Introducing Culture Club! presents Culture Club is a collaborative program of the Portland Museum of Art, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Portland Ovations and Portland Stage delivering accessible, consistent, diverse, high quality arts experiences to ETHEL: students. “Present Beauty” Through Culture Club-Portland, students in the Portland Public School district will have the opportunity to participate for free in four professional art Wednesday, January 30, 2013 7:30 pm experiences every school year. Hannaford Hall, USM Portland The arts inspire creativity and exploration. They encourage dialogue and build community. The arts are essential to the intellectual and civic lives of our children. Through the generous support of an individual donor, the Portland To Whom It May Concern: Thank You Mark Stewart Museum of Art, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Portland Ovations, and Portland Stage have come together to create Culture Club-Portland to advance arts Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector Terry Riley education in our city. Through Culture Club, we inspire students by providing regular access to quality arts, building community, and making the arts a Suite from The Hours Philip Glass, arr. ETHEL consistent part of students’ education. The Poet Acts Morning Passages Culture Club-Portland is administered by Portland Education Foundation. Escape The Hours www.portlandeducationfoundation.org Early that summer Julia Wolfe wed David Lang String Quartet No. 2: The Flag Project Huang Ruo I. II. III. ETHEL endorses the Avid/Sibelius family of software solutions. ETHEL endorses the beyerdynamic family of microphones. Supported by: Davis Family Foundation Program Notes Present Beauty the same time that I was working on the piece I was reading a book about American politi- cal history. In this book, all of the political crises began with some small occurrence, with a The concept of literature as a muse for composers is hardly a new phenomenon. Passages phrase like “early that summer....”. That small occurrence would, over time, snowball into of sacred text have always inspired musical treatment. The art of the song cycle evolved something large and explosive. Partway through the book and the piece, I realized that the largely from literary and poetic sources, and there are certainly many popular songwrit- music was about that sense of anticipation. The Lark Quartet commissioned Early that ers following this model today. Opera, Ballet, Theater and now Film are all media where summer with funds from the Meet the Composer’s Commissioning Program. music and literature meet and mingle. David Lang - wed The art of living in and appreciating the “Now” is more and more becoming the subject In David’s words: My piece wed is dedicated to the memory of Kate Ericson, a young con- of universal discussion; from spiritual communities to popular entertainment to scientific ceptual artist and a close friend of my wife. In her hospital bed, just before she died, Kate publications. ETHEL here presents a program celebrating the concepts of presence and was married to her boyfriend and longtime collaborator, Mel Ziegler. A wedding is usu- continuity. ally a joyful event, full of hope and optimism, but this wedding of course had something -- -- -- much darker hovering around the joyfulness. In my piece the four independent lines of the string quartet are made of small changes – a half step up, a whole step down, and each Mark Stewart - To Whom It May Concern: Thank You from Origin of the Species line by itself is not that interesting. Put together, however, they allow the music to rock In Mark’s words: To Whom It May Concern: Thank You is the final movement of Origin oddly back and forth between major and minor, between consonance and dissonance, of the Species, a piece commissioned for ETHEL by The Jerome Foundation. The first between hope and despair. wed was written for the Kronos Quartet. movements of the larger piece are performed on daxophones which I custom designed for the group. These movements tell fantastical tales of the earth’s creation, and the coming Huang Ruo - String Quartet No. 2: The Flag Project to be of all of the planet’s living things. This final movement, inspired by my mother’s In Huang Ruo’s words: String Quartet No. 2: The Flag Project is about the Buddhism agnostic dinner prayer, brings the stories to a gentle, loving rest. Prayer Flags, and it is written for string quartet with four pairs of Tibetan Finger Cymbals. A prayer flag is a colorful panel or rectangular cloth often found strung along mountain Terry Riley -Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding land and creatures. Un- In ETHEL’s words: Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector is one of the seminal mas- known in other branches of Buddhism, prayer flags are believed to have originated with terworks of the minimalist movement. 24 modules make up the structure of the piece; the Bön, which predated Buddhism in Tibet. String Quartet No. 2: The Flag Project has three performers are charged to “co-compose” the work by determining the ultimate module movements, and each movement is about a different motion of the flags. The entire piece order, and duration of the performance. ETHEL is particularly stimulated by the exercise runs around 15 minutes. of presenting this piece; each presentation we offer opens up new fields of possibility as we mix, match, and jump from moment to moment in this vibrant work. ETHELAbout Biography ETHEL Philip Glass, arranged by ETHEL -Suite from The Hours In ETHEL’s words: Stephen Daldry’s 2002 film realization of Michael Cunningham’s Acclaimed as “one of the most exciting quartets around” (Strad Mag) and “as a necessary novel The Hours drew a hauntingly beautiful sound score from Philip Glass. There is jet of cold water in the contemporary classical scene” (Pitchfork.com), the string quartet a powerful affinity between Glass’ creative aesthetic and that of the novel’s protagonist ETHEL has been a post-classical pioneer since it was founded in 1998. ETHEL invigo- author Virginia Woolf. As a writer, she developed the theme of beauty as an experience rates contemporary concert music with exuberance, intensity, imaginative programming rooted in the present moment, rather than in relationship to the past or the future. In his and exceptional artistry. With an eye on tradition and an ear to the future, ETHEL is a music, Glass captures beauty in continuity, without beginning, climax or end. As Michael leading force in concert music’s reengagement with musical vernaculars, fusing diverse tra- Cunningham points out in the liner notes to The Hours CD, “Glass can find in three ditions into a vibrant sound that resonates with audiences the world over. The New York repeated notes something of the strange rapture of sameness that Woolf discovered in a City-based quartet comprises Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), Kip Jones woman named Clarissa Dalloway doing errands on a summer morning.” Deeply moved (violin) and Tema Watstein (violin). by the aesthetic of “present beauty”, ETHEL has arranged several movements of Glass’ score, and presents them in suite form. ETHEL’s 2012-13 season commences with a nationwide tour of “Tell Me Something Good,” a celebration of the culture and sounds of the 1970s featuring rock icon Todd Julia Wolfe - Early that summer Rundgren. Other highlights include: a preliminary performance/workshop of “ETHEL’s In Julia’s words: I wrote Early that summer while I was living in Amsterdam for a year. At Documerica” as part of the Park Avenue Armory’s week-long “Under Construction” series in New York City; the world premiere in the Netherlands of “Cross Avenue;” a new work About the Artists ETHEL by composers Jeroen Strijbos and Rob van Rijswijk; collaborative projects and concerts with virtuoso guitarist Kaki King; ongoing performances with Native American flutist A founding member of ETHEL, Ralph Farris (Artistic Director, Viola) is a Grammy- Robert Mirabal; appearances as the official house band of TEDxManhattan; and newly nominated arranger, an original Broadway orchestra member of The Lion King and former commissioned works by Mary Ellen Childs, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Ulysses Ow- musical director for The Who’s Roger Daltrey. He has worked with Leonard Bernstein, ens Jr., James “Kimo” Williams, Hannis Brown, Lainie Fefferman and Dan Friel. Martin Scorsese, Depeche Mode, Natalie Merchant, Harry Connick Jr., Allen Ginsberg, Yo-Yo Ma and Gorillaz. A graduate of Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Ralph earned his Off-stage, ETHEL continues to receive acclaim for its third album, Heavy (Innova Re- Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School. cordings, 2012), which has been described as “another beautiful reality of contemporary music” (All About Jazz). A founding member of ETHEL, Dorothy Lawson (Artistic Director, Cello) has per- formed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the White Oak Dance Project, Philharmo- Over the past three years, ETHEL has premiered over 50 new works by 20th- and 21st- nia Virtuosi, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and century composers, including pieces that were commissioned by the quartet or composed numerous new music ensembles. Canadian-born, she completed degrees at the University by ETHEL. Recent premieres and noteworthy performances include: Phil Kline’s SPACE of Toronto, the Vienna Academy and The Juilliard School. She teaches in the Preparatory at the gala reopening of Alice Tully Hall; RADIO by Osvaldo Golijov at the debut of Division of Mannes College at the New School in New York City. WNYC Radio’s Jerome L. Greene Space; ETHEL’s TruckStop®: The Beginning at BAM’s Next Wave Festival; ETHEL Fair: The Songwriters at opening night of Lincoln Cen- Kip Jones (Violin) is known for his ebullient and innovative solo performances in a style ter’s Out of Doors Festival; WAIT FOR GREEN with choreography by Annie-B Par- he describes as “experimental folk”.