Please turn off all electronic Photography and audio/video recording devices before entering the in the performance hall are prohibited. performance hall. Brandee Younger & Courtney Bryan DEBORAH SMAIL DEPARTMENT OF These performances are made possible in part by: PERFORMING ARTS, MUSIC, The P. J. McMyler Musical Endowment Fund AND FILM The Ernest L. and Louise M. Gartner Fund The Cleveland Museum of Art The Anton and Rose Zverina Music Fund 11150 East Boulevard The Frank and Margaret Hyncik Memorial Fund Cleveland, Ohio 44106–1797 The Adolph Benedict and Ila Roberts Schneider Fund The Arthur, Asenath, and Walter H. Blodgett Memorial Fund [email protected] The Dorothy Humel Hovorka Endowment Fund cma.org/performingarts The Albertha T. Jennings Musical Arts Fund #CMAperformingarts Programs are subject to change. Series sponsors: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 TICKETS 1–888–CMA–0033 cma.org/performingarts Welcome to the Cleveland Performing Arts Museum of Art Brandee Younger, harp cma.org/performingarts The Cleveland Museum of Art’s performing arts series #CMAperformingartsCourtney Bryan, piano brings together thoughtful, fascinating, and beautiful experiences, comprising a concert calendar notable for CIM/CWRUWith Joint Music Program Oberlin Contemporary Music its boundless multiplicity. This year we look forward to Wednesday, October 5, 6:00 Ensemble Sunday, February 26, 2:00 visits from old friends and new, bringing us music from FretworkDezron Douglas, bass around the globe and spanning many centuries. Here Wednesday,Kassa OctoberOverall, 12, 7:30 drums CIM/CWRU Joint Music Program Wednesday, March 1, 6:00 is the place where performance is intended to explore Vijay Iyer with International connections of cultures, the heart, the human spirit. Contemporary Ensemble CIM Organ Studio Wednesday,Wednesday, October May 19, 10, 7:30 2017, 7:30 p.m.Sunday, March 12, 2:00 Gartner Auditorium, the Cleveland Museum of Art In the Galleries CIM/CWRU Joint Music Program Quince African Master Carvers: Known and Famous Wednesday, November 2, 6:00 Wednesday, March 22, 7:30 Through July 16 Oberlin Contemporary Music Frode Haltli & Emilia Amper EnsemblePROGRAM Wednesday, March 29, 7:30 Black in America: Louis Draper and Leonard Freed Saturday, November 5, 2:00 CIM/CWRU Joint Music Program Through July 30 Jean-Baptiste Monnot Wednesday, April 5, 6:00 Sunday, November 13, 2:00 Opulent Fashion in the Church Tonight’s program will be announcedOberlin from Contemporarystage, Music Through September 24 Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble Ensemblepresented without intermission, Sunday, April 9, 2:00 Cutting Edge: Modern Prints from Atelier 17 Sunday, December 4, 2:00 Through August 13 and will be approximately 90 minutesZakir in duration.Hussain & Rahul Sharma CIM/CWRU Joint Music Program Wednesday, April 12, 7:30 Wednesday, December 7, 6:00 Brand-New & Terrific: Alex Katz in the 1950s Jeffrey Zeigler Through August 6 Francesco D’Orazio Wednesday, April 26, 7:30 Friday, December 9, 7:30 CIM/CWRU Joint Music Program The Crossing: Wednesday, May 3, 6:00 David Lang’s Lifespan Friday–Sunday, January 6–8 Brandee Younger & Courtney Bryan Wednesday, May 10, 7:30 The “Qatsi” Trilogy Friday–Sunday, January 27–29 CIM/CWRU Joint Music Program Wednesday, February 1, 6:00 Emmanuel Arakélian Please turn off all electronic devices before entering Sunday, February 19, 2:00 the performance hall. Photography and audio/video recording in the performance hall are prohibited. ABOUT THE ARTISTS to her deep love for and exemplary command of the instrument. Brandee Younger “Somewhere beyond the fairy forests and angel wings that harp music traditionally evokes lies Brandee A fearless and versatile talent, harpist Brandee Younger Younger’s rebellion. She’s classically trained, but a moves far afield of genre as a classically-trained musician typical week for her is more likely to include a jazz playing in the avant-garde tradition of her sonically jam session one night and a hip-hop studio recording forward forebears Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Ms. the next afternoon. There’s no room for coyness in her Younger delivers a consistently fresh take on the ancient music, although her eyes betray a glimmer of mischief instrument as an educator, event curator, performer, and when she plays...” leader of the Brandee Younger Jazz Harp Quartet. Flanked —Rajul Punjabi/Village Voice by drummer E.J. Strickland, bassist Dezron Douglas, and A native of Long Island, New York, Ms. Younger spent tenor saxophonists Stacy Dillard and Chelsea Baratz, Ms. her formative years in Hempstead and Uniondale where Younger has produced an impressive body of work since she began harp studies as a teen under the tutelage of the 2011 debut of her seminal Prelude EP, including Brandee Karen Strauss. She received further instruction from Younger Live @ The Breeding Ground, a breakthrough harpists Rebecca Flannery, Susan Jolles, and Emily performance on Revive Music’s 2015 Supreme Sonacy Vol. 1 Mitchell and bassist Nat Reeves. Ms. Younger went on to LP, and the more recent release of her critically-acclaimed earn undergraduate degrees in Harp Performance and 2016 Wax & Wane LP. Music Business from The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. While there, she was mentored by the faculty of Known for expressive interpretations of traditional harp the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz and African American repertoire as well as her continued work with a diverse Studies. An immersive experience detailed in an article by cross-section of musical talents, Ms. Younger is widely Nate Chinen of the New York Times. recognized as a creative linchpin whose nuanced presence and willingness to push boundaries have made her “Ms. Younger quickly found a kinship with Hartt’s jazz irreplaceable on record and in performance. The same program, run at the time by the august alto saxophonist protean ability has found her sharing stages with jazz Jackie McLean. He told her to drop by whenever leaders and popular hip-hop and r&b titans including she wanted. ‘So I did,’ she said. ‘Even though I was Ravi Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Jack Dejohnette, Reggie studying classical music, I would show up to the master Workman, Common, John Legend, and Lauryn Hill. classes, the ensemble classes. I would never bring my instrument; I would just sit there. Four years of that.’ As well versed in performance art as she is the art Though intimidated by the prospect of improvising, she of creative risk-taking, Brandee Younger challenges gradually began to branch out, with encouragement.” commonly-held notions in her quest to “make the harp a more relevant force in today’s music.” Ms. Younger’s ability Upon graduating from Hartt, Reeves introduced Ms. to seamlessly inject the harp into arrangements and venues Younger to saxophonist Kenny Garrett, with whom she where it has historically been overlooked is a testament would sharpen her skills in both ensemble playing and 4 5 improvisation. Entering New York University for graduate instruments are melded to a haunting universe centered school six months later, she had already established an around Niia’s celestial voice. Beguiling musical subtlety in impressive résumé, having joined the harp faculty at these times of loudness.” the Hartt School Community Division, opened for Slide Hampton as a member of Hartford-based collective the Brandee Younger’s versatility has been her passport to an New Jazz Workshop, and developed a working relationship array of venues and the source of musical synthesis at the with Grammy-nominated producer and artist Ryan Leslie core of her work. As a classical musician, she has been a and Grammy Award-winning producer Omen. featured soloist with the Harlem Chamber Players as well as the Impulse Artist Series. She has also performed with Building upon that foundation, Ms. Younger began working an array of ensembles including the Eastern Connecticut with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane on a series of concerts Symphony, Waterbury Symphony, Soulful Symphony, honoring the music of the late pianist, organist, and harpist Ensemble Du Monde, Camerata New York, and the Red Alice Coltrane. The study of Coltrane’s music, along with Bull Artsehcro, a “non-conformist” orchestra. As well, Ms. the work of harpist Dorothy Ashby, would ultimately Younger has worked and recorded with a number of jazz help Ms. Younger develop her own approach to the luminaries including Jack DeJohnette, Pharoah Sanders, instrument—a style that is at once striking and singular in Christian McBride, Ravi Coltrane, Wycliffe Gordon, Charlie performance. Haden, Rashied Ali, Butch Morris, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Kenny Garrett, and Bill Lee. Her work in r&b and hip-hop has “Coltrane asked her to play at a memorial service for found her sharing studios and stages with the likes of John his mother. Her performance ‘moved me and everyone Legend, Common, Drake, Salaam Remi, and Ms. Lauryn Hill. in attendance from the first glissando,’ Mr. Coltrane recalled. ‘No harpist thus far has been more capable Deftly fusing elements of each genre, Ms. Younger released of combining all of the modern harp traditions—from her critically-acclaimed Wax & Wane LP in 2016. Her latest Salzedo, through Dorothy Ashby, through Alice formal release is an ode to preservation and the art of Coltrane—with such strength, grace, and commitment.’ pushing the envelope that finds her planting her flag as This was effectively Ms. Younger’s public debut, and it arguably one of the most fearless leaders at the fore of the set the terms for a spiritual succession.” latest revolution in music. —Nate Chinen/New York Times “The new album came about after Ms. Younger After years of playing as a sideman in various ensembles, performed a tribute to Ms. Ashby commissioned by Brandee Younger released her debut Prelude EP, which the Revive Music Group. She connected with Casey was originally intended for use as a demo.