Miller Theatre at Columbia University 2014-15 | 26th Season Composer Portraits Missy Mazzoli ETHEL Mivos Quartet Marnie Breckenridge, soprano Jody Redhage, cello and voice Nathan Schram, viola Robert Simonds, violin Edward Poll, conductor Thursday, February 5, 8:00 p.m. From the Executive Director I’m excited to announce that last month Miller Theatre was honored with the ASCAP- Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming. This is the fourth time the award has been given to Miller Theatre, and the second time during my tenure as Executive Director. It’s a great honor to be recognized by these two national organizations. The award recognizes Miller’s commitment to making contemporary music a vibrant part of life in New York City, so it’s apt that we’ll continue our winter programming tonight with a celebration of one of New York’s brightest young composers, Missy Mazzoli. The first Mazzoli piece I heard was an excerpt from her opera,Song from the Uproar, but I quickly discovered how versatile a composer she is. Tonight, you’ll hear an excerpt from her new opera, solo works, and string quartets—Death Valley Junction is a special favorite of mine. This repertoire paints a diverse picture, but it’s still only a slice of her rapidly growing body of work; I’m excited for what’s ahead. Our Portrait on February 19 features Italian composer Stefano Gervasoni, whose work I was introduced to by the ensemble Yarn/Wire. They made their Miller debut at a Pop-Up Concert season last year, the start of what is now an ongoing collaboration. Not only is Gervasoni’s work exciting, dynamic, and extremely difficult, but this Portrait presented the opportunity to collaborate with two other young New York ensembles. Like Yarn/Wire, Ekmeles and the Mivos Quartet made their Miller debuts at recent Pop-Up concerts. All three ensembles are well on their way to major careers, and I love that Miller can be a showcase for their talents. I hope there’s lots of new music in your plans for 2015 – we certainly have a great lineup to share with you at Miller Theatre! Melissa Smey Executive Director Please note that photography and the use of recording devices are not permitted. Remember to turn off all cellular phones and pagers before tonight’s performance begins. Miller Theatre is ADA accessible. Large print programs are available upon request. For more information or to arrange accommodations, please call 212-854-7799. Miller Theatre at Columbia University 2014-15 | 26th Season Composer Portraits Thursday, February 5, 8:00 p.m. Missy Mazzoli Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980) Death Valley Junction (2010) Mivos Quartet Dissolve, O my Heart (2010) Robert Simonds, violin A Thousand Tongues (2009) Jody Redhage, cello and voice Harp and Altar (2009) Mivos Quartet INTERMISSION Onstage discussion with Missy Mazzoli and Melissa Smey Tooth and Nail (2010) Nathan Schram, viola His Name is Jan (2013) Marnie Breckenridge, soprano; ETHEL; Edward Poll, conductor Quartet for Queen Mab (2015) world premiere Co-commissioned by Miller Theatre and ETHEL’s Foundation for the Arts ETHEL This program runs approximately one hour and forty-five minutes, including intermission. ETHEL’s commission of Quartet for Queen Mab was made possible with support from the New York State Council on the Arts. Major support for Composer Portraits is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts. About the Program Introduction by Paul Griffiths “I want people to find something out about themselves through my music, something that was inaccessible before, something that they were suppressing, something that they couldn’t really confront…. I really think of my motives, my melodies, my harmonies, as being these things that are very much alive. For example, what happens if this motive is in a spiral? What does that mean? What does that look like? How does that translate musically?” —Missy Mazzoli The typical Mazzoli piece is calm and edgy, slow and hyper-energetic, solemn and intense, hypnotic and wild. The typical Mazzoli piece dreams as it furiously dances. The typical Mazzoli piece is many things at once. The typical Mazzoli piece is made for audiences in concert halls and bars, opera theaters and art galleries. The typical Mazzoli piece uses electronic means—samples, especially—along with the voices of centuries-old instruments. The typical Mazzoli piece is designed for friends—she plays keyboards in the group Victoire and has close connections with other musicians, including those performing tonight—but there are also many typical Mazzoli pieces that are not. Born in a small town in Pennsylvania in 1980, Missy Mazzoli studied at Yale, at Boston University, and, on a Fulbright, in The Hague with Louis Andriessen and Martijn Padding. She then settled in New York, where she was executive director of the MATA Festival (2007-10) and now teaches at Mannes. Her career as a composer began in 2004-5 with pieces she wrote mostly for herself or for small groups. A first orchestral piece,These Worlds Within Us (2006), won an ASCAP Young Composers Award and was taken up by the Minnesota Orchestra after its Yale première. Her growing reputation led to commissions from eighth blackbird (Still Life with Avalanche, 2008), Carnegie Hall (The Sound of the Light, for five instruments, 2008) and the Kronos Quartet (Harp and Altar, 2009). She was also busy from this time writing scores for Victoire, whose debut album, Cathedral City, was released in 2010. Violent, Violent Sea, composed for the League of Composers Chamber Orchestra, was first performed here at Miller Theatre in June 2011, and was followed by works for the Albany Symphony (Holy Roller, 2012) and the Detroit Symphony (River Rouge Transfiguration, 2013). Through most of this time she was also at work on an opera, Song from the Uproar, which came out of her fascination with the life and writings of the Swiss explorer Isabelle Eberhardt and was presented at the Kitchen three years ago. Next month sees the release of her second album with Victoire, Vespers. Program Notes by Missy Mazzoli Death Valley Junction (2010) Death Valley Junction is a sonic depiction of the town of the same name, a strange and isolated place on the border of California and Nevada. The “town” is home to three people and consists of a café, a hotel, and a fully functional opera house. Death Valley Junction is dedicated to Marta Becket, the woman who resurrected and repaired the crumbling opera house in the late 1960s and performed one-woman shows there every week until her retirement in 2012 at age 87. The piece begins with a sparse, edgy texture – the harsh desert landscape – and collapses into a wild and buoyant dance. Marta Becket once compared herself to the single yellow flower that is able to, against all odds, flourish in the desert. This piece attempts to depict some of her exuberant energy and unstoppable optimism, and is dedicated to her. Dissolve, O my Heart (2010) Dissolve, O my Heart has its roots in a late-night conversation over Chinese food and cupcakes with violinist Jennifer Koh. She told me about her Bach & Beyond project, a program that combines Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas with newly commissioned works, and asked if I would write a piece that referenced Bach’s Partita in D minor. This request was, to put it mildly, utterly terrifying; the last movement of the Partita, the Chaconne, is undoubtably the most famous piece of solo violin literature in the world. It overwhelmed Brahms, has been subject to hundreds of transcriptions and arrangements over the past two centuries, and is dizzying in its contrapuntal complexity. But something about Jennifer’s enthusiasm was infectious, and I agreed to the project before I realized what I was getting myself into. Jennifer seemed to approach Bach through the lens of contemporary music, and I realized that this was what this new piece should do as well. About the Program Dissolve, O my Heart begins with the first chord of Bach’s Chaconne, a now-iconic D minor chord, and spins out from there into an off-kilter series of chords that doubles back on itself, collapses and ultimately dissolves in a torrent of fast passages. The only direct quote from the partita is that first chord, which anchors the entire piece even as it threatens to spiral out of control. The title comes from an aria in the St. John Passion, but has many potential interpretations. Dissolve, O my Heart was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and was premiered in 2011 as part of their Green Umbrella Series in Disney Hall. A Thousand Tongues (2009) A Thousand Tongues was commissioned by cellist and vocalist Jody Redhage. This piece is a short but intense response to the following text by Stephen Crane: Yes, I have a thousand tongues, And nine and ninety-nine lie. Though I strive to use the one, It will make no melody at my will, But is dead in my mouth. Harp and Altar (2009) Harp and Altar was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. At its core, this piece is a love song to the Brooklyn Bridge. The title comes from a poem by Hart Crane, in which he describes the Brooklyn Bridge as “that harp and altar of the Fury fused.” The borough of Brooklyn is impossible to describe, but the Brooklyn Bridge seems to be an apt symbol for its vastness, its strength, and its history. Halfway through the work the vocalist Gabriel Kahane’s pre-recorded voice enters, singing fragments of the lines below from Crane’s poem, The Bridge.