JENNIFER KOH VIOLIN VIJAY IYER PIANO & COMPOSER SATURDAY I MARCH 14, 2020 I 2:00 PM MODERN ART MUSEUM OF FORT WORTH
PERFORMANCE SPONSORED BY
The Board of Directors of the Cliburn salutes with gratitude the generosity of
CORNELIA & JIM BLAKE
for supporting this performance of
JENNIFER KOH + VIJAY IYER
PA G E
26
CLIBURN AT THE MODERN Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Saturday, March 14, 2020 I 2:00 p.m.
JENNIFER KOH VIOLIN VIJAY IYER PIANO & COMPOSER hosted by buddy bray
Selections to be announced from the stage
Vijay Iyer
Johann Sebastian Bach Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 Allemande Courante Sarabande Gigue Chaconne
Missy Mazzoli
Dissolve, O My Heart
Vijay Iyer
The Diamond
Exclusive Management for Ms. Koh: Opus 3 Artists Steinway & Sons is the official piano of the Cliburn. This concert is being recorded. Please silence all electronic devices.
JENNIFER KOH
violin
Violinist Jennifer Koh is recognized for intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance. A forward-thinking artist, she is dedicated to exploring a broad and eclectic repertoire, while promoting diversity and inclusivity in classical music. She has expanded the contemporary violin repertoire through a wide range of commissioning projects and has premiered more than 70 works written especially for her. Her quest for the new and unusual, sense of endless curiosity, and ability to lead and inspire a host of multidisciplinary collaborators, truly set her apart. Jennifer continues her critically acclaimed series this season: The New American Concerto, an ongoing, multi-season commissioning project, invites a diverse collective of composers to examine socio-cultural topics relevant to American life today through the form of the violin concerto; Limitless (recently released on recording) explores the relationship between composer and performer through duo works played by her and the composers themselves; Bach and Beyond traces the history of the solo violin repertoire from Bach’s sonatas and partitas to pieces by 20th- and 21st-century composers; and Shared Madness comprises short solo works that explore virtuosity in the 21st century, commissioned from over 30 composers. Jennifer brings the same sense of adventure and brilliant musicianship to her recordings as she does to her live performances, and has now recorded 13 albums, including Limitless in fall 2019, with Chicago-based Cedille Records. Jennifer performs a broad range of concertos that reflects the breadth of her musical interests from traditional to contemporary. She has appeared with orchestras worldwide, among them the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki Philharmonics; Cleveland, Mariinsky, Minnesota, Philadelphia, and Philharmonia (London) Orchestras; and Atlanta, Baltimore, BBC, Chicago, Cincinnati, National, New World, NHK, RAI (Torino), and Singapore Symphonies. She played the role of Einstein in the revival of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach from 2012 to 2014; and a particular highlight of her career was performing with St. Vincent (Annie Clark) and S. Epatha Merkerson at the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors in a tribute to Mr. Glass. She has also performed for former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama and former First Lady of South Korea Kim Yoon-ok in 2011. Jennifer is the founder and artistic director of arco collaborative, an artist-driven nonprofit that fosters a better understanding of our world through a musical dialogue inspired by ideas and the communities around us. She is also active as a lecturer and teacher, in residence this spring at Brown University. Born in Chicago of Korean parents, Jennifer began playing the violin by chance, choosing the instrument in a Suzuki-method program only because spaces for cello and piano had been filled. She made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. She has been honored as “A Force of Nature” by the American Composers Orchestra and as Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year. Jennifer was a top prize winner at Moscow’s International Tchaikovsky Competition, winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin College and studied at the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir.
VIJAY IYER
piano & composer
Composer-pianist Vijay Iyer has carved out a unique path as an influential, prolific, shape-shifting presence in modern music. He was described by Pitchfork as “one of the best in the world at what he does,” and by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway.” Vijay has been voted DownBeat Magazine’s Artist of the Year four times—in 2018, 2016, 2015, and 2012—and was named a 2017 United States Artists Fellow, 2013 MacArthur Fellow, and 2012 Doris Duke Performing Artist. He holds a lifetime appointment as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at Harvard University, with a joint affiliation with the Department of Music and the Department of African and African American Studies. He has released 23 albums covering remarkably diverse terrain, which have been recognized as among the best by Rolling Stone, NPR, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Slate, The New York Times, and Detroit Metro Times, among others, and the 2009 release Historicity with the Vijay Iyer Trio was nominated for a Grammy®. HIs 2013 collaboration with poet Mike Ladd, Holding It Down, based on the dreams of veterans of color from America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rounded out a trilogy (alongside earlier projects In What Language? and Still Life with Commentator) of politically searing albums about post-9/11 American life, which were praised for their “powerful narrative invention... an eloquent tribute to the stubborn, regenerative powers of the human spirit” (Rolling Stone). Vijay’s recent commissions include new works for the LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series, Orpheus and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, Brooklyn Rider, Brentano String Quartet, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and violinist Jennifer Koh. Other projects include the award-winning film score for Teza (2008) by legendary filmmaker Haile Gerima; a suite of acoustic jazz cues for ESPN (2009); and the prizewinning audiovisual installation Release (2010) in collaboration with filmmaker Bill Morrison. His concert works are published by Schott Music. An active electronic musician, he has also produced remixes for British Asian electronica pioneer Talvin Singh, Islamic punk band The Kominas, and composer-performer Meredith Monk. A polymath whose career has spanned the sciences, humanities, and arts, Mr. Iyer received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley, and is widely published. He has served as artistic director of the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music since 2013; artist-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Molde Jazz Festival (Norway), SF Jazz, and Jazz Middelheim (Belgium); and music director for the 2017 Ojai Music Festival. He is composer-in-residence at Wigmore Hall this season. Mr. Iyer is a Steinway artist and uses Ableton Live software.
SHIELDS-COLLINS “BUDDY” BRAY
host
Shields-Collins “Buddy” Bray has been artistic consultant for the Cliburn since 2003. Maintaining his longstanding commitment to new music, he serves as host and pianist for Cliburn at the Modern, bringing such living American composers as William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adam Guettel, Jake Heggie, Kevin Puts, Ned Rorem, and Ben Moore to Fort Worth. With music educator John Feierabend, Buddy created the Cliburn in the Classroom curriculum for second, third, and fourth-graders, and he continues to be deeply involved as writer, narrator, host, and sometimespianist at these uniquely interactive programs. Buddy has been principal keyboardist of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 1986, and has hosted the orchestra’s pre-concert discussion series Symphonic Insights since 1993. He has performed many times as soloist with orchestra, most recently in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, a work with which he has had a long association. He has also appeared as soloist with the Dallas and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestras, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and in Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s “The Passion of the Tango” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Buddy was born in Mississippi and grew up in northeastern Louisiana. He studied there with Donald Cornell, and later with Steven De Groote at Arizona State University and TCU.
*Photo by Reverie Photo Co.
ABOUT LIMITLESS
Through duo commissions performed by violinist Jennifer Koh and the composers themselves, Limitless celebrates the collaborative relationship between composer and performer, while also exploring the historical role of the composer as performer. This spirit of collaboration contrasts with the conventional notion that composition and performance are discrete and detached parts of the musical process. Limitless advocates for future models for classical music, through inclusivity by giving voice to female composers, composers from different musical backgrounds, and composers of color. Limitless premiered in two programs at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, NY, on March 15 and 31, 2018, and the participating composers included: March 15, 2018: *Zosha di Castri (piano) Missy Mazzoli (synthesizer) *Qasim Naqvi (electronics and keyboard) *Lu Wang (electronics) March 31, 2018: *Lisa Bielawa (voice) *Vijay Iyer (piano) *Tyshawn Sorey (percussion) Nina Young (electronics) *Du Yun (voice) *World premieres commissioned by arco collaborative
EIGHTH CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR PIANO COMPETITION for outstanding, non-professional pianists age
35
and older
MAY 24–30, 2020 I FORT WORTH, TEXAS van cliburn recital hall & bass performance hall
RALPH VOTAPEK, JURY CHAIRMAN 1962 CLIBURN GOLD MEDALIST
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