Guest Artist Presentation and Recital,

Jean-Michel Goury, Saxophone Yves Josset, Piano Denis Levaillant,

Monday December 8, 2014 7:30 p.m. Composer Presentation 8:30 p.m. Recital Music Building Auditorium

Recital Program

All compositions by Denis Levaillant

A film recorded live at the Opera: La Petite danseuse, ballet (2002), Le Miroir, Music by Denis Levaillant, The ParisNational Opera Orchestra Koen Kessels, conductor Jean-Michel Goury, tenor saxophone

Manhattan Rhapsody (2003), for tenor saxophone and piano Jean-Michel Goury, tenor saxophone Yves Josset, piano

Etudes africaines (1990) Au balafon Au djembé Denis Levaillant, piano

Music Is The Film n°2 and 5 (2011) for reed quartet Jean-Michel Goury, alto saxophone Pre-recorded media by Jean-Michel Goury

Une Barque sur le Niger (2010) Yves Josset, piano

A Film by Nelson Castro: Les Accords secrets du capitaine Nemo (2011) for 12 saxophones Jean-Michel Goury, saxophone

Le Fakir, for soprano saxophone and piano Jean-Michel Goury, soprano saxophone Yves Josset, piano

Jean-Michel Goury and Yves Josset Duo

The French saxophone and piano duo, Duo Jean-Michel Goury-Yves Josset, which was created in 1985, has made it its mission to create and promote contemporary music for saxophone and piano in collaboration with today’s . Many composers, including Levaillant, Chassain, Grouvel, Lauba, Rolin, Rossé, Calosema, Savouret, Jakuboswki, Gubler, and Minamikawa, have dedicated their works to them. They have produced numerous recordings and have given concerts throughout Europe, as well as offering workshops and seminars on the performance of today’s music. Since 1996 they have toured the United States and Canada, and they have given concerts in Israel, Japan, and Germany.

Denis Levaillant

French composer and pianist Denis Levaillant has developed a compositional style that blends the rhythmic energy of and popular musics with a new orchestral color in the French tradition, appealing to all audiences. He studied at the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the Sorbonne in Paris, where he earned a Masters in philosophy in 1974. In 1983, Denis Levaillant was awarded a fellowship to the Villa Medici in Rome. He is well known as an improviser, having written the book L’Improvisation musicale (Musical Improvisation), which was published in 1980. He was the winner of the RAI Prize at the Prix Italia Prize 1988. Levaillant was one of the pioneers in musical theatre in France, and the originality of his opera O.P.A. Mia (My Tender Bid), with sets by Enki Bilal, which was premiered in 1990 at the Avignon Festival and the Opéra-Comique in Paris, made a strong impression. In the following decade, he devoted most of his creative efforts to symphonic writing. His ballet, La Petite danseuse, commissioned by the , was premiered in 2003 and revived in 2005 and again in 2010.

The program will consist of a wide range of compositions by Denis Levaillant. It will include two films – the ballet La Petite danseuse: Le Miroir (2002), filmed live at the Paris Opera, and Les Accords secrets du capitaine Nemo, a film by Nelson Castro (2011). Saxophonist Jean-Michel Goury is featured in both of these films. Levaillant will perform as pianist for Au balafon and Au djembé from his composition Etudes africaines (1990). Pianist Yves Josset will perform Une Barque sur le Niger (2010). Music Is The Film n°2 and 5 (2011), for reed quartet, will be performed by Jean-Michel Goury, alto saxophone, with the other parts recorded. The program will also include Manhattan Rhapsody (2003) for tenor saxophone and piano and Le Fakir, for soprano saxophone and piano (2012), performed by Jean-Michel Goury and Yves Josset.