The sumptuous flute, viola, and harp combo, Trio Kavak, pairs with the impassioned Claremont Trio in a program of new music inspired by art and poetry. The concert includes the NY premiere of Helen Grime’s “tasteful and engaging” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) Three Whistler Miniatures with additional works by Donald Crockett, Gabriela Lena Frank, Sean Shepherd, Fang Man, Andrew Struck-Marcell, and Angélica Negrón. A number of the pieces will feature projections of the inspiring visual art that informed the music. In others, special guest artist Kevork Mourad performs his spontaneous painting technique on a shared stage, as art and music develop in counterpoint.
Program details
Trio Kavak:
Angélica Negrón, Drawings for Meyoko (2009)
Andrew Struck-Marcell, A Lily of a Day (2012)
Fang Man, Larkspur (2004) – NYC premiere
Claremont Trio:
Sean Shepherd, Trio (2012)
Helen Grime, Three Whistler Miniatures (2011) – NY premiere
Gabriela Lena Frank, Folk Songs for Piano Trio (2012)
Donald Crockett, Night Scenes (2009)
About Trio Kavak
“Trio Kavak played beautifully, executing all manner of extended techniques and tricky stratospheric unison playing with poise.” (meg’s new music blog)
Trio Kavak is Amelia Lukas (flute), Victor Lowrie (viola) and Kathryn Andrews (harp). An instrumental ensemble established by Debussy’s masterpiece sonata, KAVAK explores the contemporary repertoire and new sound possibilities for this highly evocative combination. Comprised of three adventurous and admired young New York talents, KAVAK brings together highly refined chamber music performance with a feeling of modern immediacy and relevance. This concert features Nathan Schram on viola.
www.triokavak.com
About the Claremont Trio
“aesthetic maturity, interpretive depth, and exuberance“ (Palm Beach Daily News)
“Their exuberant performance and gutsy repertoire… was the kind of fresh approach that keeps chamber music alive.” (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Widely regarded as the premier piano trio of its generation, the Claremont Trio is sought after for its thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative performances. They are first winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. During the 2012-13 season the Claremont Trio returns to prestigious venues including Chamber Music Cincinnati, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Duke Performances, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem, and New York’s Lincoln Center. Highlights of recent seasons include concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, for the Chamber Music Societies of Phoenix, Dallas, Sedona, Cincinnati, Detroit, San Antonio, and the Universities of Washington, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Bridge Records will release the Claremont Trio’s newest recording of the Beethoven “Triple” Concerto with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and Beethoven’s Trio Op. 1 No. 1 this fall. Their discography also includes trios by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Arensky Trios, Leon Kirchner, Ellen Zwilich, Paul Schoenfield, Mason Bates, and a collaborative disc with clarinetist Jonathan Cohler which received a Critic’s CHOICE award from BBC Magazine. The Claremont Trio was formed in 1999 at the Juilliard School. Twin sisters Emily Bruskin, violin, and Julia Bruskin, cello and pianist Andrea Lam are all based in NYC near their namesake: Claremont Avenue.
About Kevork Mourad
“emotionally charged lines and colors, bold gestures, and myriad characters created from a boundless imagination…” (Monterey County Weekly)
Kevork Mourad, a visual artist of Armenian origin, was born in 1970 in Syria. In 1996 he received his MFA from the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts in Armenia. He performs his spontaneous painting technique in partnership with musicians on a shared stage, as art and music develop in counterpoint. Mourad is a member of the Silk Road Ensemble and has collaborated with Syrian clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh, Brooklyn Rider, Liubo Borissov, Dinuk Wijeratne, Mike Block, Eve Beglarian, Ken Ueno, Kim Kashkashian, Haruka Fujii, Mari Kimura, Tambuco, and Yo-Yo Ma. His recently created and directed two original plays in collaboration with Anaïs Alexandra.
He has performed at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Rhode Island Museum of Art, the Nara Museum in Japan, the Rubin Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at SummerStage in Central Park. His paintings are on permanent display in the Boori Khalife. He has exhibited all over the Middle East and is represented by Rafia Gallery in Damascus and Dubai.
www.kevorkmourad.com
About Ear Heart Music
“… a feisty contemporary-classical concert series” (The NY 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. Operating at the Tank in Manhattan for the past three years, founder and director Amelia Lukas “piloted impressive events on a shoestring budget. Roulette offers greater resources, and Ms. Lukas is taking advantage in an ambitious season filled with premieres and cross-disciplinary collaborations.” (The NY Times) Ear Heart Music “has become a staple in the New York new music soundscape.” (Time Out NY) 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 new work all contribute to Ear Heart Music playing a major role in reshaping the chamber music landscape for the 21st century.
“scintillating”
“phenomenal programming”
“impeccably curated”
“truly original”
“one of our favorite new music series”
All quotes from Time Out NY.