An evening of theatrical new music
Featuring the New York premiere of Jeremy Gill’s Ode: a dramatic cantata

Grammy Award-nominated soprano Lucy Shelton, “a new-music diva if there ever was one” (The Boston Globe), join’s Philadelphia’s intrepid Dolce Suono Ensemble (DSE) for a program devoted to theatrical music with integrative drama.

This luminescent and meditative concert features the New York premiere of Jeremy Gill’s Ode: a dramatic cantata for mezzo-soprano, flute/piccolo, cello, and piano deals with the ecstasy of artistic creation. He sets the Seikilos epitaph from ancient Greece, the earliest extant example of written music, alongside texts from Mesomedes and Pindar to John Keats and Oscar Wilde. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran’s Moon Songs: A Song Cycle in Four Acts for Soprano, Flute (doubling Piccolo), Cello, and Piano, originally commissioned by DSE as a companion piece to Schönberg’s iconic Pierrot Lunaire, provides a beautiful compliment to Gill’s Ode. Ran brings together and illuminates culturally diverse texts on the moon from the Bible, Hebrew poetry of the Middle Ages and today, works from Elizabethan England, and a poem by Girod which Schönberg set in Pierrot Lunaire. She calls upon the singer to be like an actress and the instrumentalists to be dramatic protagonists, “embodying some of the myriad of ways in which, through poetry, myth, and fantasy, we as people have been struck by that gleaming, fantastical, mysterious vision we call the moon.” A video component will accompany these works, highlighting the texts within an atmospheric visual rendering.

The program is a true tour de force and calls for Shelton to sing in English, Hebrew, and classical Greek. Also included on the concert is Roussel’s Deux poèmes de Ronsard and Messiaen’s iconic Le Merle Noir to celebrate Messiaen’s 105th anniversary on December 10th. Ear Heart Music Director Amelia Lukas will join Mimi Stillman in a flute duo by Daniel Catán, inspired by traditional Mexican and Japanese folk music.

“Shelton’s musicianship, technique, and intelligence are unfailing…” – The Boston Globe

“Mellifluous, creamy phrasing and breathtaking virtuosity.” – London Sunday Times

Winner of two Walter W. Naumburg Awards – as chamber musician and solo recitalist – soprano Lucy Shelton continues to enjoy an international career bringing her dramatic vocalism and brilliant interpretive skills to repertoire of all periods. An esteemed exponent of 20th- and 21st- Century repertory, she has worked closely with today’s composers and premiered over 100 works. Notable among these are song cycles by Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, Louis Karchin and James Yannatos; chamber works by Carter, Joseph Schwantner, Mario Davidovsky, Stephen Albert, Lewis Spratlan, Charles Wuorinen, Gabriella Lena Frank, Bruce Adolphe, Alexander Goehr, Poul Ruders, Anne Le Baron and Thomas Flaherty; orchestral works by Knussen, Albert, Schwantner, David Del Tredici, Gerard Grisey, Ezra Laderman, Sally Beamish, Virko Baley and Ned Rorem; and an opera by Robert Zuidam. In recent seasons, Shelton has premiered works written for her by Shulamit Ran, Dan Visconti, Frank Stemper, Kathleen Ginther, Tamar Muskal and Fang Man.

An avid chamber musician, she has been a guest artist with ensembles such as the Emerson, Brentano, Enso, Mendelssohn, Chiara and Guarnieri string quartets, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, 21st Century Consort, Speculum Musicae, Da Capo Chamber Players, Sospeso, New York New Music Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, Da Camera of Houston, eighth blackbird, Dolce Suono Ensemble, the Ensemble Moderne, Nash Ensemble, Klangform Wien, Schoenberg-Asko, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Shelton has participated in numerous festivals including those of Aspen, Santa Fe, Ojai, Tanglewood, Chamber Music Northwest, BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Caen, Kuhmo, Togo and Salzburg. In the fall of 2013, she is honored to begin a three-year term as a Board Member of Chamber Music America.
lucyshelton.com

“Adventurous ensemble” – The New York Times

“A whirl of activity fueled by intellect and passion!” – Creatively Speaking, WRTI

Dolce Suono Ensemble has been dazzling audiences and invigorating the music world since its founding by flutist and Artistic Director Mimi Stillman in 2005. DSE presents highly acclaimed chamber music concerts on its home series in Philadelphia, performs on tour, and engages in educational outreach partnerships with Philadelphia public schools. With a core group of artists from Philadelphia’s premier musical institutions – Curtis Institute of Music, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Temple University, University of Pennsylvania – Dolce Suono Ensemble engages the audience in chamber music at a profound level through innovative, dynamic programming spanning Baroque to contemporary music, talks and panel discussions by performers, scholars, and guest composers, and post-concert Meet-the-Artists. Dolce Suono Ensemble’s performances and recordings receive rave reviews and radio plays on four continents and recent concerts include performances at Symphony Space, Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC), residencies at Cornell University and Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Bard College, Princeton University, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

Dolce Suono Ensemble’s active commissioning program has led to 31 world premieres in eight seasons by some of today’s most eminent composers: Shulamit Ran, Steven Stucky, Richard Danielpour, and Steven Mackey, with additional guest composers including George Crumb, Jennifer Higdon, and Ned Rorem. Dolce Suono Ensemble also commissions emerging composers, including works by rising stars Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Jeremy Gill, David Ludwig, Fang Man, and Stratis Minakakis.
dolcesuono.com

Ear Heart Music

“… a feisty contemporary-classical concert series” –The New York Times

A showcase of highly talented and adventurous performers, composers, and collaborative artists, Ear Heart Music is a modern chamber music series for modern ears. “Embracing a landscape where cross-genre collaboration is not the exception or a special occasion but the rule and standard operating procedure, this contemporary chamber music series, organized by the flutist Amelia Lukas, keeps up its high ambitions with a season at Roulette full of new and recent compositions” (The New York Times).

Ear Heart Music “has become a staple in the New York new music soundscape” (Time Out New York). Its thoughtfully designed programs highlighting recent masterworks stimulate creative thought and instill new avenues of perspective in the listener. The consistent level of intelligent and inspiring music-making resonates in the mind and body. Shows include electronic processing, performance art, visual art, film, and dance, providing deeper context for the music. Unique artist pairings, diverse programming, and the integral incorporation of new work all contribute to Ear Heart Music playing a major role in reshaping the chamber music landscape for the 21st century.

Since September 2009, Ear Heart Music has produced over 75 unique concerts with over 60 world premieres. The 2013-14 season features the debut of the Ear Heart Music Ensemble, star vocalists Lucy Shelton and Hai-Ting Chinn, two cutting edge dance companies, three star string quartets, two chamber operas, six world premieres, and numerous multimedia extravaganzas.

Upcoming on Ear Heart Music

January 15, 2014: Del Sol String Quartet – Peradem

San Francisco’s intrepid Del Sol String Quartet returns to Ear Heart Music with Peradem, an object that is revealed only to those who seek it. Del Sol searches for truth through the sonic aesthetics and emotions of Cambodia, Estonia, throat-singing and the night club. The program features New York premieres by Lembit Beecher and Mason Bates, with other recent quartets by Ken Ueno and Chinary Ung.

earheartmusic.org
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