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Upcoming Performances |
Composer's VoiceA Tribute to Romanian Composer Liana Alexandra
The Romanian Cultural Institution in collaboration with Vox Novus will bring to New York City a Composer’s Voice concert presenting works written or inspired by the late Romanian composer, professor, and musicologist, Liana Alexandra. Liana Alexandra was an internationally award winning composer, professor, and musicologist from Bucharest, Romania. She also performed as a member of Duo Intermedia and was co-director of the Nuova Musica Consonante-Living Music Foundation Festival with Serban Nichifor. The concert will feature three of Alexandra’s own works as well as works dedicated to her memory, including works by Vox Novus directors Robert Voisey, Douglas DaSilva and Serban Nichifor. This concert will be an exciting collaboration between an international cast of performers: Pauline Kim Harris, Riko Higuma, Wonki Lee, and Jennifer Shaw highlighting the works and influence of Liana Alexandra. 
Hailed by the New York Times for her "lightning-fast reflexes" and "breathtaking" performances, Pauline Kim Harris has been notably described as "a sorceress of the violin." A Grammynominated artist (Universal/Decca), she engages her audiences world-wide in ground-breaking classical and genre-bending crossover, to the envelope-pushing experimental/ avant-garde. 
Jennifer Shaw (cello) began playing at the age of nine. She has performed with ensembles such as the Brubeck Quartet and the Eagles, in locations such as Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and the Beacon Theater. Also on this concert is Fifteen Minutes of Fame - 15 one-minute works by 15 different composers. This Fifteen Minutes of Fame contains works specifically written for performers Riko Higuma and Wonki Lee in tribute to Liana Alexandra. The 15 composers are Wade Meyers, Georgiana Trandafir, Ching-Chu Hu, Kala Pierson, David Heuser, Mike Perdue, Serban Nichifor, Gordon Francis Blaney Jr., Daniel Mihai, Scott Brickman, Jose Mora-Jimenez, Joshua Ransom, Andy Cohen, Guido Bisocoli, and Corina Alexandra Tirziman. 
Riko Higuma (piano) has performed and collaborated with legendary artists such as Albert Markov, Neil Rosenshein, Aaron Rosand, Cho-Liang Li, Alan Gilbert, Steven Tanenbom, Dora Schwarzberg, and Timothy Eddy. She has performed around the globe in such contries as the United States, Russia, and France. She has studied both in the United States and France. 
Wonki Lee (saxophones), distinguishing himself as a “remarkable saxophonist with his instrumental prowess and keen artistic grasp,” was the first Korean selected as a semi-finalist in the Adolphe Sax International Competition. He is an active concert saxophonist, performing a wide range of music, including solo premieres and chamber music. He won first prize for MTNA Young Artist NY State Competition. 
Composer’s Voice Concert |
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Benö Guttman
In 1936, Benny Goodman was crowned King of Swing. Ten years earlier, in 1931, when he still answered to his birth name of Benö Guttman, he was known as the Prince of Parades because he used to lead processions of people through the streets of San Andreas, California, his hometown. No matter the paraders immensely enjoyed his playing, Benö was often cited by the town council for disturbing the peace. Like Pedro (“Pied”) Piper of Hamelin (Ariz.), he attracted rats by the hundreds with his playing, so members of the town butcher and baker guild demanded that he be declared a health hazard, too. The request was opposed by the United Brotherhood of Candlestickmakers because townspeople were buying candle holders by the bucketful to ward off the frisky rodents. As the debate escalated, so did Benö’s parading activities. His human followers got to be so numerous that those in the rear couldn’t hear the beat tones of his clarinet. So he added an over-the-shoulder foot-activated percussion module to underscore the rhythm. This kept everyone marching in sync. On the downside, the thud of the bass drum combined with the simultaneous pounding of more than a hundred and fifty-five size-10 feet radically altered the tectonic equilibrium of the transform fault on which the town had been unwittingly built. Just as the San Andreas town council announced Guttman’s fate (guilty on all counts!), an extra puissant bass drum thwack set off a massive temblor that caused all of western California to break off and fall into the Pacific Ocean. In comparison, a couple dozen extra rats in town was nothing! 
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