September 27, 2009 Jan Hus Church 351 East 74th Street New York, New York 10021

The Composer’s Voice Concert Series is an opportunity for contemporary composers to express their musical aesthetic and personal “voice” created in their compositions.

Title Composer Performer Excerpts from the chamber opera “A Dreamplay” The Officer and Victoria Husband and Wife The Promise Ascent SJ Pettersson Kiersten Cunningham - violin Laura Patterson - flute Jonathan Rose - piano Nolan Robertson - violin Angela Karschney - cello Amanda Hick - soprano Christa M. Long - clarinet Brian Lindgren - viola Untitled (World Premiere) Christopher Bailey Shiau-uen Ding - piano Sonata for Voice Theo Loevendie Beth Griffith - soprano Summer Suite Greg Bartholomew C. Dobrzelewski - trumpet Dr. Carl Cranmer - piano One Man Band 2 (American Premiere) Moritz Eggert Shiau-uen Ding - piano

Performers Carl Cranmer debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age nine, performing Mozart's Concerto in A Major, K.488. He frequently performs chamber and concerto repertoire with equal aplomb. His unique diversity of repertoire extends from the sublime keyboard works of Sweelinck to the scintillating virtuoso piano works of the Russian composer Nikolai Kapustin and beyond. Most recently, Cranmer recorded Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto in Moscow with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. Originally from NY, violinist Kiersten Cunningham has performed with ensembles throughout North/South America and Europe. Involving herself in every genre from Classical/Opera to Jazz/Rock, Kiersten has recorded for television & radio, and performed at Lincoln Center, the Blue Note, Highline Ballroom, and the Kennedy Center. Kiersten currently works with Anthology Strings, Metropolis Opera Project, and Skybetter & Associates. Shiau-uen Ding (piano) A native of Taiwan, pianist Shiau-uen Ding is a rising presence on the new and electro-acoustic music scenes, and an original and energetic performer of traditional solo and chamber repertoire. She studied piano with Eugene Pridonoff, Elizabeth Pridonoff, and Lina Yeh, computer music with Mara Helmuth and Christopher Bailey, and contemporary improvisation with Alan Bern at National Taiwan Normal University and University of Cincinnati, where she received her doctoral degree. She lives in New York City. She has performed in France, Germany, Belgium, China, and throughout the US and Taiwan. Her virtuosic and sensitive interpretations have won standing ovations. She was called a "daredevil" by the New York Times for her performance at Bang on a Can Marathon and "a powerful force on the new music scene" by Array for her performance at Spark Festival in Minneapolis. She was a semifinalist in both International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition in Amsterdam and Concours International de Piano d'Orléans. She has collaborated with internationally renowned performers and composers, including Steve Reich, Michael Kugel, George Tsontakis, who refers to her performance of his Ghost Variations as a "monster performance," and Moritz Eggert, who dedicated his Hämmerklavier XIX: Hymnen der Welt (Afghanistan bis Zimbabwe) to her. In addition, new compositions have been written for her by Mara Helmuth, Christopher Bailey, Eric Lyon, Burton Beerman, and Naxos artist Gao Ping. She has recorded for Capstone, Centaur, Innova and Electric Music Collective. Dr. Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski currently holds the position as Lecturer in Trumpet at West Chester University. He is part of the Chester Brass and freelances in the Philadelphia area. Jean-Christophe has won prizes at the Selmer Competition in Paris (1999), and the Concerto Competition at the University of Maine (2001). Born in Costa Rica and raised in Switzerland, Jean-Christophe received a “Prix de Trompette” for his undergraduate studies with Eric Aubier in Paris. Beth Griffith (soprano) eth Griffith (soprano) has appeared with Sequentia, Musikfabrik, Ensemble13, L'Art pour L'Art, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Paris Nouvel Orchestra Philharmonique and has worked with composers John Cage, Morton Feldman, Mauricio Kagel and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Her one-hour, solo recording of Feldman's "Three Voices" was awarded the German Record Critics Prize. Amanda Hick: A student of Beth Roberts, she attended The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, Ithaca College School of Music (B.M.) and Hunter College (pursuing M.A.) Roles: ‘Fiordiligi’ (Cosi fan Tutte), ‘Mother Merie’ (Dialogues of the Carmelites), covered ‘Rosalinde’ (Die Fledermaus) with IC Opera; ‘Alida Slade’ (Roman Fever) with Hunter Opera Theater; and ‘Anna Karenina’ (scenes from Anna Karenina) with Opera Avanti. Cellist, Angela Karschney received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music. She has performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, New York Opera Society, and Westchester Philharmonic in New York City including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the United Nations. Angela is an avid educator and teaches in the New York tri-state area and maintains a private teaching studio. Brian Lindgren began to play the viola at age 8. He earned a BA in performance from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with John Graham. Based in New York as a freelance violist and teacher, Brian also composes electronic music and performs with the sound art collective, Sham El Nessim. Brian is a featured composer in VoxNovus' 60x60 2009 International Mix. For more information visit: brianlindgren.com Laura Patterson has performed music of various genres in Rotterdam at the ICAF festival; in Peru at the Lima International Jazz Festival; and Los Angeles, California. She earned her B.M. from the University of Southern California. Laura has recently returned to New York and performs with orchestras, theater productions, and has her own teaching studio. In addition to the modern silver flute, Laura has also studied and performs on wooden and ethnic flutes of all shapes and sizes. Violinist Nolan Robertson is actively involved with new music and will be performing with Group Therapy in collaboration with Skybetter & Associates and will be artist in residence at Bethany Lutheran College (MN). Nolan has taught music at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Lyceum-Kennedy French American School and Bronx House School for the Performing Arts. He now runs a private studio in the New York City area www.nolanrobertson.com

Composers Originally from Sweden, S. J. Pettersson resides in Los Angeles where he teaches and composes music. An autodidact of sorts, he privately studied counterpoint, orchestration and orchestral scores by composers as diverse as Bach, Prokofiev, Weil and Michael Nyman eventually forging his own unique style – an anachronistic blend of 20th century minimalism with romanticism, classicism and jazz. “The pieces in the program are all from the chamber opera “A Dream Play” based on the play of the same name by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It is the first non-linear play ever written and tells the story of the daughter of the God Indra who visits Earth as a human being and experiences first-hand the difficulties we face on a daily basis throughout our lives.” www.sjpettersson.com Christopher Bailey's sub-par new-agey improvisations began at age 12 or so, much to his parents' horror. His first composition teacher tried to teach him Baroque counterpoint, but promptly gave up. He now thinks he knows what he is doing. For rousing recordings, aesthetic and technical essays, seedy CVs, inspirational interactivity, and other fun stuff, see http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/ “Untitled” starts somewhere, goes along, and ends up somewhere completely different. I enjoy the sense of "Whoa, wait a minute, how did we get here?" At a certain point, the piece seems to die off. It then tries to start over again, but gets only a short distance when it is hammered out of existence. Thanks to Shiau-Uen for learning the thing! Theo Loevendie studied composition and clarinet at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Up to 1968 he dedicated himself almost exclusively to jazz and he performed with his own ensemble. As of 1968 Loevendie began to focus on the composing of concert music. His compositions are frequently performed both at regular concerts and at festivals all over the world. Greg Bartholomew’s music is frequently performed by highly-regarded instrumental ensembles: Third Angle New Music Ensemble; Alaska Brass; Accessible Contemporary Music; Acclaimed choral ensembles: Seattle Pro Musica; the Oratorio Society of Minnesota; and Austin Vocal Arts. He won the 2006 Orpheus Music award for Beneath the Apple Tree for recorder and viola da gamba. His music is available on CDs recorded by the Czech Philharmonic; Kiev Philharmonic; Connecticut Choral Artists (Concora); Ars Brunensis Chorus; and the Langroise Trio. www.gregbartholomew.com Moritz Eggert has covered all genres in his work – his oeuvre includes 9 operas as well as ballets and works for dance and music theatre, often with unusual performance elements. In 1994 I wrote the since then most performed piece of my Haemmerklavier“ cycle: “One Man Band”. In this piece I tried to test the limits of normal piano playing – not with massed notes but with unusual actions performed in addition to the playing on the keys. The pianist has to play with chin and foot, and percussive beating as well as stomping are integral elements of the music, often in used in a purposefully exaggerated way that makes fun of contemporary piano playing conventions. After 15 years there is now a second part to this piece: “Haemmerklavier XX: One Man Band 2”. “One Man Band 2” is a much quieter and more lyrical piece in a way, though. 2 additional instruments (mouth organ and toy piano) are used, as well as a foot pedal with wood block attached.

The Composer’s Voice Concert Series is an opportunity for contemporary composers to express their musical aesthetic and personal “voice” created in their compositions. Vox Novus collaborating with the Remarkable Theater Brigade and Jan Hus Church to produce a monthly concert series promoting the chamber works of contemporary composers. Vox Novus is a collective of composers, musicians, and music enthusiasts collaborating together to create, produce, promote, and enjoy the new music of today. Our members are from a variety of composers committed to the creation and dissemination of new music. Their music is of a variety of styles, aesthetics, and ideologies. Vox Novus produces and promotes new music. They are dedicated to contemporary music, the musicians who perform, and the composers that write the music of today. Their mission is to cultivate a music community and make their work available to the greater public. Remarkable Theater Brigade founded by Christian McLeer, Dan Jeselsohn and Monica Harte, creates and produces new operas and musicals and takes children’s versions out to special-needs and at-risk children free of charge.

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