on Aug 27
The concert program features ABRAXAS by rising star Jesse Jones and the world premiere of Symphony No. 10 in Two Movements, Michel Galante's chamber ensemble version of Gustav Mahler's heart-wrenching last symphony.
Michel Galante writes on Jesse Jones's ABRAXAS –– “A lot of what he explores instrumental timbre. What you’ll hear is a lot of dramatic gestures, but you’ll also hear a lot of timbres that are combinations that make a rich harmonic language.” On the Mahler — “Mahler's Tenth Symphony contains Mahler’s most advanced and modern musical innovations, but more importantly to the modern ear, musically communicates complex emotions such as guilt, regret, ambivalence and jealousy. This arrangement for chamber ensemble explores the more intimate aspects of these fragments. For the newcomer to Mahler’s music, it will communicate directly to their emotions. For those familiar with Mahler’s orchestral idiom, the chamber arrangement will give the learned ear a chance to listen to its intimate orchestration and compare it to the Mahlerian sound orchestra in their heads, giving them a chance to speculate for themselves about how Mahler might have orchestrated the piece himself.”
Program Highlights
Jesse Jones – ABRAXAS (2013)
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 10 (1910)
arranged in two movements for chamber ensemble by Michel Galante (2015)
world premiere
Tristan Murail – Feuilles à travers les cloches (1998)
Argento New Music Project – Michel Galante, conductor
Moving Sounds® Festival – Scelsi Revisited: Haas, Murail, Scelsi
September 18, 2015
Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73 Street, New York
Subway: 6 to 77 St
Admission free, reservation required (click here)
In this 7th year of artistic collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum, Argento takes part in curating a festival celebration at the crossroads of classical and electronic sounds. From September 11 to 18, Moving Sounds 2015 delves into creativity, experimentation and critical thought in performances, interactive sound installations, film and video, and panel discussions.
Argento performs in the culminating concert of the festival on September 18 with violinist Hanna Hurwitz illuminating Giacinto Scelsi's Anahit coupled with spatialized responses by Tristan Murail and the U.S. premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas's Introduktion und Transsonation.
PROGRAM
Tristan Murail – C'est un jardin secret, ma sœur, ma fiancée, une source scellée, une fontaine close... (1976)
for viola
Stephanie Griffin, viola
Tristan Murail – Les Ruines circulaires (1998)
for clarinet and violin
Doori Na, violin, Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Tristan Murail – Feuilles à travers les cloches (1998)
for flute, violin, cello and piano
Giacinto Scelsi – Tre pezzi (1965)
for E-flat clarinet
Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Georg Friedrich Haas – Introduktion und Transsonation (2012)
for 17 instruments and tape
U.S. premiere
Giacinto Scelsi – Anahit (1965)
for violin and chamber orchestra
Hanna Hurwitz, violin
Argento New Music Project — Michel Galante, conductor
Murail in New York: Spectralism in America – Concert I: The Bronze Age
March 13, 2016
Dweck Center, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn [map]
Subway: 2/3 to Grand Army Plaza ; Q to 7 Av
Admission free (ticket required)
At the peak of his artistic creativity from 1997 to 2010, Tristan Murail lived and worked in the center of American musical culture, New York City. As one of the most prominent living French composers, his legacy resulted in a cross pollination with young emerging American artists yielding a unique hybrid of new music subculture. (Argento was formed as a result of close collaboration between Murail and a group of ambitious young virtuosi.)
Since his departure, Murail’s New York following has been eager to hear spectral music performed in a chamber ensemble setting, and, in particular, for Argento to perform this repertoire. The most common request Argento receives is, “When will we hear you play Murail again?”
In conjunction with the French American Cultural Exchange and the Brooklyn Public Library, this first concert of a two-part series features the music of Tristan Murail alongside works of three of his American students who have built on and extended his work in powerful new directions.
PROGRAM
Tristan Murail – The Bronze Age (2012)
for flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, cello and piano
New York premiere ; world premiere performed by Argento in 2012
Huck Hodge – Phantasie (2006)
for amplified cello
Oliver Schneller – Alice Blue (2013)
for flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, cello, piano and vibraphone
World premiere
Bert Van Herck – Inflections (2009)
for solo viola
Bert Van Herck – Reconnected (2009)
for alto flute and clarinet
Bert Van Herck – Just a note (2009)
for solo piano
Oliver Schneller – Refractions
for alto flute, clarinet, violin, viola and cello
World premiere
Argento New Music Project — Andrea Vitello, conductor
Composer Portrait: Beat Furrer – April 16 & April 25
April 16, 2016
Saturday, April 16, 2016, 8:00 PM
Fine Arts Center Concert Hall at Boston University
855 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Monday, April 25, 2016, 7:00 PM
Zankel Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York -- Purchase Tickets Online --
Subway: N/R/Q to 57 St, F to 57 St
In the announcement for the winner of the 2014 Great Austrian State Prize (Großer Österreichischer Staatspreis), the Austrian Arts Senate describes Beat Furrer's music possesses a “distinctive style, characterized by the human voice and the interrelation of sound, language and visual effects, using sophisticated texts. His original musical language, characterized by a wealth of sensitive and subtle differentiation matching his sensitivity, but in no way compromising on the original power of the message and its expression, has aroused interest in the music world from right the outset.” Argento, his long-term artistic collaborator in America, brings together three of his most celebrated works in this evening's program.
PROGRAM - April 16 in Boston
Beat Furrer – linea dell’orizzonte (2012)
for 10 musicians
Beat Furrer – Voicelessness: The Snow Has No Voice (1986)
for piano
Joanna Chao, piano
Beat Furrer – Lied (1993)
for violin and piano
Beat Furrer – Aer (1991)
for clarinet, cello and piano
Morton Feldman – Bass Clarinet and Percussion (1981)
Argento New Music Project — Michel Galante, conductor
PROGRAM - April 25 in New York
Beat Furrer – Xenos III (2010)
for strings and percussion
U.S. premiere; with narration by the composer
Beat Furrer – Still (1998)
for ensemble
Beat Furrer – Spazio immergente (2015)
for soprano and trombone
World premiere
Tony Arnold, soprano, Tim Albright, trombone
Beat Furrer – linea dell’orizzonte (2012)
for 10 musicians
New York premiere
Argento New Music Project — Michel Galante, conductor
Murail in New York: Spectralism in America – Concert II: Found Objects
May 19, 2016
Hosted by French Institute: Alliance Française
Thursday, May 19, 2016, 7:30 PM
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59 Street [map]
Subway: 4/5/6/N/R/Q to 59th St - Lexington Av ; N/R to 5 Av
At the peak of his artistic creativity from 1997 to 2010, Tristan Murail lived and worked in the center of American musical culture, New York City. As one of the most prominent living French composers, his legacy resulted in a cross pollination with young emerging American artists yielding a unique hybrid of new music subculture. (Argento was formed as a result of close collaboration between Murail and a group of ambitious young virtuosi.)
Since his departure, Murail’s New York following has been eager to hear spectral music performed in a chamber ensemble setting, and, in particular, for Argento to perform this repertoire. The most common request Argento receives is, “When will we hear you play Murail again?”
In conjunction with the French American Cultural Exchange and FIAF, this second concert of a two-part series features the music of Tristan Murail alongside works of three of his American students who have built on and extended his work in powerful new directions.
PROGRAM
Tristan Murail – La Mandragore (1993)
for piano
Melody Fader, piano
Featuring a world premiere choreography by Miro Magloire performed by New Chamber Ballet
Michel Galante – Watercolors (2003)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion
Huck Hodge – Phantasie (2006)
for amplified cello
Alex Wasserman, cello
Michel Galante – Leaves of Absence (2005)
for flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, viola, cello and bass
Joshua Fineberg – Objets trouvés (2009)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion
U.S. premiere performed by Argento in 2011
Tristan Murail – Ethers (1978)
for flute with clarinet, trombone, violin, cello and piano
Erin Lesser, flute
U.S. premiere performed by Argento in 2004
Recorded by Argento on award-winning album Winter Fragments
Argento New Music Project — Michel Galante, conductor
Moving Sounds® Concert: Mahler As New York Contemporary I: After Nine
September 15, 2014
Music Mondays Concert Series, Advent Lutheran Church, 2504 Broadway at 93rd Street, New York
Subway: 1/2/3 to 96th Street
Admission: free
The legendary Austrian composer Gustav Mahler spent some of his later years in New York City and served as the director of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. His forward-looking musical style and language continue to resonate in contemporary music today. This concert series—three concerts spanning the 2014-15 season—situates Mahler as a New York new music contemporary. Each concert features one of Mahler's monumental works composed during his New York period in chamber arrangement, which provides the context for a showcase of the finest works of today's emerging composers. Discussion with composers and performers follows each program.
PROGRAM
Taylor Brook – Arrythmia (2012)
for string quartet
JACK Quartet
Matthew Ricketts – After Nine: Fantasia on Mahler (2014)
for chamber ensemble
New York premiere
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 9 (1899-1901/1902-10)
arranged for chamber ensemble by Klaus Simon (2007)
Argento New Music Project — Michel Galante, conductor
Argento at the Play Loud! Chamber Music Festival
November 06, 2014
Instituto Cervantes
211 East 49th Street, New York
Argento presents a cutting-edge program at the Play Loud! Chamber Music Festival.
PROGRAM
Kurt Rohde – …misterioso…maestoso… (2011/12)
for amplified violin, viola and assorted items
Michel Galante – Sonataspielen (2014)
for violin and piano
Michel Galante – Divorce Bard (2014)
for voice and piano
Aaron Helgeson – A long while (2014)
for soprano and piano
With text adapted from the 576 words spoken by Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale
Gordon Beeferman – Burnt Sienna (2006)
for solo clarinet
Gordon Beeferman – there are people (2013)
for voice and piano
Gordon Beeferman – The Quiet (world premiere)
for voice and piano
Argento New Music Project –– Michel Galante, conductor, with Sharon Harms, soprano
Moving Sounds® Concert: Mahler As New York Contemporary II: Songs of the Earth
January 15, 2015
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue (between 66 and 67 St)
Admission free / Ticket required
PROGRAM
Oliver Schneller – Clair/Obscur (2005-06)
for 7 instruments and live electronics
U.S. premiere
Jesse Jones – Threshold
for tenor and ensemble
New York premiere
Gustav Mahler – Das Lied von der Erde (1908-09)
arranged for mezzo-soprano, tenor and chamber ensemble by Arnold Schoenberg (1921), completed by Rainer Riehn (1983)
Jennifer Beattie, alto; James Benjamin Rodgers, tenor
This concert is made possible with the generous support of The Reed Foundation.
Moving Sounds® Concert: Mahler As New York Contemporary III: The Wayfarer en Masse
March 26, 2015
Cary Hall, DiMenna Center, 450 West 37th Street, New York
Suggested donation $15/$10 students / No tickets necessary
PROGRAM
György Ligeti – Cello Concerto
Sæunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello
Matthias Spahlinger – Furioso
for chamber ensemble
Giacinto Scelsi – Kya
for clarinet and chamber ensemble
Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Gustav Mahler – Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)
arranged for voice and ensemble by Arnold Schoenberg
Sharon Harms, soprano
Argento New Music Project –– Michel Galante, conductor
Residency at Sonoma State University
March 27, 2015
Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
1801 E Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park, CA 94928
Preview Concert selected from the Sonoma Tour Program on Thursday, March 26, 2015, 7:30 PM
Sonoma Tour Program
György Ligeti – Cello Concerto
Sæunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello
Giacinto Scelsi – Kya
for clarinet and chamber ensemble
Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Robert Schumann – Konzertsatz
fragment in D minor arranged for piano and chamber ensemble by Kimmy Szeto
Elizabeth Roe, piano
Aldo Clementi – Concerto
for piano and ensemble
Elizabeth Roe, piano
Gustav Mahler – Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)
arranged for voice and ensemble by Arnold Schoenberg
Federica von Stade, soprano
Argento New Music Project –– Michel Galante, conductor
Argento at Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles
March 30, 2015
Zipper Hall at the Colburn School
200 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
PROGRAM
György Ligeti – Cello Concerto
Sæunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello
Matthias Spahlinger – Furioso
for chamber ensemble
Giacinto Scelsi – Kya
for clarinet and chamber ensemble
Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Robert Schumann – Konzertsatz
fragment in D minor arranged for piano and chamber ensemble by Kimmy Szeto
Elizabeth Roe, piano
Aldo Clementi – Concerto
for piano and ensemble
Elizabeth Roe, piano
Argento's 2014-15 season programming has been made possible by the Fritz Reiner Fund, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, New Music USA's Cary New Music Performance Fund, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
The Expressionism of Georg Friedrich Haas
July 02, 2013
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Subway: B/D/F trains to Rockefeller Center; 6 train to 51st Street; E/M trains to 5 Avenue
Admission free, donation appreciated
July 1, 2013 marks Georg Friedrich Haas’s first day as a resident of the United States, where he will join the composition faculty at Columbia University, a professorship following the lineage of prestigious composers including Edward MacDowell, Otto Luening, Mario Davidovsky, and, most recently, Tristan Murail. This move puts him squarely in the historical tradition of European composers such as Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, and Igor Stravinsky, all of whom moved to the United States and became part of the musical life of America.
To celebrate the occasion, Argento presents salient expressionist works of the Second Viennese School alongside the U.S. premiere of the vocal-instrumental version of Atthis, a dramatic and vocally virtuosic work for soprano and ensemble. (Argento gave the U.S. premiere of the instrumental version of Atthis in 2009 at the Moving Sounds Festival.) In this 45-minute work, Haas sets Sappho’s erotic love poetry against the background of the instrumental combination of Franz Schubert’s Octet: string quintet, horn, clarinet, and bassoon. Whereas Haas’s focus on the lyric impulse harkens back to the Austrian tradition of the Schubertian lieder, his focus on musical innovation follows the tradition of modernist composers of the Second Viennese School.
PROGRAM
Alban Berg – Adagio from Kammerkonzert
new arrangement for chamber ensemble by Michel Galante
World premiere - Aaron Boyd, violin
Anton Webern – Drei Stücke, Op. 11
for cello and piano
Arnold Schoenberg – Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19
for piano
Georg Friedrich Haas – Atthis
version for soprano, clarinet, bassoon, horn, and string quintet
World premiere - Sharon Harms, soprano
Moving Sounds® Festival 2013
September 19, 2013
Thursday-Sunday, September 19-22, 2013
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Argento co-curates with the Austrian Cultura Forum a festival of music, visual media, and aesthetic dialogue.
Thursday, September 19
The Prosodic Body
7:30 PM: Austrian Cultural Forum New York, 11 East 52nd Street, New York
Prosodic body is a new field of research founded by Daria Fain and Robert Kocik that explores language as sound, embodiment, and utmost expression. Tone, intention, rhythm, gesture, the tacit, hesitation, interaction, evocation and even cosmogenesis are all acts of "prosody" which describes the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.
Duo Improvisations
9:00 PM: Austrian Cultural Forum New York, 11 East 52nd Street, New York
This concert is the first duo performance by Mario Diaz de Leon and Mahir Cetiz. Using analog synthesizer, Ciat-Lonbarde Tetrazzi, 36-string zither, electric guitar and piano, their expansive improvisations evoke influences ranging from Xenakis to Scriabin.
Friday, September 20
Film Screening
6:30 PM: Bohemian National Hall, Czech Center, 321 East 73rd Street, New York
Admission free; reservation required
A high definition, 5.1 surround sound sneak preview of the monumental film of Argento's performance of Georg Friedrich Haas' in vain at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York.
58 minutes
An Evening of New Music and Chamber Dance
7:30 PM: Bohemian National Hall, Czech Center, 321 East 73rd Street, New York
Admission free; reservation required
Argento Chamber Ensemble teams up with the New Chamber Ballet performing quiet, delicate miniatures alternating with fast, raucous movement and boldly dramatic gestures, with new choreography by Miro Magloire.
Echoes / Anton Webern – Four Pieces, Op. 7 for violin and piano
Broken Chains / Georg Friedrich Haas – Phantasien for clarinet and viola
Between Us the Night / Beat Furrer – Aria for soprano, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, and percussion
Come Closer / Nina C. Young – Tethered Within for flute, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello, and piano
Fiesta / Arthur Kampela – Bridges for viola
Synch / Michel Galante – World Premiere for violin and piano
Mokré Ruce / Wet Hands
9:00 PM: Bohemian National Hall, Czech Center, 321 East 73rd Street, New York
Dancer and choreographer Veronika Kolečkářová (contemporary dance), saxophonist Radim Hanousek and percussionist Martin Kleibl (jazz improvisation), and Florian Tilzer ("water musician") merge alterations of the sounds of water—water dripping, water splashing, water being poured, and water being stirred—with dance and the dynamic sounds of percussion and saxophone.
Saturday, September 21
Work/Rest
2:00-6:00 PM: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Work/Rest, created by Michelle Nagai, explores the rhythms and ethos of rural farm life in Japan. Touching on the mysteries of enlightenment, agricultural routine, seasonal change, and the wisdom of elders, the piece offers a glimpse of an alternative sense of sounding, listening, and knowing. Percussionists Michael Evans and Andrew Drury collect and categorize sound objects throughout the day, a work-in-process open to the public. The piece culminates with a live show in which Evans and Drury perform, accompanied by a series of comic mistranslations that describe and comment on photographic images of mid-20th-century rural Japan.
Quartet Collective
8:00 PM: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Quartet Collective brings together four artists in the shared endeavor of experimenting through movement and sound in performance. The search for transdisciplinary understanding of spontaneous action, relationship, and intention takes this group to music venues, galleries and onto dance stages alike.
Ensemble mise-en
8:30 PM: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ensemble mise-en will perform two US premieres of works by Arnold Schoenberg and Mirela Ivičević, world premiere performances of compositions by Moon Young Ha, Friedrich Heinrich Kern, and a commissioned piece for mixed ensemble and electronics by young Austrian composer Matthias Kranebitter.
Sunday, September 22
Carol McGonnell
6:30 PM: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217 (map)
Argento clarinettist Carol McGonnell performs Monodologie XVIII, Tier XIV, composed for her by Bernhard Lang, and Der kleine Harlekin, No. 42½ by Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Resonance
7:00 PM: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Developed by William "Bilwa" Costa, Martín Lanz Landázuri, and Emily Sweeney, Resonance explores figurative, physical, and mechanical phenomena related to resonance. The Resonance score has emerged through the repeated exploration of methods for reverberating mindfully in improvisation. Microphones, chalk lines, paper molecules, words, gestures, maps - all are used to trace expansions and contractions of energy and sound through the bodies and around the space.
After The Meadow, Before The Forest
8:00 PM: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
After The Meadow, Before The Forest, performed by Rachel Bernsen and friends, is part two of an ongoing exploration of the open spaces between minimalism and maximalism, structure and improvisation, and unison and independence as they relate to sound and movement.
Michael Jarrell's Cassandra
February 06, 2014
February 6 and 7, 2014, 7:00 PM
Grand Ballroom of the Bohemian National Hall at the Czech Center
321 East 73rd St, New York
Subway: 6 trains to 68th or 77th Street; M72 bus
No reservation necessary. Arrive early!
Swizz composer Michael Jarrell’s Cassandra, a monodrama with a libretto based on the epic monologue of Christa Wolf, follows the Trojan priestess as she straddles past and present events in an internal monologue.
PROGRAM
Michael Jarrell – Cassandra
U.S. premiere of the Nimrod Opera Zurich production/visualization
Performed in English
Anna Clementi, narrator
Argento New Music Project –– Michel Galante, conductor
Argento tours California
March 12, 2014
Sonoma State University
PROGRAM
Louis Andriessen – Workers Union
Brian Ferneyhough – La chute d'Icare
Matthew Ricketts – After 9
Michel Galante – Kreutzerspiel
Mahler/Schoenberg – Drinking Song of the Misery of the Earth
Mahler/Schoenberg – Songs of the Wayfarer
Residency at the Institute for Advanced Study
March 28, 2014
Concerts: Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29, 2014, 8:00 PM
Institute for Advanced Study (web site)
1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540
Argento collaborates with composer Sebastian Currier at a meeting of minds.
PROGRAM
Sebastian Currier – Deep-Sky Objects
for soprano, ensemble, and pre-recorded samples
Mahler – Song of the Earth
arranged for chamber ensemble by Schoenberg
featuring vocalists Sharon Harms and Jennifer Beattie
The Seven Spaces of Mozart's Requiem
April 25, 2014
Bailey Hall, Cornell University
"A work that transfixes me every time I listen to it." -- Alex Ross
Argento joins the choral forces of Cornell University to perform Georg Friedrich Haas’s Sieben Klangräume (Seven Soundspaces), evocative and haunting episodes of the lost worlds connecting the fragments of Mozart’s unfinished Requiem.
PROGRAM
Mozart – Requiem
Georg Friedrich Haas – Sieben Klangräume
Judith Kellock, Ivy Walz, Thom Baker, David Neal
Cornell Chorus and Glee Club –– Robert Isaacs, director
Argento New Music Project –– Michel Galante, conductor
New Year, New Music: A Showcase of Emerging American Composers and Viennese Masters
May 02, 2014
Concert Series Fridays at 7:30 PM | Sundays at 4:00 PM, May 2 to 18, 2014
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Admission free, $10 suggested donation; seating first come, first served, no reservation necessary
Argento showcases American composers in back-to-back-to-back festivities. Concert programs include three world premieres by emerging American composers David Fulmer, Jon Forshee, and Aaron Cassidy, as well as works and installations by Aaron Einbond, Aaron Helgeson, Erin Gee, Hannah Lash, Huck Hodge, Jeff Brown, Jon Forshee, Kimmy Szeto, and Arthur Kampela. An homage to our host and partner, the Austrian Cultural Forum, series programs are anchored by works of Georg Friedrich Haas and Second Viennese School composers.
Discussion with composers and performers follows each concert. Custom ales and lagers provided by the BrewHeister in Weeks 2 and 3.
Week 1: Timbrally rich ensemble works of Austrian composers Georg Friedrich Haas and Anton Webern set the stage for two concerts exploring the potential of the voice, saxophone, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, horn, accordion, harp, strings, and colorful percussion. The concerts feature world premieres by emerging American composers Erin Gee and Aaron Cassidy, as well as Alvin Lucier’s watershed work of processual music, In Memoriam Jon Higgins and harp solo by Guggenheim Prize-winning composer Arthur Kampela.
PROGRAM 1
Friday, May 2, 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 4, 4:00 PM
Arthur Kampela – Phalanges
for solo harp
Erin Gee – Mouthpiece XIXb
for voice and ensemble
World premiere
Aaron Cassidy – The Green is Where
for solo violin
World premiere
Alvin Lucier – In Memoriam Jon Higgins
for clarinet and tape
Anton Webern – Two Songs on poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, Op. 8
Sharon Harms, soprano
Anton Webern – Six Songs on poems by Georg Trakl, Op. 14
Sharon Harms, soprano
Georg Friedrich Haas – für Hans Landesmann for large ensemble
U.S. premiere
Discussion with composers follows the concert
Week 2: Argento presents five fresh compositions by emerging American Composers against the backdrop of the new, intensely distilled chamber arrangement of Arnold Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra by Kimmy Szeto. The program features a world premiere by Jon Forshee, a leading composer in the world of electro-acoustic music, and pieces by recent Naumberg Prize winner and Fromm Commission recipient Hannah Lash, Rome Prize winner Huck Hodge, featured resident Argento composer Michael Klingbeil, and an installation work by Jeff Brown, a young American in working in Switzerland. The composers will join the musicians on stage after the performances to discuss their works and various concerns in contemporary music; the BrewHeister will debut his creations on May 9.
PROGRAM 2
Friday, May 9, 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 11, 4:00 PM
Michael Klingbeil – Vers la courbe
for piano and electronics
Hannah Lash – Friction, Pressure, Impact
for cello and piano
Jonathan Forshee – Supine
for two violins
World premiere
Huck Hodge – Efflux
for violin and clarinet
Arnold Schoenberg – Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16
World premiere arrangement for chamber ensemble by Kimmy Szeto with electronics by Jonathan Forshee
Jeff Brown – Motion Harmony #3
for percussion and three pendulums
Discussion with composers follows the concert; ales/lagers by the BrewHeister
Week 3: Argento dislocates the boundary of the cutting edge in a program that challenges the medium for which each piece is composed. Aaron Helgeson’s Through glimpses of unknowing questions the sonic identity of the piano in an exploration of the instrument’s resonance; Aaron Einbond’s Beside Oneself molds the sounds of the bass clarinet and the viola into responsorial electronic gestures. The vocalist and pianist do much more than singing and piano playing in David Fulmer’s Mnemosyne’s Beams. Alban Berg condenses highly complex musical materials into miniatures in his Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano. Sebastian Currier also created miniature incipits to precede each song in his cycle Deep-Sky Objects. Yet samples incorporate actual audio of distant space objects, and the subject of Sarah Manguso’s love poetry swells to intergalactic portions.
PROGRAM 3
Friday, May 16, 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 18, 4:00 PM
Aaron Einbond – Beside Oneself
for viola and electronics
New York premiere
Aaron Helgeson – Through glimpses of unknowing
for solo piano
David Fulmer – Mnemosyne's Beams
for voice and piano
World premiere
Sharon Harms, voice
Sebastian Currier – Deep-Sky Objects
New York premiere
Sharon Harms, voice
Alban Berg – Four pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op.5
Discussion with composers follows the concert; ales/lagers by the BrewHeister
Argento's 2013-14 season programming has been made possible by the friendly support of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, the Fritz Reiner Fund, New Music USA's Cary New Music Performance Fund, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Moving Sounds® Festival 2012
September 13, 2012
September 13-15, 2012
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Argento co-curates with the Austrian Culturam Forum a festival of music, visual media, and aesthetic dialogue in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum. The festival will host Mivos Quartet performing music by Reiko Fueting and Carl Bettendorf; Ensemble Mise-En performing Pasquale Corrado, Moon Young Ha, Elisabeth Harnik, Kurt Rohde, Bent Sørensen, and Wolfram Schurig; and Jack Quartet performing Clemens Gadenstätte and Georg Friedrich Haas. New York composer Annie Gosfield and Austrian composer Bernhard Fleischmann will perform their own compositions. At the Symposium, Director of the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna Christian Myer will
discuss Schoenberg and the avant-garde with jazz trumpeter Franz Hackl.
Residency at Harvard University
October 13, 2012
Argento workshops and performs world premieres by Harvard University composers.
Seven Spaces of Mozart's Requiem
October 27, 2012
St. Bartholomew's Church (website)
325 Park Avenue at 51st St
Argento will perform all surviving fragments of Mozart's unfinished Requiem linked together by composer Georg Friedrich Haas's Seven Soundspaces (Sieben Klangräume). Acclaimed flutist Paula Robison will perform Mozart's Andante, K. 315 for flute and orchestra to open the program.
This program is presented by Great Music at St. Bart's with support from The Reed Foundation.
More commentaries on Mozart/Haas:
Matt Mendez, Soundproof Room
Charissa Che, Downtown Magazine
PROGRAM
W.A. Mozart - Andante for flute and orchestra, K. 315
Paula Robison, flute
W.A. Mozart – Requiem, K. 626
Georg Friedrich Haas – Sieben Klangräume
Tharanga Goonetilleke, Silvie Jensen, Steven Wilson, Peter Stewart, soloists
The College of New Jersey Chorale, John Leonard, director
Argento New Music Project – Michel Galante, conductor
Argento Performers Series: Lunar Movements
November 30, 2012
November 30, December 1-2, 8-9, and 15-16
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Argento celebrates the 100th anniversary of Pierrot Lunaire with performances of the Arnold Schoenberg masterpiece juxtaposed with recent and premiere compositions.
Program 1: Friday, November 30, 7:30 PM
Preview performance for Argento supporters
Program 2: Saturday, December 1, 7:30 PM
Concert review in The New York Times
As both an active painter and composer, Schoenberg’s visual artwork and compositions grew from the same inner need for expression. With this in mind, Argento offers a program of works by Matthias Pintscher that focuses on the connections between painting and music. Pintscher’s Treatise on a Veil was inspired by painter Cy Twombly’s piece of the same name and contains many associations with visual and acoustic phenomena.
PROGRAM
(All works by Matthias Pintscher):
Study III for Treatise on the Veil for solo violin
Study II for Treatise on the Veil for violin, viola and cello
On a Clear Day for solo piano
Janusgesicht for viola and cello
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Audience discussion with composer Matthias Pintscher during intermission.
David Fulmer, violin; Conor Hanick and Taka Kigawa, piano; Paula Robison, voice
Program 3: Sunday, December 2, 4:00 PM
A recent first prize winner of Concert Artists Guild competition, cellist Jay Campbell offers a recital of the old and new, with an emphasis on New York composers. In particular, the pairing of An Orbicle of Jasp with Pierrot Lunaire emphasizes Schoenberg’s influence on living composers and underlines continuity. Wuorinen, exceptionally among his generation, has developed implications of Schoenberg’s 12-tone as a vehicle for his own musical ends.
PROGRAM
Charles Wuorinen – An Orbicle of Jasp
Toru Takemitsu – Orion
Claude Debussy – Sonata in D minor
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Audience discussion with the artists during intermission.
Jay Campbell, cello; Taka Kigawa, piano; Paula Robison, voice
Program 4: Saturday, December 8, 7:30 pm
In Pierrot Lunaire, Schoenberg originally instructed his violinist to double on viola. Today, performances typically use two separate players to cover the part, effectively minimizing the violist’s role. Considering this, Argento presents a program featuring the viola, the “forgotten” member of the Pierrot ensemble. Included is Feldman’s seminal “viola-plus-Pierrot” composition, The Viola in My Life 2, along with a solo work for the instrument by Jason Eckardt.
PROGRAM
Lei Liang – Garden Eight for solo piano
Jason Eckardt – To be held... for voice, viola, and electronics
Morton Feldman – The Viola in My Life 2 for viola and ensemble
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Audience discussion with the artists during intermission.
Stephanie Griffin, viola; Joanna Chao, piano; Paula Robison, voice
Program 5: Sunday, December 9, 4:00 PM
Musically encapsulating modernity’s cultural and social dislocations, the heterogeneous timbres of Schoenberg’s Pierrot ensemble have served as an endless source of fascination and inspiration for living composers. Featured are works by Feldman and Sciarrino that explore the various potentials of this most quintessential of twentieth-century instrumental contingents, along with contrasting solo compositions by Elliott Carter and Max Grafe.
Max Grafe – Parthenogenesis for piano and electronics
Salvatore Sciarrino – Lo spazio inverso for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and celeste
Elliott Carter – Gra for solo clarinet
Morton Feldman – I met Heine on the rue Fürstenberg for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Audience discussion with the artists during intermission
Sharon Harms, soprano; Joanna Chao, piano; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Paula Robison, voice
Program 6: Saturday, December 15, 4:00 pm (note special time)
Rarely employing full ensemble tuttis, the restraint with which Schoenberg marshals his instrumental forces in Pierrot Lunaire has long been recognized as one of the work's most noteworthy qualities. Indeed, many important moments in the score are actually reserved for the reciter and a single monophonic instrument. Highlighting the delicate, chamber-like scoring of Pierrot, Argento presents mold-breaking solo and duo works by Lillios and Zorn, exploring the unique string and wind timbres that Schoenberg had at his disposal.
Elainie Lillios – Among Fireflies for alto flute and live electronics
John Zorn – Apophthegms for two violins
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Audience discussion with the artists during intermission
Erin Lesser, flute; David Fulmer and Christopher Otto, violins; Paula Robison, voice
Program 7, Sunday, December 16, 4:00 PM
Argento presents a pair of virtuosic duos by Carter and Galante for subsets of the “expanded Pierrot” line-up, followed by a new work for the full ensemble by Fulmer. The Lunar Movements concert series is capped with a final performance of Schoenberg’s century-old masterpiece, the work Igor Stravinsky famously dubbed the “solar plexus” of twentieth-century composition.
Elainie Lillios and Bonnie Mitchell – 2BTextures for video and electronics
Elainie Lillios and Bonnie Mitchell – Sweeping Memories (world premiere)
Elliott Carter – Esprit Rude / Esprit Doux for flute and clarinet
David Fulmer – New Work for soprano and ensemble (world premiere)
Michel Galante – Duos and Trios for flute and marimba
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Audience discussion with the artists during intermission.
Sharon Harms, soprano; Erin Lesser, flute; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Matt Ward, marimba; Paula Robison, voice
Ralph Kaminsky Memorial Concert
February 04, 2013
Remembering a ardent supporter of new music, this program will feature some of the works Ralph admired, performed by new music groups he tirelessly advocated for—Argento, Alarm Will Sound, Either/Or, ICE, JACK Quartet, and Talea.
PROGRAM
Gérard Grisey – Périodes
(and more)
Residency at Smith College – SmithArtsFest 2013: Storytelling
February 10, 2013
Sweeney Concert Hall
Argento performs Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and works by Elliott Carter, Morton Feldman, and Michel Galante.
Symphonies of Song
February 23, 2013
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, New York
Argento brings a taste of the Salzburg Biennale to New York City. This preview program features …wie stille brannte das Licht by the 2013 State of Salzburg International Composition Prize winner Georg Friedrich Haas, and Canto by runner-up Aureliano Cattaneo, along with a continuation of Argento’s tribute to Robert Schumann with the first performance of Kimmy Szeto’s intimate ensemble arrangement of his Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish" for 11 instruments.
Although Robert Schumann completed his third symphony years after his famous settings of Liederkreis and Frauenliebe und -leben, the same ruminative and lyrical lines and the private, intimate modes of expression of his song cycles remain in his symphonic work. Over 150 years later, Georg Friedrich Haas’s cycle for soprano and ensemble, …wie stille brannte das Licht (…how still burns the light) and Aurelius Cattaneo’s Canto follow Schumann’s lyric impulse and vocalize complex textures. Kimmy Szeto’s re-scoring brings out the shining lyricism, stirring drama, sweeping force, and noble solemnity of the "Rhenish" while retaining the intimacy of Schumann’s song cycles.
PROGRAM
Georg Friedrich Haas – ...wie stille brannte das Licht for soprano and ensemble
Sharon Harms, soprano
U.S. premiere
Aureliano Cattaneo – Canto for chamber ensemble
U.S. premiere
Michel Galante – Megalomania for solo piano
Stephen Gosling, piano
U.S. premiere
Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish"
arranged for chamber ensemble by Kimmy Szeto
World premiere
Moving Sounds® Festival 2011
September 15, 2011
For the third year, Argento curates a festival of music, visual media, and aesthetic dialogue in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum. The festival will host Austrian early music specialist Eva Reiter in two expectation-defying performances. Meanwhile, Argento will team up with fourbythree to perform new takes on Austrian and Czech classical music in the Czechsplorations concerts. At the Symposium, electronic and throat music specialist Helge Hinteregger discusses Soundart, spatialization, and internet compositions with a panel of scholars in the fields of music, literature, and philosophy, including George Lewis of Columbia University.
Fontainebleau Contemporain: A 90th Anniversary Event
October 01, 2011
La Maison Française
16 Washington Mews, New York
Tickets: $20; $10 students/Fontainebleau alumni
Concert features composers from 25 years of Le Conservatoire Américain de Fontainebleau.
PROGRAM
Joshua Fineberg – Objets Trouvés for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion – U.S. premiere
Fabien Lévy – Rouge Burri for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Fabien Lévy – Rajeunir, Par Penone for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Richard Carrick – la scène miniature for piano quartet
Amit Gilutz – Improvisation for clarinet and piano
Michel Galante – third etude in speeds for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, keyboard, and marimba – world premiere
Tristan Murail – Feuilles a Travers les Cloches
SONiC Festival - Joyce SoHo
October 27, 2012
Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 10:00 PM; Thursday-Friday October 20-21, 2011, 7:30 PM
Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street (between Houston and Prince)
As a result of our evening of composer/choreographer collaboration, Argento Chamber Ensemble teams up with Joyce SoHo and SONiC in three performances of brand new music and brand new choreography.
PROGRAM
All performances are world premieres
Michael Klingbeil / Darcy Naganuma – New York
Michel Galante / Miro Magloire – New York
David Fulmer / Deborah Lohse – New York
Konrad Kaczmarek / Rebecca Stenn – New York
Argento Performers Series
November 30, 2012
Sundays, November 13 through December 18, 4:00 PM
Saturdays December 3 and December 17, 7:00 PM
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Following the success of last year's Lunar Movements series, Argento once again hosts a concert series this fall, now renamed the Argento Performers Series. Each week, Argento highlights one of its world-class musicians in an intimate recital of chamber works. After the concert, audience members are invited to engage the performers and composers in post-concert discussions.
Residency at Yale University
November 10, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011; Wednesday, February 28, 2012
Argento workshops and performs new works by Yale University composers.
PROGRAM
All performances are world premieres
Ryan Carter – Impaired contact with reality
Friedrich Heinrich Kern – Von Taufendern und Sternen
Clara Latham – Devil in Blue-Blue Sea
Adam Mirza – Partial Knowledge (Situational Ethics)
Kurt Nelson – Ingenium
Yoni Niv – Formaldehyde
Residency at CUNY Queens College
February 10, 2013
Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street
Admission free
Argento teams up with the Second Instrumental Unit in workshops and performances of new works by QC composers.
PROGRAM
All performances are world premieres
Manuel Ciordia – Dreamed Memories
Sean Havrilla – Guts and Glory
Howie Kenty – Clattering in the Wind
Gregory Menillo – Epitaph
Roy Vanegas – Jeisyn
William Wheeler – City Variations
Residency at New York University
December 06, 2011
220 Silver Center, 24 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10003
Admission free
Argento workshops and performances of new works by New York University composers.
PROGRAM
All performances are world premieres of new works by the following composers:
Anderson Alden
Emily Cooley
Baldwin Giang
Nathan Prillaman
Alex Vourtsanis
Gabriel Zucker
Kathryn Alexander
Prof. Michael Klingbeil
Argento at the Czech Center
February 08, 2012
Bohemian National Hall
321 E 73rd Street, New York, NY 10021
Admission free; donation suggested
Argento previews its 2012 Irish tour highlights.
PROGRAM
Enno Poppe – Holz (2000) for solo clarinet with flute, violin, viola, cello, percussion and keyboard
Philippe Hurel – Figures libres (2000) for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, and percussion
Heinz Holliger – Trema for solo viola
Gustav Mahler – Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (The Wayfarer's Songs), arranged for chamber ensemble by Arnold Schoenberg; Tharanga Goonetilleke, soprano
David Fulmer – Verlöschend for soprano saxophone (world premiere); Eliot Gattegno, saxophone
Argento Tours Ireland and Norway
February 14, 2012
Tuesday, February 15, 2012, 8:00 PM
The National Concert Hall, Dublin directions
PROGRAM
Heinz Holliger – Trema for solo viola
Michel Galante – Kreutzerspiel for violin and piano
Enno Poppe – Holz (2000) for clarinet and ensemble
Siobhan Cleary – Psychopomp (world premiere) for flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, viola, cello, piano, and percussion
Philippe Hurel – Figures libres (2000) for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, and percussion
Anton Webern – Quartet, op. 22 for clarinet, saxophone, violin and piano
The following programs will include pieces from the following selection:
George Aperghis – 280 measures for solo clarinet
Alban Berg – Adagio from the Chamber Concerto, arranged for piano trio by Michel Galante
Elliott Carter – Rhapsodic Musings for solo violin
Elliott Carter – Figment I for solo cello
Elliott Carter – Con Leggerezza Pensosa for clarinet, violin, and cello
Michel Galante – Kreutzerspiel for violin and piano
Michel Galante – Flickr for clarinet and piano
Matthais Pintscher – Figura V for solo cello
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Galway, Private Performance
Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 1:15 PM
Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at University of Limerick Lunchtime Concert Series
Tower Theatre
Admission Free
Tuesday, February 16, 2012, 1:00 PM
Harty Room, School of Music and Sonic Arts, Queen's Univeristy Belfast
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Tuesday, February 17, 2012
Music in Kilkenny
Kilkenny, Ireland
Residency at the College of New Jersey – "Music from Four Continents"
March 16, 2012
Mayo Concert Hall, The College of New Jersey (map)
Admission free
Educational workshops, readings, and Argento classics, conducted by Michel Galante and David Fulmer.
PROGRAM
Leoš Janáček – Preludeto From House of the Dead, for solo violin and ensemble arranged by Kimmy Szeto; David Fulmer, violin – NJ premiere
Michel Galante – Kreutzerspiel for violin and piano – NJ premiere
Michel Galante – Flicker for clarinet and piano
Alban Berg – Adagio from Kammerkonzert for violin, clarinet, cello and piano arranged by Michel Galante – NJ premiere
Mahir Cetiz – Enfilade – world premiere
Paul Clift – Infinite Regress – world premiere
Christopher Trapani – Past All Deceiving – world premiere; with Margot Rood, soprano
Residency at Columbia University
March 18, 2012
Mayo Concert Hall, The College of New Jersey (map)
Admission free
Educational workshops, readings, and Argento classics, conducted by Michel Galante and David Fulmer.
PROGRAM
Leoš Janáček – Preludeto From House of the Dead, for solo violin and ensemble arranged by Kimmy Szeto; David Fulmer, violin – NJ premiere
Michel Galante – Kreutzerspiel for violin and piano – NJ premiere
Michel Galante – Flicker for clarinet and piano
Alban Berg – Adagio from Kammerkonzert for violin, clarinet, cello and piano arranged by Michel Galante – NJ premiere
Mahir Cetiz – Enfilade – world premiere
Paul Clift – Infinite Regress – world premiere
Christopher Trapani – Past All Deceiving – world premiere; with Margot Rood, soprano
Residency at Cornell University
May 11, 2012
Barnes Hall, Cornell University
Argento workshops and performs new works by Cornell University composers at Music: Cognition, Technology, Society, an Interdisciplinary Conference.
PROGRAM
All performances are world premieres
Sean Friar – Scale 9
Bryan Christian – Walk
Christopher Chandler – the resonance after...
Eric Lindsay – Town's Gonna Talk
Amit Gilutz – Miscellaneous. Romance
Juraj Kojs – Re-route
Austrian Cultural Forum New York Anniversary Series
May 17, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012, 7:30 PM
Friday, May 18, 2012, 5:30 PM
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Admission free, donation appreciated
Argento will present the world premiere of Austrian composer Bernhard Lang’s new piece Monadologie XVIII: Moving Architecture. The piece, which was commissioned by the Austrian Cultural Forum to commemorate its 10-year anniversary, traces the building’s architecture in 22 layers with the architecture’s original proportions referenced in time-structures. In a choreographic layer, Austrian performance artist Silke Grabinger transposed the underlying rhythmic structures to movement patterns, for which she developed a new form of "dance-writing", which Lang integrated directly into the score.
Program
Bernhard Lang – Monadologie XVIII: Moving Architecture
featuring Daisy Press, soprano
Art After 5 in Philadelphia
July 06, 2012
Great Stair Hall, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130
PROGRAM
Tristan Murail – L'Attente
Gustav Mahler – Adagietto from Symphony No. 5, arr. by Michel Galante - world premiere
Spectral Impressions: Music of Tristan Murail
July 22, 2012
Rodin Museum
Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Tristan Murail is the leading exponent of French spectral music, a compositional approach that focuses on musical color, electronic sound, and impressionist aesthetics. After a 12-year tenure as head of Music Composition at Columbia, Murail was recently appointed composer-in-residence at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Argento has championed Murail since he arrived in the United States, and has won the Recordo Geijutsu 2010 Record Academy Award for Winter Fragments, a recording that showcases Murail’s compositions.
This concert includes the world premiere of a Philadelphia Museum of Art commission, The Bronze Age, and will also be Murail’s first portrait presentation in Philadelphia. For this event, the museum has created a unique outdoor concert setting, complete with a state-of-the-art surround sound system. The program also includes virtuoso solo performances by violist Stephanie Griffin and pianists Joanna Chao and Stephen Gosling. Works for ensemble with electronics will be conducted by Michel Galante.
The museum’s Spectral Impressions series continues on July 28 with another performance in the elegant Rodin Museum Garden showcasing the works of Philippe Hurel.
PROGRAM
All compositions by Tristan Murail
The Bronze Age (2012) for flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, cello and piano; commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (world premiere)
Bois flotté (1997) for trombone, violin, viola, cello, piano, and electronics
C'est un jardin secret, ma soeur, ma fiancée, une source scellée, une fontaine close… (1976) for solo viola
Feuilles à travers les cloches (1998) for flute, violin, cello and piano
Winter Fragments (2000) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion and electronics
Cloches d'adieu, et un sourire...in memoriam Olivier Messiaen for solo piano
La Mandragore (1993) for solo piano
Spectral Impressions: Music of Philippe Hurel
July 28, 2012
Rodin Museum
Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Philippe Hurel is one of the most compelling contemporary French composers, achieving lyricism and intensity by calibrating algorithms to transform musical materials. Argento has been actively promoting Hurel's music to North American audiences since hosting his first French-American Cultural Exchange tour in 2005. In this second of two composer portraits at Philadelphia’s Rodin Museum, the Argento New Music Project will perform three works by Hurel, as well as the world premiere of a Philadelphia Museum of Art commission, Phasis, featuring clarinet soloist Carol McGonnell. This program, including commissioning and presentation, has been generously supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Music Project.
PROGRAM
All compositions by Philippe Hurel
Phasis (2007/2012) for solo clarinet and large ensemble; commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (world premiere); Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Figures libres (2001) for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, vibraphone and piano
…à mesure (1996) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and vibraphone
Loops II (2002) for solo vibraphone
in vain Strikes Again
November 12, 2010
The Curtis R. Priem Experiemental Media and Performing Arts Center
110 8th Street, EMPAC Building, Troy, NY 12180 (map and directions)
Tickets: $15
A contrast of light and dark, harmony and dissonance, in vain startles and captivates the senses. Performed by a 24-member chamber orchestra, much of this intense 75-minute composition takes place in total darkness. In this state, the musicians must perform from memory, communicating with each other and the audience only through sound. The cycles between light and darkness are accompanied by dramatic microtonal deviations in the musical plane, which underscore a desire for perfect harmony, while understanding the futility of achieving a perfect harmonic co-existence, both musically and in the world.
New York Times review of Argento's February 6, 2009, U.S. premiere at Miller Theatre
PROGRAM
Georg Friedrich Haas – in vain for 24 musicians
Composer Portrait: Fred Lerdahl
October 01, 2011
Miller Theatre
2960 Broadway, New York [Subway: 1 train to 116th Street]
Tickets: $25, $15 students/under 25/seniors, $7 Columbia University students
Fred Lerdahl characterizes his music as "both tonal and highly organized in a fresh rather than retrospective way. He composes with "the mind of a Classicist and the heart of a Romantic."
Argento performs the world premiere of Lerdahl's new chamber concerto Arches with cellist Anssi Karttunen, and his Pulitzer finalist composition Time after Time, in which "the bright sound of the ensemble refracts in constantly shifting colors." On the same program is the New York premiere of another Pulitzer finalist, the Third String Quartet, "a remarkable work that displays impeccable technical facility and palpable emotion" commissioned and performed by the Daedalus Quartet.
PROGRAM
All works by Fred Lerdahl
Arches (2010)
for cello and chamber ensemble
World premiere
Anssi Karttunen, cello; Argento Chamber Ensemble, Michel Galante, conductor
Time after Time (2000)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano
Argento Chamber Ensemble, Michel Galante, conductor
Third String Quartet (2008)
New York premiere
Daedalus Quartet
Argento in Los Angeles
January 10, 2011
Zipper Hall at the Colburn School
200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012 (directions)
Admission: $25; $10 students
PROGRAM
Brian Ferneyhough – La chute d'Icare
for clarinet with flute, oboe, violin, cello, bass, piano and percussion
Gérard Pesson – La lumière n'a pas de bras pour nous porter (1994)
[The light has not the arms to carry us]
for amplified piano
Gérard Pesson – La vita è come l'albero di natale (1992)
[Life is like the tree of birth]
for violin and piano
Gérard Pesson – Non sapremo mai di questo mi (1991)
[We will never know of this me]
for flute, violin and piano
Salvatore Sciarrino – Let Me Die Before I Wake
for solo clarinet
Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Romitelli – Professor Bad Trip: Lessons I, II, III
for flute, clarinet, electric guitar, keyboard, percussion, violin, viola, cello and electronics
Argento at the Tune In Festival
February 18, 2011
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue (at 66th St), New York
Subway: 6 train to 68th Street; F train to 63rd St
Free with admission to installation
New York Times review of Argento's February 6, 2009, U.S. premiere of in vain at Miller Theatre
PROGRAM
Georg Friedrich Haas – in vain
Argento New Music Project – Michel Galante, conductor
Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians
eighth blackbird, red fish blue fish, and Newspeak
Additional works to be announced
Residency at Cornell University
March 04, 2011
Friday-Sunday, March 4-6, 2011
Cornell University
Workshop Syllabus
Premieres of student compositions
Roberto Sierra – Cancionero Sefardi
for mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, piano, violin, and cello
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
for mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, piano, violin, and cello
Argento at the Cutting Edge Series
April 11, 2011
Leonard Nimoy Thalia at the Peter Norton Symphony Space
2537 Broadway (at 95th Street)
Subway: 1 train to 96th Street
Admission: $15; $10 for seniors and students
PROGRAM
Jeffrey Mumford – through a stillness brightening for violin and ensemble
World premiere commissioned by the Argento New Music Project
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Brian Ferneyhough – La Chute d'Icare for clarinet and ensemble
Carol McGonnell, clarinet
Program also includes Exiles by Harold Meltzer and the NY premiere of Instruments of Revelation by Victoria Bond, performed by the Da Capo Ensemble
Spaces of Haas between fragments of Mozart's Requiem
April 19, 2011
St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University
Amsterdam Avenue at 118th Street
Subway: 1 train to 116th Street
Admission free
Argento hosts the College of New Jersey Orchestra and Chorale, performing the U.S. premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas’s Sieben Klangraume (Seven Soundscapes), which serve to link together the fragments of Mozart’s unfinished Requiem, K.626.
PROGRAM
Georg Friedrich Haas – Sieben Klangraume
New York premiere
An Evening for Composer/Choreographer Collaboration
May 02, 2011
Joyce Theater SoHo
155 Mercer Street (between Houston and Prince)
Admission free
To foster creative interdisciplinary dialogue, the Moving Sounds Festival®, the Argento New Music Project, and the Joyce Theater will jointly host an event bringing together composers and choreographers. The evening will offer composers and choreographers the opportunity to meet one another, discuss ideas, and gain contacts for future collaborations. We invite all involved to bring their laptops, videos, music, business cards, and an open mind!
We envision the event as a free exchange of ideas in which creators from the dance and music worlds can introduce their work to one another and discuss whatever they wish, and hope the composers and choreographers will keep in touch with Moving Sounds and the Joyce Theater ready to be involved with whatever plans materialize in the next 3 to 5 years.
We are especially grateful to the Ditson Fund and the American Composers Orchestra for facilitating what will be the first of many composer/choreographer collaborations.
Gotham Dance Festival
June 07, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 7:30 PM
Thursday, June 8, 8 PM
Saturday, June 11, 8PM
Joyce Theater
175 8th Avenue at 19th Street
Subway: A/C/E to 14th Street; L to 8th Avenue; 1 to 18th Street
Argento Artistic Director Michel Galante collaborates with the Kate Weare Dance Company in the revival of his 2009 work Lean-To, described by Deborah Jowitt of The Village Voice as "eroticism in its primal, devouring purity--challenging, at times ambiguous, and infinitely complex."
Argento at the Phillips Collection
November 12, 2009
Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC
Argento performs the stunning, subtle, and often unpredictable musical creations of Tristan Murail, the leading spectralist composer in America. The composer and Argento musicians speak about his work and spectralism as a modern art.
PROGRAM
All works by Tristan Murail
Unanswered Questions
for solo flute
Feuilles à travers les cloches
for flute, violin, cello and piano
Cloches d'adieu, et un sourire... in memoriam Olivier Messiaen
for solo piano
The Blue-Footed Booby
for flute and piano
Les Ruines circulaires
for clarinet and violin
La Barque mystique
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Composer Portrait: Ralph Shapey
November 17, 2009
Miller Theatre
2960 Broadway (at 116th Street), New York
Subway: 1 train to 116th Street/Columbia University
Admission: $25; $15 students; $7 Columbia University students
Argento violinist Miranda Cuckson leads the Argento New Music Project, New York Woodwind Quintet, and the Talujon Percussion Quartet in this showcase of the unique American voice of Ralph Shapey.
PROGRAM
All works by Ralph Shapey
Five (1960)
for violin and piano
Interchange (1996)
for percussion quartet
Movements (1960)
for woodwind quintet
Etchings (1945)
for solo violin
Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Group (1954)
Charles Neidich, clarinet
Three for Six (1979)
for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin/viola and cello
Argento at the the Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music
November 21, 2009
Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's Univeristy Belfast
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Argento duo Erin Lesser and Carol McGonnell performs with Alex Lipowski.
New Sound Worlds
November 24, 2009
Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall
Dublin, Ireland
An exciting and eclectic concert featuring Carol McGonnell and Erin Lesser of the Argento New Music Project. Program includes the world premiere of Anne Cleare's Eyam, along with works by Nono, Meltzer, Gaussin, Furrer, Scelsi and Lunsqui.
Click here for a concert review
PROGRAM
Allain Gaussin – Satori for solo clarinet
Harold Meltzer – Trapset for solo alto flute
Harold Meltzer – Focus Group for solo piccolo
Luigi Nono – À Pierre for contrabass flute, contrabass clarinet and live electronics
Ann Cleare – Eyam for contrabass clarinet and electronics (world premiere)
Alexandre Lunsqui – Topografia for solo bass flute
Beat Furrer – Fama for contrabass flute and actor
Giacinto Scelsi – Piccola Suite for flute and clarinet
Argento at Modfest
January 24, 2010
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Program includes works by Milton Babbitt, Harold Meltzer, and Jonathan Chenette.
Composer Portrait: Sebastian Currier
March 05, 2010
Miller Theatre
2960 Broadway (at 116th Street), New York
Admission: $25; $15 students; $7 Columbia University students
Grawemeyer-award winning composer Sebastian Currier (b. 1959) creates music that is “lyrical, colorful, firmly rooted in tradition, but absolutely new,” says The Washington Post. His ability to evoke an array of emotions and instrumental colors are his stylistic trademarks. This concert includes a world premiere for chamber orchestra, along with an encore performance the 2006 piano concerto performed by the brilliant pianist Christopher Taylor.
PROGRAM
All works by Sebastian Currier
Night Time (1998)
Bodymusic (2010) (world premiere)
Piano Concerto (2006)
American Composers Forum, Philadelphia
April 19, 2011
Prince Music Theater
1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
Argento premieres six works by Philadelphia composers, topping off the concert with a rarely performed Davidovsky gem Festino Notturno.
This event is made possible by the American Composers Forum’s New Voices program. New Voices, designed by the American Composers Forum, Philadelphia Chapter, funded by the William Penn Foundation and The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, enables emerging composers to work closely with professional ensembles in the production of original musical works for concert performance.
MATA Festival
April 22, 2010
Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and Sullivan), New York
Admission Free
Argento showcases young American composers at the 12th annual MATA Festival, performing Michelle Lou, world premieres of Alexander Sigman and Filippo Perocco, and the New York premiere of Argento's own Ryan Beppel.
PROGRAM
Michelle Lou – Weeds, Grass, Rock, Slopes (2008/2009) for flute, clarinet, oboe, trombone, violin, cello and double bass
Alexander Sigman – Mi(e)s(e)-En-abÓMe (world premiere)
Filippo Perocco – Veglia for soprano, bass clarinet, saxophone, trombone, piano, accordion, guitar, violin, and cello (world premiere)
performed in collaboration with ensemble l'arsenale
Ryan Beppel – Receptive Aphasia – winner of the American Composers Forum Philadelphia Chapter New Voices Project (New York premiere)
American Composers Showcase: Galante, Iglesia, and Adán
April 30, 2010
Miller Theatre
2960 Broadway (at 116th Street), New York
Admission free
Argento premieres works by Michel Galante, Daniel Iglesia and Victor Adán. Concert also includes Igor Stravinsky’s masterwork Les Noces with the Princeton Chamber Choir and Columbia Classical Performers.
PROGRAM
Michel Galante – World premiere of new work for flute and percussion
Daniel Iglesia – American Engineer for live ensemble, recorded sounds, electronics, percussion, and 3D projection (world premiere)
Victor Adán – fonoptera for 8 custom-made instruments and prepared piano (world premiere)
Igor Stravinsky – Les Noces with the Columbia Classical Performers and the Princeton Chamber Choir
This concert is made possible with the support of the Fritz Reiner Fund, the Columbia University Music Performance Program, and The Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies at Columbia University.
Residency at New York University
May 10, 2010
Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South), New York
Admission free
Argento workshops and performs new works by New York University graduate composers.
PROGRAM
All world premieres
Ryan Carter – Impaired contact with reality
Friedrich Heinrich Kern – Von Taufendern und Sternen
Clara Latham – Devil in Blue-Blue Sea
Adam Mirza – Partial Knowledge (Situational Ethics)
Kurt Nelson – Ingenium
Yoni Niv – Formaldehyde
Argento at Dawn: a musical event in No Man's Land
June 03, 2010
Open rehearsal WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2010, 6:00 PM
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue (at 66th St), New York
Free with admission to installation
Lexington Avenue, a door opens… Daylight breaks into the Armory. Outside, a bell rings. The choir enters silently before singing a hymn that has no nation. A voice rises, as if it were a reply from above. The choir disappears, the door closes… Around the mountain, musicians along the balconies call one another. The bell rings again...
A unique musical event composed by long-time collaborator Franck Krawczyk, Dawn will be performed to accompany Christian Boltanski's monumental installation No Man’s Land. Argento will perform this one-time-only event from within the installation--moving through the drill hall and balconies.
PROGRAM
Franck Krawczyk - Dawn for woodwind quintet, guitar, keyboard, percussion, and choir (world premiere)
Fabien Lévy
June 03, 2010
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Admission free, ticket required
Argento showcases compositions by Columbia University Professor Fabien Lévy, accompanied by a conversation and discussion of his music. Argento rounds up the concert with Gérard Grisey's Spectral classic, Talea.
PROGRAM
Fabien Lévy – à propos for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Fabien Lévy – Risâla fî-l-hob wa fî'lm al-handasa (Small Treatise on Love and Geometry) for flute, clarinet, trombone, violin and cello
Fabien Lévy - à peu près de for two trumpets (American premiere)
Gérard Grisey – Talea for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Birthday Series – Schumann at 200: Three Perspectives
June 03, 2010
Chelsea Art Museum
160 11th Avenue (at 22nd St), New York
Tickets: please contact Chelsea Art Museum
Argento inaugurates its Birthday Series with three perspectives on Robert Schumann at his 200th. Argento pianist Joanna Chao will perform Liszt's stunning arrangements of two Schumann songs. In György Kurtág's Homage a R. Sch., music emerges from silence to a powerful climax as the imaginary Robert Schumann brings a small pantheon of characters in his circle back to life. Argento completes the concert with the premiere of Schumann's Second Symphony in an 11-player chamber arrangement by Kimmy Szeto.
PROGRAM
Robert Schumann – Widmung
arr. Franz Liszt for solo piano
Joanna Chao, piano
Robert Schumann – Frühlingsnacht
arr. Franz Liszt for solo piano
Joanna Chao, piano
György Kurtág – Hommage à R. Sch., op. 15d
for clarinet, viola and piano
Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 2 in C Major
arr. Kimmy Szeto for chamber ensemble
world premiere (1st/4th mvts); U.S. premiere (2nd/3rd mvts.)
Inner Book of Breathing: A Multimedia Recital
September 25, 2008
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Admission free, ticket required
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
October 27, 2008
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (at 95th 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
November 01, 2008
Merkin Concert Hall
129 West 67th Street, New York
Admission free; ticket required
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 sextet
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
November 18, 2008
Tuesday, November 18
Wednesday, November 19
Komunitas Salihara
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
February 06, 2009
Miller Theatre
2960 Broadway (at 116th Street), New York
Admission: $25; $15 students; $7 Columbia University students
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
February 09, 2009
Austrian Cultural Forum
3524 International Court, N.W., Washington, D.C.
Admission free, ticket required
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
February 10, 2009
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Admission free, ticket required
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
February 16, 2009
Zipper Hall at the Colburn School
200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012
Admission: $25; $10 students
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 renowned percussion ensemble Red Fish, Blue Fish performing Grisey's surround sound percussion sextet, Tempus ex machina.
PROGRAM
Grisey – Tempus ex machina for percussion sextet
Grisey – Les Espaces Acoustiques, Part I:
I. Prologue, solo viola
II. Périodes, for chamber ensemble
III. Partiels, for chamber orchestra
Yale University Residency
February 18, 2009
Wednesday, February 18
Tuesday, March 3, 5:00 PM
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
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
April 03, 2009
Friday, April 3, 7:30 PM
Saturday, April 4, 8:00 PM
Sunday, April 5, 3:00 PM
Alexander Kasser Theater
1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ
Admission: $15
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.
Cutting Edge Concerts: Music of the Mind
April 13, 2009
Pre-concert discussion with composers and performers at 6:30 PM
Leonard Nimoy Thalia at the Peter Norton Symphony Space
2537 Broadway (at 95th Street)
Admission: $15; $10 for seniors and students
Argento presents music by Fred Lerdahl and world premieres of Victoria Bond and Michel Galante.
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 New Music Project – Michel Galante, conductor
Celebrating American Composers and Their Influences
April 14, 2009
Le Poisson Rouge
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
April 14, 2009
Wednesday, April 14
Thursday, April 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
May 05, 2009
Merkin Concert Hall
129 W67th Street, New York
Admission: $25; students half price
Three ensembles team up to celebrate the 100th year of Messiaen in a concert featuring U.S. premieres of four of his leading protégés, including Pierre Boulez and Allain Gaussin. Highlights include:
PROGRAM
Olivier Messiaen – Oiseaux Exotiques
Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players
Eduardo Leandro, conductor
Gil Kalish, piano
Tristan Murail – Les Courants de l'Espaces
for ondes martenot and 28 musicians
U.S. premiere
Argento New Music Project and the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players
Tristan Murail, ondes martenot
Michel Galante, conductor
Pierre Boulez – Improvisé pour le Dr. K
U.S. premiere
Allain Gaussin – Jardin Zen
U.S. premiere
Argento New Music Project
Michel Galante, conductor
Gérard Grisey – Manifestations
U.S. premiere
Face the Music and Argento New Music Project
Jennifer Undercofler, conductor
Subterrain Electronica
May 13, 2009
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, New York
Admission free, ticket required
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
June 25, 2009
Thursday-Saturday, June 25-27, 8:30 PM
Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, New York
Admission $18, $12 members
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.