[ Composer's Voice ]
Composer's Voice Concert
May 15, 2011
Jan Hus Church
351 East 74th Street
New York
,
New York
10021-3798
The Composer's Voice Concert Series is an opportunity for contemporary composers to express their musical aesthetic and personal "voice" created in their compositions. This is Composer's Voice featuring Fifteen Minutes of Fame with Conway Kuo.

Program:

Performers

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

Jenny Greene

Soprano Jenny Greene has made a name for herself specializing in new works on both coasts, creating the roles of Amy (The North Arcade) and the Cat (Jack Prelutsky's Something Big Has Been Here) in Seattle before moving to NYC. She created the role of The Composer (Elodie Lauten's The Two Cents Opera) and participated in Remarkable Theatre Brigade's Summer Young Artist Program. In 2010, Jenny made her debut with Village Light Opera, Opera Manhattan and Regina Opera and the production team of Alphabet Soup Productions as Director of Opera & Artist in Residence. This season, Jenny made a well-received debut as Pamina (Die Zauberflote) for Opera Manhattan and is Resident Artist at Dicapo Opera Theater. She is joining Regina Opera as Peep-Bo (The Mikado).

Riko Higuma

Pianist Riko Higuma has performed and collaborated with legendary artists such as Albert Markov, Neil Rosenshein, Aaron Rosand, Cho-Liang Lin, Alan Gilbert, Steven Tanenbom, Dora Schwarzberg, and Timothy Eddy. She was a top-prize winner at the Jacob Flier International Piano Competition and was one of the Young Artists at the Van Cliburn Piano Institute, where she appeared with the Fort Worth Symphony. Individually and as the pianist of the acclaimed Zodiac Trio, Ms. Higuma has performed around the globe, including the LaJolla Music Society Summerfest, Summit Music Festival, Russian River Chamber Music, Festival c'est pas classique, and most recently at the Festival Radio-France Montpellier. Ms.Higuma studied with Phillip Kawin at the Manhattan School of Music and with the Ysaye String Quartet at the Paris Conservatory.

Maria Johnson

Maria Johnson is a Brooklyn-based flutist and teacher who has appeared at venues such as Carnegie Hall (Weill), Lincoln Center (Fordham), Symphony Space, and Le Poisson Rouge, as well as in Italy and China. Her recent performances have been with Opera Mission, Bleecker Street Opera, After Dinner Opera, Opera for Humanity, and Circles and Lines. She is also substitute for One World Symphony and Brooklyn Symphony. Maria holds a M.A. from New York University (2007), where she studied with Gary Schocker. http://www.mjflute.com/

Conway Kuo

Conway Kuo, violist and violinist, is a native of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Juilliard School. He is currently the Associate Principal Second Violin of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and also a Section First Violinist with the New York City Opera Orchestra. Mr. Kuo performs regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra and participated in the Aspen, Schleswig-Holstein, and Pacific Music Festivals. Mr. Kuo was the violist for the Four Seasons String Quartet, which gave performances in Merkin Concert Hall and the John Harms Center. His major teachers include Jascha Brodsky, Masao Kawasaki, Glenn Dicterow, and Arnold Steinhardt.

Wonki Lee

Korean saxophonist Wonki Lee was born in Tokyo and began playing the saxophone at the age of thirteen. He has distinguished himself as a remarkable saxophonist with his instrumental prowess and keen artistic grasp. He was the first Korean selected as a semi-finalist in the Adolphe Sax International Competition. As an active concert saxophonist, he performs a wide range of music, including solo premieres and chamber music. Wonki made his Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 2008 and has performed at the Metropolitan Museum, Merkin Concert Hall, Time Warner Building, and Macys. His concerto recording was broadcasted on a WQXR. He won 1st prize for MTNA Young Artist NY State Competition, and 3rd prize for the LISMA International Music Competition. Wonki exclusively uses YAMAHA Custom EX saxophones.

Jing Yang

Chinese-born pianist Jing Yang has been recognized as a soloist, chamber musician and ensemble player and has given solo recitals in many countries including China, US, Germany, Russia, France, Spain, Japan and Taiwan. After her debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in 2006, Ms.Yang was invited to give a solo recital tour in Europe. She has appeared as the soloist with Saint Petersburg Phiharmonic Symphony. Ms.Yang was invited to perform at the Embassy of Poland in Beijing for 150th Anniversary of Chopin's Death, followed with a recital in the Embassy of Russia. Ms. Yang has also been a frequent advocate of new music, working collaboratively with composers throughout New York.

Composers

Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen received his training at the Manhattan, Eastman and Juilliard Schools of Music. Mr. Cohen's choral music has been performed by the Zamir Chorale, Kol Zimrah (Chicago), the Zemel Choir of London and is heard regularly at Congregation Emanu-El and the North American Jewish Choral Festival. Honors for Mr. Cohen include the Composer's Award given jointly by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and the Museum in the Community (for the orchestral piece Juggernaut), prizes in the Susan Galloway Sacred Song Award contest (for Psalm 84 and Psalm 121), the New York Treble Singers Composition (for Hashkiveinu), and Shalshelet Festival (for Hashkiveinu and Y'did Nefesh) and Aeros Prize (Wind Quintet).

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 Brazil, England, Italy, Germany, Romania, Brazil & throughout the USA. http://www.voxnovus.com/composer/Douglas_DaSilva.htm

Marie Incontrera

Pianist/composer Marie Incontrera has been a recipient of the Miriam Gideon Composition Award for women composers, a winner of the Remarkable Theater Brigade Art Song Competition, a 2010 recipient of the ASCAPlus award, a winner of the 2011 Vocalessence/American Composers Forum "Essentially Choral" readings, and was a finalist in the Iron Composer 2010 competition. She was awarded a Meet the Composer Metlife Creative Connections award , and a New York Women Composers Seed Money Grant. Commissions have come from Remarkable Theater Brigade, ANALOG arts, the Virginia Arts Festival, and The Atlanta Opera. Marie has been a participant of the New York Youth Symphony's Making Score program and the John Duffy Composer's Institute.

Eric Lemmon

Composer and Violist Eric Lemmon received his Bachelors in Music at New York University's Music and Performing Arts Program and recently, his Masters in Viola Performance at the Mannes Conservatory. He is also the founder and editor of the music criticism and review site OpenSourceMusic.org. As a violist, Eric has performed throughout the New York City metropolitan area with groups such as new music ensemble The Manhattan Camerata, and the composers group Detour and a regular member of Brooklyn's One World Symphony; The Chelsea Symphony Orchestra; and the Sheep Island Ensemble, all as principal. As a composer, Eric has recently premiered several new works at Le Poisson Rouge and Brooklyn gallery space, Vaudeville Park, with the composer consortium he help found, Circles and Lines.

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.

Composers for Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Program Notes

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.

Presenters:

Remarkable Theater Brigade

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.

Remarkable Theater Brigade creates and produces new works including operas, orchestral pieces, ballets, musicals, and electro-acoustic works and co-produces the Composer's Voice Concert Series concerts. Remarkable Theater Brigade was founded in 2002 by Christian McLeer, Monica Harte, and Dan Jeselsohn.

Jan Hus Church

This is the place you were welcome, long before you arrived!
www.janhus.org

Vox Novus

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.

Funding by

Puffin Foundation

Funding also provided by the Puffin Foundation, "...continuing the dialogue between art and lives of ordinary people."