A Series with Kati Agócs

February 13, 2019—January 18, 2020
One Rivington NYC

Celebrating a rich collaborative partnership with Metropolis Ensemble, this 3-concert series explores circles of musical influence and inspiration. Ranging from mysticism to musical paraphrase, A Stone’s Throw will showcase works for strings, voices, and piano in turn, with each night built around recent chamber work by Kati Agócs – most of them New York premieres – in dialogue with emerging composers from all over the world, with a special spotlight on Hungary.

Banner photo by Akos Major.

Tantric Variations

February 13, 2019 (7pm)
One Rivington NYC
Tickets: $15 general / $10 students / free for members

Kati Agócs’s A Stone’s Throw series with Metropolis Ensemble begins with the Mivos Quartet giving the New York premiere of her first String Quartet Tantric Variations alongside a quartet by emerging American Matthew Schultheis. String solo and duet works by young Hungarian Lázsló Sándor and UK composer Edmund Finnis complement selections from László Vidovsky’s iconic Duos for Violin and Viola, a work by a revered living Hungarian who has influenced her string writing. This concert’s theme is fluidity, continuity, and the weaving together of disparate strands to make a unified whole.

On the Program:

Edmund Finnis: Brother (New York Premiere)
Lázsló Sándor: Ha folyóvíz (American Premiere)
László Vidovsky: Twelve Duos
Matthew Schultheis: The Fountain (New York Premiere)
Kati Agócs: String Quartet #1: Tantric Variations (New York Premiere)

Parallax

March 29, 2019 (7pm)
One Rivington NYC
Tickets: $15 general / $10 students / free for members

Kati Agócs’s A Stone’s Throw series continues with the spotlight on pianist Conor Hanick performing musical paraphrases. Agócs’s new work for solo piano (world premiere), a paraphrase of her own setting of a poem by Hungarian poet Szilárd Borbély from The Debrecen Passion, will have its New York premiere. This piece was commissioned by the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra as a competition piece for the Iowa Piano Competition.

A selection of solo piano Etudes by Nicolas Namoradze; Antithesis by fellow Hungarian Balázs Futó; aphoristic dialogues with the Paganini Caprices by Robert Beaser and Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade; and the U.S. premiere of Petrichor, a violin-piano duet based on J.S. Bach by Canadian Jocelyn Morlock, create a colloquy with Agócs’s Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano, itself a dialogue with Bach’s ground bass forms. Also featured in this program: violinist Katie Hyun, clarinetist Bixby Kennedy, and cellist Mariel Roberts.

As part of A Stone’s Throw series and Metropolis Ensemble x BLUEPRINTS Piano Series.

On the Program:

Balázs Futó: Antithesis for clarinet and piano (American Premiere)
Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade: Devil’s Minion for solo violin
Robert Beaser: Pag-Rag for solo piano
Nicolas Namoradze: Piano Etudes (selection) for solo piano
Kati Agócs: Whole World for solo piano (World Premiere)
Jocelyn Morlock: Petrichor for violin and piano (New York City Premiere)
Kati Agócs: Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano

Orisons

May 2019 (7pm)
One Rivington NYC
Tickets: $20 general / $10 students / free for members

Kati Agócs’s A Stone’s Throw series with Metropolis Ensemble concludes with works for voices that probe the intersection of the mystical with the romantic. For this concert, Metropolis Ensemble and Agócs have commissioned three emerging composers: Lavell Blackwell (U.S.), Lingbo Ma (China), Kris McCormick (U.S.) to write companion works to Agócs’s Hyacinth Curl for two female singers and hand percussion (NY Premiere). We also present two works for soprano and double bass by Katherine Balch, young Hungarian Máté Balogh’s Four Songs, and the vocal version of Barnabás Dukay’s mesmerizing Mist Hovering over the face of the deep.

On the Program:

Katherine Balch: Phrases and Vidi l’angelo nel marmo for Soprano and Double Bass
Kris McCormick: New Work for Two Voices and hand percussion, commissioned by Kati
Agócs and Metropolis Ensemble (World Premiere)
Lingbo Ma: New Work for Two Voices and hand percussion, commissioned by Kati Agócs and
Metropolis Ensemble (World Premiere)
Lavell Blackwell: New Work for Two Voices and hand percussion, commissioned by Kati and Metropolis Ensemble (World Premiere)
Máté Balogh: Nine Songs for SATB (U.S. Premiere)
Kati Agócs: Hyacinth Curl for Soprano, Alto, and hand percussion
Barnabás Dukay: Mist Hovering over the Face of the Deep for four tenor voices

Hub New Music

January 18, 2020 (7:30pm)
One Rivington NYC
Tickets: $20 general / $10 students / free for members

Contemporary chamber trailblazers, Hub New Music, presents works by composers Takuma Itoh, Robert Honstein, and a NY premiere by Kati Agócs. An exciting evening program features Soul House, a love letter to the childhood house of Robert Honstein; Takuma Itoh’s Wavelengths, a constantly evolving piece focused on tempo; and a NY premiere of Kati Agócs’s Rogue Emoji, an exploration of order versus control, and the embrace of chaos.