METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE’S EDUCATION INITIATIVE YOUTH WORKS
TALES FROM THE AVIARY
An evening of new music entirely conceived, composed, and produced by gifted teenage composers.
In collaboration with ComposerCraft*
with special guest narrator, the Tony Award-nominated actor Paul Hecht
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
1 Rivington Street / 2nd Floor (Buzzer #1) / New York, NY
6:00pm (doors) / 6:30pm (event)
Tickets: Students (free); General Admission ($10)
Metropolis Ensemble’s education program Youth Works and The Kaufman Music Center’s ComposerCraft* partner to give teenage composers the extraordinary opportunity to create an original concert experience, from developing program notes and marketing texts to writing the actual music itself, performed by Metropolis Ensemble’s world-class musicians.
In Tales from the Aviary, each composer chose a story, some from Aesop and other sources, and composed new trios for flute, bassoon, and cello, unified by a common theme: birds and beasts.
on the program
Ella Vermut: sewing the shadows together (The Birds, the Beasts, & the Bats, Aesop)*
Saiki Tokuya: M A S K S (Shel Silverstein)*
Zed Docouto: The Crow & the Pitcher (Aesop)*
William Garrity: The Bat, the Booby & the Bramble Bush; The Serpent and the Eagle (Aesop)*
Owen Woolford: Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak, retold)*
Joseph Shupp: The Conference of the Birds (adapted from the 12th-century Persian tale, retold)*
*New York Premiere
About ComposerCraft:
ComposerCraft, now in its eighth year, is a program for composers ages 11-15 at Kaufman Music Center, created and directed by composer Robinson McClellan. These composers' musical imagination ranges widely, from klezmer-dubstep remixes to electronic experiments to fugues, operas, and symphonies. ComposerCraft composers engage in a yearly collaboration with Metropolis Ensemble at venues like (Le) Poisson Rouge, Merkin Concert Hall, and Symphony Space.
About Metropolis Ensemble’s Youth Works:
In addition to our concert activities, Metropolis Ensemble is equally dedicated to making a difference in its local community via its education program for underserved children called Youth Works. The program reaches over 400 middle school students across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx through innovative partnerships with organizations such as the Young Composers & Improviser’s Workshop, TEAK, and ComposerCraft to teach music composition and perform student works.
About the Composers:
Zed Docouto is 12 years old and in seventh grade at The Hudson School. He has been composing for 2 years. Zed has played piano for 8 years, and is on a temporary hiatus. He has been in 3 musicals: The Inspector General, The Music Man, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
William Garrity is 12 years old and in sixth grade at Friends Seminary. He has been composing for 3 years. He has played flute for 6 years, and will graduate to ISO Symphony in fall 2019. He is the two-time winner of the New York Flute Club Youth Competition. He is currently part of the Young Artists Program at Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Music Center. He appeared as Richard Henry Lee in the musical 1776. He was in a master class with West-coast flutist Demarre McGill.
Joseph Shupp is 14 years old and is home schooled. He has been composing and improvising for 5 years. He’s been playing piano 7 years, and he has sung in the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus since he was seven. He was Tiny Tim in a production of A Christmas Carol also when he was seven. He appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as one of Titania’s nymphs, and as Brutus in an excerpted production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. He likes to hike.
Saiki Tokuya is 13 years old and an eighth grader at School of the Future High School. She has been composing for a year. She has played the piano for nine years. She is a jazz, ballet and tap dancer.
Ella Vermut is 13 years old and is an eighth grader at Hunter College High School. She has been playing the violin for almost 9 years and has been composing for 3 years. She studied music theory at Lucy Moses School for 4 years. She has performed in a production of Into the Woods Jr. at Anderson Middle School. She wants to thank her parents for encouraging her aspirations to compose.
Owen Woolford is a 7th grader at Hunter College High School. He has been studying and playing piano for 6 years, as well as cello for 5 years and clarinet for 3 years. He also studied music theory at Lucy Moses School for 2 years. Owen is a member of his school jazz band (piano) and loves to hike!
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
