2009 Festival of Contemporary Music Performances
World Premieres By Wong, Grimes, Bancks and Carter
May 30, 2009
The 2009 Festival of Contemporary Music will be the year of the piano and voice, highlighting works by a variety of composers, both young and old. From Elliot Carter's Poems of Louis Zukofsky, for soprano and clarinet, to David Lang's Illumination Rounds, for piano and violin, to Hans Thomalla's Piano Counterpart, which is receiving its U.S. premiere at the festival, the five-day event promises a diverse range of settings for these starring instruments.
Festival Begins with World Premiere of Cynthia Lee Wong Commission, Christopher Rouse's Hawaiian-Inspired Music
Scheduled for August 7-11 in Lenox, MA, the 2009 Festival of Contemporary Music will commence with a concert featuring a new work by 2009 Tanglewood Music Center fellow Cynthia Lee Wong, commissioned by TMC.
The opening night concert also features Christopher Rouse's Ku-Ka-Ilimoku, a work inspired by Hawaiian mythology, chants and percussion. Other works include David Lang's Illumination Rounds, Beat Furrer's Voicelessness (the snow has no voice), Matthias Pintscher's Lieder Und Schneebilder and Oliver Knussen's Requiem - Songs for Sue.
Highlighting Works by French Composer Pierre Boulez
And what would a contemporary music festival be without at least one work by Pierre Boulez, considered one of the standard pioneers of modern contemporary music? Sure enough, the first day will also include a performance of Boulez's mémoriale (...explosante-fixe...Originel). The festival will also close with one of Boulez's works for solo piano, Incises, as well as the U.S. premiere of une page d'éphéméride. Boulez Is Alive, a work by Judd Greenstein, also pays homage to the French composer.
New Works By Jacob Bancks, Helen Grime and Elliot Carter
Besides the work by Wong, other commissions on the festival schedule included works by 2009 TMC Fellow Jacob Bancks and 2008 TMC Fellow Helen Grime. Although the names of these new works are yet to be revealed, Grimes is an oboist, so her composition might highlight that wind instrument. Also, Elliot Carter's new composition Poems of Louis Zukofsky will receive its world premiere at the festival.
Performing Musicians: Nicolas Hodges, Tom Martin, Lucy Shelton, Yo-Yo Ma
Stefan Asbury will conduct the Tanglewood Music Fellows in performances, with featured soloists including Nicolas Hodges on piano, Boston Symphony Orchestra musician Tom Martin on clarinet and TMC faculty member Lucy Shelton as soprano. A special afternoon concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on August 9th will feature Yo-Yo Ma in performances of Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 and Faure's Elegie, for cello and orchestra.
Please visit the Tanglewood website for a full listing of performances and dates, as well as for information on how to purchase tickets.
Sources
"Tanglewood Contemporary Festival Schedule." March 17, 2009. HubArts.com by Joel Brown.
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