February 1, 2014 / 2pm
Symphony Space / 2537 Broadway NYC
Youth Works
Inspiring the Next Generation
THE STUDENT COMPOSERS
Noah Chi
Abe Gold
Daniel Ma
Kyrie McIntosh
Paris Lavidis
Howard Lin
Luke Poeppel
Misha Swersey
Alice Volfson
THE PERFORMERS
Lance Suzuki, Flute
Moran Katz, Clarinet
Brad Balliett, Bassoon / Contrabassoon
Clara Lyon, Violin
Claire Bryant, Cello
AFFILIATED COMPOSERS
Robinson McClellan, Composer
On the Program
Youth Works, the education wing of Metropolis Ensemble directed by composer/bassoonist Brad Balliett, works to give the youngest generation of composers a voice in the New York new music landscape. This fall and winter, five Metropolis musicians worked regularly with nine middle school-aged composers from ComposerCraft to explore the idea of 'the new virtuosity' among instrumentalists. This series of interactive workshop sessions led them to create and compose new works for solo instrument plus electronics.
About the Concert
Appearing as part of the MUSIC OF NOW series
Now in its fifth year, The Music of Now Marathon, “a massive gathering of adventurous music-makers”(Time Out New York) continues to be a destination for the newest sounds on the musical landscape. This year, join us for a sonic dream journey with an electrifying range of soloists and ensembles.
The members of ComposerCraft are talented students from Kaufman Music Center's Special Music School and Lucy Moses School. All are gifted composers who arrived with great experience already — having written klezmer tunes, electronic works, operas, symphonies and a lot more. We meet on Wednesday evenings, and now in a new second section on Sunday afternoons. Class time is devoted to listening, discussion, and score analysis of student works plus composers like Josquin, Beethoven, Lili Boulanger, and Bartok.
Each academic year features visits from distinguished guest speakers, including well-known composers and prominent leaders in the NYC new-music world, plus two-three opportunities to compose for professional ensembles. First, each year students write substantial works for readings with professional ensembles: our first year we worked with Yarn|Wire, a prominent NYC-based piano/percussion quartet specializing in contemporary music (see photo tab), and in May with a professional string quartet of Kaufman faculty members. In our second year we worked with soprano Emily Eagen and pianist Dean Deng.
In addition, Metropolis Ensemble, the Grammy-nominated professional chamber orchestra dedicated to new music, has co-organized and funded ongoing mentorship for ComposerCrafters. We meet with Metropolis players to create new works and to learn how to write idiomatically for a given instrument and explore its expressive and technical possibilities — an invaluable skill for a composer. The process culminates each year in a concert at venues like Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. ComposerCraft began in October 2011 with six composers, and has grown to two sections and 17 composers in 2013-14. We are excited for more great things to come!
Metropolis Ensemble's Youth Works program is sponsored by Con Edison. Major support for the Youth Works concert provided by (le) Poisson Rouge, with additional generous support from: Crosswicks Foundation, The Richard Salomon Family Foundation, NYCDCA, and NYSCA.