College of Fine Arts presents NEXTET st The New Music Ensemble of the 21 Century Cynthia Lee Wong, music director Featuring the music of Paul Chihara, composer-in-residence PROGRAM No Guarantees, a musical comedy (work-in-progress) Cynthia Lee Wong 1. Overture (electronic sketch) composer (b. 1982) 2. Scene 1 (Andy-Mate Ad) Richard Aellen librettist 3. Scene 2a (Jake and Dara, androids, at the lab) (b. 1945) In order of appearance: Christopher Martin, tenor (Jake Nilman) Erin Gonzales (Andy-Diane / Heidi the Head) Alex Price (Andy-Brian / Lovelinks profile Sean / Andy-Mate #1, 3) Phillip Harris (Monotone Announcer / LoveLinks profiles Stan and Victor / Andy-Mate #2) Ashley Stone, mezzo-soprano (Dara Green) Kathryn Martinson (Andy-Patty / Pi) Kurt Sedlmeir (Hoss) Katie Leung, piano Crystalline (2017) Jennifer Bellor (b. 1983) Marcus Leblanc and Gabriela Ordonez, percussion Christina Wright-Ivanova and Katie Leung, piano Lulling Charities (2017) Jennifer Bellor Written for and inspired by Lotte Reiniger’s animated short film “Das Ornament des verliebten Herzens” (1919) Voice, electric guitar, harmonium and electronics Music, lyrics and voice by Jennifer Bellor Electric guitar with improvisation and mixing/editing by Phil Joy Amatsu Kaze (2003) Paul Chihara 1. Arashi fuku (b. 1938) 2. Shira tsuyu ni 3. Aki kinu to 4. Amatsu kaze 5. Inakano yado de 6. Kurokami no 7. Sasa no ha wa Ashley Stone, soprano Dafne Guevara, flute Mark McArthur, saxophone Yuri Cho, violin Andy Smith, cello Christina Wright-Ivanova, piano Monday, Oct. 2, 2017 7:30 PM Dr. Arturo Rando-Grillot Recital Hall Lee and Thomas Beam Music Center University of Nevada, Las Vegas COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE Paul Chihara’s prize-winning concert works have been performed in most major cities and arts centers in the U.S. and Europe. His numerous commissions and awards include those from The Lili Boulanger Memorial Award, the Naumberg Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Fellowship, the Aaron Copland Fund, and National Endowment for the Arts, as well as from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New Juilliard Ensemble, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. His commissioned orchestral tone poem CLOUDS was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra in their Millennium Concert at Carnegie Hall in 2001. His AMATSU KAZE (for soprano and five instruments) was premiered by the New Juilliard Ensemble at the Why Note Festival in Dijon, France. In February 2002, a concert of his choral music was presented by the Westminster Choir College at Princeton, New Jersey. His “An Afternoon on the Perfume River” received its world premiere by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in February of 2004. Sir Neville Marriner and the world-renowned guitar virtuoso Pepe Romero recently recorded his Guitar Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra. Active in the ballet world, Mr. Chihara was composer-in-residence at the San Francisco Ballet from 1973-1986. While there, he wrote many trailblazing works, including Shin-ju (based on the "lovers' suicide" plays by the great Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu), as well as the first full-length American ballet, The Tempest. In addition to his many concert works, Mr. Chihara has composed scores for over 90 motion pictures and television series. He has worked with such luminaries as directors Sidney Lumet, Louis Malle, Michael Ritchie, and Arthur Penn. His movie credits include Prince of the City, The Morning After, Crossing Delancey, and John Turturro’s Romance and Cigarettes. His works for television include China Beach, Noble House, Brave New World, and 100 Centre Street. Mr. Chihara also served as music supervisor at Buena Vista Pictures (Walt Disney Co.). Also active in the New York musical theatre world, Mr. Chihara served as musical consultant and arranger for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies, and was the composer for James Clavell’s Shogun, the Musical. Mr. Chihara’s works have been widely recorded. His compositions appear on many labels including BMG Records, Reference Recordings, CRI, Music and Art, Vox Candide, New World Records, The Louisville Orchestra First Editions Records, and Albany Records. Mr. Chihara is a Professor of Music at New York University. MEET THE COMPOSERS Praised as having the ability to “maintain a highly individual identity without needing to take refuge in pre-post-genre musical silos” (Frank J. Oteri, NewMusicBox), composer Jennifer Bellor writes music that is inspired by personal experiences, text, and imagery. Her music has been presented by Washington National Opera, American Composer’s Orchestra JCOI Readings, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Las Vegas Philharmonic, ShoutHouse, and many others in the US and abroad. Bellor’s music draws on a variety of influences, evidenced in her debut album “Stay,” which is a melting pot of different music styles largely based on poetry. Stay was featured on NewMusicBox’s 2016 Staff picks, and her composition Chase the Stars has received critical acclaim not only for its “dazzling eclecticism” combining opera, hip hop and jazz, but also for her singing. No Depression’s Stacey Zering proclaimed: “Bellor’s gorgeously haunting vocals hypnotizes in “Chase the Stars” like a seemingly innocent mermaid who will later capture you with no intentions of bringing you back.” Born and raised in Northern NY, Bellor earned a PhD in music composition at Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music degree in composition at Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music at Cornell University. The 2016 winner of The American Prize for her composition Chase the Stars, Bellor also has received awards by Elevate Ensemble for Moments Shared, Moments Lost, IAWM Judith Lang Zaimont prize for Skylark Lullaby, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra Composition prize for Noir, and a Downbeat Award for Midnight Swim. Her primary composition teachers included David Liptak, Bob Morris, Andrew Waggoner, Sally Lamb-McCune, and Steven Stucky. She is currently Visiting Lecturer at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she teaches courses in music composition and theory. Please visit www.jenniferbellor.com. Cynthia Lee Wong has attracted international acclaim for her “shamelessly beautiful” music and devotion toward “not only the avant-garde audience, but all classical enthusiasts or indeed all music lovers” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Wong's creative output encompasses a range of genres, including works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance, voice, narrator, musical theatre, and piano improvisation. In 2017, Wong received a Discovery Grant from Opera America to develop her musical comedy No Guarantees with librettist Richard Aellen. From 2013-2015, Wong was the selected composer for New Voices, a multi-organizational initiative through which she received mentorship from Boosey & Hawkes as well as chamber and orchestral commissions from New World Symphony and San Francisco Symphony. Previously, Wong received a 2010 Orpheus Project 440 commission in which her work Memoriam was premiered at Carnegie Hall. Other commissions include pieces for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico, Portland Symphony, New York State Music Teachers Association, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society, Tanglewood Music Festival, and the Tokyo String Quartet. Wong graduated from the accelerated 5-year B.M./M.M. program at Juilliard and received her Ph.D. as an Enhanced Chancellor’s Ph.D. Fellow at the Graduate Center at the City of New York. Wong is a composition faculty member at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and serves on the board at the League of Composers, the nation's oldest organization dedicated toward new music. For more information, visit www.cynthialeewong.com. MEET THE FACULTY, STUDENTS, AND GUESTS Richard Aellen is an award-winning playwright and author of five novels. His play NOBODY, a finalist at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, was produced at Alabama Shakespeare Festival in March 2010. He is librettist for WICKED MOON produced in March 2011 at the 4th Wall Theatre and co-librettist with Anita Gonzales and composer Errollyn Wallen of LIVERPOOL TRADING, currently in development with support from University of Michigan and Rythmcolor Associates. Richard’s novel REDEYE was optioned by Warner Brothers for whom he wrote the screenplay. Awards and grants include the 2006 Stanley Drama Award (Farmers of Men) 2008 Charles M. Getchell Award (Nobody), National Endowment for the Arts Grant (film Teenangel), Writers Guild of America/East Fellowship (Lost and Found), Delacorte Press Prize (Ozzy on the Outside), and the 2010 BMI Harrington Award for Creative Excellence. Richard is a member of Dramatists Guild, WGA East and BMI Musical Theater Workshop. A versatile violinist, Yuri Cho gave her first performance at age 10 at the winner's concert of Korean Newspaper Music Competition in Seoul. Since entering the Menuhin School, she had the rare honor to perform the Brahms sextet with Lord Menuhin in Buckingham Palace at age 15 and was selected as a soloist and a Concertmaster of the Yehudi Menuhin Orchestra in the 1993 Europe tour with Lord Menuhin conducting. Since then, her engagements have taken her throughout England, Europe, and Korea with orchestras such as the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the Beethoven Society Orchestra, the Redhill Symphony Orchestra, the Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra,