COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES AND PROGRAM NOTES
Gísli Magnússon studied composition at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and later at the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he finished his master's studies in 2017. His main teachers include Atli Ingólfsson, Joël Bons and Wim Henderickx. In his music, Gísli frequently seeks inspiration in the nature of his home country and in some of his works he deliberately depicts natural phenomena, such as waterfalls and geysers. A recurring element in his music is diverse and colorful sound textures which he creates by combining various instrumental effects and extended techniques. Gísli has participated in various workshops and festivals and had lessons with composers such as Francesco Filidei, Fabien Lévy and Kaija Saariaho. His music has been performed by various musicians and ensembles in Iceland and abroad, including Duo Harpverk (IS), Ensemble neoN (NO), Score Collective (NL), Elja Ensemble (IS), Uusinta Ensemble (FI), Kompass Ensemble (DE), Jökla Ensemble (IS), Orquestra Filarmônica da UFPR (BR) and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (IS).
Loosely inspired by the Northern Lights dancing across the skies, Aurora is characterized by fast scales, arpeggios and trills, mixed with longer sustained notes. The harmony is based on distorted harmonic series, which is an attempt to reflect on the colourful and exotic character of the Northern Lights.
Composer Sid Richardson (b. 1987) writes concert music that imbues modern idioms with emotional grit and wit. His work explores the intersections of music and literature, drawing inspiration from a wide swath of authors, poets, and playwrights. Richardson leverages pre existing texts to create a metaphorical resonance with the source material in pieces that weave literary elements into formal, rhythmic, and harmonic structures. He is constantly on the lookout to explore new sound worlds, collaborations, and technologies with his music. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Sid Richardson completed his PhD in composition in the Department of Music at Duke University. He also holds degrees from Boston Conservatory and Tufts University. In 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him a Charles Ives Scholarship. He was the recipient of the 2018 Hermitage Prize from the Aspen Music Festival and School. In the summer of 2019, he was the Elliott Carter Memorial Composition Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Active as a music educator, he has taught at MIT and is currently a member of the composition faculty at New England Conservatory of Music and Wellesley College.
The tarot, also known tarocchi or les tarots, is a deck of cards that dates back to the fifteenth century. Used to play a variety of games, the tarot in some ways resembles a standard fifty two card deck with four suits known as the Minor Arcana. The tarot is more widely known for its twenty-two-card trump suit, the Major Arcana, which features highly stylized cards depicting figures such as the High Priestess, the Devil, and the Fool. In the eighteenth century, the tarot became increasingly associated with cartomancy and divination. A tarot teller, or cartomancer, would use the cards to predict an individual’s future by arranging the trump suit in a variety of patterns. The order in which the cards are dealt may portend events, obstacles, or love interests for those having their futures read.
Tarot Teller for chamber ensemble taps into the symbolism and patterning of the tarot, as well as its supernatural overtones. Certain passages are associated with cards from the Major Arcana such as the Hermit, the Hanged Man, and the Magician. The seven instruments play into the layout of tarot readings, in which commonly seven cards are dealt at a time, sometimes until all twenty one cards (the Fool stands apart) are present. Tarot Teller reflects these various layouts with an assortment of instrumental textures that fluctuate throughout the work. The supernatural elements of the tarot as a tool for divination are highlighted in passages that incorporate frequency-based harmonic structures.
Tarot Teller was inspired by the poem “Tarot teller” by Nathaniel Mackey, which appears in his first collection of poems from Eroding Witness (1985). The piece was commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and School for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble’s First Glimpse concert series.
Timothy Kramer's works have been performed by the Indianapolis, Detroit, Tacoma, and San Antonio Symphony Orchestras, North/South Consonance, the SOLI Ensemble, the ONIX Ensemble, the Detroit Chamber Winds, Luna Nova, and Ensemble Mise en. He has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEA, the MacDowell Colony, Meet the Composer, BMI, ASCAP, and the AGO, and commissions from the Midwest Clinic, the Utah Arts Festival, and the Detroit Chamber Winds, among others. He was Composer Not in Residence with the San Francisco Choral Artists from 2019 2022. His degrees are from Pacific Lutheran University (B.M.) and the University of Michigan (M.M., D.M.A.), and he was a Fulbright Scholar to Germany. Originally from Washington State, he taught at Trinity University in San Antonio for 19 years, where he also founded CASA (Composers Alliance of San Antonio). In 2010 he moved to Illinois College as Chair of Music and named the Edward Capps Professor
of Humanities in 2013, and Professor Emeritus in 2020. His works are published by Southern Music, Earnestly Music, Hinshaw, and Selah and are recorded on Calcante, North/South, Capstone, Parma, and Navona who recently released a CD of all his orchestral music with the Janáček Philharmonic.
Open borders create interesting languages, intriguing cuisine, and rich artistic cultures. They also invite cross collaboration and help create friends and allies. Open Borders was written for the Onix Ensemble of Mexico and in response to the political solutions of closing borders. It presents different musical ideas that seem to come from different origins. The piece starts with a ritornello a short melodic pattern that repeats throughout the work that regularly recurs in the piano. This singular idea is the core “DNA” of the work and all the music in the piece is cut from it. Through a variety of contrapuntal treatments on this line, a rich tapestry of music unfolds: an odd, exotic tune; a jagged blues progression; a Latin groove; a small minimalist whirlpool; a soft, tender melody; a flashy piano cadenza; and an angular, lively presto. On the return of the opening material, the different types of music find their shared origin.
Award winning composer Andrew List composes music in many different genres, including orchestral works, string quartet, vocal, choral music, opera, music for children, solo works, and a variety of chamber ensembles. Selected recent performances include: The Emerald Necklace commissioned by The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Beyond The Celestial Horizon commissioned by Concordia String Trio in celebration of their 20th anniversary season, The Devil’s Last Challenge commissioned by Zodiac Trio as a companion piece to Stravinsky’s “Histoire du Soldat,” “Three Hymns to Ra” for solo viola commissioned and recorded by Brett Deubner, “The Signs of Our Time” a musical satire on political corruption in our world premiered by loadbang, From The Heart of Ra for viola and piano commissioned by violist Leslie Perna, “Night Wanderings” for Clarinet and Percussion Ensemble commissioned by clarinetist Kliment Krylovskiy and String Quartet no 6 “Song of The Angel “commissioned by Esterhazy Quartet in celebration of their 50th anniversary season.
Mr. List is the composer in residence at the Zodiac Music Academy and Festival, in the south of France where he presents a composition class each summer. He was the first prizewinner of numerous competitions including: the MA ASTA Composition Competition, Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition, Macro Composition Competition, Charlotte New Music Festival Composition Competition, Portland Chamber Music Festival
Composition Competition, Hong Kong Children’s Choir Competition, Renegade Ensemble’s Composition Competition and second prizewinner of The American Prize Chamber Music Division for String Quartet no. 5 “Time Cycles,” third prize winner of New Vision Composition Competition. His music is recorded on Naxos, MSR Classics, Blue Griffin Phasma Music and Centaur labels.
The Devils Final Challenge: A Sequel to Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat Part One: Introduction:
The devil is very old and is now retired and living in Queens NYC and spends his most of his days walking the streets playing tricks on dogs and children. One day sees a poster about an international music competition in which final round will be televised internationally. No being able to resist the allure of international fame and adoration he decides to accept the challenge.
Part Two: The Rehearsal Interlude
Upon returning home the devil goes up to his attic searching for his old violin. It has been years since he has played it and the strings have become rusty and badly out of tune. His fingers are also very stiff and he struggles with the bow and the intonation. Gradually he begins to loosen up and with constant practice is able to get his playing to the level he used to play at. Never one to follow rules, he composes an enchanted melody that will bewitch the listener thus insuring he wins the competition. By the end of the rehearsal he is playing like a real virtuoso and ready to play in the challenge. Because he is old, his powers are not as strong as they were and enchanted melody curse only lasts for a twenty four hour period.
Part Three: The Challenge:
The devil makes it to the final round of the competition, which is now down to two contestants, a Klezmer clarinetist from Brooklyn and himself. The clarinetist plays first beginning his solo slowly leading into the Klezmer tune Der Heyser Bulgar (Hot Bulgar) The devil rudely interrupts him a couple of times but he is not distracted by the devil and gradually reaches a fever pitch of virtuosity. The devil joins in and they two of them are in a musical dual. Then to ensure his victory the devil begins to play the enchanted melody but the clarinetist interrupts him and the two continue the dual. The devil got so distracted that he lost track of time that he didn’t realize he reached the twenty four hour timeline for the spell his playing begins to fall apart. It gradually gets worse and worse and as his intonation and technique fails him the clarinetist seizes the opportunity and starts to play over the devil thus confusing his even more. Gradually the devil’s
playing comes to a grinding halt as the clarinetist continues to surpass him and wins the competition. Frustrated and defeated the devil storms off the stage and slips away back to Queens.
Yalil Guerra is a composer, guitarist, professor of music, record producer and executive. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Classical Guitar at the Escuela Nacional de Música in Havana, Cuba. At the age of 16, he won the International Competition and Festival of Classical Guitar Award in Krakow, Poland, as well as receiving their Special Prize (1990), thus becoming the youngest Cuban awarded a prize in an international contest. Additionally, he won in 1991 a full scholarship and studied for two years at the Instituto Superior de Música, Cuba.
In 1993, Guerra moved to Spain and obtained a Master Degree in Classical Guitar at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. He received private lessons with California State University Emeritus Professor Aurelio de la Vega. In 2015 Guerra obtained his second Master Degree in Music (Film Scoring) from Shepherd University, Los Angeles, and in June 2021, he graduated as Doctor of Philosophy in Music, Composition and Music Theory from University of California, Los Angeles.
His art music catalog includes compositions for orchestra, chamber ensembles and soloists, and have been premiered in around the world.
In 2012, Guerra won the Latin GRAMMY Award in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category for the work entitled Seducción. In addition, he has been nominated eight times for Latin GRAMMY Awards in the Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Classical Album categories.
Guerra is the former President of the National Association of Composers USA for the Los Angeles Chapter (2016-2018). In 2014, he was the recipient of the Cintas Foundation Fellowship in Music Composition. Awarded the UCLA Eugene V. Cotta Robles Fellowship, the Lalo Schifrin and Family Wise scholarships.
This year Guerra released a new record: Yalil Guerra Piano Music and won the Cuba Disco Award for the album: Cuba: The Legacy, which includes his Symphony No. 1. In 2020 he released two records: Renacimiento. Música de Cámara, and Havana Nights. As a producer, he has worked and published over fifty records. He composed the music for the PBS documentary “Weekend in Havana,” and finished the soundtrack for the movie “The Character,” to be release soon.
He writes articles on musical analysis for prestigious newspapers and magazines such as: Diario las Américas, Miami, Florida; Contacto Magazine.com, Los Angeles; CMBF Radio Musical and Cubaarte, Havana, Cuba.
At the present time he is Adjunct Faculty at Los Angeles College of Music, University of La Verne (La Verne), College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, and Antelope Valley College.
The String Quartet no. 2 was written in 2014, premiered and recorded the same year by La Catrina String Quartet, obtaining a Latin Grammy nomination in the best classical contemporary composition category. It is a multi-movement work: 1. Largo-Allegro; 2. Adagio misterioso; 3. Prestissimo.
This work uses a contemporary harmonic language, occasionally using functional and non functional harmonies, coexisting side by side. The vibrant and challenging rhythms recreate some of the Afro Cuban rhythmic cells present in the music of the composer’s homeland, Cuba.
The work of composer and pianist Jiyoun Chung (b. 1982, South Korea) has received many distinctions and awards and is often heard in festivals and concerts in Asia, Europe, and the United States. She currently resides in Seattle and teaches composition and theory at Central Washington University. Chung’s current interest in composition lies in encompassing various cultural influences into her works. Her own identity as a Korean immigrant plays a big factor in her music making. Having two different cultural perspectives as she has enculturated into the United States allows her to see one culture as an abundant source of creations from the point of view of the other. Thus, embracing both in the compositional process comes naturally to her, however, Chung’s works are not limited to the fusion of Korean and concert music. While the wealth of inspiration derives from the East Asian culture, other inspiration comes from various musical portraits and genres such as contemporary concert music, K pop, jazz, musical theater, hip-hop, street music, and world traditional music. Languages, structures, timbres, and vocabularies from those different musical arts have expanded her musical palette, which helps to speak to a broad range of audiences.
The composer writes: Freestyle Battle for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano was written in 2021. One day, I was watching a b boy dance battle and was amazed by their movements. What also fascinated me was that what b boys
do is very similar to what musicians do in chamber music. They play with different textures as we do. Unison, solo, polyphony, canon, cadenza, techniques, artistry, basically everything we hear in chamber music is in their dance.
So, I decided to write a piece drawing from the street culture of b boy dancing to create an analogous musical vocabulary reflecting the gestures, rhythms, and expressive physicality of this art form. Throughout the piece, listeners will hear the musical reinterpretation and reimagination of the movements of breakdancing such as toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes.
PERFORMER’S BIOGRAPHIES
Lorenz Gamma has a varied career as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and teacher. With the Amar Quartet he won the Millennium Award at the 2000 London International String Quartet Competition and has since then performed in countless venues in London, Paris, New York, Zurich, Geneva, Munich, Cologne, Mexico City and many Asian cities. He also served as principal of the Zurich Opera orchestra and has performed over twenty different concertos. He has collaborated with musicians such as Heinz Holliger, Paul Katz, Joseph Silverstein and many others.
Nelly Guevara began her violin studies in Honduras. She obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Music in Costa Rica with Prof. J. Castillo. She was a student at the School of Music Reina Sofía, with Prof. Rainer Schmidt and Prof. Marco Rizzi, and subsequently at the IICM of Madrid with Prof. Gothoni. She was honored as a member of the “Albeniz Quartet” as the Best String Quartet in the ESMRS. She received Violin Master Classes with Leon Spierer, Oleh Krysa, Mauricio Fuks, Ana Chumachenco and Chamber Music with the Alban Berg Quartet members and Menahem Pressler. She won the “Young Soloists” and “Gold Medal” competition in Costa Rica where she participated as a soloist. She has been member of the National Symphony Orchestra of Honduras, Costa Rica and Colombia, 2nd assistant of concertmaster of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Portugal, and recently member of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires as Assistant of the 2nd violins section. She is currently student and teaching assistant of Prof. Lorenz Gamma at CSUN for a Master's degree in Music Performance.
As a solo clarinetist, Julia Heinen has performed hundreds of concertos and recitals around the world including recent performances in Poland, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, France, El Salvador, the Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal. As an adjudicator, she has judged hundreds of competitions including chairing the jury of the 9th International Mercadante Clarinet Competition in Noci, Italy and serving on the jury for the 2nd Biannual International European Clarinet Competition in Ghent, Belgium. She served as the co artistic director of the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest® 2011 and serves as their National State Chair Coordinator.
Julia is Professor of Music at California State University, Northridge and a Buffet Crampon, D’Addario and Silverstein Performing Artist.
Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, a member of the CalArts faculty since 1987, currently holds the Larry Levine Chair in Contemporary Music. She has
worked with composers including; Louis Andreissen, Earle Brown, Jason Robert Brown, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Morton Feldman, Brian Ferneyhough, Sofia Gubaidulina, Lou Harrison, Stephen Mosko, Mel Powell, Roger Reynolds, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Iannis Xenakis, and Morton Subotnick and Joan La Barbara, with whom she toured and recorded for over twenty years. Erika was cellist and founding member of the California EAR Unit, with whom she performed from 1981-2008. She has performed throughout the US, Europe, Japan and New Zealand including Tanglewood, Aspen, Ravinia, and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals, and at the Kennedy Center. From 1992-98 she was principal cellist and soloist with the Santa Fe Pro Musica. She is also a founding member of the CalArts faculty ensemble Bach's Circle, with whom she has performed at the Oregon Bach Festival and Chamber Music Northwest . She was a featured performer at the Dartington Summer Music Festival, the Sospeso Chamber Series at Carnegie Hall, and with pianist Eric Huebner at the Ojai Festival. Erika is also active in the film industry, having recorded on over 900 motion pictures and television series over the past thirty five years. She is particularly proud of her former students, CalArts alumni, who are at the forefront of contemporary music in Los Angeles, New York and beyond.
Dr. Glenn D. Price is the Director of Performing and Visual Arts at Caltech, following positions as Professor of Music at the University of Calgary and Director of Wind Studies at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM). Following graduate degrees at the Eastman School of Music, he studied in Japan and at Tanglewood, as well as in Europe and Russia. He has conducted in over 30 countries and is author of the text The Eloquent Conductor.
Nancy Roth, violinist and violist, is currently concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay and is a member of the Pasadena Symphony. She is a former member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and was co principal violist of the Graz Philharmonic (Austria). Nancy has toured with the London Early Music Group, and she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, USA and Mexico. Dr. Roth holds degrees from CSUN, Juilliard and USC.
A graduate of the Paris Conservatory and Indiana University, pianist Francoise Regnat has performed extensively throughout the United States. Her solo and collaborative performances have taken her to such venues as New York's Alice Tully Hall, Boston's Gardner Museum, Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis as well as colleges and universities across the country.
Francoise Regnat is Professor Emeritus at CSUN where she was on the faculty from 1972 to 2010.
David Shostac, well known for his performances throughout North America, is also principal flutist and a frequent soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated as a featured artist with conductors Sir Neville Marriner, Jean Pierre Rampal, Gerard Schwarz, Claudio Scimone, Karl Richter, Helmut Rilling, Jorge Mester, Henryk Szeryng, Jeffery Kahane, and many others. Solo appearances have included the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, the Casals Festival of Puerto Rico, the Aspen Music Festival, Ojai Festival, Stratford (Ontario) Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, and four National Flute Conventions.
Shostac studied on scholarship with Julius Baker at Juilliard, from which he holds a Masters Degree, and also graduated "cum laude" from Occidental College. As a student at Tanglewood he was awarded the Henry B. Cabot Prize as the outstanding orchestral player, and the William Schwann award as well. Recipient of two Rockefeller performance grants, he was also a prizewinner in the national Young Musicians Foundation solo competition and a first prize winner in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, judged by Heifetz and Piatigorsky. He was also a touring artist for many years with the California Arts Council.
Formerly a professor at the University of Southern California and a member of the faculties of UCLA, UC Irvine, the Aspen Music School and California Institute of the Arts, he is currently on the faculties of California State University at Northridge and the Henry Mancini Institute. His book, Super Warmups for the Flute (1992) is popular with students, teachers, and professionals.
Evangeline Yip is a graduate from California State University, Northridge with a bachelor of music degree in percussion performance. She has studied under the direction of John Magnussen and Karen Ervin. Evangeline has performed as a percussionist with orchestras and ensembles such as Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, Peninsula Symphonic Winds, Torrance Civic Chorale, Moorpark Symphony Orchestra, Moorpark Percussion Ensemble, Symphony Irvine, San Fernando Valley Symphony, Westlake Village Symphony and Huntington Beach Symphony Orchestra. Evangeline is the music director and pianist at Baldwin Park United Methodist Church and maintains a thriving piano studio in Los Angeles.
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