FOCUS! 2012 Festival Presents "Sounds Re-Imagined: John Cage at 100; 6 Free Concerts Celebrating the Centennial of John Cage from Friday, January 27 - Friday, February 3
FOCUS! 2012, Juilliard’s 28th annual mid-winter festival of ‘new’ music, presents Sounds Re-Imagined: John Cage at 100 with six free concerts from Friday, January 27 through Friday, February 3, 2012. The six concerts of the festival will be devoted almost entirely to John Cage. An exception will be on Monday, January 31, when the Juilliard Percussion Ensemble, led by its director Daniel Druckman, performs works by Henry Cowell, John Cage’s teacher, and Lou Harrison, who also studied with Cowell. The final concert of the festival on Friday, February 3 features the New Juilliard Ensemble, led by Joel Sachs, and includes the rarely-heard score for the ballet, The Seasons; Concerto for Prepared Piano and Orchestra (1950-51); and Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-58), in which members of the ensemble play their own parts (or parts of their parts) without any interaction or coordination. The other four concerts include chamber, solo, vocal, and theatrical compositions. A symposium with longtime Juilliard faculty member Pia Gilbert; composer/performer/sound artist Joan La Barbara; Laura Kuhn, John Cage Professor of Performance Arts at Bard College; and pianist Margaret Leng Tan, moderated by Joel Sachs, takes place prior to the concert on Tuesday, January 31 at 7 PM. Each evening of the FOCUS! Festival will include recorded excerpts of John Cage speaking.
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FREE tickets to all concerts will be available beginning January 13 at the Janet and Leonard Kramer Box Office at Juilliard. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM. PLEASE NOTE: The Box Office will be closed for the winter break from December 23 – January 2 and will re-open on January 3. For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu.
The Festival opens on Friday, January 27 at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater with “The Music of John Cage” and includes: 59 ½” For a String Player (1953); Nocturne for Violin and Piano (1947); Living Room Music (1940); In a Landscape (1948); Theater Piece (1960); Postcards from Heaven (1982); Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (March No. 2) (1951) Südwest Juilliard Radio Symphony; and Aria 2 and 2B, from Song Books, Vol. 1 with solos from Concert for Piano and Orchestra. Soprano Lara Secord-Haid sings Aria 2, and bass-baritone Davone Tines sings Aria 2B.
The program on Monday, January 30 at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater, “Launching the Percussion Revolution,” features the Juilliard Percussion Ensemble, directed by Daniel Druckman and includes Henry Cowell’s Ostinato Pianissimo (1934); John Cage’s Three2 (1991), Third Construction (1941); Credo in Us (1942); and Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra (1973) with Juilliard organist Benjamin Sheen.
A pre-concert panel with Pia Gilbert, Joan La Barbara, Laura Kuhn, and Margaret Leng Tan, moderated by Joel Sachs, opens the program on Tuesday, January 31 at 7 PM in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The concert at 8 PM includes Music for Wind Instruments (1938); ear for EAR (1983); Music Walk (1958); “44 Harmonies” from Apartment House 1776 (1976); 27’10.554” For a Percussionist (1956) with excerpts from 45’ for a Speaker (1954).
On Wednesday, February 1 at 8 PM in Paul Hall, the program features The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs (1942); Nowth Upon Nacht (1984); But What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper… (1985); String Quartet in Four Parts (1950); 8 Whiskus (1985); Some of the “The Harmony of Maine” (1978); Sonatas and Interludes, Part III (1946-48).
The program on Thursday, February 2 at 8 PM in Paul Hall includes Five Songs (1938); Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard (1950); Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939); Etudes Boreales, Nos. 1 and 3 (1978); Sonnekus2 (1985); with Satie Cabaret Songs; Child of Tree (1975); and The Perilous Night (1944).
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The final program of the festival on Friday, February 3 at 8 PM in Alice Tully Hall features the New Juilliard Ensemble, led by Joel Sachs. The program includes Fourteen (1990) with Litany for the Whale (1980) sung by sopranos Lilla Heinrich Szász and Katya Gruzglina; The Seasons (1947); Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra (1950-51) with Juilliard pianist Nathaniel LaNasa; excerpts from Sixteen Dances (1950-51); and Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-58) with Juilliard pianist Allegra Chapman, with Aria (1958) sung by Lilla Heinrich Szász.
The Juilliard School is grateful for the advice and assistance of the John Cage Trust (www.johncage.org) on the FOCUS! 2012 Festival.
About the New Juilliard Ensemble
The New Juilliard Ensemble (NJE), led by founding director Joel Sachs, celebrates the liveliness of today’s music, focusing primarily on repertory of the last decade. Now in its 19th season, NJE presents music by a variety of international composers writing in the most diverse styles. Its members are current students at Juilliard, who are admitted to the ensemble by audition. The Ensemble appears regularly at MoMA’s Summergarden and has been a featured ensemble four times at the Lincoln Center Festival. New Juilliard Ensemble members joined members of the Lucerne Festival Academy Ensemble with conductor Pierre Boulez for the 2008 FOCUS! festival, which celebrated composer Elliott Carter’s 100th year.
In January 2009, the New Juilliard Ensemble opened the FOCUS! 2009 Festival, CALIFORNIA: A Century of New Music, which showcased West Coast composers. In Spring 2009, the New Juilliard Ensemble toured Japan; in December 2009, they performed aleatoric music at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with an exhibition of Persian and Turkish “divining” manuscripts.
The New Juilliard Ensemble appeared in the FOCUS! 2010 Festival, Music at the Center: Composing an American Mainstream and opened the FOCUS! 2011 Festival, Polish Modern: New Directions in Polish Music Since 1945.
About Joel Sachs
NJE founder and director Joel Sachs, founder and director of the New Juilliard Ensemble, performs a vast range of traditional and contemporary music as conductor and pianist. As co-director of the internationally acclaimed new-music ensemble Continuum, Dr. Sachs has appeared in hundreds of performances in New York, nationally, and throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Dr. Sachs also has conducted orchestras and ensembles in Austria, Brazil, China, El Salvador, Germany, Iceland, Mexico, Switzerland, and Ukraine, and has held new-music residencies in Berlin, Shanghai, London, Salzburg, Curitiba (Brazil), Helsinki, and the Banff Centre (Canadian Rockies).
One of the most active presenters of new music in New York, Joel Sachs founded the New Juilliard Ensemble in 1993. He produces and directs The Juilliard School’s annual FOCUS! festival, has been artistic director of Juilliard’s concerts at New York’s Museum of Modern Art since 1993, and also was a co-director of the former Sonic Boom Festival of contemporary music, a project of a consortium of New York City’s most prestigious new-music ensembles.
A member of Juilliard's music history faculty, Joel Sachs has written a biography of the American composer Henry Cowell, to be published by Oxford University Press on June 1, 2012, and appears on radio as a commentator on recent music. He received Columbia University’s Alice M. Ditson Award to a conductor for service to American music, and was made an honorary member of the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in recognition of accomplishments in the arts. A graduate of Harvard College (BA) and Columbia University (MA and Ph.D.), he has taught at Juilliard since 1970. He has been awarded research grants by the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
COMPLETE PROGRAM LISTING
FOCUS! FESTIVAL 2012
SOUNDS RE-IMAGINED: JOHN CAGE AT 100
Friday, January 27 – February 3, 2012
Friday, January 27, 8 PM, Peter Jay Sharp Theater (Juilliard, 155 West 65th Street)
Lara Secord-Haid, soprano
Davone Tines, bass-baritone
59 ½” For a String Player (1953)
Nocturne for Violin and Piano (1947)
Living Room Music (1940)
In a Landscape (1948)
Theater Piece (1960)
Postcard from Heaven (1982)
Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (March No. 2) (1951)
The Südwest Juilliard Radio Orchestra, Joel Sachs, founding conductor
Aria 2 and 2B, from Song Books Vol. 1 (1970) with Solos from Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958)
Monday, January 30, 8 PM, Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Juilliard Percussion Ensemble
Daniel Druckman, director
Benjamin Sheen, organ
“Launching the Percussion Revolution”
Henry Cowell – Ostinato Pianissimo (1934)
John Cage – Three2 (1991)
John Cage – Third Construction (1941)
John Cage – Credo In Us (1942)
Lou Harrison – Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra (1973)
Tuesday, January 31, 7 PM, Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Pre-Concert Panel with Pia Gilbert, Joan La Barbara, Laura Kuhn, and Margaret Leng Tan
Joel Sachs, moderator
Tuesday, January 31, 8 PM, Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Music for Wind Instruments (1938)
ear for EAR (1983)
Music Walk (1958)
“44 Harmonies” from Apartment House 1776 (1976)
Arr. string quartet by Irvine Arditti
27’10.554” For a Percussionist (1956) with excerpts from 45’ for a Speaker (1954)
Wednesday, February 1, 8 PM, Paul Hall (Juilliard, 155 West 65th Street)
The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs (1942)
Nowth Upon Nacht (1984)
But What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper… (1985)
The JPC Ensemble
String Quartet in Four Parts (1950)
Eight Whiskus (1985)
Some of “The Harmony of Maine” (1978)
Sonatas and Interludes, Part III (1946-48)
Thursday, February 2, 8 PM, Paul Hall
Five Songs for Contralto (1938)
Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard (1950)
Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939)
Etudes Boreales, Nos. I and III (1978)
Sonnekus2 (1985) with Satie Cabaret Songs
Child of Tree (1975)
The Perilous Night (1944)
Friday, February 3, 8 PM, Alice Tully Hall (Broadway and 65th Street)
New Juilliard Ensemble
Joel Sachs, director and conductor
Katya Gruzglina, soprano
Lilla Heinrich Szász, soprano
Nathaniel La Nasa, prepared piano
Allegra Chapman, piano
Fourteen (1990) with Litany for the Whale (1980)
The Seasons (1947)
Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra (1950-51)
Excerpts from Sixteen Dances (1950-51)
Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-58) with Aria (1958)
FREE tickets to all concerts will be available beginning January 13 at the Janet and Leonard Kramer Box Office at Juilliard. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM. The Box Office will be closed for the winter break from December 23 – January 2 and will re-open on January 3. For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu.
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