This Concert is Dedicated to

Program

Làm Một (1991) Qu Xiao-Song For Percussion Trio Patrick Lapinski, Nicolas Doktor, Travis Salim Peter Jarvis - Conductor

Sculpture 3 (1995) Rüdiger Pawassar For Trio The William Paterson University Anthony Fabrizio, Dominick Michele, Nicolas Doktor

presents Prism (1986) Keiko Abe For Marimba Solo Travis Salim New Music Series

China Gates (1977) Peter Jarvis, director For Solo Max Stehr

featuring part of the William Paterson University Three (2013) Nicolas Doktor For Percussion Trio Cross-Cultural Festival Anthony Fabrizio, Dominick Michele, Nicolas Doktor

Program Notes Làm Một: Qu Xiao Song There is nothing more than a mysterious ritual. Monday, March 25, 2013, 7:00 PM - Qu Xiao- Song

Shea Center for the Performing Arts Sculpture 3: Rudiger Pawassar Sculpture in Wood for marimba quartet and Sculpture3 (trio version) are two of Pawassar’s most often performed works for marimba. Sculpture in Wood was also composed in 1995 and is dedicated to the Marimba Art Ensemble - From www.norsk-percussion.no

Prism: Keiko Abe Gakugei University where she completed a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Music Prism is a virtuosic piece for solo marimba. This piece is filled with nonstop Education. She began working in the Columbia Japan, NHK and other recording studios energy and motion to capture the attention of both the performer and the audience. while in college. Although it is fast and intense, Prism is also very dramatic and expressive, holding a In 1962, she and two friends (who were also students of Asabuki) founded the variety of emotions, from soft and calm to agitated. Xebec Marimba Trio, performing popular music, arrangements of folk songs and some "Since its initial composition and premiere in 1986, Abe has written several of Abe's arrangements. They recorded more than seven albums between 1962 and 'spinoffs' of Prism, most notably, Prism Rhapsody, a concerto for marimba and orchestra 1966. During this period she had her own show on Japanese television, instructing or wind ensemble, and most recently, the Prism Variations, for marimba ensemble and school children in playing, as well as a radio show called "Good Morning percussionists." Marimba". She also began her recording career with a bang, putting out 13 albums in a - Travis Salim five-year span. In 1963, the Yamaha Corporation sought Japanese marimba players to assist in : John Adams the design of their new instruments; Keiko Abe was chosen for her original and clear China Gates is a short piano piece composed by the minimalist American ideas of the marimba sound and design, particularly her concept of how the marimba composer John Adams in 1977. Adams wrote this work as a companion piece to should be able to blend in ensembles, for example, moving away from the his , dating from the same period. Phrygian Gates is the longer of the two inconsistencies and lack of focus of folk percussion instruments. Her ideas for the pieces and uses many of the same techniques as China Gates, but in terms of structure desired sound of the instruments guided Yamaha's design, and in the 1970s began the two pieces have little in common. production. In addition, at her urging, the range of the new marimba was stretched The piece is one of Adams' first mature works, which he wrote for the then 17- from four octaves to five, which has become the standard for soloists. Abe has been year-old pianist Sarah Cahill during a rainy season in northern California. Adams himself closely associated with Yamaha ever since, and their first ever signature series of has suggested that the constant eighth notes of the piece reflect the steady rainfall of keyboard percussion mallets bears her name. the time. The bass notes of the piece form the root of the mode, while the upper voices Her compositions, including Michi, Variations on Japanese Children's Songs, oscillate between different modes. K. Robert Schwarz has noted how the style of China and Dream of the Cherry Blossoms, have become standards of the marimba repertoire. Gates is in keeping with the ideas of "process music" of .[1] Abe is active in promoting the development of literature for the marimba, not only by The piece is written in three parts. In the first part, the modes alternate writing pieces herself, but also by commissioning works by other composers and between A-flat mixolydian and G-sharp aeolian, which sounds almost like the major and encouraging young composers. She has added at least 70 compositions to the minor versions of the same key. The third part alternates between F lydian and F locrian. repertoire. She uses improvisation as an important element in developing her musical The second part alternates more rapidly between all four modes. Adams has described ideas which she then uses in her compositions. the structure of the work as an "almost perfect palindrome". In addition to her heavy composing, touring, and recording schedule, Abe has been a - From Wikipedia lecturer, then professor, at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo since 1970. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1993. Three: Nicolas Doktor She uses the YM-6000 Marimba made by Yamaha. Three is originally influenced by the concept of “Tihai” found in Classical Indian Her music is mainly published by Xebec Music Publishing and Schott, Japan. Music and is ultimately a minimalistic, rhythmic exploration of the number three. It is - From Wikipedia performed by three players, each with three drums, and all rhythms relate back to three.

The work begins with a slow pulse of three and a limited range of drums. As it John Adams: progresses, a series of polyrhythms and metric modulations increase the pulse speed. John Adams began composing relatively early; at ten he started composing, and When the speed increases, the players begin utilizing a wider range of drums, dynamics, by 14 he had heard his works performed. Entering Harvard University in 1965, and subdivisions, creating a heavier texture. In the end, the three players reach a primal Adams became the conductor for the Bach Society Orchestra. At Walter Piston's climax as they execute a number of aggressive rhythmic cadences. Concerto world premiere, Adams performed on the clarinet as the soloist. - Nicolas Doktor He moved to in 1972 to teach at the San Francisco Conservatory of

Music until 1984.

While at the conservatory, Adams worked in an electronic music studio and was Biographical Information the conductor of the New Music Ensemble. It was in San Francisco that he heard the

minimalist works of Philip Glass, Steve Reich and for the first time, and Keiko Abe: was immediately drawn to its sound. However, he soon felt that although Born in Tokyo, Japan, Abe began playing the xylophone while in elementary minimalism was "the most important stylistic development in Western art music school. She studied xylophone with Eiichi Asabuki in Tokyo. At age 13, she won an NHK since the Fifties", the genre had its limits, since repetition was its foundation. talent contest and began performing professionally on live radio. She attended Tokyo Adams coined the term "post-minimalism" starting with his piece for string Musikhochschulen in Lübeck and Freiburg and also took lessons on piano and score septet (1978). This style is characterized by greater dynamic contrasts reading. Through his work as a musician, Pawassar met composers Luigi Nono, and a more fluid and layered sound. The completion and premiere of in lannis Xenakis and Mauricio Kagel. Marimba became an instrument that Pawassar 1981 was well-received by critics and the public, establishing Adams as a major learned to cherish and in 1982 he attended a master class with Leigh Howard American composer. In 1987, he made yet another impact on the music scene with Stevens. Pawassar is also a member of the ensemble 'triomotion' (, vibraphone his opera . Another major opera work followed in 1991, titled The and marimba). Death of Klinghoffer, which, like Nixon in China, detailed a historic event. - From www.norsk-percussion.no At the turn of the century, Adams composed El Niño (2000), an oratorio based on the Christmas story of Jesus Christ. With the tragic events that transpired on Max Stehr: September 11, 2001, Adams was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Max Stehr is a bassist, pianist and Lincoln Center's Great Performers to compose a piece in memory of the victims. The composer who holds a BM in performance and an MM in arranging from the William result, On the Transmigration of Souls (2002), is a work for orchestra, chorus and Paterson University jazz program. As a bassist, Max has performed at numerous venues children's choir on pre-recorded tape, earning Adams a 2003 Pulitzer Prize. and settings in the New York and New Jersey area. He has been a member of the New John Adams continues to compose to this day, with his most recent work being Jersey Percussion Ensemble since 2006 and has been featured as soloist on many (2009) for orchestra. occasions; in 2010, he premiered an electric bass solo by Peter Jarvis and an upright - From Johnadamscomposer.com bass solo by David Saperstien. Max's deep interest in ethnomusicology led him to

Kenya, with the help of a research grant, to study native music and to India to study Peter Jarvis: with renowned South Indian classical percussionist and singer T.V. Gopalkrishnan. Peter Jarvis is a percussionist, conductor, drummer, composer, copyist, print He has studied with Steve Laspina, Jim McNeely, Kevin Norton, Armen Donelian, and music editor, consultant and educator. Over the years he has performed as soloist, Peter Jarvis. He performs currently as the bassist for the Erica Seguine Jazz chamber player, principal percussionist in several orchestras and with choruses Orchestra and with the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society. including the Society of Lincoln Center, The Group for Contemporary Music, The American Modern Ensemble, The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble (which he directs), The Greg Smith Singers, Bang On A Can All-Stars, Talujon and on new Qu Xiao-Song: music/arts festivals throughout the and abroad. Qu Xiao-Song (瞿小松; surname Qu, b. southwestern China, 1952) is Currently performing in Elf (The Musical) at The Al Hirschfeld Theater on a Chinese composer of contemporary classical music. Broadway he continues to be very active in the New York music scene. Some of his other He is a 1983 graduate of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where recent and ongoing projects include scoring, orchestrating, arranging and performing for he studied composition with Du Mingxin. In 1989 he was invited by the Center for US- film and television including work on the award winning HBO series Boardwalk Empire China Arts Exchange of in New York City to be a visiting scholar, and (seasons 2 and 3) and for Moonrise Kingdom, a highly acclaimed film by . he continues to live in New York City. As conductor he has appeared with the Saint Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, The He has received commissions from the Holland Festival, American Composers New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, Ensemble21, Cygnus Festival Orchestra and numerous Forum, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, and Boston Musica Viva. His other groups. He has appeared as guest conductor on the ’s operas Oedipus and The Death of Oedipus were premiered in 1993 and 1994 ‘New and Unusual Music Series.’ respectively, in Stockholm and Amsterdam. His chamber opera The Test (2004) was Jarvis teaches music at Connecticut College and William Paterson University. commissioned by the Munich Biennale and Contemporary Opera Berlin, and performed His teaching responsibilities include academic classes, percussion lessons, in both cities in May 2004. coaching/conducting chamber music and directing several concerts a year at His name is sometimes also written Qu Xiaosong. Connecticut College and the New Music Series at William Paterson University where he - From Wikipedia is Director of New Music. He is frequently invited to do Masters Classes throughout the United States. His compositions are published by Calabrese Brothers Music, LLC, Indian Paintbrush Productions and L-T Music Publishing. He is a member of BMI. Additional information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jarvis Many Thanks to the Tech Crew under the - From Wikipedia Direction of Al Schaefer.

Rüdiger Pawassar Born 1964 in Lübeck, Germany and has been a percussionist at the Staatsorchester Kassel since 1990. Pawassar studied percussion at the

New Music at William Paterson University New Music Series – 2012-2013 All Concerts are at 7:00 PM unless otherwise stated. All performances are in Shea Auditorium unless otherwise stated.

All programs are subject to change without notice.

October 29, 2012 ; 7:30PM – Shea Center, Shea Auditorium: Works by Pierre Boulez, Earle Brown , Christian Carey, Peter Jarvis, György Ligeti, Gene Pritsker, and James Tenney. Two world premieres will be performed. Guest artist: Taka Kigawa and the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble November 26, 2010; 7:30PM - Shea Center, Shea Auditorium: WPU Percussion and New Music Ensembles. Featuring “Stream Runner” by Robert Morris.

Robert Morris will be our guest at the concert. Other composers include: Elliott Carter, Daniel Levitan, Pierre Boulez, Igor Stravinsky, György Ligeti and Peter Jarvis

Please Note – Beginning February 4, 2013, all concerts on the New Music Series will start at 7:00PM

February 4, 2013; 7:00PM - Shea Center, Shea Auditorium: Featuring Composers Concordance March 4, 2013; 7:00PM – Shea Center. Shea Auditorium: WPU Percussion and New Music Ensembles March 7, 2013, 12:30PM - Shea Center, Shea Auditorium: Composer in Residence Day performed on the Midday Artist Series. March 25, 2013; 7:00PM - Shea Center, Shea Auditorium: As part of the William Paterson University Cross Cultural Arts Festival: works by Qu Xiao-Song, Keiko Abe, Rüdiger Pawassar, Nicolas Doktor and John Adams. April 1, 2013; 7:00PM - Shea Center, Shea Auditorium: WPU Percussion and New Music Ensembles perform music by James Romig, Michael Colgrass, Peter Jarvis, Evan Hause, Gene Pritsker and others. April 22, 2013; 7:00PM - Shea Center, Shea Auditorium: WPU Percussion and New Music Ensembles perform music by: Toru Takemitsu, Carlos Chavez, David Saperstein, Leo Kraft and others.