Voices of Change concert to feature music by popular American female composer Stacy Garrop
Voices of Change concert to feature music by popular American female composer Stacy Garrop on May 4.
The Voices of Change Concert on May 4, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. at Caruth Auditorium, SMU campus (6101 Bishop Blvd, Dallas, TX 75225), will feature music by popular American female composer Stacy Garrop, as well as music by Charles Ives, Morton Gould, and Alban Berg.
 Stacy Garrop |
Garrop’s Book of American Poetry III is featured on the concert, inspired by works of great American poets. Garrop will be guest composer-in-residence for the weekend, attending SoundBites! on Saturday May 3 at 4:00 p.m. at times ten cellars, and also two school programs.
Stacy Garrop received her D.M from University of Indiana – Bloomington, and is an Associate Professor and Head of Composition at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. She received a 2012 commission from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, as well as awards from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, New England Philharmonic, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Sackler Composition Prize, and two Barlow Endowment commissions.
Giving the concert its name, The Book of American Poetry Volume III features poetry by Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Amy Lowell, and Gwendolyn Brooks. The complete composition is four volumes. Each volume contains five poets.
Volumes III and IV were premiered by the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players in New York in November 2011. Garrop relates, “I began The Book of American Poetry project in 2008, and completed it in 2010. The goal of the project was to present poetry by 20 different poets within a single, large-scale song cycle (basically a musical anthology analogous to poetry collections).” Voices of Change ensemble members will be joined by Claire Shackleton, mezzo, Thomas Schwan, piano, and Jennifer McElroy, flute. VOC musicians are Paul Garner, clarinet, Maria Schleuning, violin, Kari Nostbakken, cello, and Deborah Mashburn, percussion.
Garrop’s Silver Dagger will be performed by Maria Schleuning, violin, Kari Nostbakken, cello, and Liudmila Georgievskaya, piano. While researching an Appalachian folk song, Garrop discovered multiple variants, all with similar themes but differing outcomes, and was inspired to create this piano trio.
Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano by Alban Berg will be performed by Paul Garner, clarinet, and Thomas Schwan, piano. Berg was an Austrian composer, originally a student of Arnold Schoenberg, and was a member of the Second Viennese School with Schoenberg and Webern.
Charles Edward Ives was one of the first American composers of international renown. Ives' String Quartet #1 from 1902 will be performed at this concert by Maria Schleuning, violin, Kaori Yoshida, violin, Barbara Sudweeks, viola, and Kari Nostbakken, cello.
Filling out the program will be Morton Gould’s Duo performed by VOC members Paul Garner, clarinet, and Helen Blackburn, flute. Gould is a famous American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. He began his career working in New York City playing piano in movie theaters, as well as with vaudeville acts, working his way up to staff pianist at Radio City Music Hall, then on to conducting and arranging orchestral programs for New York's WOR radio station, where he combined popular programming with classical music. He composed Broadway scores such as Billion Dollar Baby, music for television series such as World War One and the miniseries "Holocaust," and ballet scores. He is the winner of a Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Winners of the Texas Young Composers Project will have their compositions performed at 5:00 on May 4, prior to the pre-concert forum, in the Owen Arts Center’s Choral Hall. The popular and informative pre-concert forum led by Dr. Laurie Shulman will begin one hour before the concert in the Choral Hall.
Single Concerts $30 ($25 online); Students with ID FREE.
Order online at VOC website: voicesofchange.org or call 214-378-8670.
The Concert:
May 4 – 7:30 p.m. SMU Caruth Auditorium
Alban Berg Four Pieces (clarinet, piano)
Stacy Garrop Silver Dagger (violin, cello, piano)
Charles Ives String Quartet #1(2 violin, viola, cello)
Morton Gould Duo (clarinet, flute)
Stacy Garrop The Book of American Poetry Volume III (mezzo, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion)
SoundBites!:
SoundBites! combines wine–tasting and new music. The next SoundBites! is Saturday, May 3 at 4:00 pm at times ten cellars annex, 2018 Kidwell Dallas, TX 75214, featuring Stacy Garrop’s Stubborn as Hell for two clarinets. Garrop will be in attendance.
Voices of Change Sponsors:
Voices of Change receives support from the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, TACA, Texas Commission on the Arts, Aaron Copland Fund for New Music, The Music Division of Southern Methodist University, BMI Foundation, Louise Kahn Fund of the Dallas Foundation, KERA, and times ten cellars.
Voices of Change core ensemble:
Helen Blackburn, flute; Paul Garner, clarinet; Maria Schleuning, violin; Barbara Sudweeks, viola; Kari Nostbakken, cello; Deborah Mashburn, percussion; Virginia Dupuy, mezzo-soprano
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