MSM STUDIO ORCHESTRA Billy Childs, Composer and Pianist

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2019 | 7:30 PM NEIDORFF-KARPATI HALL FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2019 | 7:30 PM NEIDORFF-KARPATI HALL

MSM STUDIO ORCHESTRA Billy Childs, Conductor

PROGRAM Billy Childs Dance of Shiva Quiescence , drums Jerome Gillespie Savannah Harris, drums Houston, TX Oakland, CA , bass Joshua Allen Hwansu Kang, bass Buford, GA Yeosu, South Korea , piano Billy Childs Billy Childs, piano , alto saxophone Nicola Caminiti Nicholas Pennington, guitar Messina, Italy Adelaide, Australia Shun Katayama, flute Rebirth Ichikawa, Japan Jerome Gillespie, drums Dominique Moreno, harp Houston, TX Houston, Texas Joshua Allen, bass Jeehyun Park, violin Buford, GA Seoul, South Korea Billy Childs, piano Sookyung Choi, violin Jack Kotze, trombone Tal Mcgee, viola Chicago, IL Spring, Texas Nicola Caminiti, alto saxophone Nicholas Burkel, cello Messina, Italy Sayville, New York Sabeth Perez, vocals Cologne, Germany Into the Light Rasmus Sorenson, piano Copenhagen, Denmark Savannah Harris, drums Nicholas Pennington, guitar Oakland, CA Adelaide, Australia Hwansu Kang, bass Nicola Caminiti, alto saxophone Yeosu, South Korea Messina, Italy Billy Childs. piano Christian Mehler, trumpet 1 Nicholas Pennington, guitar Cologne, Germany Adelaide, Australia Geoffrey Gallante, trumpet 2 Shun Katayama, flute Alexandria, Virginia Ichikawa, Japan Camerahn Alforque, trumpet 3 Nicola Caminiti, soprano saxophone San Diego, California Messina, Italy Jack Kotze, trombone 1 Dominique Moreno, harp Chicago, Illinois Houston, Texas Remee Ashley, trombone 2 Jeehyun Park, violin Berkeley, California Seoul, South Korea Seth Birrell, trombone 3 (bass) Sookyung Choi, violin Austin, Texas Tal Mcgee, viola Kevin Mueller, horn 1 Spring, Texas Oshkosh, Wisconsin Nicholas Burkel, cello Victoria Drexler, horn 2 Sayville, New York Brooklyn, New York Eli Pandolfi, horn 3 Intermission Webster Groves, Missouri Emma Potter, horn 4 Stay Surprise, Arizona , clarinet 1 Sabeth Perez, vocals Sin Nam Claudia Ng Hong Kong, Hong Kong Cologne, Germany , clarinet 2 Billy Childs, piano Jung Woo Lee Flushing, New York Michael Lamar, bassoon 1 Enlightened Souls San Diego, California Matt Holman, Conductor Jordan Dreyer, bassoon 2 West Milford, New Jersey Poems by Billy Childs Elise Conti, oboe 1 A Note to the Alt-Right Peachtree City, Georgia Invocation Jung Yun Lee, oboe 2 Peter Lazorcik, drums South Korea Lebanon, Pennsylvania Lauren Scanio, flute 1 Owen Storey, bass Buffalo, New York Berkeley, California Yuxi Yang, flute 2 Guangzhou, China 4 5 Morgan Rucker, vocals Missouri City, TX MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC Matthew Jamal, narrator STUDIO ORCHESTRA North Bethesda, MD Dominique Moreno, harp VIOLIN I Toby Winarto OBOE Jeehyun Park, *Elise Conti, Houston, Texas Los Angeles, California concertmaster Peachtree City, Georgia Jeehyun Park, violin Dudley Raine Seoul, South Korea Lynchburg, Virginia Jung Yun Lee, Seoul, South Korea Yeyoung Kim Myeonghoon Park South Korea Sookyung Choi, violin Nam-gu, South Korea Pusan, South Korea CLARINET Nicholas Burkel, cello Amos Lee Samuel Omalyev *Sin Nam Claudia Sayville, New York Astoria, New York Newton, Connecticut Ng, Zachary Merkovsky, bass Shiqi Luo Zhen Huang Hong Kong, Hong Kong Lawrence, New York Shanghai, China Hangzhou, China Jung Woo Lee, Elizabeth Mandic- Flushing, New York CELLO Nowac Nicholas Burkel, BASSOON Hartford, Connecticut principal *Michael Lamar, Lily Ye Sayville, New York San Diego, California Phoenix, Arizona Hyeunji Lee Jordan Dreyer, Yuna Jo Seoul, South Korea West Milford, New Jersey Seoul, South Korea Phoebe Tsai HORN Francesca Abusamra Forest Hills, New York *Kevin Mueller, Rochester Hills, Michigan Miguel Cegarra Oshkosh, Wisconsin VIOLIN II Orlando, Florida Victoria Drexler, Sookyung Choi, Camille Dietrich Brooklyn, New York principal Pearl River, New York Eli Pandolfi, Yena Lee Eunhye Park Webster Groves, Missouri Seoul, South Korea Seoul, South Korea Emma Potter Ziyi Yuan DOUBLE BASS Surprise, Arizona Beijing, China Zachary Merkovsky, TIMPANI & Michael Brennan principal PERCUSSION Patchogue, New York Lawrence, New York Hamza Able, Guolong Wang Yoojeong Kim Jacksonville, Florida Beijing, China Seoul, South Korea Mitchel Vogel, Chenxiang Wang Jakob Messinetti Oviedo, Florida Beijing, China Lawrence, New York Riley Barnes, Jinwoo Jung Matthew Jamal Scott Flower Mound, Texas Seoul, South Korea North Bethesda, Maryland Gabriel Costache, Denver, Colorado Wing Yan Kwok FLUTE Hong Kong, Hong Kong *Lauren Scanio, Yi Chen, Tapei, Taiwan VIOLA Buffalo, New York Tal Mcgee, principal Yuxi Yang, Spring, Texas Guangzhou, China BRASS & WIND PRINCIPALS 6 *CHILDS Enlightened Souls 7 PROGRAM NOTE Billy Childs’s multifaceted oeuvre resides in its own universe, in which He’s also demonstrated a winning affinity for singers of various genres, the worlds of jazz and European classical music often collide. Often such as Renée Fleming, Dianne Reeves, Ledesi, Rickie Lee Jones, and likened to the iconic 20th-century composer Aaron Copland, Childs Allison Krauss. They and others appeared on Childs’s acclaimed Map says, in response to that towering comparison, “I’m flattered because I to The Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro (Sony Masterworks, 2014), love Aaron Copland. It doesn’t bother me or diminish my uniqueness.” which contained his Grammy-winning jazz arrangement of New York Tendaberry. Because of the narrative sensibilities of evocative works, The 61-year-old, four-time Grammy-winning composer, arranger, and Childs frequently recruits vocalists to help better bring his musical stories pianist will transport listeners into his fascinating music realms as he to life. “I also look for a certain fearlessness and willingness to invent in collaborates with many Manhattan School of Music students in various singers as much as an instrumentalist does,” he says. “My approach to configurations. A chamber jazz ensemble, consisting of a string quartet, composing music is creating dramatic scenarios and telling stories.” piano, bass, drums, harp, guitar, and saxophonist, will perform his compositions Into the Light (which afforded Childs his first Grammy for —John Murph “Best Composition” in 2006) and Quiescence. A jazz combo of piano, bass, drums, and saxophone will play two compositions from Childs’s most recent and Grammy-winning disc, Rebirth (Mack Avenue, 2017): Dance John Murph is a Washington, D.C.-based music journalist and DJ, who writes of Shiva and Rebirth, the latter featuring vocalist Sabeth Perez. Then for JazzTimes, Down Beat, JazzWise, and NPR Music. the Manhattan School of Music Studio Orchestra will tackle Childs’s Enlightened Souls. When working with the MSM students on his compositions, Childs hope that they’ll gain further insights into the intricacies of merging modern jazz with European classical music, while forging unique compositional voices. “Hopefully, I will give the students a better idea of negotiating between various genres,” he says. With a professional career that spans more than four decades, Childs can barely remember which talent emerged first—intrepid jazz pianist or brilliant composer. He just remembers his love for playing music and his knack for absorbing so many genres and stylistic idioms, while growing up in Los Angeles. “I’ve always made up songs,” he adds, before noting that his first through-composed piece was his audition composition for enrollment at the University of Southern California. “I’ve always loved the construction of music. It’s like building things with Lego blocks in that you have these different units that can be attached in numerous ways. However, it’s up to you to design the blocks any way you want.” Childs has collaborated with a plethora of esteemed instrumentalists, including trombonist J.J. Johnson, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the Kronos String Quartet, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which most recently performed his Of Darkness and Light, a commissioned composition for piano and chamber orchestra. 8 9 ABOUT THE ARTIST Billy Childs has emerged as one of the foremost American composers Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro and What Are You Doing the of his era, perhaps the most distinctly American composer since Aaron Rest of Your Life? from To Love Again). In 2006, Childs was awarded Copland—for, like Copland, he has successfully married the musical a Chamber Music America Composer’s Grant, and in 2009 was the products of his heritage with the Western neoclassical traditions of the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was also awarded the Doris 20th century in a powerful symbiosis of style, range, and dynamism. A Duke Performing Artist Award in 2013, and, most recently, the music native of Los Angeles, Childs grew up immersed in jazz, classical, and award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2015. popular music influences. A prodigious talent at the piano earned him Childs collection of re-imagined Laura Nyro compositions for Sony public performances by age six, and at sixteen he was admitted to the Masterworks was released in September 2014. Map to the Treasure: USC Community School of the Performing Arts, going on to earn a Reimagining Laura Nyro was produced by Larry Klein and features Bachelor of Music degree in composition under the tutelage of Robert guest artists Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Wayne Shorter, Alison Kraus, Linn and Morten Lauridsen. Dianne Reeves, Chris Botti, Esperanza Spalding, Lisa Fischer, Susan By the time of his graduation from USC, Childs was already an in- Tedeschi, Rickie Lee Jones, Shawn Colvin, Ledesi, Becca Stevens, Chris demand performer in the L.A. jazz scene. Soon thereafter he was Potter, Brian Blade, Steve Wilson, and Jerry Douglas. In 2016, Childs discovered by trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, with whom he was appointed President of Chamber Music America. embarked on a successful performing and recording tour. He recorded As a pianist Childs has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, Renée and performed with a number of other influential jazz musicians, Fleming, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony including J.J. Johnson, Joe Henderson, and Wynton Marsalis, before Orchestra, Chick Corea, the Kronos Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, landing a record deal with Windham Hill Records in 1988, when he Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Ron Carter, the Ying Quartet, the released Take For Example, This…, the first of four critically acclaimed American Brass Quintet, and Chris Botti. albums for the label. The albums Twilight Is Upon Us (1989), His April Touch (1991), and Portrait of a Player (1992) followed, each expansive contributions of depth and virtuosity. Since then Childs has written and produced I’ve Known Rivers (1995) on Stretch/GRP, The Child Within (1996) on Shanachie, and two volumes of “jazz/chamber music” (an amalgam of jazz and classical music): Lyric, Vol. 1 (2006) and Autumn: In Moving Pictures, Vol. 2 (2010). The recordings earned him two Grammy awards and five nominations. Simultaneously with his recording career, Childs has occupied a parallel niche as an in-demand composer. His orchestral and chamber commission credits include Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Kronos Quartet, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the American Brass Quintet, the Ying Quartet, and the Dorian Wind Quintet. Thus far in his career, Childs has garnered thirteen Grammy nominations and four awards, two for Best Instrumental Composition (Into the Light from Lyric and The Path Among The Trees from Autumn: In Moving Pictures) and two for Best Arrangement 10 Accompanying a Vocalist (New York Tendaberry from Map to the 11 ABOUT MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, today MSM is recognized for its more than 960 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students who come from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states; its innovative curricula and world- renowned artist-teacher faculty that includes musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway communities; and a distinguished community of accomplished, award-winning alumni working at the highest levels of the musical, educational, cultural, and professional worlds. The School is dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of aspiring musicians, from its Precollege students through those pursuing doctoral studies. Offering classical, jazz, and musical theatre training, MSM grants a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. True to MSM’s origins as a music school for children, the Precollege program continues to offer superior music instruction to 475 young musicians between the ages of 5 and 18. The School also serves some 2,000 New York City schoolchildren through its Arts-in-Education Program, and another 2,000 students through its critically acclaimed Distance Learning Program.

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