February 13, 2011 - Composer's Voice Concert

Performers

Franz-David Baumann

Franz-David Baumann studied trumpet and composition at the Richard Strauss conservatory and the Musikhochschule Munich. He leads several jazz ensembles and crossover projects. In the same year he received the music prize of Munich. He founded the Panama Ensemble to perform his compositions for children. He received several prizes for his work and published many recordings. "Der Inspektor Maus" und "Der Rattenfanger von Hameln" 1998 & 2000 received the German Grammy (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis). He is a popular composer, whose recordings are available at Deutsche Grammophon, and an accomplished trumpet player also teaches at the New Jazz School in Munich trumpet, composition and theory. www.panama-ensemble.de

Elisa Brown

Elisa Brown is dedicated to helping others through song, performing extensively for the Zaraspe Foundation on behalf of the United Nations to raise awareness for the less fortunate around the world. The Zaraspe Foundation's motto: "Teach a Child. Help the Youth. Protect the Elderly." shares Elisa's belief that the arts will bring prosperity to all who are touched by them. In addition to her work for the Zaraspe Foundation, Elisa has also performed on Off-Broadway and has been a featured soloist in numerous chamber ensembles throughout the Americas. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music and studied voice with internationally distinguished voice teachers Maria Farnworth, Josephine Mongiardo, and Maria Powell.

Jasmin Bey Cowin

Dr. Jasmin Bey Cowin, harpist, educator and lecturer, graduated from at the Staatliche Hochschule fuer Musik in Karlsruhe in 1986 with a Diploma for Education and Orchestral Harpist. From 1985-1986 she studied at the University of Houston American harp music through a Fulbright scholarship. A subsequent scholarship in Graduate Studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas enabled her to further explore harp repertoire of all periods and musical styles. Eventually she left for New York where she received her Masters (1989) and her Doctorate in Education (1992) from Columbia University. Dr. Cowin currently teaches at the Center for Living & Learning and is enrolled for a Certificate Program at the Center for Modern Psychoanalysitc Studies, NY. www.operalectures.com

Isabel Gehweiler

Cellist Isabel Gehweiler is a Prizewinner of the European Artistic Grant, one of the highest European awards for young musicians in the main chamber of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Currently enrolled at the Juilliard School of music, Isabel works together with highly regarded artists, including composer Thomas Lauck, Theo Brandmuller, Jared Miller, Thorsten Hansen, Demetre Gamsachurdia, clarinet player Edouard Brunner, organist Rudolf Lutz, Jorg Abbing, Christian Barthen, cellist Amir Eldan and percussionist John Arrucci. As a soloist Isabel has performed with the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra, the Akademie-Orchester Mannheim, the Neues Orchester Basel, and the Polish Chamber Orchestra for the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Lisa Ralia Heffter

Lisa Ralia Heffter's wide stylistic range of compositions have been performed on stages around the world. One of Heffter's first classical chamber works, "Eschape" was reviewed by the New York Times as "astonishingly beautiful" A presentation of Heffter's Disney/Ascap award winning theatrical musical "Blood & Fire" was applauded by the panel as "every song is a hit out of the ballpark - way out of the ballpark!". She received her Master's degree from The Juilliard School and toured Europe with French String Quartet and was the violist in The Bordeaux String Quartet and then went on to play with The Elysium String Quartet. She was the principal violist with the Beijing International Orchestra in 2008, and plays regularly with DCINY Orchestra and Manhattan Philharmonic performing at Carnegie and Avery Fisher Hall.

Brian Henry

Lyric baritone Brian Henry is currently finishing his Master's of Music in Voice at Manhattan School of music. Some of his favorite operatic roles have been Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus) Sid (Albert Herring), Fiorello (Barber of Seville), and Ben in "The Telephone." Brian received his Bachelors of Music in Voice performance at the Pennsylvania State University. He is from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

Mila Henry

An active performer of opera & music theater, pianist Mila Henry has developed a unique ability to collaborate with musicians due to her wide-ranging performance background. Mila is currently Artistic Apprentice with American Opera Projects, Brooklyn where she has delighted audiences in accompanying new works in the most operatic, and unoperatic, of settings. A regular at their Opera Grows in Brooklyn series at Galapagos Art Space, Mila has had the chance to work with both emerging and established composers alike, including Conrad Cummings (Positions 1956), Randall Eng (Henry's Wife), Herschel Garfein (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead), and Mila will be co-coordinating AOP's nationally recognized Composers & the Voice workshop series for their 2011-12 season. www.milahenry.com

Angela Scherrah

Angela Scherrah, soprano, originally hails from Pittsburgh, Pa. Upon moving to New York in 2004, she attended the Manhattan School of Music for vocal performance. There, she studied under the direction of Ms. Patricia A. McCaffrey. She has been awarded the Civic Light Opera Guild Young Artist Award, The Tuesday Musical Club Award, and The William Haralson Prize for Vocal Technique. She has studied at the International Institute of Vocal Arts (Milan, Italy), and worked with conductors such as Robert Page, the late Paul Ross and Isaac Stern. She recently has been seen performing in Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, South Pacific, Man of La Mancha, and the off-Broadway musical Bellevue Sketches, which is now available on itunes.

Composers

Douglas DaSilva

Artistic Director of the Composer's Voice concert series, Douglas DaSilva is a composer, guitarist, educator and curator in New York City. He composes in various styles including jazz, pop, children's music, chamber music and experimental. Much of his writing is influenced by Brazilian music and self-inflicted stress. His compositions have been described as "very individual, and to us has a very clear personality" in Classical Guitar Magazine. His pieces Sarabande; How to Build a Totalitarian State and Contrails have been included in 60x60 projects. His works have been performed in England, Germany, Brazil and the United States. www.myspace.com/douglasdasilva

Guenter Haessy

Guenter Haessy He studied voice, cello and composition from 1965-1972 at the Musikhochschule in Cologne under Blume, Schroeder and Zimmermann. 1968 he founded the "die Junge Sinfonie Koeln" (Young Symphony of Cologne) that he built into a large symphonic orchestra. In addition to his teaching and conducting activities he also composes and founded "Edition Guenter Haessy." He has written an opera, orchestral works, instrumental and chamber music plus five children operas. For more information visit him at http://www.editionhaessy. De

Claudia Montero

Claudia Montero started her musical education in Alberto Ginastera Conservatory, Buenos Aires, graduating in Musical Pedagogy/Composition. She has worked with the most prestigious orchestras in Argentina, Spain and the rest of Europe. Founder of "Women in Art" Association in Valencia, her aim is the promotion and diffusion of works carried out by women, giving concerts and conferences in the Music Palau in Valencia. Her latest project, a Tribute to Alfonsina Storni, has had a great response internationally, in New York, Buenos Aires, Valencia and Bremen. She works with violinist Yi-Fang Huang creating the O2 Platform of Cultural Exchanges, with performances at "From the End of the World" in Taiwan, Argentina and South Africa.

David Morneau

David Morneau is a composer of an entirely undecided genre. Among his diverse projects are 60x365 - a year-long podcast for which he composed a new one-minute piece every day, Boop Boop Beep - a solo performance for Nintendo Gameboy, Three Questions - an experimental graphic score for any performer(s), The Rhythm Variations - 12 variations on Gershwin for solo piano (winner of the 2004 Ruth Friscoe Prize in Composition). Current projects include a short concert-opera based on the classic Simon electronic game, a set of songs on Shakespeare's Sonnets, and an album of electronic music inspired by number theory and numerology. Do not think of him as yet another one of those 'unique composers' but rather a provider of exclusive unprecedented experiments. http://5of4.com

Robson dos Santos

Robson dos Santos was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, on May, 1963. He began his musical studies at Clovis Salgado Foundation (Flute course with teacher Juvenal Dias - 1982/1986). Robson studied musical composition in a self-taugh way. Since 1988, the artist has compositions played in important contemporary music festivals, like "Ciclo de Musica Contemporanea". He recorded in 1990 an album named "Euthanasia?!" with his own compositions. Nowadays, he works at Symphonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais as a maintenance technician instruments and going on his works and researches about contemporary music.

Enrique Saad

Enrique Saad studied composition at Centro de Estudios e Investigacion de la Musica in Mexico City. Among his teachers are Maria Antonieta Lozano, Victor Rasgado, Alejandro Velasco "Kavindu", Enrico Chapela and Tomas Barreiro. Some of his pieces that had been performed are "Berrinche, Capricho o Tango" (for chamber ensemble in Mexico City, 2004), "Bestiario" (for chamber orchestra in Mexico City, 2005), "Encuesto una flauta" (for solo flute in Minsk, 2005) and "Song of songs" (for tenor, soprano and harp in New York City featuring Jasmin Cowin, 2006). He currently studies musicology with Tomas Barreiro, teaches Music History at Instituto de Cultura Superior in Mexico City and plays several instruments in his rock band, Da Pato Logique.

Bright Sheng

Bright Sheng is respected as one of the foremost composers of our time, whose stage, orchestral, chamber and vocal works are performed regularly throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Sheng's music is noted for its lyrical and limpid melodies, a Shostakovich sense of, a Bartokian sense of rhythmic propulsion, and theatrical gestures. Many of Sheng's works has strong Chinese and Asian influences, a result of his diligent study of Asian musical cultures for over three decades. He was proclaimed by the MacArthur Foundation in 2001 as "an innovative composer who merges diverse musical customs in works that transcend conventional aesthetic boundaries." The Foundation predicts that "Bright Sheng will continue to be an important leader in exploring and bridging musical traditions."

Program Notes

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 collaborating with the Remarkable Theater Brigade and Jan Hus Church to produce a monthly concert series promoting the chamber works of contemporary composers. An opportunity for contemporary composers to express their musical aesthetic and personal "voice" created in their compositions.

Vox Novus promotes contemporary music and its creators through concerts, recordings, publications, broadcasts, and online publicity. Vox Novus believes strongly in the intrinsic value of contemporary music, recognizing it as a force in the advancement of culture and art. Our goal is to keep music alive by strengthening the connection between composer and audience, providing greater exposure to new music.

Vox Novus understands that without the creation of challenging, contemporary music there will be no future masterpieces to reflect our time. Exciting new music is being composed constantly and must be heard in order to complete the cycle of creativity. Vox Novus gets contemporary music heard: in concerts; over the radio; CD's and on the Internet.

While artists have always struggled to create and promote their art, one may argue that the situation is now more precarious than ever. Today's economic climate is competitive , and emerging composers inevitably act as their own writer, producer, publicist, agent, and sometimes performer. This daunting array of tasks overwhelms many composers. Vox Novus helps emerging composers face this challenge helping them to promote their music, expand their audience, and advance their career.

Recognizing that a major obstacle for composers is finding performances, Vox Novus develops and produces concerts. These concerts expand the audience for new music beyond the established music community. Vox Novus concerts aim to build a new repertoire by creating friendly, approachable listening environments that integrate a growing body of contemporary composers.

Support from the Puffin Foundation "...continuing the dialogue between art and the lives of ordinary people."

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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