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| MIRROR VISIONS ENSEMBLE EMBARKS ON NATIONAL TOUR OF NEW PROGRAM, JOURNEYS, FEATURING FIVE COMMISSIONS INCLUDES TWO NYC DATES: MARCH 7 & 10, 2015 New York, NY – The Mirror Visions Ensemble, a vocal trio featuring soprano Vira Slywotzky, tenor Scott Murphree and baritone Jesse Blumberg, presents Journeys accompanied by pianist Grant Wenaus in February and March with dates in San Francisco, Newton (MA), Hillsdale (NY) and in New York City at Lincoln Center’s Library for the Performing Arts and SubCulture. Journeys is a new program in which the singers explore land, sea and air travel to far-flung destinations — both real and imaginary — in lighthearted and humorous ways. The ensemble sings about modes of transportation, travel experiences and hotel accommodation with style and flair. They also eloquently tour coral reefs in The Mermaid’s Song by Haydn, search for the isle of true love in Berlioz’s L’Ile inconnue, and have a momentary rest in Barber’s Solitary Hotel. This program features five MVE commissions in addition to familiar works by such composers as Haydn, Porter, Duparc, Wolf, Berlioz, Poulenc and Barber set to the poetry of James Joyce, Charles Baudelaire, Pietro Metastasio and others. The commissioned works by composers Tom Cipullo, Scott Wheeler, Christopher Berg, Gilda Lyons and Deborah Fischer Teason share the travel theme. Cipullo’s song cycle Nightmare at the Windermere Hotel is based on a text from a letter of poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay. Scott Wheeler’s Letters to Isabella consists of three songs, each a setting of a letter that avid art collector and Bostonian museum founder Isabella Stewart Gardner received during her life’s travels — one each from author Henry James, novelist Paul Bourget and scholar Kakuzo Okakura. Gilda Lyons’ Great Barrier Reef, a movement from her set A List of Wonders, celebrates the tremendous and wondrous work of nature. At SubCulture on March 10, Mirror Visions also celebrates the pre-release of its forthcoming album on Centaur Records, The Three-Paneled Mirror. This disc – the fourth for the ensemble – is comprised entirely of commissioned works by composers Richard Pearson Thomas, Tom Cipullo and Christopher Berg. On March 21 at 3PM, Mirror Visions Ensemble will also bring this program to Paris at Musée des arts décoratifs, Salon des Boiseries. What began as programs built around individual poets and a fascination with multiple settings of the same text – a “mirror vision” – has expanded to include the commissioning of over 80 works from 24 composers, including Christopher Berg, Tom Cipullo, Richard Lalli, Russell Platt, Richard Pearson Thomas, Francine Trester, Scott Wheeler, Hans Gefors and Anders Nilsson, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Yehudi Wyner. Each Mirror Visions Ensemble concert is designed in the soirée style made popular during the 19th century, introducing composers, poets and historical figures not only through their published works, but also through correspondence and anecdotes woven throughout each performance. Past seasons include performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Bargemusic, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Lincoln Center’s Library for the Performing Arts, NYU’s Frederick Loewe Theatre, SubCulture, Boston Court PAC, Longy School of Music, Northwestern University and CSU Fullerton, as well as frequent appearances in Paris at the American University of Paris, the American Church in Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Musée Nissim de Camondo and the La Salle des Boiseries at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. JOURNEYS CONCERT DATES February 21 – Hillsdale, NY – Adventures in Music at the Jansen Library Mirror Visions Ensemble: HENRI DUPARC L’invitation au voyage *Mirror Visions Ensemble Commission Mirror Visions Ensemble – click here for biography ARTISTS – click here for individual biographies Mirror Visions Ensemble Young Composers Competition *** |
