Parhelion Trio

  • Sarah Carrier

    Sarah Carrier, flutist, has received praise from the New York Times for combining “thoughtful musicality with virtuosity in her alternately energetic and delicate account of a flute line laden with light multiphonics and unusual timbres.” As a founding member of Syzygy New Music Collective, (hailed as "one of 2009's most promising groups" by Sequenza21) she has premiered numerous works, and has made appearances on television and radio. Sarah has performed in venues as varied as the Sydney Opera House, Walt Disney Hall, Merkin Hall, and Le Poisson Rouge. In 2007 she was a winner of the National Flute Association Masterclass Competition. This fall she will continue her studies with Robert Dick as a doctoral candidate at The Graduate Center. M.M. New York University; B.M. Bob Cole Conservatory at C.S.U.L.B.

  • Andrea Christie

    Canadian pianist Andrea Christie is an active soloist, chamber musician and teacher with a passion for new music. She has been a member of NYC-based contemporary ensembles and performed in new music concerts by Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players,Mimesis Ensemble, Opus Nine Ensemble, and the International Festival of Contemporary Performance at Mannes. As a recipient of numerous fellowships, Ms. Christie has participated in summer festivals at Tanglewood Music Center, the Mozarteum, Academy Prag-Wien-Budapest and Icicle Creek Chamber Music Institute. Ms. Christie holds degrees from SUNY Stony Brook and the University of British Columbia. Ms. Christie is a doctoral candidate in piano performance at SUNY Stony Brook & faculty of Stony Brook University’s Pre-College Division.

  • Crystal Gloria Medina

    Ms. Medina, a passionate chamber musician, was a two timeawardee of the Lilian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition, and a fellow in the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Ms. Medina is a member of Ensemble 212 and Opus Nine Ensemble. As an advocator for new music she has performed in the Institute Festival of Contemporary Performance, TACTUS Ensemble, and in CIRCE New Music Festival. Crystal Medina received her Master’s from Manhattan School of Music and Diploma from the Mannes College of Music under the tutelage of Charles Neidich and AyakoOshima.

Concert Dates

  • June 29, 2012 - St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Jackson Heights, New York City
  • January 27, 2013 - Jan Hus Church, Manhattan, New York City

15 one-minute selections for Parhelion

  • Mirò

    Beatrice Barazzoni

    Beatrice studies at Milano Conservatory (BA in Piano, M.A. in Composition under Solbiati) and at IRCAM, Paris. She wins international Composition Contests: “Alice Belcolle” Alessandria, “Musici Mojanesi” Treviso (I), “Carl von Ossietzky” Oldenburg (D), and The Chamber Musica Seinäjoki 2011. Her pieces have been performed in some european festivals.

    Mirò is inspired by Mirò’s painting “L’astro della palude”, where a star (astro) with its intense orange lights the march (palude) so much that it reveals its throbbing life. So the flute embodies the obsessive star’s force emerging from the pianistic background of the first bars; to the flute opposes the clarinet with its soft melodic lines, which represent the calm surface of the boggy water; piano represents the marsh’s perennialy moving organisms: its restless and invisible.side.

  • Smolten

    Kevin Boursiquot

    Kevin Boursiquot is a First generation Haitian-American, and New York Native is Completed his Bachelor of Music degree in composition studying with Mario Davidovsky, at Mannes College of Music. Mr. Boursiquot has written multiple pieces for various ensembles and maintains a interest for composing vocal and chamber music.

    Written for the Parhelion Trio, “Smolten” depicts a young salmon’s journey down a river. The adult Samon swim up the river to give lay their eggs. Likewise, the piece returns to its first theme.

  • Apertures

    Pierce Gradone

    As a child, I was fascinated by the idea of reducing sun to a small, brilliant beam of light by simply puncturing hole in a piece of cardboard and holding it up to the sky. The three instruments represent beams of sunlight bursting through an aperture of monophony.

    The music of Austin-based composer Pierce Gradone has been widely performed throughout the United States and abroad. A strong proponent of new music, he has premiered multiple works on double bass. Pierce holds degrees from Florida State University and the University of Texas at Austin.

  • Scherzino

    Vladimir Karpenko

    Vladimir Karpenko (1958) was born in Ridder (East Kazakhstan), studied in Almaty conservatory. Now he lives in Irkutsk, Russia. Нe is the composer, the musicologist, the pianist, the teacher. The author of compositions for a symphonic orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, a piano, a organ, vocal music.

    Scherzino is based on a theme which is similar the intonations and a rhythm to Russian folk dancing melodies.

  • Ravenous

    Francis Kayali

    Francis Kayali is a Franco-American composer currently living in the San Francisco Bay area.

    "Ravenous" evokes a hunt depicted in a 15th century mille-fleurs tapestry, where dogs leap through a luxuriant forest, chasing after an elusive stag or unicorn.

  • Glass Half Full

    Sunny Knable

    Sunny Knable is a composer/pianist who holds a Bachelors of Music from CSU Sacramento and a Masters of Arts from Queens College. In 2009, he won the Iron Composers Competition. Recently, he has been commissioned by multiple ensembles nation-wide. His debut CD “American Variations” can be found on Centaur Records.

    "Glass Half Full" is a title that reflects the optimistic mood of this miniature piece and is a nod towards Phillip Glass on his 75th birthday-year.

  • Bleep Blip City

    Denton McCabe

    Denton McCabe is a multi-instrumentalist living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His influences include Varese, Hendrix, Merzbow, Venetian Snares, and John Zorn. McCabe taught himself music from books, recordings, and performing. He wishes to one day take care of lots of cats.

    Bleep Blip City is a brief work in four movements. A variety of genres come into play including blues, grindcore, punk, and a short canon. The work borrows some ideas from John Zorn's work with Naked City and the final movement contains a quotation from an obscure Nirvana song.

  • 22o Distant

    Michael Mikulka

    Michael Mikulka has written well over 100 pieces in various styles and instrumentations and has won contests and stuff like that. He is currently pursuing his DMA in Composition at the University of Texas. If you would like to hear some of his longer works, please visit http://www.michaelmikulka.com/

    “22o Distant” depicts the phenomenon known as a parhelion: a pair of bright lights which occur 22 degrees on either side of the sun. The tonal center of D represents the sun, surrounded by resonant, shimmering textures and bright timbral shifts within the phantom suns of A and G.

  • Flow-Cameo

    Peter Nickol

    Peter Nickol was born in 1946. He studied originally at York University, later at Exeter and Manchester, with a PhD in Composition awarded in 2008. He is based in Exeter, Devon (UK). Recent successes include Ultramarine, chosen by Texas-based Madera Wind Quintet as one of their featured pieces for 2012.

    A river, the rippled surface occasionally disturbed, flowing past and out of sight, continuing always.

  • Moravian Gypsy Dance

    Sean O’Boyle

    Australian composer, Sean O’Boyle's compositions have been performed and or recorded by all the major Australian orchestras; European Orchestras include - Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique Divertimento, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and North American Orchestras include the Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Concord Chamber Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops.

    In my research in the Moravian archives in Bethlehem, PA, I encountered some wild gypsy scales from Southern Moravia/Bohemia. The overall effect is parallel 5ths juxtaposed with the wild gypsy scale. Rollicking good fun for the performers!

  • Toccata for Piccolo, Clarinet and Piano

    Anthony O'Toole

    Anthony O'Toole (b.1988) is from Philadelphia, although primarily a percussionist he also plays viola, tuba, trombone, saxophone, clarinet and piano and highly proficient levels. As a teenager he was performing regularly as a freelance percussionist in the Philadelphia area performing in pit groups, wind ensembles and orchestras. At age 13 he began composing and since then has written over 150 pieces. He earned his BA in Music Theory & Composition from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and while there met and studied with many of the most highly regarded composers of today. He currently works full time composing, arranging, orchestrating and performing in the Pittsburgh area.

    Toccata for Piccolo, Clarinet and Piano was written for the Parhelion Trio and the 15-minutes-of-Fame Contest. It is a brief work but still has contrasting sections and is energetic and sporadic. The composition is based on the interval of the Perfect 4th; Another idea that is tossed around is the interval of the major third and sometimes in other forms like 10th often implying polytonality.

  • Selah

    Juan Maria Solare

    Juan Maria Solare, born 1966 in Argentina, works currently in Germany as composer, pianist (contemporary & tango) and teaching at the University of Bremen and at the Hochschule fuer Kuenste Bremen. His music has been performed in five continents. Nine CDs of different performers include at least one piece of him.

    Selah, a word occurring 71 times in the Psalms. Possibly a liturgico-musical direction, either "Lift up" (voice, hands or eyes in prayer), "Stop and Listen", "Pause, and think of that". Similar in purpose to Amen since it stresses the importance of the preceding passage. Selah may also mean "forever", "always".

  • Study for Body 22

    Todd Tarantino

    Todd Tarantino (b.1974) is a New York City based composer. His music is characterized by its bold surface, complex harmonies and athletic lyricism. Much of his recent music draws on his experiences in the developing world. He holds a doctorate from Columbia University.

    Body 22 was found at platform 4/5 of Delhi's Nizamuddin railway station. He was approximately 75 with round face, wheatish complexion and lanky build. This composition is part of Appeal for Identification, a large-scale work telling stories of unidentified migrants through the sounds of locations where their bodies were found.

  • Parhelion

    Luca Vanneschi

    Luca Vanneschi (b. 1962 in Montepulciano) received a diploma in flute at the “Morlacchi” Conservatory of Music in Perugia, where he studied under Roberto Fabbriciani. He then studied composition with Detlev Glanert, Carlo Alberto Neri, David Graham, and Dinu Ghezzo. Hans Werner Henze said about his music: “… it is an intelligent, non conformist, elegant and full of grace music.”

    “Parhelion” is an attempt to render the well-known atmospheric optical phenomenon through music. The set up of this composition is grounded on a “cantus firmus” held by the clarinet, around which some light trembling of the flute and mild presences on the higher register of the piano fluctuate, appearing and then vanishing.

  • Haloing Fantasia

    Jean-Pierre Vial

    Jean-Pierre Vial, French, born in 1946, former software designer. At an early age, learned the piano, the organ, and composed several pieces for both instruments. Now creates scores and audio mockups (e.g., two piano concertos) using computer resources. Pleased to be played by real performers.

    In the theme of this short piece, chromaticism can suggest the pallid and polychromatic light of a halo that reflects or refracts the sun or moon light. Considering a sun halo, produced by ice Crystal elements, this piece can sure fit the Parhelion Trio.