Karen Kim, Steve Wilson, Parker Quartet Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble
A SELECTION OF IMAGES FROM CMA’S THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN NEW YORK CITY, Jason_ Treuting, So Percussion JANUARY 4-6, 2008 Scenes from the 2008
Joel Smirnoff, Juilliard String Quartet Conference
Photography by Shelley Kusnetz Steve Reich’s Drumming, performed by Sō Percussion. Thomas Adès via the Calder Quartet. Lucy Shelton and eighth blackbird in a concert version of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. The Ying Quartet with Billy Childs’s Jazz-Chamber Ensemble. Beethoven’s Opus 95 from the veteran Shanghai Quartet, and Op. 1 no. 1 from the young Trio Cavatina.
That’s just a sampling from the cornucopia of concert offerings at CMA’s thirtieth-anniversary conference. Among the other music-based events were an open rehearsal of Elliott Carter’s second quartet by the Juilliard String Quartet, a cross-genre workshop on improvisation, a dozen showcases of emerging ensemble artists, and performances of CMA commissions by the Marcus Roberts Trio, Ben Allison’s Medicine Wheel, and Melody of China.
Registrants from thirty states (and a sprinkling of visitors from Canada and Europe) came together in New York City to celebrate, of course, but also for traditional conference business: to formally recognize achievements of Composer/ colleagues, to explore challenging and vexing issues in the field, and—at saxophonist Fred Ho; an array of seminars and workshops—to acquire skills in such practical ASCAP’s areas as programming, audience building, fundraising, and marketing. Frances Richard 39 Marcus Roberts
Luis Vargas, Euclid Quartet
Laura Sewell, CMA board chair
Daniel Gustin; Allan Miller, film producer Felicity Coltman, Austin Chamber Music Center
Billy Childs; Wayne Brown and Eileen Mason (NEA)
Trio Cavatina
Conference chair Sarah Rothenberg; Oliver Sacks
Keynote speaker Oliver Sacks, drawing from his new book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, delved into some of music’s more arcane effects—including its power to give temporary reprieves to those who suffer from such neuro- logical disorders as Parkinsonism. Musicologist Don Michael Randel, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, spoke on the value of musicians in society, arguing that because music (like all the arts) speaks to the essence of the human condition, we don’t need to justify it in utilitarian terms.
The conference closed with the annual Awards Banquet, with the Juilliard String Quartet as honoree. An historical perspective on the quartet was provided by Juilliard president Joseph W. Polisi, and a personal and artistic João Luiz, Douglas Lora; appreciation by CMA board member Dan Gustin. Robert Mann, Earl Carylss, Brasil Guitar Duo Joel Smirnoff, Ronald Copes, Joel Krosnick and Samuel Rhodes—surrounded by family members, friends and colleagues—jointly accepted the inscribed crystal octagon representing the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, recognizing the ensemble’s sixty-plus years of artistry and leadership in the field. JSQ founders Arthur Winograd and Raphael Hillyer were unable to attend; but Hillyer’s letter—read to the assembled banquet guests by CMA’s president Phillip Ying—summed up the general sentiment with its closing: “Long live the Juilliard String Quartet!”
On this and the following pages, we invite you to enjoy some photographic glimpses of the conference weekend.
Audience for Manhattan Piano Trio showcase
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Don Michael Randel
Past and present Juilliard SQ members with CMA president Philllip Ying
Cheryl Ikemiya, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Nicholas Tzavaras, Honggang Li; Shanghai Quartet Composer Christopher Rouse
Margaret M. Lioi, David Leisner, Ralph Jackson
Sheshen Zhang, 42 march/april 2008 Melody of China Presenters Ruth Felt, Wu Han
Stefon Harris; CMA board
Ilmar Gavilan, Melissa White; Harlem Quartet
Juilliard president Joseph W. Polisi
Conference chair Sarah Rothenberg
Ben Allison (r) and Medicine Wheel Amy Iwano, Hollis Headrick, Hans Schuman
Timothy Ying; Ying Quartet
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