Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Trains Of Thought

Performing New Works by:

• Louis Andriessen

• Viet Cuong

• Donnacha Dennehy

• Pascal Le Boeuf

• Matt McBane

• Jason Treuting

• Dmitri Tymoczko

Performed by:

• Trains of Thought

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents TRAINS OF THOUGHT, various artists and ensembles performing new works by Princeton composers Louis Andriessen, Viet Cuong, Donnacha Dennehy, Pascal Le Boeuf, Matt McBane, Jason Treuting, Dmitri Tymoczko at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, December 15, 2015, 8pm.

Preceded at 7pm by:

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN LOUIS ANDRIESSEN AND SIMON MORRISON

A public discussion between two of today's most respected icons in music. Illustrious Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, who has served this semester as a visiting Belknap Fellow in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University this semester as his work was being premiered by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performed at the Barbican by the BBC Symphony in London, and staged at the Dutch National Opera at the Holland Festival, will be interviewed by esteemed musicologist and Guggenheim Fellow Simon Morrison of the Princeton University Department of Music. A half hour discussion will be followed by a Q&A with the audience before Andriessen's work is performed at 8pm at the Princeton Sound Kitchen.

PROGRAM

PASCAL LE BOEUF: Alpha

MATT MCBANE: New work to be announced

JASON TREUTING: New work to be announced

DONNACHA DENNEHY: Paddy

– INTERMISSION –

LOUIS ANDRIESSEN: La voile du bonheur

VIET CUONG: Trains of Thought

LOUIS ANDRIESSEN: Hout

DMITRI TYMOCZKO: i cannot follow

THE COMPOSERS

Born into a musical family, LOUIS ANDRIESSEN received the early influences of Stravinsky and jazz from his older brother Jurriaan. He studied with Luciano Berio in the mid-60s and wrote pieces that drew on the styles and techniques of European modernism, before he began responding to American minimalism in the 1970s. He creates music of great energy and unusual color from spare materials, often exploring political and social issues, as well as aspects of physics, such as time and velocity. Since the Minimalist Jukebox festival in 2004, he has been closely associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which has commissioned and premiered a number of works from him, including a new opera, Theatre of the World, coming in May 2016. He won the 2011 Grawemeyer Award for his opera La Commedia, which the Los Angeles Philharmonic presented in its U.S. premiere in 2010. He is the Belknap Fellow in Music visiting professor at Princeton University during the Fall 2015 semester.

VIET CUONG has had works performed on six continents by a number of soloists and ensembles including the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Sō Percussion, the Music From Copland House Ensemble, American Modern Ensemble, Dolce Suono Ensemble, London’s Nash Ensemble, Anthony McGill, Mimi Stillman, and over fifty conservatory and university wind ensembles. His music has been featured in diverse venues including Carnegie Hall, the Aspen Music Festival, International Double Reed Society Conference, Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, Boston GuitarFest, US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, Midwest Clinic, and multiple CBDNA conferences. Awards include the ASCAP Morton Gould Award, Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Award, Theodore Presser Foundation Music Award, Walter Beeler Memorial Prize, Boston Guitarfest Competition, Dolce Suono Ensemble Competition, and Prix d'Été Competition, as well as honorable mentions in the Harvey Gaul Memorial Competition and two ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prizes. Viet has held artist residencies at the Copland House, Yaddo, Ucross, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and was a scholarship student at the Copland House’s CULTIVATE Institute and the Aspen, Bowdoin, and Lake Champlain music festivals. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, he is currently a Naumburg and Roger Sessions Ph.D. Fellow at Princeton University. vietcuongmusic.com

DONNACHA DENNEHY is a composer on the faculty at Princeton University. His recent opera The Last Hotel premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2015. Subsequent runs included stints at the Dublin Theatre Festival, and at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House in London. It will receive its American premiere at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn in January 2016, as part of the Prototype Festival.

Described as “sleek, new” and “hyper-fluent” by The New York Times, PASCAL LE BOEUF is a pianist-composer and electronic artist whose interests range from modern improvised music to cross-breeding classical with production-based technology. As a keyboardist, Pascal has opened for Dangelo (Black Messiah ’15 tour), British electronic group Clean Bandit (Rather Be ’15 tour), and regularly performs with the piano trio Pascal’s Triangle featuring bassist Linda Oh and drummer Justin Brown. Le Boeuf’s most recent awards include a 2016 FROMM Commission, the 2015 ASCAP Foundation Johnny Mandel Prize, a 2015 New Music USA Grant in collaboration with RighteousGIRLS, Independent Music Awards in “Jazz,” “Eclectic,” and “Electronica” categories, and a 2015 New Jazz Works Commission from Chamber Music America in collaboration with JACK Quartet. He composed music for the 2008 Emmy Award-winning movie King Lines, and won first place in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Composition at Princeton University as a Naumburg Doctoral Fellow.

MATT MCBANE is a composer whose music ranges from visceral rhythms and complex grooves to delicate melodies and rich textures, freely and intuitively incorporating a wide array of influences including minimalism, avant pop, experimentalism, European classical music, art rock, jazz, film music, fiddle music, and electronic music. He is the composer and violinist for his band Build which received widespread critical acclaim for its two albums (Place, 2011 and Build, 2008) on New Amsterdam Records. In 2015, his five-movement suite for bluegrass string band, Drawn, was released on the Jake Schepps Quintet’s album Entwined. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Carlsbad Music Festival, a festival of “adventurous music by the beach” nationally noted for championing the next generation of composers and instrumentalists since 2004. Matt is a first year composition Ph.D. student at Princeton University. mattmcbane.com

JASON TREUTING has performed and recorded in venues as diverse as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Walker Art Center, the Knitting Factory, the Andy Warhol Museum, Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center, DOM (Moscow), and Le National (Montreal). As a member of Sō Percussion, he has collaborated with artists and composers including Steve Reich, David Lang, John Zorn, Dan Trueman, tabla master Zakir Hussain, the electronic music duo Matmos, and choreographer Eliot Feld. In addition to his work with Sō, Jason performs improvised music with Simpl, a group with laptop artist/composer Cenk Ergün, Alligator Eats Fish with guitarist Grey McMurray, Little Farm with guitarist/composer Steve Mackey, QQQ (a quartet consisting of hardinger fiddle, viola, guitar and drums), and Big Farm (a foursome led by Rinde Eckert and Steve Mackey). His many compositions for Sō Percussion include Sō’s third album, Amid the Noise, and contributions to Imaginary City, an evening-length work that appeared on the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2009 Next Wave Festival. Recent commissions for other ensembles have included Oblique Music for 4 plus (blank), a concerto for Sō Percussion and string orchestra for the League of Composers Orchestra; Circus of One, music for a video installation in collaboration with Alison Crocetta; and Diorama, an evening-length collaboration with the French choreographers in Projet Situ. Jason is co-director of the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, an annual intensive course on the campus of Princeton University for college-aged percussionists. Jason has taught percussion both in masterclasses and privately at more than 80 conservatories and universities in the USA and internationally, and with the other members of Sō Percussion, is an Edward T. Cone Performer-In-Residence at Princeton University. Jason received his Bachelors in Music and Performer’s Certificate at the Eastman School of Music where he studied percussion with John Beck and drum set and improvisation with Steve Gadd, Ralph Alessi, and Michael Cain. He received his Masters in Music along with an Artist Diploma from Yale University where he studied percussion with Robert Van Sice. Jason has also traveled to Japan to study marimba with Keiko Abe and to Bali to study gamelan with Pac I Nyoman Suadin.

DMITRI TYMOCZKO teaches composition and music theory at Princeton University

THE PERFORMERS

Multi-percussionist HARUKA FUJII has become one of the most prominent solo percussionists and marimbists of her generation. She has won international acclaim for her interpretations of contemporary music, having performed premieres of works from composers including Franghis Ali-Zadeh, Tan Dun, Nico Muhly, Joji Yuasa, and Maki Ishii. Since 2010, Ms. Fujii has performed as a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, joining a group of international musicains for several tours. She has frequently collaborated with composer Tan Dun, performing his Water Percussion Concerto, Paper Percussion Concerto, and opera Tea in major venues across the world. Ms. Fujii’s passion for introducing audiences to new percussion music has put her on stage with diverse orchestras and ensembles. She has appeared as a soloist with the Munich Philharmonic, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Nationale de Lyon, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. She is also a member of Flexible Music and the Line C3 Percussion Group, two New York City-based ensembles that actively commission new compositions from young composers. Her first solo recording Ingredients was released in 2013 on the New Focus Recordings label, and she has recorded with ensembles for Kosei, ALM Records, and Deutsche Grammophon. In addition to her career as a performing artist, Ms. Fujii directed the percussion department at the University of Connecticut from 2009 –2011, and has been a frequent guest instructor at Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar and several international percussion festivals. Born in Saitama, Japan, Ms. Fujii began her musical studies on the piano at the age of three. Influenced by her mother, marimbist Mutsuko Fujii, she developed interest in percussion instruments. She studied music at the Tokyo National University, The Juilliard School, and the Mannes College of Music.

Called “a sensitive performer” by The New York Times and “especially impressive” by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, JAMES JOHNSTON is an American musician who enjoys an active and varied career as a pianist, keyboardist, composer, and arranger. A graduate of the Juilliard School and Yale University, James applies his varied skills to a wide variety of projects. Recent performance highlights include premieres of Tyondai Braxton’s Central Market with the London Sinfonietta and LA Philharmonic, a Centennial performance of Pierrot Lunaire with the Proteus Ensemble at the Five Boroughs Music Festival, and performances of John Adams’ Gnarley Buttons and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 at the 2014 Vail Festival. Recent concerto appearances include Mozart K. 453 (with original cadenzas) with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Elliot Carter’s Double Concerto (on Harpsichord) and John Adams’s Grand Pianola Music with the Manhattan School of Music orchestra. A winner in both the Yellow Springs and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competitions with the Proteus Ensemble, James is very active as a chamber musician. A founding member of the Proteus Ensemble, Newspeak, Le Train Bleu, Trio Chimera, and Electric Kompany, he has also performed with eighth blackbird, the Orion Quartet, the Ethel Quartet, Zephyros Winds, Either/Or, the Wordless Orchestra, Oneida, PNME, the Artemis Ensemble, and the Fireworks Ensemble. His concert schedule has included performances in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Whitney Museum, the Ford Theater, The Library of Congress, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Heinz Hall, Disney Hall, and The Walter Reade Theater as part of the Great Performers at Lincoln Center series. An active promoter of new music, James served as the pianist of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble from 2001 – 2003 and has worked with Poul Ruders, Jacob TerVeldhuis, David Rakowski, David del Tredici, and Marc Mellits on new works. James’s own compositions include Step Circles for cellist Brian Snow, Pecking Order for flutist Liz Jenzen, Tongue Tied for violinists Melissa Tong and Esther Noh, and Twixt for violinist Patti Kilroy, as well as electronic tracks as part of De Snakes. For his ensembles, James has arranged works including Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faune, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Webern’s transcription of Bach’s “Ricercar” from The Musical Offering, Eric Dolphy’s Hat and Beard, and We Won’t Get Fooled Again by the Who. James recently received his doctoral degree at the Manhattan School of Music and currently lives in New York City.

Guitarist DANIEL LIPPEL, called an “exciting soloist” (The New York Times), and a “modern guitar polymath” (Guitar Review) enjoys a diverse career that ranges through solo and chamber music performances, innovative commissioning and recording projects, and engagements in diverse stylistic contexts. Highlights of his recent solo performances include the Sinus Ton Festival in Germany, University of Texas at San Antonio, and the Tangents Guitar Series in San Francisco. He has performed as a guest with many ensembles, and has been the guitarist for the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) since 2005 and Flexible Music since 2003. Lippel is the co-founder and director of New Focus Recordings, and has also recorded for Bridge, Kairos, Albany, and Tzadik. He received his DMA from the Manhattan School of Music, under the guidance of David Starobin.

Heralded by The New York Times as a violinist of “tireless energy and bright tone” and The Washington Post as “dangerously gifted,” COURTNEY ORLANDO specializes in the performance of contemporary and crossover music. She is a founding member of the acclaimed new music ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, which has premiered works by and collaborated with some of the foremost composers of our time, including Hans Abrahamsen, John Adams, John Luther Adams, Donnacha Dennehy, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Wolfgang Rihm, and Augusta Read Thomas. She is also a member of Ensemble Signal and Trio Chimera, and performs regularly with Dublin’s Crash Ensemble. Performances include those at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Festival, Disney Hall, the Kimmel Center, BAM, the Royal Opera House, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Barbican Theatre, and in Germany, Poland, Italy, Korea, and Russia. Crossover projects include those with jazz musicians Theo Bleckmann, Uri Caine, Michael Formanek, Medeski, Martin and Wood, and Joshua Redman. Other performances include those with Björk, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Sigur Rós’s Jónsi, and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry. Courtney has recorded for Bridge, Cantaloupe, Chandos, ECM, Harmonia Mundi, New Amsterdam, Nonesuch, Tzadik, and Winter and Winter. Courtney is currently on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory, where she is the artistic director of the school’s new music ensemble, Now Hear This. She currently resides in Princeton, New Jersey, with three lovely Irish lads.

The POULENC TRIO is the most active touring piano-wind chamber music ensemble in the world. Since its founding in 2003, the Trio has performed in more than 45 U.S. states and at music festivals around the world, including the Ravello Festival in Italy, the San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico, and the White Nights Festival in Russia, where the group toured with and premiered two new works with violinist Hilary Hahn. In a recent review, The New York Times praised the trio for its “elegant rendition” of Piazzolla’s tangos. The Washington Post said the trio “does its namesake proud” in “an intriguing and beautifully played program” with “convincing elegance, near effortless lightness and grace.” A recent performance in Florida – for which the Palm Beach Post praised the group’s “polished loveliness” and the Palm Beach Daily News said the “potent combination” of oboe bassoon and piano had “captured the magic of chamber music” – is regularly rebroadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, the nationally-syndicated radio program. The Trio has garnered positive attention in full-length profiles by Chamber Music magazine, and by the Double Reed Journal. The group has been called “virtuosos of classical and contemporary chamber music” in one profile for Russian television. The Poulenc Trio has a strong commitment to commissioning, performing and recording new works from living composers. Since its founding, the trio has greatly expanded the repertoire available for the oboe, bassoon and piano, with 25 new works written for and premiered by the group, including three triple concertos for trio and full orchestra. The trio has also made a commitment to explore and promote music that reflects its members’ African, Pan-American, Eastern European, and Jewish roots. Recent concerts have featured works by Afro-Cuban jazz great Paquito D’Rivera, Mexican-American composer Carlos Medina, Russian-American composer Nataliya Medvedovskaya and Yiddish Lexicon, an exploration of Jewish culture by composer Jakov Jakoulov, and the group has recently premiered new works by Spanish-American composer Octavio Vazquez and Vietnamese-American composer Viet Cuong. Starting in 2004, the trio launched a pioneering concert series called Music at the Museum, in which musical performances are paired with museum exhibitions, with special appearances from guest artists and curators. As part of the series, the trio has collaborated with the National Gallery in Washington DC, the Walters Art Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Hermitage State Museum in Russia. Guest artist collaborators have included violinist Hilary Hahn, the Thibaud Trio of Berlin, soprano Hyunah Yu, and clarinetists Alexander Fiterstein and Anthony McGill. The Trio is deeply engaged in musical and educational outreach programs, including Pizza and Poulenc, an informal performance and residency series for younger audiences around the United States. The Trio regularly conducts masterclasses, with recent engagements at New York University, Tulane University, the University of Ohio, San Francisco State University, Florida State University, and the University of Colima in Mexico.

Saxophonist TIM RUEDEMAN. noted for his “extreme virtuosity” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia including performances on the New York Philharmonic’s CONTACT! series, the Lincoln Center Festival, SoundScape Festival in Macagno Italy, Mostly Mozart Festival, the Kennedy Center, Late Show with David Letterman, and Bang On A Can Marathon. He has appeared as soloist with the S.E.M. Ensemble, Greenwich Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, and Hanover Wind Symphony. He has appeared in orchestral and chamber performances with the New York Philharmonic, Long Island Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Bridgeport Symphony, International Contemporary Ensemble (I.C.E.), Absolute Ensemble, Imani Winds, Argento Ensemble, North-South Consonance, the New Sousa Band, Desshoff Choir, and Merce Cunningham Dance Company. A committed performer of new music, he has given the premieres of over sixty new works and is a member of the new-music ensemble Flexible Music and the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet. He has toured, recorded, and worked with rock and jazz legends Todd Rundgren, M. Ward, David Foster, Diana Krall, Christopher Cross, Lou Gramm (Foreigner), Denny Laine (Wings/Moody Blues), Paul Shaffer, and The Walkmen. Dr. Ruedeman is on the faculty at New York University, Long Island University, and William Paterson University, and is visiting faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory.

Pianist GEORGE (YEGOR) SHEVTSOV’s solo and chamber performances have been singled out for their “Mozartean elegance,” “perfect lucidity” (The New York Times), and “superb musicianship” (The Miami Herald). His recent recording of the piano music of Debussy and Boulez was selected by rhapsody.com as one of the top 25 classical albums of 2013. George Shevtsov’s most significant artistic associations have been with Red Light New Music, a contemporary music collective; Mark Morris, a world-renowned choreographer; New World Symphony, academy founded by Michael Tilson Thomas; American Ballet Theatre; Mischa Bouvier, an award-winning baritone; avant-garde composers Reiko Fueting, Yoav Gal, Andrew Noble, and Scott Wollschleger. He has appeared in concert with members of the American String Quartet, Mivos Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Bang on a Can, red fish blue fish, Alarm Will Sound, Argento Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, and Manhattan Sinfonietta, among others. Among the composers who have heard him perform their works are Pierre Boulez, John Luther Adams, Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Steve Reich, and George Crumb. George currently studies flamenco in the studio of Soledad Barrio. yegorshevtsov.com.

Hailed as a “fine soloist” (The New York Times) and “a stand out among unfailingly excellent performances” (The Boston Globe), percussionist BILL SOLOMON performs with Ensemble Signal, having appeared at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, Disney Hall, Guggenheim, Miller Theatre, Big Ears Festival, June in Buffalo, and the Stone. He has worked with composers including Steve Reich, Helmut Lachenmann, Oliver Knussen, Georg Friedrich Haas, Unsuk Chin, Roger Reynolds, Brian Ferneyhough, Charles Wuorinen, and Hilda Paredes. He performed the solo vibraphone part for Pierre Boulez’s Répons in collaboration with the Lucerne Festival, IRCAM, and Ensemble InterContemporain with Mr. Boulez as conductor. Other solo appearances have included the New York City premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Double Concerto, performances at Harvard University, the Victoriaville Festival, and as a featured soloist at SEAMUS National Convention. He performed at the BAM Next Wave Festival with Dawn Upshaw, Gil Kalish, and Talujon Percussion. Mr. Solomon has also performed with Hartford Symphony, Alarm Will Sound, Talea Ensemble, American Modern Ensemble, Sound Icon, Callithumpian Consort, Yale Repertory Theatre and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. His recordings can be found on Harmonia Mundi, Mode, EUROArts, Cantaloupe, Naxos, New World, Capstone, Tzigane, and Equilibrium labels, and the film score to Philip Glass’s Project Rebirth.

JEFFREY ZEIGLER is one of the most versatile cellists of our time. He has commissioned dozens of works, and is admired as a potent collaborator and unique improviser. Described as “fiery,” and a player who performs “with unforced simplicity and beauty of tone” by The New York Times, he has given many notable premiers including works by John Adams, Damon Albarn, Derek Charke, John Corigliano, Henryk Gorecki, John King, Paola Prestini, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and John Zorn to name a few. His collaborators include Andy Akiho, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Hauschka, Vijay Iyer, Glenn Kotche, David Krakauer, Kimmo Pohjonen, and Tom Waits. Mr. Zeigler has released over three dozen recordings for Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon, and Smithsonian Folkways and has appeared with Norah Jones on her album Not Too Late on Blue Note Records. Zeigler can also be heard on the film soundtrack for Paola Sorrentino’s Academy Award winning film, La Grande Bellezza, as well as Clint Mansell’s Golden Globe nominated soundtrack, The Fountain, featuring performances with the Scottish band Mogwai.

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

The Cimbalom

Performing New Works by:

• Leila Adu-Gilmore

• Quinn Collins

• Christopher Douthitt

• Florent Ghys

• Dave Molk

• Anna Pidgorna

• Juri Seo

• Annika Socolofsky

• Kendall Williams

Performed by:

• The Cimbalom

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents THE CIMBALOM, works for the cimbalom and mixed ensemble, featuring Nick Tolle, cimbalom, Mark Eichenberger, percussion, Rosie Kaplan, voice and Courtney Orlando, violin, performing new works by Princeton composers Leila Adu-Gilmore, Quinn Collins, Christopher Douthitt, Florent Ghys, Dave Molk, Anna Pidgorna, Juri Seo, Annika Socolofsky, and Kendall Williams at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, December 8, 2015, 8pm.

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Sō Percussion

Performing New Works by:

• Yuri Boguinia

• Noah Kaplan

• Dave Molk

• Juri Seo

• Bora Yoon

Performed by:

• Sō Percussion

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents SŌ PERCUSSION performing new works by Princeton composers Yuri Boguinia, Noah Kaplan, Dave Molk, Juri Seo and Bora Yoon at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, November 10, 2015, 8pm.

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Gallicantus

Performing New Works by:

• Elliot Cole

• Viet Cuong

• Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade

• Alex Dowling

• Amanda Feery

• Noah Kaplan

• Emma O’Halloran

• Jeff Snyder

Performed by:

• Gallicantus

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents GALLICANTUS performing new works by Princeton composers Elliot Cole, Viet Cuong, Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, Alex Dowling, Amanda Feery, Noah Kaplan, Emma O’Halloran and Jeff Snyder at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, 8pm.

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Trio Chimera

Performing New Works by:

• Yuri Boguinia

• Florent Ghys

• Pascal Le Boeuf

• Steven Mackey

• Anna Pidgorna

• Chris Rogerson

Performed by:

• Trio Chimera

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents TRIO CHIMERA with Eileen Mack, Clarinet performing new works by Princeton composers Yuri Boguinia, Florent Ghys, Pascal Le Boeuf, Steven Mackey, Anna Pidgorna, and Chris Rogerson at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, September 15, 2015, 8pm.

PROGRAM

CHRIS ROGERSON
River Songs
A Fish Will Rise
Swan Song

FLORENT GHYS
Étude for 11 Faces for piano, violin, cello and video featuring Mika Godbole, Yumi Tamashiro, Bora Yoon, Quinn Collins, Mike Mulshine, Dave Molk, Viet Cuong, Wally Gunn, Elliot Cole, and Brooks Frederickson.

White
Points
Rhythm
Melody
Words

Instead of using source material from bad-quality YouTube videos as I’ve done in the past, I wanted to use HD videos that I would film myself. And at some point I got tired of seeing my face on the screen, so I asked people around me to come in Studio B to get filmed and recorded. This piece also uses different musical ideas that I am currently interested in: speech melody, isorhythms, and random notes generators.

ANNA PIDGORNA
Like doves with grey wings embracing

This piece explores my emotional response to this mournfully beautiful Ukrainian folksong I found on a recording by the folk duo Dyke Pole (Дике Поле). In a truly ‘romantic’ fashion, the images and sentiments expressed in this song resonated with some turbulent events in my own life. Musically, this work transforms material from my piece Weeping for a dead love, which I recently performed with Sō Percussion. The strings draw on the folk-inspired vocal lines, while the piano expands on the sound of the four Noah bells, which magically fit themselves into my vocal melodies and suggested a surprising harmonic world.

— INTERMISSION —

PASCAL LE BOEUF
Obliquely Wrecked

By adapting language idiomatic of the acid house genre for piano trio, Obliquely Wrecked explores the idea that our quotidian behaviors within the sphere of human interaction can sometimes have drastic consequences that differ from our intentions.

STEVEN MACKEY
Prelude to the End

In 1992 I wrote a piece called Physical Property for electric guitar and string quartet. Its purpose was simply to share the joy of playing fast music and feeling the metaphorical wind in your hair. It was written very quickly which prohibited over thinking and the result is a 15-minute, unfettered romp. The members of Soli were fans of the piece and programmed it years ago, so when they asked me to write them a new piece the thought crossed my mind that I should try to recapture the energy of Physical Property. That was an all too familiar thought; several times in the last 20 years I have sought to take that fast ride again but I always fail because I am not the same person I was back then. In the intervening two decades I have lost both my parents, had two children, been divorced and remarried, lost energy, gained wisdom, lost innocence, gained sophistication—I’ve lived a normal life. It occurred to me that I should make that inevitable failure a feature of the piece and make the piece about the struggles and complications that make it impossible for me to re-write Physical Property. Beginning with unabashed ebullience, Prelude to the End can’t resist exploring darker expressive territory, more complicated harmonic paths, and precarious textures. Over 15 minutes, gravity and gravitas pulls the music into areas that could not be predicted by the opening. Well, that isn’t actually true because, to my ear, even the first gesture shows signs of mortality. The instrumentation—violin, clarinet, cello, and piano—is strongly associated with Messiaen’s landmark composition Quartet for the End of Time. Any such group would probably perform Messiaen many times; in fact, such groups were probably formed in order to play Messiaen. It occurred to me that the trajectory of my piece from goofy to grave would be a good set up for, a prelude to the Quartet for the End of Time, hence the title. The title also refers to the fact that at the premiere my work closed the program and as such functioned as a prelude to the end of the concert.

MEET THE PERFORMERS

Called “a sensitive performer” by The New York Times and “especially impressive” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, James Johnson enjoys an active and varied career as a pianist, keyboardist, composer, and arranger. A graduate of The Juilliard School and Yale University, James’s recent performance highlights include premieres of Tyondai Braxton’s Central Market with the London Sinfonietta and LA Philharmonic, a Centennial performance of Pierrot Lunaire with the Proteus Ensemble at the Five Boroughs Music Festival, and performances of John Adams’ Gnarley Buttons and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 at the 2014 Vail Festival. Recent concerto appearances include Mozart K. 453 (with original cadenzas) with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Elliott Carter’s Double Concerto (on Harpsichord) with the Manhattan School of Music orchestra. A winner in both the Yellow Springs and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competitions with the Proteus Ensemble, James has performed in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Whitney Museum, Ford’s Theater, The Library of Congress, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Heinz Hall, Disney Hall, and The Walter Reade Theater as part of the Great Performers at Lincoln Center series. James is also a founding member of Newspeak, Electric Kompany, and Trio Chimera, and has performed with eighth blackbird, the Orion Quartet, the Ethel Quartet, Zephyros Winds, Either/Or, the Wordless Orchestra, Oneida, PNME, the Artemis Ensemble, and the Fireworks Ensemble. An active performer/promoter of new music, James served as the pianist as part of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble from 2001–2003 and has worked with Poul Ruders, Steven Stucky, Jacob TerVeldhuis, David Rakowski, David del Tredici, and Marc Mellits on new works. James’s recent compositions include Fuzzy Math for cellist Brian Snow, Pecking Order for flutist Liz Jenzen, and Tongue Tied for violinists Melissa Tong and Esther Noh, as well as various electronic tracks as part of De Snakes. Arrangements for his ensembles include Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Webern’s transcription of Bach’s Ricercar from The Musical Offering, Eric Dolphy’s Hat and Beard, and We Won’t Get Fooled Again by the Who. James recently received his doctoral degree at the Manhattan School of Music and currently lives in New York.

Clarinetist Eileen Mack grew up in Australia and is now based in New York City. She is a member of post-minimalist band Victoire and amplified ensemble Newspeak (which she also co-directs), and has performed with many other New York new music groups including Wet Ink, Alarm Will Sound, Signal Ensemble, the Bang on a Can All Stars, and the Wordless Music Orchestra. She has performed in venues around the world including Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and London’s Royal Albert Hall, with conductors including Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, Brad Lubman, and Alan Pierson, and has appeared as soloist at the Canberra International Chamber Music Festival and the Bang on a Can Marathon. Her discography ranges from work on the Crocodile Hunter TV and movie soundtracks to releases on New Amsterdam Records, Tzadik, Innova, and Warp Records. Eileen holds degrees from Stony Brook University, the Manhattan School of Music and the Queensland Conservatorium.

Heralded by The New York Times as a violinist of “tireless energy and bright tone” and by The Washington Post as “dangerously gifted,” Courtney Orlando specializes in the performance of contemporary and crossover music. She is a founding member of the acclaimed new music ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, which has premiered works by and collaborated with some of the foremost composers of our time, including John Adams, Donnacha Dennehy, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Wolfgang Rihm, and Augusta Read Thomas. Performances with AWS include those at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, the Kimmel Center, London’s Barbican Theatre, and venues in Germany, Poland, Italy, and Russia. She is also a member of Ensemble Signal, Trio Chimera, and Deviant Septet, and performs regularly with Ireland’s Crash Ensemble. Crossover projects include those with jazz musicians Theo Bleckmann, Uri Caine, Michael Formanek, and Joshua Redman. Other performances include those with Björk, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Sigur Rós’s Jónsi, and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry. Courtney has recorded for Bridge, Cantaloupe, Chandos, ECM, Harmonia Mundi, Nonesuch, Tzadik, and Winter and Winter. Courtney is currently on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory, where she is the artistic director of the school’s new music ensemble, Now Hear This. She resides in Princeton, NJ, with three lovely Irish lads.

Praised by The Boston Globe for his “pugnacious, eloquent, self-assurance,” cellist Brian Snow pursues a varied performing career, appearing at many of New York’s most important venues including Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Bargemusic, and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Brian is a member of Newspeak, OMNI Ensemble, and Proteus Ensemble, and has performed and recorded with a variety of artists including Meredith Monk, The National, Björk, John Legend, and the Emerson String Quartet. A strong advocate for contemporary music, Brian has worked closely with composers including Nico Muhly, David T. Little, and Martin Bresnick, premiering dozens of new works, and has performed with many important contemporary music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, ACME, and Talea Ensemble. Along with violinist Caroline Chin, he recently released a CD of music for violin and cello by Elliott Carter on Centaur Records which was included in new music blog Sequenza 21’s list of “most memorable recordings of 2013.” He has also appeared on recordings on the New Amsterdam, Innova, Cantaloupe, and Naxos labels. Brian received a Doctorate in Music from Stony Brook University, a Master’s from Yale, and also holds degrees from Hartt and Longy Schools of Music. His teachers have included Aldo Parisot, David Finckel, and Colin Carr. Brian is an adjunct faculty member at Western Connecticut State University and an affiliate artist and cello teacher at Sarah Lawrence College.

MEET THE COMPOSERS

FLORENT GHYS is a European citizen and a second-year graduate student who is currently interested in filming people and objects and making music out of it.

Described as “sleek, new” and “hyper-fluent” by The New York Times, PASCAL LE BOEUF is a pianist-composer and electronic artist whose interests range from modern improvised music to cross-breeding classical with production-based technology. Le Boeuf’s most recent awards include the 2015 ASCAP Foundation Johnny Mandel Prize, a 2015 New Music USA Grant in collaboration with RighteousGIRLS, Independent Music Awards in “Jazz,” “Eclectic,” and “Electronica” categories, and a 2015 New Jazz Works Commission from Chamber Music America in collaboration with JACK Quartet. He composed music for the 2008 Emmy Award-winning movie King Lines, and won first place in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition. Pascal performs and records regularly with the piano trio Pascal’s Triangle, featuring bassist Linda Oh and drummer Justin Brown. As a keyboardist, Pascal has opened for Dangelo (Black Messiah tour), British electronic group Clean Bandit (Rather Be Tour), and regularly performs with Australian pop artist Meg Mac. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Composition at Princeton University as a Naumburg Doctoral Fellow.

STEVEN MACKEY has been on the faculty in the Music Department at Princeton since 1985.

Anna Pidgorna is a Ukrainian-born, Canadian-raised composer and media artist who combines sound, visual arts, writing and carpentry to create works that are dramatic and picturesque. Her music has been performed throughout Canada, as well as in Italy, Austria, Germany, Uruguay, and the United States. Anna’s fascination with Ukrainian folk singing took her on a journey through Ukrainian villages in the fall of 2012 and 2013, with generous funding from the Canada Council for the Arts. These experiences have resulted in numerous instrumental pieces and have inspired her to learn this particular singing style herself. Her part-time work on a heritage house renovation in Vancouver led to the creation of Through closed doors, a violin duo inscribed on a restored antique door, which was premiered by the Thin Edge New Music Collective in Toronto in September 2014. Anna is a recipient of two SOCAN Foundation Emerging Composers’ awards and has taken part in composition workshops at Carnegie Hall with Kaija Saariaho, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre with Gary Kulesha and Chen Yi, and Toronto’s Soundstreams with R. Murray Schafer and Juliet Palmer. Her Light-play through curtain holes represented Canada at the ISCM World New Music Days 2013 Festival in Vienna. Anna holds an MMus from the University of Calgary, where she studied with David Eagle, and a BA from Mount Allison University. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Princeton University.

Hailed as a “confident, fully-grown composing talent” (The Washington Post), Chris Rogerson’s music has been praised for its “virtuosic exuberance” and “haunting beauty” (The New York Times). He has received commissions and performances from the Atlanta Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony, among others. His music has been heard in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and Symphony Center in Chicago. As Composer-in-Residence of the Amarillo Symphony, he will compose two new works over the next two years for the orchestra; he also serves as the Composer-in-Residence for the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival in Florida. Chris’s 2014 – 2015 season also included performances by the Charlotte Symphony, Spokane Symphony, and Opus One Piano Quartet. In 2012, Chris received a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has also won awards from ASCAP, BMI, the Theodore Presser Foundation, the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, the National Association for Music Education, the New York Art Ensemble, and the Aspen Music Festival (Jacob Druckman Award). Chris has been in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Ucross Foundation. He has also been Composer-in-Residence for the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, Young Composer-in-Residence at Music from Angel Fire, and a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, the Cabrillo Festival, and the Norfolk New Music Workshop. Born in 1988, he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Yale School of Music with Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Martin Bresnick, and is currently a doctoral fellow at Princeton University. Chris is represented by Young Concert Artists, Inc.

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Making Waves

Performing New Works by:

• Yuri Boguinia

• Quinn Collins

• Viet Cuong

• Amanda Feery

• Steven Mackey

• Andrea Mazzariello

• Gabriella Smith

Performed by:

• Making Waves

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents MAKING WAVES: new works by Princeton composers Yuri Boguinia, Quinn Collins, Viet Cuong, Amanda Feery, Steven Mackey, Andrea Mazzariello, Gabriella Smith at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, at 8:00pm.

Dan Trueman, Director

Michael Pratt, Resident Conductor

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Whispering Hallelujah Hatrack

Performing New Works by:

• Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade

• Noah Kaplan

• Emma O'Halloran

• Gabriella Smith

Performed by:

• Whispering Hallelujah Hatrack

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents 'WHISPERING HALLELUJAH HATRACK,' various artists and ensembles performing new works by Princeton 2nd Year Graduate Student composers Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, Noah Kaplan, Emma O'Halloran and Gabriella Smith at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, 8pm

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

This Is How We Fly

Performing New Works by:

• Alex Dowling

• Amanda Feery

• Dave Molk

• Emma O’Halloran

• Noah Kaplan

• Jeff Snyder

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents THIS IS HOW WE FLY in collaboration with Princeton composers and performers Alex Dowling, Amanda Feery, Dave Molk, Emma O’Halloran, Noah Kaplan, Jeff Snyder and Sō Percussion at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, April 21, 2015, at 8:00pm. Presented in conjunction with the Irish Arts Center

Dan Trueman, Director

Michael Pratt, Resident Conductor

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

The Well-Seasoned Iron Pan

Performing New Works by:

• Courtney Bryan

• Elliot Cole

• Quinn Collins

• Wally Gunn

• Paul Lansky

• Steve Mackey

• Dave Molk

• Juri Seo

• Gabriella Smith

• Jason Treuting

Performed by:

• The Well-Seasoned Iron Pan

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents THE WELL-SEASONED IRON PAN: new works by Princeton composers Courtney Bryan, Elliot Cole, Quinn Collins, Wally Gunn, Paul Lansky, Steve Mackey, Dave Molk, Juri Seo, Gabriella Smith and Jason Treuting at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, at 8:00pm.

Dan Trueman, Director

Michael Pratt, Resident Conductor

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Amernet String Quartet

Performing New Works by:

• Amanda Feery

• Phoebe Myhill

• Dmitri Tymoczko

Performed by:

• Amernet String Quartet

• Matthew Bengtson

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents Amernet String Quartet with guest Matthew Bengtson, piano, performing new works by Princeton composers Amanda Feery, Phoebe Myhill and Dmitri Tymoczko at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, at 8:00pm.

Dan Trueman, Director

Michael Pratt, Resident Conductor

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Movie Night

Performing New Works by:

• Yuri Boguinia

• Elliot Cole

• Florent Ghys

• Andrew Lovett

• David Molk

• Anna Pidgorna

• Jeff Snyder

• Bora Yoon

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents MOVIE NIGHT: an evening of new video, audio and multimedia works by Princeton composers Yuri Boguinia, Elliot Cole, Florent Ghys, Andrew Lovett, David Molk, Anna Pidgorna, Jeff Snyder, Bora Yoon at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, March 3, 2015, at 8:00pm.

Dan Trueman, Director

Michael Pratt, Resident Conductor

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

American Modern Ensemble

Performing New Works by:

• Viet Cuong

• Cenk Ergün

• Wally Gunn

• Noah Kaplan

• Juri Seo

Performed by:

• American Modern Ensemble

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents American Modern Ensemble with guests performing new works by Princeton composers Viet Cuong, Cenk Ergün, Wally Gunn, Noah Kaplan and Juri Seo at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, at 8:00pm.

Dan Trueman, Director

Michael Pratt, Resident Conductor

PROGRAM

WALLY GUNN AND SCOTT BRENNAN
Long Distance

CENK ERGÜN
Something, Something Else, Something

JURI SEO
#three

NOAH KAPLAN
Penetralium

VIET CUONG
Nothing If Not

WALLY GUNN AND SCOTT BRENNAN
Long Distance

Not Long Now
Counting
Mimicking Proximity
Four Cities
Absence Is A Well

Wally Gunn, tenor
Spencer Evans, actor
Laura Sheedy, actor
Terrence Hunt, filmmaker
Performance devised by Nothing To See Here

In 2008, I moved from Melbourne, Australia, to New York, USA, leaving family, friends, a lover. While the excitement of being in a wild, new city prevailed most of the time, homesickness was ever-present, a low hum in the background. Naturally, I noticed others who felt the same way. Expat friends from all over the globe described to me the same curious feelings of elation tempered with sadness that marked the experience of living so far away from home.

Back in Australia, Scott Brennan, a comedian, actor, and writer, was himself experiencing the same trials induced by long distance relationships. I asked him to collaborate on a musical project about the topic by writing some poetry which I could use as the text for a song cycle. His first poems—beautifully spare and yet still heartbreaking—began to trickle into my email inbox over the next few months, and I wrote some drafts. Since then, I have worked on the piece in fits and starts; needling Scott for another poem here, tinkering with some music there... And now at last there is something to show: five songs stitched together into some kind of narrative. For this performance, I have roped in more talented friends—my Nothing To See Here actor colleagues Laura Sheedy and Spencer Evans, and filmmaker Terrence Hunt—to add action and vision to bring life to the story. Long Distance is part pop record, part song cycle, part music video, part theater show. We hope you enjoy it.

Special thanks to Scott Brennan, Spencer Evans, Terrence Hunt, and Laura Sheedy for their inventiveness, resourcefulness and generosity throughout the making of this project.

CENK ERGÜN
Something, Something Else, Something

Bass flute, bass clarinet, piano…all of these instruments on stage amaze me. I just wanted create a piece that focuses on their sounds in isolated contexts. The winds are a group. Piano, bass, and percussion are special visitors. Something happens, then something else happens, then the first something happens again.

JURI SEO
#three

Despite my meager experience with jazz, I have always been drawn to its spontaneous beauty and easygoing virtuosity. #three is the fourth piece I composed in jazz style. I started with a couple of small musical materials I stumbled upon on my piano and lived with them for several months. They took some surprising turns: from espressivo to scherzo, from romantic piano flourishes to clamorous rock beats. The collage-like progressions probably resulted from my struggle to compose piano licks while my husband Mark was banging away rock grooves in the basement (which I found terribly distracting). Somehow, everything worked out in this music. I love such moments when conflicts dissolve in one giant stockpot of musical structure!

NOAH KAPLAN
Penetralium

The most salient feature of Penetralium is a dichotomy between quarter-tone chromaticism and very tonal 12-tone equal-tempered music. The quarter tones have a corrupting effect on the purity of the familiar intervals, and for me, the driving element of the piece is this contrast between dark and light, dirty and clean. As the piece grew, I became more and more interested specifically in the juxtaposition of quarter-tone harmonies with 12-tone equal-tempered melodic material, which could be easily doubled by various winds or winds and bass. The “main theme” is almost always stated with 12-ET, but the context surrounding it continually shifts, changing the expressive potential of this simple motive: alternately lyrical, comic, dark, sad, or disfigured. The form is basically a long, slow crescendo to something more expressive, varied, inward, and pure, the Penetralium.

VIET CUONG
Nothing If Not

Nothing If Not embellishes monophonic lines by stacking and staggering the many colors of the ensemble, including a vast array of overblown flute harmonics. Heartfelt thanks to the American Modern Ensemble.

MEET THE PERFORMERS

American Modern Ensemble is marking its 10th anniversary in 2014-2015 which spotlights American music via lively thematic programming, performing the widest possible repertoire, particularly by living composers. Founded in New York City in 2005 by Robert Paterson and Victoria Paterson, AME is a dynamic, creative force in the modern music scene. With a world-class ensemble made up of NYC’s finest, AME is “simply first-rate” (The New York Times). AME has performed over 150 living composers in venues ranging from Lincoln Center to The Roulette, and has "consistently demonstrated a flair for inventive programming" (Steve Smith, Time Out New York). AME programs both cutting edge and traditional works, presenting unique, engaging events that encourage dialogue between artists and audiences. Sold out crowds at Merkin Hall, Dimenna Center, the Rubin Museum, SubCulture and many other venues are a winning testament to AME's tremendous fan base and ever expanding popularity. AME has and continues to perform educational and outreach concerts and residencies at universities such as the CUNY Graduate Center, Princeton, Yale, Adelphi, James Madison, Lafayette, and many more. Recent collaborations include the Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival, Prototype Opera Festival, American Opera Projects, the Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Talujon percussion ensemble.

MEET THE COMPOSERS

Viet Cuong’s (b. 1990) works have been performed internationally in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Aspen Music Festival, International Double Reed Society Conference, Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, Midwest Clinic, GAMMA-UT Conference, and several CBDNA conferences. He is a winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Award, Walter Beeler Memorial Prize from Ithaca College, Boston Guitarfest Composition Competition, Dolce Suono Ensemble Competition, Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association Grant, Peabody Alumni Award, Gustav Klemm Award, Prix d'Été Competition, and National Band Association Young Composer Mentor Project. Viet has held artist residencies at Yaddo, Ucross, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and was a scholarship student at the Copland House’s CULTIVATE Emerging Composers Institute and the Aspen and Bowdoin Music Festivals. He is currently a Naumburg and Roger Sessions Doctoral Fellow at Princeton, and holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Peabody Conservatory. Please visit www.vietcuongmusic.com to learn more.

Cenk Ergün is a composer and improviser based in New York. His music has been performed by artists including Sō Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Wet Ink, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Laboratorium, and Joan Jeanrenaud. As an improviser, he performs electronics in groups with Alvin Curran, Jason Treuting, Grey McMurray, and Jeff Snyder.

Wally Gunn is a composer living and working in New York who writes rock music, concert music, and music for theater, film, and visual art. Growing up in a rural town in Australia’s southeast, Wally first began making music in his early teens, writing on a Casiotone for his electronic dance band, which never played a gig. After high school, he moved to Melbourne to join rock bands, and spent several years writing songs and gigging around the country, then enrolled in the Victorian College of the Arts composition program. After graduating with honors, Wally worked with friends and fellow composers Kate Neal and Biddy Connor in Dead Horse Productions to stage concerts of their own and other composers’ new music in warehouses, underground parking lots, cinemas, and other unusual spaces. He also composed original music for several Melbourne theatre companies. Wally moved to New York in 2008 to begin a master’s degree in composition at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Julia Wolfe. Since relocating, Wally has composed original music for Manhattan-based The Actors Company Theatre and has become a company member of Brooklyn-based theater Nothing To See Here, under the artistic direction of Laura Sheedy. Wally's concert music has been performed in Australia by The Dead Horse Ensemble, Three Shades Black, Speak Percussion, Atticus String Quartet and Silo String Quartet, and in the US by Riley Lee, Mobius Percussion, Sō Percussion, Dither Guitar Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, futureCities, and Red Shift. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University.

Noah Kaplan is a second-year composer at Princeton.

Juri Seo is a composer & pianist based in New Jersey. She loves to write music that is full of energy, often incorporating contrasts, deceptions, humor and lyricism imbued with contemporary quirkiness and experimental spirit. Juri has received a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship from the University of Illinois, and Otto Eckstein Fellowship from Tanglewood. She holds a D.M.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and has also studied at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome) and Yonsei University (Seoul). She joined the composition faculty at Princeton University in 2014.

Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Dan Trueman performing work from their new CD Laghdú

Performed by:

• Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh

• Dan Trueman

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Dan Trueman, performing work from their new CD Laghdú at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, at 8:00pm.

Dan Trueman, Director

Michael Pratt, Resident Conductor

CAOIMHÍN Ó RAGHALLAIGH AND DAN TRUEMAN

Laghdú

Laghdú, the title of this debut album by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Dan Trueman, translates as a lessening, a decrease, a reduction. The music they have written stretches and abstracts the DNA of Norwegian and Irish fiddling; the result is something new, sparse and stunning. It ranges from the near-silent to the nigh-on orchestral, at times exploding joyously from their hybrid 10-string fiddles, at times barely there, holding time still. Utterly unique, this is music of an exceptional and unusual beauty.

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh plays traditional and contemporary folk music on Hardanger d'Amore and other fiddles. In addition to being an established solo artist, he performs duos with dynamic Kerry accordion player Brendan Begley and Dublin uilleann piper Mick O’Brien and is a member of two groups: The Gloaming and This Is How We Fly. He has released ten CDs to date, including the debut album from The Gloaming, which reached #1 in the Irish music charts. He has performed far and

wide, from New York’s Lincoln Center, to London’s Royal Albert Hall, and upcoming at the Sydney Opera House. As well his work in traditional Irish music, Caoimhín writes new material that explores the region where traditional music begins to disintegrate. caoimhinoraghallaigh.com

Dan Trueman is a composer, fiddler, and electronic musician. He began studying violin at the age of 4, and decades later, after a chance encounter, fell in love with the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, an instrument and tradition that has deeply affected all of his work, whether as a fiddler, a composer, or musical explorer. Dan has worked with many groups and musicians, including Trollstilt and QQQ, the American Composers Orchestra, So Percussion, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Brentano and Daedelus string quartets, the Crash Ensemble, many wonderful fiddlers, and has performed across America, Ireland, and Norway. Dan's work has been recognized by fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, among others. He is Professor of Music at Princeton University, where he teaches counterpoint, electronic music, and composition. manyarrowsmusic.com

For more information and media visit: irishmusic.net/more or email info@irishmusic.net