VIEW THIS EMAIL IN YOUR BROWSER FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS CONTACTS March 15, 2018 Aleba Gartner, 212/206-1450 Tickets & Information: 212/854-7799 [email protected] www.millertheatre.com Lauren Bailey, 212/854-1633 [email protected] Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts concludes its 2017-18 Composer Portraits series with Frederic Rzewski Del Sol String Quartet performs an 80th birthday tribute that places Rzewski's 1955 Quartet alongside a world premiere commission Includes an onstage discussion with Frederic Rzewski and Charlton Lee Thursday, April 19, 2018, 8:00 p.m. Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street, New York, NY) Tickets: $20-$30 • Students with valid ID: $7-$18 From Miller Theatre Executive Director Melissa Smey: "I’m honored to co-commission and present the world premiere of a new string quartet by the revolutionary composer Frederic Rzewski. This marks his second Composer Portrait at Miller (first Portrait was in October 2005), and it’s a perfect way to close the series and the season with the first performance of this new piece." Composer Portraits April 19, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street) Frederic Rzewski Though American composer Frederic Rzewski is best known for his powerfully moving scores responding to social and political uprisings around the world, one of his earliest pieces was of a more familiar variety—a string quartet, composed when he was just 17 years old. Now approaching 80, Rzewski is still composing. For his second appearance on the Composer Portraits series, Miller highlights this very early work, followed by the world premiere of Rzewski’s latest string quartet, co-commissioned for the occasion. The New York Times describes Composer Portraits as "Miller Theatre’s invaluable marquee series of deep dives, a single living composer at a time." PROGRAM: Words for string quartet (2018) world premiere, Miller Theatre and Del Sol Performing Arts co­commission String Quartet (1955) ARTISTS: Del Sol String Quartet Frederic Rzewski American composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski was born in Westfield, Massachusetts in 1938. Rzewski studied music and composition at Harvard University and Princeton University from 1954 until 1960 under Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, Randall Thompson, and Milton Babbitt. In 1960, Rzewski studied in Italy with Luigi Dallapiccola and frequently performed with Severino Gazzelloni, thus beginning a career as a performer of contemporary piano music. Rzewski co-founded Musica Elettronica Viva in Rome in 1966 with Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum, an improvisational and live electronic ensemble. The group has performed continuously from 1966 to the present (last year in the Big Ears festival, the Mulhouse Festival of Improvised Music, and at the Teatro Colòn in Buenos Aires). Rzewski is active both as pianist and composer. He has written a number of well-known compositions, among them “The People United Will Never Be Defeated” (1975) premiered and commissioned by American pianist Ursula Oppens, whose recording of the piece received a Grammy nomination in 1979. In 1977, Rzewski became a Professor of Composition at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Liège, Belgium, and taught there until 2003. He is a registered voter in Pittsburgh, and divides his time between the United States and Europe. Del Sol String Quartet Hailed by Gramophone as “masters of all musical things they survey” and two-time winner of the top Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the Del Sol String Quartet shares living music with an ever-growing community of adventurous listeners. Fascinated by the feedback loop between social change, technology, and artistic innovation, the San Francisco-based ensemble is a leading force in 21st century chamber music, whether introducing Ben Johnston’s microtonal Americana at the Library of Congress, exploring Andean soundscapes with Gabriela Lena Frank and traditional musicians, deconstructing Ruth Crawford’s radical experimental processes with East Bay schoolchildren, or rocking Mason Bates’ techno grooves in his San Francisco club dance party. Del Sol was founded in 1992 at Banff Centre for the Arts and is recognized as a “vigorous champion of living composers,” focusing on music that reflects the cultural diversity of our community, advocating works by both world-renowned and emerging composers, and collaborating across disciplines. Del Sol has commissioned and premiered over 100 works by a diverse range of composers, including Terry Riley, Mason Bates, Frederic Rzewski, Ben Johnston, Gabriela Lena Frank, Chinary Ung, Ken Ueno, Mohammed Fairouz, Tania León, Peter Sculthorpe, Reza Vali, and Per Nørgård. The Quartet has performed on prominent concert series nationwide, including the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, Symphony Space, Cabrillo Festival, Other Minds Festival, and Santa Fe Opera; and internationally in Switzerland, France, China, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico. The Quartet conducts an active educational program in the San Francisco Bay Area, in addition to regular residencies at universities and music schools across the country. The New York Times praised Del Sol’s recent recording, Scrapyard Exotica: “See if your foot can stay still once you put on this funky disc of rhythmically infectious…music played by the adventurous Del Sol String Quartet.” Released August 25, 2017, Del Sol’s ninth album Dark Queen Mantra features a collaboration with guitarist Gyan Riley and world premiere recordings of music by Terry Riley and Stefano Scodanibbio. Major support for Composer Portraits is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts With the friendly support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Major support for Miller Theatre’s 2017­18 Season is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Columbia University’s Miller Theatre is located north of the Main Campus Gate at 116th St. & Broadway on the ground floor of Dodge Hall. Directions and information are available online at www.millertheatre.com or via the Miller Theatre Box Office, at 212.854.7799. For further information, press tickets, and to arrange interviews, please contact Aleba & Co. at 212/206-1450 or [email protected]. For photos, please contact Lauren Bailey at 212/854-1633 or [email protected]. For further information, press tickets, photos, and to arrange interviews, please contact Aleba & Co. at 212/206-1450 or [email protected]. Copyright © 2018 Aleba & Co., All rights reserved. subscribe to this list unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences .