NEWS FLASH

SEASON FINALE 2013: REFLECTIONS & MEMORIES

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The concert opens with Bruce Adolphe’s Crossing Broadway, taking the audience through the musical experience of New York, with its “distinctive energy and conflicting rhythmic patterns.” From there, with fixed images and tape, Waiting for Billy Floyd is Eve Beglarian’s response to a ghost town she found on a trip down the Mississippi River and the short story, At the Landing, by Eudora Welty. Wang Jie’s Oboe Concerto for the Genuine Hearts of Sadness was inspired by the reading of Tibetan master Chogyam Trungpa’s interpretation of sadness: “…if you put your hand through your rib cage…there is nothing there except for tenderness. You feel sore and soft, and if you open your eyes to the rest of the world, you feel tremendous sadness…your experience is raw and tender and so personal.”

In honor of the many years of Elliott Carter’s support and dedication to the League of Composers/ISCM, the second half of the program begins with Call, a three-minute fanfare originally written in 2003 as an introduction to the film Elliott Carter – A Labyrinth of Time. Written in remembrance of his teacher, Fredrick Fox, Keith Fitch’s new work In Memory “is essentially about memory – musical and personal. Memory reflected through a multicolored, multifaceted sonic landscape. Memory of people – and relationships – lost.”  The program concludes with Leon Kirchner’s Suite from Lily, a chamber work that preceded and anticipated his opera Lily, based on Saul Bellow’s novel Henderson the Rain King, and which contains Kirchner’s own voice on an accompanying electroacoustic tape part.

5.2.13 The 2013 COMPETITION is now closed – thank you to all who participated.

THANK YOU – to all who backed our Kickstarter  project. Unfortunately, we did not meet our goal. Those who backed the project will not be charged but we welcome and encourage those of who who supported the project to donate directly to the League so that we can give Keith Fitch and Wang Jie the commissions they deserve.  
 

league news

3.10.13 Chamber Concert: PAS de DEUX: Sue Ann Kahn, flute and Lewis Paer, contrabass Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 8 PM – Tenri Cultural Institute. See Current Season for complete program. 

2.12.13 From Copland to Carey – Three Premieres + Competition Winning Works The League presented the world premiere of Christian Carey’s For Milton, along with the NY premieres of the 2010 Competition winning works by Jordan Kuspa, Luke Dahn, and David Chaitikin at the Tenri Cultural Institute on Sunday, February 24th at 3pm. Stay tuned for video and audio excerpts from the concert!

2.1.13 The 2013 Composers’ Competition is now open! Enter HERE

1.3.13 Happy New Year!  Here’s our 2012 Season Finale Montage Video (you can find it on YouTube, too!)

11.6.12 The League is saddened by the passing of our beloved Elliott Carter (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012).  Elliott has been instrumental in the growth of the League of Composers/ISCM over the years. We’ve had the privilege of performing some of his recent works: In the Distances of Sleep (2006), On Conversing with Paradise (2008), Concertino for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra  (2009); we honor Elliott this spring by including his fanfare Call (2003) in our 2013 season finale.  Wall Street Journal  The Guardian (UK)

2012 – 2013 Season Sneak Preview  - Check out the Current Season page for details!

League Chamber Players will open the season in February 2013 with the NY premieres of the 2010 Competition winning works by Luke Dahn and Jordan Kuspa, along with Rhapsody for Cello and Piano by the late David Chaitkin, For Milton, by Christian Carey and Aaron Copland’s Sextet.

Our second chamber concert, scheduled for March 30th, is entitled “Pas de Deux: Sue Ann Kahn, flute and Lewis Paer, contrabass.” With Alan Kay (clarinet) and William Anderson (guitar), the concert will include the world premieres of Alba Potes‘ Tres Instrumentos para un Tema Obstinado (2013), and Pas de Deux (2013) by Allen Shawn. The program also includes the NY premiere of Eugene O’Brien’s Fancies and Goodnights (1994), and Cerberus (1977) by Henry Brant. Rounding out the program is Charles Wuorinen’s Turetzky Pieces (1960).

The 2013 orchestral season finale features new orchestral commissions by recent Charles Ives Scholarship winner Wang Jie and Cleveland Institute of Music composition chair Keith Fitch. The program also includes works by Elliott Carter, Bruce Adolphe, Leon Kirchner, and Eve Beglarian.

Check out the Current Season page for more details!