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Home , Paul Chihara

College of Fine Arts presents

NEXTET st The New Music Ensemble of the 21 Century

Cynthia Lee Wong, music director Featuring the music of Paul Chihara, composer-in-residence

PROGRAM

No Guarantees, a musical comedy (work-in-progress) Cynthia Lee Wong 1. Overture (electronic sketch) composer (b. 1982) 2. Scene 1 (Andy-Mate Ad) Richard Aellen librettist 3. Scene 2a (Jake and Dara, androids, at the lab) (b. 1945) In order of appearance: Christopher Martin, tenor (Jake Nilman) Erin Gonzales (Andy-Diane / Heidi the Head) Alex Price (Andy-Brian / Lovelinks profile Sean / Andy-Mate #1, 3) Phillip Harris (Monotone Announcer / LoveLinks profiles Stan and Victor / Andy-Mate #2) Ashley Stone, mezzo-soprano (Dara Green) Kathryn Martinson (Andy-Patty / Pi) Kurt Sedlmeir (Hoss) Katie Leung, piano

Crystalline (2017) Jennifer Bellor (b. 1983) Marcus Leblanc and Gabriela Ordonez, percussion Christina Wright-Ivanova and Katie Leung, piano

Lulling Charities (2017) Jennifer Bellor

Written for and inspired by Lotte Reiniger’s animated short film “Das Ornament des verliebten Herzens” (1919) Voice, electric guitar, harmonium and electronics Music, lyrics and voice by Jennifer Bellor Electric guitar with improvisation and mixing/editing by Phil Joy

Amatsu Kaze (2003) Paul Chihara 1. Arashi fuku (b. 1938) 2. Shira tsuyu ni 3. Aki kinu to 4. Amatsu kaze 5. Inakano yado de 6. Kurokami no 7. Sasa no ha wa

Ashley Stone, soprano Dafne Guevara, flute Mark McArthur, saxophone Yuri Cho, violin Andy Smith, cello Christina Wright-Ivanova, piano

Monday, Oct. 2, 2017 7:30 PM Dr. Arturo Rando-Grillot Recital Hall Lee and Thomas Beam Music Center University of Nevada, Las Vegas

COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE

Paul Chihara’s prize-winning concert works have been performed in most major cities and arts centers in the U.S. and Europe. His numerous commissions and awards include those from The Lili Boulanger Memorial Award, the Naumberg Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Fellowship, the Aaron Copland Fund, and National Endowment for the Arts, as well as from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the , the New Japan Philharmonic, the , the New Juilliard Ensemble, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. His commissioned orchestral tone poem CLOUDS was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra in their Millennium Concert at Carnegie Hall in 2001. His AMATSU KAZE (for soprano and five instruments) was premiered by the New Juilliard Ensemble at the Why Note Festival in Dijon, France. In February 2002, a concert of his choral music was presented by the Westminster Choir College at Princeton, New Jersey. His “An Afternoon on the Perfume River” received its world premiere by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in February of 2004. Sir and the world-renowned guitar virtuoso recently recorded his Guitar Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra. Active in the ballet world, Mr. Chihara was composer-in-residence at the San Francisco Ballet from 1973-1986. While there, he wrote many trailblazing works, including Shin-ju (based on the "lovers' suicide" plays by the great Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu), as well as the first full-length American ballet, The Tempest.

In addition to his many concert works, Mr. Chihara has composed scores for over 90 motion pictures and television series. He has worked with such luminaries as directors , , Michael Ritchie, and Arthur Penn. His movie credits include , The Morning After, Crossing Delancey, and John Turturro’s Romance and Cigarettes. His works for television include China Beach, Noble House, Brave New World, and 100 Centre Street. Mr. Chihara also served as music supervisor at Buena Vista Pictures (Walt Disney Co.). Also active in the New York musical theatre world, Mr. Chihara served as musical consultant and arranger for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies, and was the composer for ’s Shogun, the Musical.

Mr. Chihara’s works have been widely recorded. His compositions appear on many labels including BMG Records, Reference Recordings, CRI, Music and Art, Vox Candide, New World Records, The Louisville Orchestra First Editions Records, and Albany Records. Mr. Chihara is a Professor of Music at .

MEET THE COMPOSERS

Praised as having the ability to “maintain a highly individual identity without needing to take refuge in pre-post-genre musical silos” (Frank J. Oteri, NewMusicBox), composer Jennifer Bellor writes music that is inspired by personal experiences, text, and imagery. Her music has been presented by Washington National Opera, American Composer’s Orchestra JCOI Readings, Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Las Vegas Philharmonic, ShoutHouse, and many others in the US and abroad. Bellor’s music draws on a variety of influences, evidenced in her debut album “Stay,” which is a melting pot of different music styles largely based on poetry. Stay was featured on NewMusicBox’s 2016 Staff picks, and her composition Chase the Stars has received critical acclaim not only for its “dazzling eclecticism” combining opera, hip hop and jazz, but also for her singing. No Depression’s Stacey Zering proclaimed: “Bellor’s gorgeously haunting vocals hypnotizes in “Chase the Stars” like a seemingly innocent mermaid who will later capture you with no intentions of bringing you back.”

Born and raised in Northern NY, Bellor earned a PhD in music composition at Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music degree in composition at Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music at . The 2016 winner of The American Prize for her composition Chase the Stars, Bellor also has received awards by Elevate Ensemble for Moments Shared, Moments Lost, IAWM Judith Lang Zaimont prize for Skylark Lullaby, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra Composition prize for Noir, and a Downbeat Award for Midnight Swim. Her primary composition teachers included David Liptak, Bob Morris, Andrew Waggoner, Sally Lamb-McCune, and Steven Stucky. She is currently Visiting Lecturer at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she teaches courses in music composition and theory. Please visit www.jenniferbellor.com.

Cynthia Lee Wong has attracted international acclaim for her “shamelessly beautiful” music and devotion toward “not only the avant-garde audience, but all classical enthusiasts or indeed all music lovers” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Wong's creative output encompasses a range of genres, including works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance, voice, narrator, musical theatre, and piano improvisation.

In 2017, Wong received a Discovery Grant from Opera America to develop her musical comedy No Guarantees with librettist Richard Aellen. From 2013-2015, Wong was the selected composer for New Voices, a multi-organizational initiative through which she received mentorship from Boosey & Hawkes as well as chamber and orchestral commissions from New World Symphony and San Francisco Symphony. Previously, Wong received a 2010 Orpheus Project 440 commission in which her work Memoriam was premiered at Carnegie Hall. Other commissions include pieces for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico, Portland Symphony, New York State Music Teachers Association, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society, Tanglewood Music Festival, and the Tokyo String Quartet.

Wong graduated from the accelerated 5-year B.M./M.M. program at Juilliard and received her Ph.D. as an Enhanced Chancellor’s Ph.D. Fellow at the Graduate Center at the City of New York. Wong is a composition faculty member at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and serves on the board at the League of Composers, the nation's oldest organization dedicated toward new music. For more information, visit www.cynthialeewong.com.

MEET THE FACULTY, STUDENTS, AND GUESTS

Richard Aellen is an award-winning playwright and author of five novels. His play NOBODY, a finalist at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, was produced at Alabama Shakespeare Festival in March 2010. He is librettist for WICKED MOON produced in March 2011 at the 4th Wall Theatre and co-librettist with Anita Gonzales and composer Errollyn Wallen of LIVERPOOL TRADING, currently in development with support from University of Michigan and Rythmcolor Associates. Richard’s novel REDEYE was optioned by Warner Brothers for whom he wrote the screenplay. Awards and grants include the 2006 Stanley Drama Award (Farmers of Men) 2008 Charles M. Getchell Award (Nobody), National Endowment for the Arts Grant (film Teenangel), Writers Guild of America/East Fellowship (Lost and Found), Delacorte Press Prize (Ozzy on the Outside), and the 2010 BMI Harrington Award for Creative Excellence. Richard is a member of Dramatists Guild, WGA East and BMI Musical Theater Workshop.

A versatile violinist, Yuri Cho gave her first performance at age 10 at the winner's concert of Korean Newspaper Music Competition in Seoul. Since entering the Menuhin School, she had the rare honor to perform the Brahms sextet with Lord Menuhin in Buckingham Palace at age 15 and was selected as a soloist and a Concertmaster of the Yehudi Menuhin Orchestra in the 1993 Europe tour with Lord Menuhin conducting.

Since then, her engagements have taken her throughout England, Europe, and Korea with orchestras such as the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the Beethoven Society Orchestra, the Redhill Symphony Orchestra, the Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Menuhin School Orchestra. As a recitalist, she was presented in Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Hall, Barbican Center, and in cathedrals, and churches throughout Europe and England. In 2000, Cho was selected and presented by the Eastman School of Music to play a New York recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall sponsored by the Messenger foundation.

Cho has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and honors. They include: first prize of the Han-Kook Violin Competition, sponsored by the Korea Times Newspaper, Ewha & Kyunghyang Concour, Surrey Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Yong Performing Artist Series' Recital in Seoul Korea, the Young San Art Hall Recital Series sponsored by The Music Critics Association of Korea, the winner of the Louis Peskai Competition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, winner of the Redhill Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, and winner of the prestigious Eastman School of Music Performer's Certificate, to win in the same year the Eastman Concerto Competition performing Stravinsky's Violin Concerto with the Eastman Symphony Orchestra.

Cho began her musical education at the Yehudi Menuhin School. She also earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a Master of Music degree from Eastman School of Music. She has completed all of her coursework for Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music, where she was also a teaching assistant of Zvi Zeitlin, Distinguished Professor of Violin. From 2010–2011, she was a lecturer at the Myung Ji University and Kook Min University in Seoul, Korea.

Erin Gonzalez, mezzo-soprano, has performed with the UNLV Opera Theatre, Pacific Symphony, Sin City Opera, Florentine Opera, Martina Arroyo Foundation, Nevada Opera Theatre, Eastman Opera Theatre, and Opera Chapman. Role highlights include Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), Secretary (The Consul), Dorabella (Così fan tutte) and Nancy (Albert Herring). Winner of the 2015 and 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions-Nevada District, Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition and Bramledge Opera Award and Robert Kuntz Scholarship, Erin received a Bachelor in Music from Chapman University Conservatory of Music and Master in Music from Eastman School of Music. In summer 2017, Erin returned for her third year as the mezzo soloist for the Palm Springs Opera Guild Outreach Program. She was also a member of the Opera Studio at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria. While in attendance, she won first place in the 37th Meistersinger Competition. Erin is a currently a second-year DMA student in Voice at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, studying with Dr. Alfonse Anderson.

Dafne Guevara began her musical studies in Panama at the Youth Plan of Music under the tutelage of professor Rommel Charpentier. Later, she became a member of the Elementary Orchestra of the Youth Plan of Music, known today as Children´s Symphony Orchestra of Panama, as well as the Isthmian Youth Orchestra. She has also been involved in the music camps conducted by the National Concert Association and has played with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of the New England Conservatory, the Quintet Vivace, the Symphony Orchestra and Band of the National Institute of Music of Panama (Conservatory).

She has performed at the Panamanian Double Reeds Festival, the International Flute Festival organized by the Costa Rican Flute Association (ACOFLA), the Crescendo Summer Institute in Sharoshpatak and in Tokaj, Hungary, Domaine Forget in Quebec, Canada, and the Consummate Flutist in Pittsburgh. Professionally, she has worked as flute player in the Symphonic Band of the Municipality of Panama and as piccolo player of the National Symphonic Orchestra of Panama. In 2010, Dafne was selected as a Fulbright Student for the years 2011-13. With this scholarship, she was able to receive her Masters in Flute Performance at UNCSA and in 2014, she finished her Professional Arts Certificate at UNCSA. In fall 2014, she began a DMA program in Flute Performance at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) under Jennifer Grim, where she is a graduate assistant and conducts the UNLV Flute Ensemble.

In 2016, Dafne organized the first Encuentro de Flautas de Panamá (Flute Festival of Panama), and established the first Asociación Panameña de Flautistas (Panamanian Flute Association). She has performed as soloist with the Symphonic Orchestra of the University of Panama and participated in the Latinoamerican Flute Festival in Tegucigalpa, Honduras as guest artist. Currently, miss Guevara is organizing the second Encuentro de Flautas de Panamá 2017.

Baritone Phillip Harris made his Carnegie Hall debut in Stern Auditorium as a soloist on the Ensemble Spotlight Series in 2016. A winner of The Encouragement Award from The Metropolitan Opera National Council and a 1st place NATS (district) winner, Mr. Harris appeared with The Aspen Music Festival as Turbo (Hadrian), Pocket Opera as Schaunard (La Bohème) and Cascada (The Merry Widow), Opera in the Ozarks as The Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance), The International Lyric Academy in Rome and Viterbo as Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro),The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival as Le Fauteuil/L’arbe (L’enfant et les sortilèges), The San Mateo Masterworks Chorale as Marius (Les Misérables), The University of Michigan Opera Theater as Junius (The Rape of Lucretia) and Fiorello (Il barbiere di Siviglia), UC Irvine Opera as Bob (The Old Maid and The Thief) and UNLV Opera as Marcello (La Bohème),The Learned Judge (Trial by Jury) and Orphèe (Les malheurs d’Orphèe). Concert performances include solos in Duruflè’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and 115th Psalm with the UNLV Percussion Ensemble. He looks forward to upcoming roles: Sem (Noah’s Flood) with Opera Las Vegas, Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus) with UNLV Opera and Marquis de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites) with Voccalis.

Pianist Katie Leung is a dedicated collaborative artist and chamber musician. A two-time winner of the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition, she joined the UNLV faculty in 2015. She previously held staff pianist positions at Manhattan School of Music and Rutgers University. Ms. Leung has performed with such artists as flutists Amy Porter and Tara Helen O’Connor and cellist Raphael Wallfisch, and she has been a collaborative pianist at The Banff Centre in Canada, the Castleman Quartet Program in Fredonia, NY, the National Flute Association annual conventions, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick, ME. An east coast native, Katie Leung holds Bachelor's degrees in both Piano and Flute Performance with highest honors from the University of Michigan, where she was a Stamps Leadership Scholar and James B. Angell Scholar, and a Master's degree in collaborative piano from Manhattan School of Music.

Tenor Christopher T. Martin has worked with renowned conductor Michael Rossi of the Washington National Opera as well as acclaimed Metropolitan Opera character tenor Anthony Laciura. In 2016, Christopher won 1st place at both district and regional Cal-western NATS competitions. He also studied abroad at the Siena Italy Music Festival, playing the role of Monostatos in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. In summer 2016, Christopher played Alfred in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus in UVAA young artist program and in summer 2017, returned to play Camille, Count de Rosillon in The Merry Widow. Other roles include Beppe from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with Voccalis opera theatre Nuradin, Tamino, the tenor in the trio from Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Parpignol, Alfred, and First Notary in Sin City Opera’s La Perichole. Christopher graduated from the Lamar University and is pursuing his graduate degree at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Marcus LeBlanc is currently obtaining his M.M. in Percussion Performance at UNLV under the direction of his teachers Dr. Dean Gronemeier and Dr. Tim Jones. Marcus is a member of several ensembles including the UNLV Wind Orchestra, Ragtime Rebel Marimba Band, and UNLV Steel Band. Originally from Erath, Louisiana, Marcus has earned his B.M. in Music Education at McNeese State University under the direction of Dr. Lonny Benoit. For the past three summers, Marcus has worked with DCI groups including Louisiana Stars 2015/2016 and the Academy in 2017. Marcus has also worked with various high schools around Louisiana and in Las Vegas, currently with Foothill High School.

Mark McArthur holds a Master of Music degree in Saxophone Performance and Bachelors of Music Education and Saxophone Performance from the University of Arizona where he studied with Dr. Kelland Thomas. Mark has been a music educator and freelance musician since moving to Las Vegas in 2001 when hired to teach high school band in CCSD. He found a niche in encouraging the knowledge and growth of saxophone performance in Las Vegas. He has turned this niche into a podcast called The Modern Saxophonist which focuses on having conversations with colleagues and students around the world.

Currently, Mark McArthur is the Adjunct Professor of Saxophone at University of Nevada, Las Vegas with an emphasis on applied classical saxophone lessons and coaches chamber music. He is also teaching band at International Christian Academy where he is starting a music program for the first time in the school’s history.

Lyric Baritone, Kurt Sedlmeir, has performed in UNLV Opera Productions A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Quince), Hamlet (Horatio), Les Malheurs d'Orphée (Les Charrone), along with chorus work in La Bohème, Trial By Jury, and as the baritone soloist in Come Ye Sons Of Art. Kurt made his professional debut with Opera Las Vegas in Don Giovanni, and has since performed in The Barber Of Seville, Madame Butterfly, Carmen, and Rigoletto with Opera Las Vegas. Kurt is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at UNLV.

Cellist Andrew Smith is an Associate Professor of music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the Principal Cellist of The Las Vegas Philharmonic. He is an original member of the Camerata Deiá, a group founded in 2001 to be the resident ensemble with The Festival Internacional de Deiá, a summer festival in Majorca, Spain. He was also a founding member of The Adriatic Chamber Music Festival, a summer music program in southern Italy, where he taught and performed from 1998 - 2008. An active recitalist, Andrew has collaborated with pianist Alfredo Oyagüez in cello/piano recitals in Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, and Japan, as well as in Kosovo, Serbia, and Macedonia. The Smith/Oyagüez duo recently recorded a CD entitled, “Spanish Music for Cello and Piano,” which was released in January, 2017 on the Delos label. During summers, in addition to The Festival Internacional de Deiá, in Spain, and The Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Italy, Smith has taught and performed in several music festivals, including the Marrowstone Music Festival, Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo, CA, the Rocky Ridge Music Center, the Blue Mountain Festival, Dakota Chamber Music, The Green Valley Chamber Music Festival, the Tuacahn Summer Arts Institute, and The Las Vegas Music Festival.

Mr. Smith is a recipient of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was a member of the Young Artists String Quartet. He has also earned a Master's degree from The Mannes College of Music in New York, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, CT. He has studied cello with Timothy Eddy, Bernard Greenhouse, Leslie Parnas, Ron Leonard, and Geoffrey Rutkowski.

Ashley Stone, mezzo-soprano, holds a Doctorate of Music degree from Indiana University, a Master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor’s degree from Texas State University. She currently serves as Coordinator of Strategic Planning within the University of Nevada, Las Vegas College of Fine Arts.

She performs regularly with Opera Las Vegas, the NEXTET new music ensemble, and the Voccalis International Singing Repertory Company. Her additional performance credits include the west coast premier of Cynthia Wong’s “Six Gupta Songs” as well as appearances with San Antonio Opera in the role of Kate (Pirates of Penzance), Indiana University Opera in the roles of Dame Quickly (Falstaff), The Old Lady (Candide), The Principessa (Soir Angelica), and Meg (Little Women), The Gregory Kunde Chorale, Eastman Opera Theatre in the roles of The Princepessa (Soir Angelica) and Rose (The Secret Garden), and the Janiec Opera Company in the role of Elsa Shraeder (The Sound of Music).

Dr. Stone is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the College Music Society. She has given presentations on her thesis topic, the gamification of opera workshop, at both the National Opera Association's 2017 National Convention and the 2014 New Music Educator’s Symposium.

Christina Wright-Ivanova, hailed by critics as “a brilliant collaborative pianist” (Wiener Zeitung, Vienna) and “an ideal partner” (Huffington Post), is currently Assistant Professor of Music and Coordinator of Piano/Collaborative Piano at Keene State College in New Hampshire, and the Vocal Coach at New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance. Dr. Wright-Ivanova has significant experience as both an instrumental and vocal collaborative artist and frequently performs solo recitals with a special focus on new music. She has previously worked at Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, the Boston University School of Music, BU Tanglewood Institute Opera Intensive, American Institute for Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and at the Franco-American Vocal Academy in Salzburg, and for the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. She was previously Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

She has performed throughout the USA, Australia, UK, Europe, Canada, China and South America, appearing in recital with many established artists, including Tchaikovsky Competition Bronze medalist Bion Tsang, virtuoso violinist Yevgeny Kutik, Israel Philharmonic violinist Sharon Cohen, and Joachim International Violin competition winner Dami Kim. She has premiered over twenty works by living composers and feels strongly about performing, teaching and promoting new music. She has performed both solo and collaborative new works in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, The Harvard Club, Opera America (NY), New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall, Old North Meeting House, Clutch New Music series in Austin TX, NEXTET, and the Steve Reich Festival in Boston, where she worked with the composer. Recent international concert performances at the Teatro Sociale in Como (Italy), Reaktorhalle (Munich, Germany), Humboldt University (Berlin), École Normale Supérieure (Lyon, France), Joanneumsviertel Museum (Graz, Austria), Amici della Musica Paisello Concert Hall (Lucera, Italy), and the Schloss Frohnburg (Salzburg).

She continues to serve as the Artistic Director for the ‘Bijou de la Vida Concert Series’ in Boston. Recordings on ARS Produktion, New Dynamic Records, MSR Classics, New World Records. Publications: The Total Janáček in Pohádka: Function of Theatrical and Musical Structure in A Fairy Tale. Radio appearances on Deutschland Radio, WDR3 Kultur Radio, WRUV (Vermont), BR Klassik (Munich), Radio Caracas (Venezuela) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). DMA, University of Texas at Austin; MMus, New England Conservatory; BMus, University of Victoria, Canada, additional studies at the Akademie für Neue Musik (Germany), the Franz-Schubert-Institut (Austria) and as a Britten-Pears Scholar (UK) and Crear Scholar (Scotland) with Malcolm Martineau. For more information, visit www.christinajwright.com. ______

What’s Next with NEXTET? Stay informed about all our upcoming concerts this season by joining our email list or liking us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/nextet/). Our next concert will be November 13, 2017 and will feature guest composer Samuel Adler (http://www.samuelhadler.com/)!