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Home , Adriana Mater, Hanna Kulenty, Kaija Saariaho

Cal Performances Presents

Sunday, February 1, 2009, 7pm Hertz Hall

David Harrington, violin John Sherba, violin Hank Dutt, viola Jeffrey Zeigler, cello

Laurence Neff, Lighting Designer Scott Fraser, Sound Designer

PROGRAM

Aviya Kopelman (b. 1978) Widows & Lovers (2007) (West Coast premiere) * I. White Widow II. Lovers III. Black Widow

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) Nymphéa (1987) *

Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961) No. 4 (A Cradle Song) (2007) (West Coast premiere) *

INTERMISSION

Aleksandra Vrebalov (b. 1970) …hold me, neighbor, in this storm… (2007) *

* Written for Kronos.

Program is subject to change.

The Kronos Quartet records exclusively for Nonesuch Records.

Cal Performances’ 2008–2009 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

CAL PERFORMANCES 5 Program Notes Program Notes

Aviya Kopelman (b. 1978) the sonic universe that surrounds me, ex- Her major works include a violin concerto, of the work, a poem by Arseniy Tarkovsky Widows & Lovers (2007) ploring and using the numerous technical Graal théâtre, written for ; two (English translation by Kitty Hunter- possibilities for live performance offered works dedicated to (Château de Blair), the lines of which are delivered in Aviya Kopelman was selected as the recipient by Kronos Quartet, but without forsaking l’âme, which premiered at the , a whisper by the players through the me- of the fourth commission offered through the the strength of the strings as I perceive it: and Lonh, premiered at the Wien Modern dium of microphones wired up to a sound Kronos: Under 30 Project. Begun in 2003, the a warm, living, breathing and deeply ex- Festival); Oltra mar, premiered by the New York sampler. Tarkovsky’s melancholic verse, Kronos: Under 30 Project is a commissioning and pressive sound, which echoes in the heart Philharmonic; Orion for the Cleveland Orchestra; which describes man’s desire to reach for residency program for composers under 30 years over centuries. and Quatre Instants, written for . the unknown, begins with the words: of age, created to acknowledge the 30th anniver- The position of an amplified string Her first opera, L’Amour de loin, libretto by Amin Now summer is gone sary of the founding of the Kronos Quartet. The quartet was another issue to be examined. Maalouf and staging by , premiered And might never have been. program supports the creation of new work by Technically, nothing inhibits a string quar- at the Salzburg Festival and won the Grawemeyer In the sunshine it’s warm, young artists, and helps Kronos cultivate stronger tet from performing in a concert hall as Award. Her second opera, , also on But there has to be more. connections with young composers in order to well as in a club. This allows for different a libretto by and staged by Peter A second extra-musical echo is in the develop lasting artistic relationships with the next listening experience and a different audi- Sellars, appeared at Opéra Bastille. A vast orato- title of the work, which takes our thoughts creative generation. ence. While writing this piece, I imagined rio, , was commissioned by to Claude Monet’s lily pads, although I Ms. Kopelman was born in Moscow in 1978 it in both contexts. the Wien Festival, the Philharmonic, suspect the composer herself was more and immigrated to Israel in 1987. She began tak- Widows & Lovers developed out of a and the Barbican and Lincoln centers. Among conscious of the water lily as a physical ob- ing piano lessons at her own initiative at the age of game of free associations, and moves be- the many awards and prizes she has received are ject, when she writes: 12. She graduated from the Rubin Music Academy tween who I am and who I wish to be, the Prix Italia, the Musical Award of the North “One or two ideas were going around in in Jerusalem, where she studied composition with between Kronos Quartet and myself, be- Council, the Nemmers Composition Prize and my mind as I was writing the piece: an im- Professor Tzvi Avni. In 2000, she was commis- tween classical chamber music and con- Musical America Composer of the Year in 2008. age of the symmetrical structure of the lily, sioned by composer Michael Wolpe to write a string temporary life. About Nymphéa, Risto Nieminen writes: bending and taking new shape in the rock- quartet for the Sounds in the Desert Festival, and ing motion of the waves. Interpretations of Aviya Kopelman’s Widows & Lovers was com- The string quartet, of all the musical genres since then her works have been performed regu- the same image in different dimensions; on missioned for the Kronos Quartet as part of Kronos: the most closely bound to its 200-year his- larly in Israel and abroad by the Israel Chamber the one hand a one-dimensional surface of Under 30 Project / #4 by the Carnegie Hall tory, is perhaps a surprising discovery in Orchestra, the Israel Camerata, Tel Aviv Chamber colors and forms; on the other the differ- Corporation, Cal Performances and the Kronos ’s list of published works. Choir, Conjunto Iberico Octet, Ensemble de la ent materials state, and dimensions to be Performing Arts Association. Additional support Then again, the ensemble of four string Paix, Les Solistes de Waterloo and the Jerusalem sensed and experienced.” was provided by the National Endowment for the instruments does offer a host of differ- Trio, among others. Last year, she was commis- Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, ent ways of producing sound, from noise Kaija Saariaho’s Nymphéa was commissioned sioned to write an obligatory work for the 12th the San Francisco Foundation, Stephen K. Cassidy, to pure flageolet harmonics. At the same for the Kronos Quartet by for the International Piano Master and the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Programs at time, Nymphéa formed a natural supple- Performing Arts. Competition. She has worked with and been in- Montalvo Arts Center. ment to the experiments with various Program note excerpted from the liner note of fluenced by such composers as Andre Hajdu, Loop programming by Roy Yarkoni and string techniques found in Lichtbogen and Kronos’s recording of Nymphéa on Records. Oded Zehavi and Ronen Shapira. Ms. Kopelman Ms. Kopelman. Io from 1985–1987. teaches composition at the Hed College for Music The basis of the harmonic world inhab- in Tel Aviv and at the Rimon School of Jazz and ited by Nymphéa lies in the rich spectra of Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961) Contemporary Music. Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) the cellos sounds, which the composer has String Quartet No. 4 (A Cradle Song) (2007) About Widows & Lovers, Ms. Kopelman writes: Nymphéa (1987) analyzed on the computer, using the struc- Widows & Lovers consists of three parts: tures that were revealed as a framework for Hanna Kulenty, born in Bialystok, , stud- “White Widow,” a potent and rare spe- Born in , Kaija Saariaho lived a child- the harmonies. This also helps to account ied composition with Wlodzimierz Kotonski at the cies of marijuana; “Lovers”; and “Black hood embedded in music, playing several instru- for the subtitle Jardin secret III, which re- Chopin Music Academy () and with Louis Widow,” a species of spider whose female ments. At the in , she fers us to Kaija Saariaho’s computer soft- Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of Music consumes the male directly after mating. studied composition with , and ware developed at IRCAM and applied in (). She participated in several summer It was crucial for me to question the later in Darmstadt and in Fribourg with Brian the two previous works in the series. courses in Kazimierz and Darmstadt, where she relevance of such a homogeneous ensemble Ferneyhough and . Her research of Naturally, Saariaho goes on to expand studied with , Witold Lutosławski, as a string quartet in a time when elec- new timbres led to the study of new instrumental her harmonic world with electronic effects. Thomas Kessler and François Bernard Mâche. tronic music has stretched the limits of or- and computer techniques, which she worked on at Another semantic ingredient in the mix of She has been composer-in-residence with chestration and sound. I wanted to address IRCAM in Paris, starting in 1982. sounds is the text to be heard at the close Het Gelders Orkest (The ), lectured

6 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 7 Program Notes Program Notes at the Other Minds Festival (San Francisco) and Last year, when I started writing my 30-minute television biography of Ms. Vrebalov. energy. Peaceful passages of the work grew at Soundstreams Canada 2005, and was guest fourth string quartet, again I couldn’t That year, she also worked on the score forSleeping out of the delicately curved, elusive, often professor at the Escola Superior de Música de avoid using this melody. In this instru- Beauty, an experimental film introduced at New microtonal melodies of prayers, as well as Catalunya (). She has served on juries for mentation, timing and sound I wanted to York City’s Anthology Film Archives. escapist tavern songs from the region, as the Biennale, International Gaudeamus give new energy and to see this song in a About …hold me, neighbor, in this storm…, my grandmother remembers them. Music Week, the International New Chamber new light. To me, String Quartet No. 4 (A Ms. Vrebalov writes: For me, …hold me, neighbor… is a way Opera Competition Orpheus- Cradle Song) again has a different mean- to bring together the sounds of the church The Balkans, with its multitude of cultural 2003–2004, and the International Competition of ing. A positive meaning. bells of Serbian orthodox monasteries and and religious identities, has had a troubled Contemporary Chamber Music (Cracow). Among the Islamic calls for prayer. It is a way to Hanna Kulenty’s String Quartet No. 4 (A history of ethnic intolerance. For my gen- her many awards is the first prize at UNESCO’s connect histories and places by unify- Cradle Song) was commissioned for the Kronos eration of Tito’s pioneers and children of 50th International Rostrum of Composers for her ing one of the most civilized sounds of Quartet by Mrs. Ralph I. Dorfman. Additional Communists, growing up in the former Trumpet Concerto (2002). Western classical music—that of the string funds were provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Yugoslavia meant learning about and car- Ms. Kulenty has composed two operas, quartet—with ethnic Balkan instruments, Foundation and the National Endowment for rying in our minds the battles and num- 12works for orchestra and more than 60 other the gusle [a bowed string instrument] and the Arts. berless ethnic and religious conflicts dat- pieces. Her earlier music, consisting of many lay- tapan [large, double-headed drum]. It is a ing back half a millennium, and honoring ers of simultaneous “arcs” that begin at different way to piece together our identities frac- ancestors who died in them. By then, that points of their emotional trajectories and proceed tured by centuries of intolerance, and to Aleksandra Vrebalov (b. 1970) distant history had merged with the nearer at different speeds, often calls for vast instrumen- reach out and celebrate the land so rich in …hold me, neighbor, in this storm… (2007) past, so those we remember from World tal resources. The turn towards minimalism in its diversity, the land that would be ashen, War II are our grandparents. Their stories later works may be attributed to studying with empty, sallow, if any one of us, all so differ- Aleksandra Vrebalov, a native of the former we heard firsthand. After several devastat- Andriessen; Ms. Kulenty calls this phase in her ent, weren’t there. Yugoslavia, left Serbia in 1995 and continued her ing ethnic wars in the 1990s, we entered a works “European trance music” and often struc- education in the United States. She holds a doctorate new century, this time each of us know- Aleksandra Vrebalov’s ...hold me, neighbor, tured her compositions as single, powerful arcs. from the University of Michigan, where she stud- ing in person someone who perished. As I in this storm... was commissioned for the Kronos Her preferred medium is the orchestra, though she ied with Evan Chambers and Michael Daugherty, write this in November 2007, on YouTube Quartet by Carnegie Hall and by the Clarice has written numerous chamber works, and recent- and a master’s degree from the San Francisco a new generation of Albanians and Serbs Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland with ly her penchant for musical drama and intensity Conservatory, where her teacher was Elinor Armer. post their war songs bracing for another funds from The Leading College and University of emotion found suitable expression in music for She has participated in numerous master classes conflict, claiming their separate entitle- Presenters Program of the Doris Duke Charitable the stage. Since the success of her opera The Mother and workshops, such as the New York University ments to the land and history, rather than Foundation. Additional support was provided by of Black-Winged Dreams at the Munich Biennale Summer Composition Workshop, Music Courses a different kind of future, together. The James Irvine Foundation. 1996, she has been considered one of the leading in Darmstadt (Germany), Szombathely (Hungary) Strangely, the cultural and religious figures among Polish composers. and Kazimierz Dolny (Poland) in collaboration differences that led to enmity in everyday For the Kronos Quartet About String Quartet No. 4 (A Cradle Song), with IRCAM and the Cabrillo Festival in Santa life produced—after centuries of turbu- Ms. Kulenty writes: Janet Cowperthwaite, Managing Director Cruz, California. She now teaches at the City lently living together—most incredible Laird Rodet, Associate Director The first time I wrote “A Cradle Song” was College of New York. fusions in music. It is almost as if what Sidney Chen, Artistic Administrator in the year my daughter Misia was born, Ms. Vrebalov’s works have been performed we weren’t able to achieve through words Scott Fraser, Sound Designer in 1982, in a time I was studying compo- by the Kronos Quartet, the Cabrillo Festival and deeds—to fuse, and mix, and become Christina Johnson, Communications Manager sition. I wrote a simple melody for violin Orchestra, Jorge Caballero, the Sausalito Quartet, something better and richer together—our Calvin Ll. Jones, Production Associate and soprano voice with a polish text, and it Dusan Tynek Dance Company, Ijsbreker and the music so famously accomplished instead. Nikolás McConnie-Saad, Administrative Assistant was performed once at the Music Academy Moravian Philharmonic, among others. Her mu- …hold me, neighbor, in this storm… is Laurence Neff, Production Director in Warsaw. sic has been recorded for Nonesuch and Vienna inspired by folk and religious music from Lucinda Toy, Business Operations Manager Ten years later Misia died. After a few Modern Masters. the region, whose insistent rhythms and Julie Yip, Administrative Assistant months, I wrote a new “A Cradle Song,” us- In 2005, Lila was premiered in Weill harmonies create a sense of inevitabil- ing only part of the original melody of the Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall by violinist Ana ity, a ritual trance with an obsessive, dark Anna M. Ranieri, Chair, Board of Directors first composition. It was a version for vio- Milosavljevic. The premiere of the orchestral work lin, cello and piano and it was premiered Orbits opened the 30th Novi Sad Music Festivities at the Munich Biennale. It was a different and was broadcast live on national television, on cradle song.... the NS Channel. The same channel produced a

8 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 9 About the Artists About the Artists

featured on the full-length 2005 release Mugam Quartet: 25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- and Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; , Latin Grammy–nominated celebration of Mexican whose Kronos-recorded Different Trains earned culture; and the 2003 Grammy-winner, Alban a Grammy; Argentina’s Osvaldo Golijov, whose Berg’s Lyric Suite. work with Kronos includes both compositions Kronos’s recording and performances reveal and extensive arrangements for albums like Kronos only a fraction of the group’s commitment to new Caravan and Nuevo; and many more. music. As a non-profit organization based in San In addition to composers, Kronos counts nu- Francisco, the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing merous artists from around the world among its Arts Association has commissioned more than 600 collaborators, including the Chinese pipa virtuoso new works and arrangements for string quartet. Wu Man; legendary Bollywood “playback singer” Music publishers Boosey & Hawkes and Kronos Asha Bhosle, featured on Kronos’s Grammy- have released sheet music for three signature works, nominated CD, You’ve Stolen My Heart: Songs all commissioned for Kronos, in the first volume of from R. D. Burman’s Bollywood; Inuit throat singer the Kronos Collection, a performing edition edited Tanya Tagaq; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba; by Kronos. The quartet is committed to mentor- genre defying sound artist and instrument builder ing emerging professional performers, and in 2007 Walter Kitundu; the Romanian gypsy band Taraf Kronos led its first Professional Training Workshop de Haïdouks; renowned American soprano Dawn with four string quartets as part of the Weill Music

Jay Blakesberg Upshaw; and the unbridled British cabaret trio, Institute at Carnegie Hall. One of Kronos’s most the Tiger Lillies. Kronos has performed live with exciting initiatives is the Kronos: Under 30 Project, For more than 30 years, the Kronos Quartet— composers (Aleksandra Vrebalov, , the likes of icons Allen Ginsberg, Zakir Hussain, a unique commissioning and composer-in-resi- David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Alfred Schnittke), jazz legends (Ornette Coleman, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Tom Waits, David dence program for composers under 30 years old, Dutt (viola) and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)—has pur- Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk) and artists Barsamian, Howard Zinn, Betty Carter and David launched in conjunction with Kronos’s own 30th sued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit from even farther afield (rock guitar legend Jimi Bowie, and has appeared on recordings by such di- birthday in 2003. By cultivating creative relation- of fearless exploration with a commitment to ex- Hendrix, Azeri vocalist Alim Qasimov, avant- verse talents as Nine Inch Nails, Amon Tobin, Dan ships with such emerging talents and a wealth of panding the range and context of the string quar- garde saxophonist John Zorn). Zanes, DJ Spooky, Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, other artists from around the world, Kronos reaps tet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the Integral to Kronos’s work is a series of long- Rokia Traoré, Joan Armatrading and Don Walser. the benefit of 30 years’ wisdom while maintaining most celebrated and influential groups of our time, running, in-depth collaborations with many of the Kronos’s music has also featured prominently in a fresh approach to music-making inspired by a performing thousands of concerts worldwide, re- world’s foremost composers. One of the quartet’s other media, including film Requiem( for a Dream, new generation of composers and performers. leasing more than 40 recordings of extraordinary most frequent composer-collaborators is “Father The Fountain, 21 Grams, Heat, True Stories) and breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of Minimalism” Terry Riley, whose work with dance, with noted choreographers such as Merce Kronos Quartet of the world’s most eclectic composers and per- Kronos includes the early Sunrise of the Planetary Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp and Eiko P. O. Box 225340 formers, and commissioning hundreds of works Dream Collector; Cadenza on the Night Plain and & Koma setting pieces to Kronos’s music. San Francisco, California 94122-5340 and arrangements for string quartet. Kronos’s Salome Dances for Peace; 2002’s Sun Rings, a multi- The Quartet spends five months of each year www.kronosquartet.org work has also garnered numerous awards, includ- media, NASA-commissioned ode to the earth and on tour, appearing in concert halls, clubs, and fes- www.myspace.com/kronosquartet ing a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music its people, featuring celestial sounds and images tivals around the world including BAM Next Wave www.facebook.com/kronosquartet Performance (2004) and “Musicians of the Year” from space; and, most recently, The Cusp of Magic, Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican in London, (2003) from Musical America. commissioned in honor of Riley’s 70th birthday WOMAD, UCLA’s Royce Hall, ’s Kronos’s adventurous approach dates back to celebrations in 2005 and recorded and released Concertgebouw, Shanghai Concert Hall and the Sightlines the ensemble’s origins. In 1973, David Harrington in 2008. Kronos commissioned and recorded the Sydney Opera House. Kronos is equally prolific was inspired to form Kronos after hearing George three string quartets of Polish composer Henryk and wide-ranging on disc. The ensemble’s expan- Kronos Quartet Crumb’s Black Angels, a highly unorthodox, Mikolaj Górecki, with whom the group has been sive discography on Nonesuch Records includes Sunday, February 1, 2009 Vietnam War-inspired work featuring bowed wa- working for nearly 20 years. The quartet has also collections like Pieces of Africa (1992), a showcase Hertz Hall ter glasses, spoken-word passages and electronic ef- collaborated extensively with composers such as of African-born composers, which simultaneously fects. Kronos then began building a compellingly Philip Glass, recording his complete string quar- topped Billboard’s Classical and World Music Post-performance discussion with the diverse repertoire for string quartet, performing tets and scores to films like Mishima and Dracula lists; 2000’s Kronos Caravan, whose musical “trav- artists. This Sightlines event is free to all and recording works by 20th-century masters (a restored edition of the Bela Lugosi classic); els” span North and South America, Europe, and event ticket holders. (Bartók, Shostakovich, Webern), contemporary Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, whose works are the Middle East; 1998’s 10-disc anthology, Kronos

10 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 11