Meridian Arts Ensemble

The UC Davis DeparTmenT of MusiC presenTs The Meridian Arts Ensemble Jon nelson and Brian mcWhorter, trumpets Daniel Grabois, horn Benjamin herrington, trombone raymond stewart, tuba John ferrari, percussion 7 pm, saturday, 7 november 2009 vanderhoef studio Theatre, mondavi Center THE UC DAVIS DEPARTMENT OF mUsiC PRESENTs THE Meridian Arts Ensemble Jon Nelson and Brian McWhorter, trumpets Daniel Grabois, horn Benjamin Herrington, trombone Raymond Stewart, tuba John Ferrari, percussion PROGRAM Ascension (2008) Lei Liang (b. 1972) Passed Time (2006) Edward Jacobs (b. 1961) Magnetic North (2006) Mark Applebaum (b. 1967) Intermission In the Zone (2009) Andrew Rindfleisch Introitus (b. 1963) Canons Fantasia Corpus (1997) David Sanford Antiphon (b. 1963) Introit Shot Kreuz/Männer De Profundis Sermon All works on this program were commissioned by MAE. 7 pm, Saturday, 7 November 2009 Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center This concert is being recorded professionally for the university archive. Please remain seated during the music, remembering that distractions will be audible on the recording. Please deactivate cell phones, pagers, and wristwatches. Flash photography and audio and video recording are prohibited during the performance. NOTES Lei Liang is a Chinese-born American composer of mostly stage and chamber works that have been performed throughout the world. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Aaron Copland Award, Lei Liang has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic, the Heidelberger Philharmonisches Orchester, the Fromm Music Foundation, Meet the Composer, Chamber Music America, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Manhattan Sinfonietta, the Shanghai Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, pianist Stephen Drury and pipa virtuoso Wu Man. Lei Liang’s music is recorded on Telarc International, Mode, GM, Encounter, Spektral and Opal Records. As a scholar, he is active in the research and preservation of traditional Asian music. He studied composition with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Robert Cogan, Chaya Czernowin, and Mario Davidovsky, and he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and a doctoral degree from Harvard University. Since 2007, he has served as an assistant professor of music at UC San Diego. The central section of Ascension builds on harmonies that ascend gradually in microtonal steps. The nuanced tonal inflection stretches the chords in and out of tune. This section may be regarded as a musical prayer, and it is framed by sections of exuberant energy. Ascension was commissioned by and dedicated to the Meridian Arts Ensemble, who gave its world premiere at the Manhattan School of Music on October 27, 2008. edward Jacobs is an acclaimed composer and accomplished educator whose music the American Academy of Arts and Letters described as “immediately engaging, attractive, and intellectually demanding” upon presenting him with the Charles Ives Award in 2005. Jacobs began playing violin at age 8 but was drawn to the saxophone at age 11 upon hearing a friend’s jazz quartet. Work at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (bachelor’s degree) in jazz performance and arranging (Jeff Holmes) and composition (Sal Macchia, Robert Stern) was followed by study in composition (Andrew Imbrie, Olly Wilson, Gerard Grisey) and conducting (Michael Senturia) at UC Berkeley (masters degree) and at Columbia University (composition with Chou Wen-Chung, Mario Davidovsky, Marty Boykan, George Edwards; conducting with George Rothman), where Jacobs completed his Doctor of Music Arts degree in 1993. In 2001, Jacobs began to explore electronic media. He has since written works for computer-generated sound with clarinet (A Function of Memory, 2001; Beauty Shop, 2005), with cello (al momento, 2002), and for dancers (dis/Connect, 2004). His music is published by C.F. Peters Corp., NY, APNM and ACA. Six years after he began teaching at East Carolina University, Jacobs was chosen for a Teacher-Scholar Award in 2004. He founded and directs the Annual NEWMUSIC@ECU FESTIVAL and works in the Pitt County Public Schools, collaborating with middle school general music teachers in his Composers-in-Public Schools Project, a program that strives to make the creation of music a fundamental part of children’s education. Passed Time was written for the Meridian Arts Ensemble in 2006 and premiered in June of that year in Greenville, NC. The generative material of the piece is heard in the chorale of the work’s final minute. That chorale, the first music written, includes several pauses, some cadential, some interruptive, which seemed ‘right’ to me, but also seemed very curious and odd. The piece became a working out of that chorale, its harmonic phrasing, its pauses, and its melodic shapes. At times these elements are presented in hocket-like textures, at times with colorful accents, at times quickly, at other times more lyrical, and at other times perhaps more humorously—several passages are described in the music as “impish.” The music’s mood is often quick changing and, with an ensemble like MAE—players who’re able to turn on a dime—these moods may seem to be the components of a mercurial personality experiencing similar ideas in moments of both contracting and expanding “time.” —E.J. mark applebaum is an associate professor of composition and theory at Stanford University. He received his doctoral degree in composition from UC San Diego, where he studied principally with Brian Ferneyhough. His solo, chamber, choral, orchestral, operatic, and electroacoustic work has been performed throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia, with notable premieres at the Darmstadt summer sessions. He has received commissions from Betty Freeman, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Fromm Foundation, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, the Vienna Modern Festival, Antwerp’s Champ D’Action, Festival ADEvantgarde in Munich, Zeitgeist, MANUFACTURE in Tokyo, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Jerome Foundation, and the American Composers Forum, among others. In 1997, Applebaum received the American Music Center’s Stephen Albert Award and an artist residency fellowship at the Villa Montalvo colony in Northern California. Applebaum is also active as a jazz pianist and builds electroacoustic instruments out of junk, hardware, and found objects for use as both compositional and improvisational tools. His music can be heard on recordings on the Innova, Tzadik, Capstone, and SEAMUS labels. Prior to his current appointment, he taught at UC San Diego, Mississippi State University, and Carleton College. Magnetic North is a piece that aspires—with enthusiasm, vigor, absurdity, and maybe even some belligerence—to remind us that there are many ways to make music. A quick glance through the score reveals a plethora of notational constructs (including reference to custom-made wristwatches whose second hands are consulted as they pass over graphic musical provocations). The piece includes ritualistic, “dadaist” activities that seem to serve arcane purposes alongside the most traditional “complexity” textures made up of rigorous counterpoint. Other recent traditions are briefly referenced (e.g., John Zorn’s improvisational game piece Cobra), along with concise, ironic chorale settings. In fact, the hectic, mercurial, compressed nature of the discourse is chief among Magnetic North’s procedural attributes. —M.A. andrew rindfleisch is an internationally active composer, conductor, and pianist whose work continues to gain consistent critical and popular acclaim. He has produced dozens of works for the concert hall, including solo, chamber, vocal, choral, orchestral, and wind music. His committed interest in other forms of music-making have also led him to the composition and performance of jazz and related forms of improvisation. As a composer, he has received many prestigious honors. He is the 1997–98 recipient of the coveted Rome Prize and the 1996 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Most recently, he received the Cleveland Arts Prize, the Aaron Copland Award, and the Koussevitzky Foundation Commission from the Library of Congress. He has also been the recipient of more than 35 other prizes and awards, including those from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm Foundation, ASCAP, and the League of Composers-ISCM. He has participated in dozens of renowned music festivals and has received residency fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation (Italy), the Charles Ives Center for American Music, the Czech-American Music Institute in Prague, the June in Buffalo Contemporary Music Festival, the MacDowell Colony, and the Pierre Boulez Workshop at Carnegie Hall, among others. He holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Bachelor of Music), the New England Conservatory of Music (Master of Music), and Harvard University (Ph.D.). An active conductor and producer, Rindfleisch’s commitment to contemporary music culture has brought into performance more than 500 works by living composers over the past 15 years. He has founded several contemporary music ensembles and is currently music director of both the Cleveland Contemporary Players and the Utah Arts Festival Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble—all committed to performing, presenting, and commissioning new works. Rindfleisch regularly makes guest conducting appearances throughout the U.S. and abroad with many diverse musical organizations, from opera and musical theatre, to orchestral, jazz, improvisational, and contemporary avant-garde ensembles. Rindfleisch

Load more