Yo-Yo Ma premieres cello concerto by Angel Lam ’10AD
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of music director Robert Spano, will present the New York premiere of Angel Lam’s Awakening from a Disappearing Garden on Saturday, November 7, at Carnegie Hall. The piece, a concerto for cello and orchestra, was commissioned by Carnegie Hall and was first performed in Atlanta Symphony Hall on October 15 and 16, 2009. This is Lam’s third commission from Carnegie Hall, which describes her as “a young composer whose work sounds both Chinese and Western, contemporary but also timeless.” (more…)
Ted Hearne ’09MMA wins Gaudeamus Prize
Gaudeamus Prize winner Ted Hearne, left, and runner-up Toru Nakatani
At the final concert of the International Gaudeamus Music Week 2009, which took place in Amsterdam September 7-12, the Gaudeamus Prize was awarded to the American composer Ted Hearne (b. 1982). The award of 4,550 Euros is intended as a commission for a new work which will be performed at the 2010 International Gaudeamus Music Week.
Hearne received the prize for selected movements from Katrina Ballads, a composition performed on September 10 at the Conservatory of Amsterdam by the ensemble ‘de ereprijs’ conducted by Wim Boerman. Hearne himself was the soloist as singer. There was also an honorable mention for Toru Nakatani of Japan, whose 16_1/64_1 was performed on September 9 by Ensemble of the Conservatory of Amsterdam conducted by Jos Zwaanenburg. (more…)
“Senior” by Timo Andres ‘09MM premieres at Carnegie Hall
Composer Timothy (Timo) Andres enjoyed a successful premiere of his orchestral work “Senior” in Carnegie Hall on Sunday, March 22.Written for string quartet and orchestra, the piece is written to evoke the state of mind of a senior in college. The New York Youth Symphony commissioned the 12-minute work, performing it with the ACME String Quartet and conductor Ryan McAdams.
According to Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times, “This pensive and restless music does seem to touch on the conflicting emotions that Mr. Andres identifies with senior slump: expectancy and finality, bewilderment and boredom. But the piece was fascinating on musical terms alone… The acuteness of Mr. Andres’s ear lends intricacy to the layered lines and pungency to the piercing harmonies.” (more…)
Three works selected for the Yale Institute for Music Theatre
Yale School Of Music student Christopher Cerrone ‘09 MM is among the writers and composers who will take part in the first Yale Institute For Music Theatre, June 7-21, 2009.
The Yale Institute for Music Theatre – Mark Brokaw, Artistic Director; Beth Morrison, Producer – announces the three original music theatre works to receive two-week workshops in New Haven this June. The works are:
Cancer? the musical, with music, book, and lyrics by Sam Wessels;
Invisible Cities, with score and libretto by Christopher Cerrone (’09 MM); and
POP!, with book and lyrics by Maggie-Kate Coleman and music by Anna K. Jacobs.
Cancer? the musical
Music, Book, and Lyrics by Sam Wessels
About to graduate from college, intrepid Sam had a lot in front of him. He had an acting career to start, musicals to produce, and the mysteries of adulthood waiting to uncover. Then for a graduation gift, he got leukemia. Cancer? the musical is an ingenious, funny, heartfelt, and unsentimental depiction of Sam’s roller-coaster ride through the first dizzying nine months of his diagnosis and treatment—and how the cure ended up transforming his life long after the cancer itself was gone.
(more…)
Interview: Ezra Laderman on his own music
Ezra Laderman, professor of composition, talks with Susan Hawkshaw, assistant director of the Oral History American Music Project, about the program of his music on the Yale in New York series presented March 3, 2008 at Weill Recital Hall.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The concert of chamber works spanned the broad range of Laderman’s career, from his 1954 Bassoon Concerto (performed with string quartet) to the New York premiere of Interior Landscapes II for two pianos (2007). Interior Landscapes I opened the program, which also featured June Twenty-ninth (1986) and June Thirtieth (2004) for solo flute as well as the Violin Duets from 1998.
Laderman came to the Yale School of Music in 1988 as a visiting professor and served as Dean from 1989 to 1995. He is now a professor of composition and artistic director of the New Music New Haven series. The recipient of three Guggenheim fellowships and a Rome Prize, in 2006 Laderman was elected the president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
