: SONIC CIRCUS

2nd Annual Spring Weekend Concert
April 21st 2001 8pm, Grant Recital Hall

Stück fur Drei Schlagzeuger (1988/89) - Wolfgang Rihm

Nicholas Freilich, Colin Hartnett, Nathan Stumpff: percussion

Intimní Hudba for Solo Viola (1968) - Lukas Matousek

Jen Schwartzman: viola

August ’70 Jan Trio (1970) - Don Stratton

I. Levant
II. Hudson
III. Harrington
IV. Frenchboro
V. Pebble, Silk and Al
VI. Pushaw

Benjamin Asriel: trumpet • Sarah Bowman: horn • Ashton Allan: trombone

Madrigals, Book II (1965) - George Crumb

I. Bebe el agua tranquila de la canción añeja
II. La muerte entra y sale de la taberna.
III. Caballito negro. ¿Dónde llevas tu jinete muerto?

Courntey Naliboff: soprano • Thomas Jerde: flute • Colin Hartnett: percussion

String Quartet no. 2 - Silvestre Revueltas

I. Allegro giocoso
II. Molto vivace
III. Allegro molto sostenuto

Aron Holzman, Stephanie Krejcarek: violin • Jen Schwartzman: viola • Troy Chang: cello

Change (1969) - Meredith Monk

Ashton Allan, Sarah Bowman, Stephen Canon, Troy Chang, Thomas Jerde, Stephanie Krejcarek, Courntey Naliboff, Jen Schwartzman, Nathan Stumpff: voice

Blues for violin and computer (2000) World Premiere - Barry Moon

Juliana Pereira: violin

The Unanswered Question (1906, rev. 1937) - Charles E. Ives

Thomas Jerde, Meagen Grunberg: flute • Steve Kaell: oboe • Dan Restuccia: clarinet • David Buttrick: trumpet • Whitney Brim-Deforest, Matthew Goodman, Aron Holzman, Stephanie Krejcarek, Juliana Pereira: violin • Kristina Hammond, Jen Schwartzman: viola • Troy Chang, Tyler Dewit: cello • Beth Satkin: bass • Nicholas Freilich: conductor

S e x t e t (1999) World Premiere* - John Kiefer

Thomas Jerde: flute • Steve Kaell: oboe • Dan Restuccia: bass clarinet • Nicholas Freilich: percussion • Nathan Stumpff: electric guitar • Tyler Dewitt: cello

*John Kiefer’s S e x t e t is the winner of the 1st Annual Brown New Music Student Composition Contest, an event that attracted entries from young composers across the United States last November.

composer bios

Wolfgang Rihm (1952-) is among the most influential of European composers born in the decade after World War II. Rihm is part of a group of composers who, during the 1970s, effected a paradigm shift in German musical culture, replacing their predecessors’ essentially intellectual and structuralist conception of art with one that gave freer rein to emotion and adopted a more flexible approach to structure. Highly prolific in vocal and instrumental composition, he has also created some of the most powerful and distinctive stage works of the late 20th century.

Lukáš Matoušek (1943-) was born in Prague. A clarinetist and graduate of the Prague Conservatoire, he has studied composition with Zdenek Hula, Miloslav Kabelác and Ctirad Khoutek there and at The Janácek Academy of Musical Arts in Brno. In addition to his work with contemporary music, Matoušek is also considered an expert in medieval music and historical instruments. In 1963, he founded the Ars Cameralis Chamber Group, which has achieved prominence in the former Czechoslovakia and abroad. Presently, in addition to directing and playing the clarinet in Ars Cameralis, he serves as a director of Czechoslovak Radio and as the music director and dramaturgist of his CD label, Studio Matous. Since the early 1960's, he has inclined his composition toward the twelve-tone and contemporary genre, also exploring the links between medieval and contemporary works. His more important works include Radices Temporis and Stories for orchestra , Concerto for percussion and winds and In Memoriam J.F.K. for chamber orchestra . Intimní Hudba was written in 1968, and is dedicated to the late violist Karel Doležal, a member of Ars Cameralis.

Don Stratton (1928-) was born in in Woburn, Massachusetts. His music studies began at the age of 10 on trumpet; he subsequently studied with Robert King, Georges Mager, John Coffee and Murray Karpilovsky. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied theory and composition with Vittorio Giannini and Ludmila Ulehla. From 1948 to 1953, Stratton played with the road bands of Nat Pierce, Glenn Miller (under Tex Beneke), Claude Thornhill, Tony Pastor, and Elliot Lawrence. He recorded for every major label in the 1950's and played extensively in New York City including Broadway, radio, and TV shows. Stratton is a recently retired Associate Professor of Music at the University of Maine where he taught theory, trumpet, and directed the 20th Century Music Ensemble.

George Crumb (1929-) studied composition with Eugene Weigel, Boris Blacher, and Ross Lee Finney. He taught at Hollins College and the University of Colorado before settling in at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has held a professorship since 1965. The recipient of many awards and fellowships, including a Guggenheim grant, the Prince Pierre de Monaco Gold Medal, and a 1968 Pulitzer Prize, Crumb has written dozens of intimate and dramatic chamber works, including an extended series setting the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca.

Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) was born in the state of Durango, Mexico. He began studying the violin in 1906. In 1918, at the Chicago Musical College, he graduated with degrees in violin and composition. In 1924 and 1925 Revueltas joined forces with Carlos Chávez, organizing a series of concerts dedicated to the music of contemporary composers. In 1938 he began composing music for motion pictures. Known for the nationalistic flavor of his works, he only composed for the last nine years of his life.

Meredith Monk is one of the most prolific artists of today. She creates intriguing performance pieces using the media of theatre, dance, and music; focusing on the voice as a flexible and acrobatic part of the body. Honors bestowed on her for her achievements include multiple Obie, Bessie, and ASCAP awards.

Barry Moon is a composer teaching computer music at Brown as Visiting Assistant Professor. He has written for various soloists and ensembles, for purely acoustic resources and acoustic resources with computer. Barry's music has been played in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Japan. His Interact I , written for flutist Elizabeth McNutt, appears on her debut CD Pipe Wrench.

Charles E. Ives (1874-1954) has often been characterized as the grandfather of American music. He was born in Danbury, Connecticut to a band director, and continued his musical studies at Yale. Upon graduation, he became an insurance agent and composition was strictly an evening and weekend activity. His music is a blend of New England homeliness and radical dissonance.

John Kiefer was born in St. Louis Missouri and was introduced to the guitar a young age. Among his classical guitar teachers were Howard Wallach at San Jactinto College and William Gangel at Southwest Texas State University. He has studied composition with Robert Albury, George Burt at Rice University, and he is currently studying with Michael Horvit and Reynaldo Ochoa at the University of Houston, where he is working on a MM in composition. John is the author of a series of electric guitar transcriptions and companion CDs published by Mel Bay Publications including J. S. Bach for Electric Guitar , and Christmas Music for Electric Guitar . His guitar compositions include numerous works for classical and electric guitar in various settings. Mr. Kiefer currently teaches at Lee College where he was recently commissioned to write a new work for electric guitar and orchestra to be premiered in the fall of 2001.