WITH FOUR CONCERTS THIS WINTER AND SPRING
Ensemble ACJW Performs Premiere of Backlight on February 16 in Weill Recital Hall
David Robertson Conducts the St. Louis Symphony in the New York Premiere of WEAVE with
Mezzo-Soprano Katie Geissinger, Baritone Theo Bleckmann, and Members of the
St. Louis Symphony Chorus on March 20 in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Two Zankel Hall Concerts on March 22 and May 2 Celebrate Monk’s 50 Years of Music-Making
in New York City Featuring Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble and Special Guests
 Carnegie Hall presents acclaimed composer and singer Meredith Monk in four concerts this winter and spring, continuing her season-long residency as holder of the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair. On Monday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall, Ensemble ACJW—an inspirational collective of young professional musicians—performs the New York premiere of Ms. Monk’s new three-movement instrumental work, Backlight, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the group, which plays sonically with the idea of shadow and light, exploring it from different vantage points.
Two concerts on March 20 and March 22 show the breadth and wide-ranging influence of Ms. Monk’s work. First up, Music Director David Robertson leads the St. Louis Symphony, mezzo-soprano Katie Geissinger, baritone Theo Bleckmann, and Members of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus in the New York premiere of the composer’s WEAVE for Two Voices, Chamber Orchestra and Chorus on Friday, March 20 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, on a program that also includes Debussy’s Nocturnes and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Two days later in Zankel Hall, in a concert hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer, an all-star line-up of colleagues from the new music, classical, jazz, and DJ worlds, including Bang on a Can All-Stars, Jessye Norman, Missy Mazzoli and Victoire, Don Byron, DJ Spooky, John Zorn and Cyro Baptista, and many more perform in celebration of the composer’s 50th anniversary of creating work in New York on Sunday, March 22 at 3:00 p.m. The all-Meredith Monk program, which also includes a performance by Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble, features three world premiere arrangements by David Lang, Lukas Ligeti, and Lee Ranaldo. See below for complete artist line-up and repertoire. To conclude her residency, Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble performs a special anniversary concert featuring selections from the early ‘70s to the present—including On Behalf of Nature, impermanence, and mercy—on Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. Ms. Monk began her residency as Debs Composer’s Chair in November with an all-Monk birthday celebration concert at Le Poisson Rouge with pianists Bruce Brubaker and Ursula Oppens, followed by a performance of her work Night by the American Composers Orchestra and George Manahan on the following evening. About the Artist In 1965, Ms. Monk began her innovative exploration of the voice as a multifaceted instrument, composing mostly solo pieces for unaccompanied voice and voice and keyboard. In 1978, she formed Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble to further expand her musical textures and forms. In addition to numerous vocal, music-theater works and operas, Ms. Monk has created vital new repertoire for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments, with commissions from Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony and San Francisco Symphony, Kronos Quartet, St. Louis Symphony and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Ms. Monk has made more than a dozen recordings, most of which are on the ECM New Series label, including the 2008 Grammy-nominated impermanence and highly acclaimed Songs of Ascension (2011) and Piano Songs (2014) with pianists Ursula Oppens and Bruce Brubaker. Her music has also been featured in films by Jean-Luc Godard and the Coen Brothers, and on So You Think You Can Dance and the recent HBO series True Detective. Celebrated internationally, Ms. Monk’s work has been presented by Lincoln Center Festival, BAM, Houston Grand Opera, London’s Barbican Centre, and at major venues in countries from Brazil to Syria. Ms. Monk’s numerous honors include a MacArthur “Genius” Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships, an American Music Center Letter of Distinction, an ASCAP Concert Music Award, and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She holds honorary Doctor of Arts degrees from Bard College, the University of the Arts, The Juilliard School, the San Francisco Art Institute and the Boston Conservatory. In 1999, Ms. Monk performed A Vocal Offering for His Holiness the Dalai Lama as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles. In 2005, her 40th year of performing and creating new music was celebrated by a series of New York city-wide events, including a marathon concert in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. Another marathon, Meredith Monk Music @ the Whitney, was presented by the Whitney Museum in 2009. In 2012, Ms. Monk was honored with a remix and interpretations cd, MONK MIX, featuring 25 artists from the jazz, pop, dj and new music worlds. More recently, she premiered “Realm Variations” for six voices and small ensemble, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, and performed in John Cage’s “Song Books” as part of the Symphony’s American Mavericks Festival. Ms. Monk’s newest music-theater piece, On Behalf of Nature, premiered in January 2013 at UCLA and is currently touring internationally. Currently Meredith Monk is celebrating her 50th season as a creator and performer. Recognized as one of the most unique and influential artists of her generation, she is the holder of the 2014-2015 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall. Ensemble ACJW is made up of some of the finest young professional classical musicians in the United States taking part in a two-year fellowship program, created in 2007 by Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, that prepares them for careers combining musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. It offers them top-quality performance opportunities, intensive professional development, and the opportunity to partner throughout the fellowship with a New York City public school. As performers on the concert stage and in their work in schools and communities, musicians of Ensemble ACJW have earned accolades from critics and audiences alike for the quality of their concerts, their fresh and open-minded approach to programming, and their ability to actively engage any audience. Exemplary performers, dedicated teachers, and advocates for music throughout the community, the forward-looking musicians of Ensemble ACJW are redefining what it means to be a musician in the 21st century. Program Information ALBERT ROUSSEL Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello, Op. 40 Major funding has been provided by The Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation, Susan and Edward C. Forst and Goldman Sachs Gives, the Max H. Gluck Foundation, The Irving Harris Foundation, The Kovner Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Lester S. Morse Jr., Phyllis and Charles Rosenthal, The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, and Ernst & Young LLP. Additional support has been provided by Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari, EGL Charitable Foundation, Leslie and Tom Maheras, Andrew and Margaret Paul, Park Hyatt hotels, UJA-Federation of New York, and The Wallace Foundation. Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Tickets: $32 Friday, March 20 at 8:00 p.m. CLAUDE DEBUSSY Nocturnes Pre-concert talk starts at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage: Meredith Monk and David Robertson in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Director of Artistic Planning, Carnegie Hall. Tickets: $34–$100 Sunday, March 22 at 3:00 p.m. ALL-MEREDITH MONK PROGRAM Cellular Songs (work in progress) Tickets: $43–$50 Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT Program to include: Tickets: $43–$50 Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
Image at top of release by Julieta Cervantes ### |
