ChamberMusicNY Announces Launch of its 2016-17 Season

American Modern Ensemble

RighteousGIRLS

ChamberMusicNY Announces Launch of its 2016-17 SeasonPremiere Performances and an Invitation to Journey “Toward the Sea”For Immediate Release: July 29, 2016, New York: ChamberMusicNY, a non-profit presenter of live chamber music, is pleased to announce their 2016-17 season, consisting of eclectic and extraordinary artists, New York premieres, and thrilling, experimental performances.The fourth season begins with Opening Night at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the NYPL for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, Dorothy and Louis B. Cullman Center on Saturday October 22, 2016, with flautist Catherine Gregory and harpist Mélanie Genin performing their unique homage to one of the greatest American novels, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.“Toward the Sea” begins as soon as the audience enters, immediately immersed in an interactive pre-show. This leads seamlessly to the continuous performance, which intertwines passages from the novel, images, ambient sounds, and of course, musical works selected from the nineteenth and twentieth century. The anchor piece, Toward the Sea, meditates on the themes of the sea, voyage and the rumination of the soul.The full program includes:Pearls Of The Sea, for bass flute and harp (2005) Eve de Castro RobinsonTaheke for flute and harp, (2003) Gareth Farr The Song Of The Lark, for flute and harp, (1989) Charles Rochester YoungAprès un rêve, (1878) Gabriel Fauré Toward The Sea III for alto flute and harp (1989) Toru TakemitsuOn Thursday, April 27, 2017, ChamberMusicNY and American Modern Ensemble return to Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center for “Voice Of America,” a program of select arias from the sexy opera Three Way by composer Robert Paterson and librettist David Cote; plus more vocal music by Robert Beaser, David Conte, Dan Welcher, Keith Fitch and Robert Paterson.This concert also features the New York Premiere of In Real Life, by Robert Paterson, featuring soprano Marnie Breckenridge, who previously amazed the audience in last season's AME concertChamberMusicNY closes the season on Saturday, April 29, 2017, with a return to Bruno Walter Auditorium and a lively, raucous performance by the exciting flute and piano ensemble RighteousGIRLS, who engage audiences with their charged music and effects for a night of fun.As RighteousGIRLS, New York-based flutist Gina Izzo and pianist Erika Dohi “rattle speakers and expectations with stop-time razzle, vocal (flute-talk) and electronic (phaser) effects” (NYC Jazz Record) while continually expanding their creative reach by bringing 21st-century music to new audiences and commissioning works that root themselves in classical idioms and drawing from other genres.About ChamberMusicNY:Established new-music ensembles, world premiere commissions, and New York’s emerging classical performers are all part of the excitement of a ChamberMusicNY concert. From the organization’s Britten Centenary marathon in 2013 to this season’s six concert series, ChamberMusicNY presents small ensembles in New York’s premier halls… free.ChamberMusicNY distributes free tickets to audiences that may be unfamiliar with live chamber music as well as those who cannot afford to attend often prohibitively expensive NYC-area concerts. This programming is made possible with the help of community programs including Goddard Riverside Community Center, USO-Metropolitan NY, Third Street Music School Settlement, Greenwich House, the YM-YWHA of Washington Heights/Inwood, Fountain House, JCC Manhattan and others.More information is available at http://chambermusicny.org.###

Tania León joins panel for Opening Night concert

New York, NY September 11, 2015ChamberMusicNY is pleased to announce that composer Tania León has joined the post-concert panel discussion as a moderator for our opening night concert Saturday September 26. The concert is co-presented by the award-winning ensemble PUBLIQuartet, and is the annual showcase of the composition competition PUBLIQ Access. Free tickets are available via this link for Will Call at the concert.Ms. León, (b. Havana, Cuba) is highly regarded as a composer and conductor and recognized for her accomplishments as an educator and advisor to arts organizations. She has been profiled on ABC, CBS, CNN, PBS, Univision, Telemundo, and independent films.León's opera Scourge of Hyacinths, based on a play by Wole Soyinka with staging and design by Robert Wilson, received over 20 performances throughout Europe and Mexico. Commissioned by Hans Werner Henze and the city of Munich for the Fourth Munich Biennale, it took home the coveted BMW Prize. The aria "Oh Yemanja" ("Mother's Prayer") was recorded by Dawn Upshaw on her Nonesuch CD, "The World So Wide."Commissions include works for Ursula Oppens and the Cassatt Quartet, Nestor Torres, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Koussevitzky Foundation, Fest der Kontinente (Hamburg, Germany), Cincinnati Symphony, National Endowment for the Arts, NDR Sinfonie Orchester, American Composers Orchestra, The Library of Congress, Ensemble Modern, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, among others.Her works have been performed by such orchestras as the Gewaundhausorchester, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the China National Symphony, and the NDR Orchestra. She has collaborated with authors and directors including John Ashbury, Margaret Atwood, Rita Dove, Jamaica Kincaid, Mark Lamos, Julie Taymor, and Derek Walcott.León has appeared as guest conductor with the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Marseille, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Asturias, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota, the Gewaundhausorchester, Chamber Orchestra of Geneve, Switzerland, the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, Mexico, Symphony Orchestra of Johannesburg, and the WaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, South Africa, as well as the Orquesta de la Comunidad y Coro de Madrid, and the New York Philharmonic, among others.She has lectured at Harvard University and at the prestigious Mosse Lecture series at the University of Humboldt in Berlin and was the Andrew Mellon Foundation's Distinguished Scholar at the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa. León was also Visiting Professor at Yale University, Guest Composer/Conductor at the Hamburg Musikschule, Germany and the Beijing Central Conservatory, China.A founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, León instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series, co-founded the Sonidos de las Américas festivals with the American Composers Orchestra, and is the founder of Composers Now festival in New York City. She also served as Latin American Advisor to the American Composers Orchestra and New Music Advisor to the New York Philharmonic.León has also received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Colgate University, Oberlin, and SUNY Purchase College, and has served as U.S. Artistic Ambassador of American Culture in Madrid, Spain. A Professor at Brooklyn College since 1985 and at the Graduate Center of CUNY, she was named Distinguished Professor of the City University of New York in 2006. In 2010 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.Her honors include the New York Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award, Symphony Space's Access to the Arts, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the Fromm, Koussevitzky, and Guggenheim Fellowships. In 2012 she received both a Grammy nomination (for "Best Contemporary Classical Composition") and a Latin Grammy nomination (for "Best Classical Contemporary Composition") and in 2013 she was the recipient of the prestigious 2013 ASCAP Victor Herbert Award.