The New Juilliard Ensemble, led by Joel Sachs, opens its six-concert series on Saturday, September 29 at 8 PM in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater

Program includes the U.S. premieres of Roberto Sierra’s Güell Concert (2006), Perttu Haapanen’s Sphinx Flowers (2002), and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky’s Notturno (2003); the New York premiere of Dorothy Chang's, Chamber Variations (2004); and David Rakowski’s Locking Horns (2001-02)

The New Juilliard Ensemble, led by Joel Sachs, opens its six-concert series on Saturday, September 29 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater and features the Western Hemisphere premieres of Roberto Sierra’s (Puerto Rico/U.S.)

Güell Concert (2006), Perttu Haapanen’s (Finland) Sphinx Flowers (2002) and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky’s (Uzbekistan) Notturno (2003); the New York premiere of Dorothy Chang’s (U.S.) Chamber Variations (2004); and David Rakowski’s (U.S.) Locking Horns (2001-02) with Juilliard master’s degree student Tianxia Wu on French horn.

FREE tickets are available for this concert beginning September 14 at the Juilliard Box Office, located at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza. The Box Office is open 11 AM – 6 PM, Monday through Friday. The Juilliard Box Office is accessible by elevator, escalator, or stairs located on W. 65th Street near Amsterdam Avenue. For more information, please call (212) 769-7406 or visit www.juilliard.edu.  

American composer Roberto Sierra’s works have been part of the repertoire of many leading orchestras, ensembles and festivals in the United States and Europe for more than a decade. At the inaugural concert of the 2002 Proms in London, his Fandangos was performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a concert that was broadcast by both BBC radio and television throughout the U.K. and Europe. Juilliard commissioned his work Bongo+ (a percussion concerto) for its centennial season in 2005-06. Mr. Sierra was born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, and studied composition in Europe, where one of his teachers was György Ligeti at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, Germany. The New Juilliard Ensemble performs the U.S. premiere of his work Güell Concert (2006), which had its premiere in Madrid in 2006.

Finnish composer Perttu Haapanen studied composition at the Sibelius Academy. His works have been performed at the Guildhall School of Music in London and at Lincoln Center. His compositions include works for orchestra and stage, chamber works, solo instruments, vocal and choral works, and electro-acoustic works. The New Juilliard Ensemble performs the U.S. premiere of his composition Sphinx Flowers (2002).

Composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky, who is from Uzbekistan, has written stage, orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electro-acoustic works. He graduated from the Tashkent State Conservatory. Among the performers of his music are the Arditti String Quartet, the Jerusalem Contemporary Players, soprano Dawn Upshaw, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In 1996, he founded the International Festival of Contemporary Music ILKHOM-XX in Tashkent and is now artistic director of the festival.  The New Juilliard Ensemble performs the U.S. premiere of his work, Notturno (2003).

The music of American composer Dorothy Chang is characterized by tightly concentrated expression with an emphasis on lyricism, rhythmic energy and dramatic intensity. Her works have been performed by the Albany Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Queens Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Aspen Concert Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, among others. She received her degrees in composition from the University of Michigan (B.M., M.M.) and the Indiana University (D.M.). Ms. Chang is presently assistant professor of music at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The New Juilliard Ensemble performs the New York premiere of her work Chamber Variations (2004), a piece 14 minutes in length, commissioned by the Albany Symphony Orchestra and arranged for flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion, harp, 2 violins, viola, cello, and bass.

David Rakowski has received a large number of awards and fellowships, and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music. He has composed five concertos, three symphonies, 80 piano etudes, four song cycles, and a large amount of wind ensemble music and chamber music for various combinations. His music has been performed widely and is published by C.F. Peters. He is currently the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Composition at Brandeis University. His work, Locking Horns (2001-02), will be performed by Juilliard master’s degree student, French hornist Tianxia Wu, and the New Juilliard Ensemble.

The next New Juilliard Ensemble concert, the Danube-Hudson Project, takes place on Monday, October 29 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The New Juilliard Ensemble performs U.S. premieres of three works by Juilliard composition students, Kyle Blaha, Jakub Ciupinski, and Edward Goldman, and works by three composition students of the Liszt Academy and Boulez’s Derive I, which is the model for their pieces. The world premieres take place at the Liszt Academy on October 21. All composers will be present at both concerts, and Liszt Academy students perform the works in Budapest, and the New Juilliard Ensemble, led by Joel Sachs, perform the works in New York. 

On Tuesday, November 20 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, the New Juilliard Ensemble performs the world premiere of Ryan Gallagher’s (U.S.) Sirens (2007); and U.S. premieres of composers Toivo Tulev’s (Estonia) Be Lost in the Call (2003), Younghi Pagh-Paan’s (Korea/Germany) Go-Un NimGoing a Journey (2006); and the New York premiere of a work by Daniel Bernard Roumain’s  (U.S.) Grace (1996). 

The final NJE concert of the 2007-08 season takes place on Thursday, April 3 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater and the world premieres of a work by Dutch composer Robin DeRaaff and a work by Juilliard composer Jude Vaclavik; the New York premiere of Franco Donatoni’s (Italy) Cloches (Bells) (1988-89); Ursula Mamlok’s (Germany/U.S.) Concertino (1984-85); and Oliver Knussen’s (U.K.) Requiem – Songs for Sue (2006).   

The New Juilliard Ensemble participates in FOCUS! 2008: All About Elliott, which opens on Friday, January 25 with an early tribute to composer Elliott Carter on the occasion of his 100th birthday. This 24th annual FOCUS! festival of six concerts opens with Pierre Boulez conducting on Friday, January 25 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater with members of the New Juilliard Ensemble and the Lucerne Festival Academy. The program includes Varèse’s Intégrales; Carter’s Triple Duo; Stravinsky’s Concertino (for twelve instruments); Carter’s Penthode; Boulez’s Derive I; and Carter’s Clarinet Concerto (soloist to be announced). The New Juilliard Ensemble, led by Joel Sachs, performs an all-Carter program on Tuesday, January 29 at 8 PM.

The New Juilliard Ensemble is now in its 15th season. Celebrating the liveliness of today's music, and focusing primarily on repertory of the last decade, the ensemble presents music by a variety of international composers writing in the most diverse styles. The ensemble appears regularly in MoMA’s Summergarden festival and has been a featured ensemble four times at the Lincoln Center Festival, playing the music of Brian Ferneyhough, Guo Wenjing, Bright Sheng, and Salvatore Sciarrino to packed houses and rave reviews.  Its members are current students at Juilliard, who are admitted to the ensemble by audition.

New Juilliard Ensemble founder and director Joel Sachs also is co-director of the internationally-acclaimed new music ensemble Continuum. He has conducted orchestras and ensembles in Austria, El Salvador, Germany, Iceland, Mexico, Switzerland, and Ukraine, and held new music residencies in Berlin, London, Salzburg, and Curitiba (Brazil). Recent keyboard appearances include performances of John Cage’s monumental Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano, and, with Continuum, chamber music by American pioneers Cowell, Ives, and Nancarrow at the 2005 Lucerne Festival. In recent years, Dr. Sachs conducted the distinguished Icelandic contemporary music ensemble Caput in a program of music from Ukraine, Uzbekistan, the United States, and Iceland, and a concert of music by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen. He also conducted Caput for a CD of works by the Icelandic composer Askell Masson. In May 2007, he and other members of Continuum performed in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, and then performed in Mongolia. Dr. Sachs’ recordings appear on the Advance, CRI, Naxos, Nonesuch, and TNC labels. A member of Juilliard’s music history faculty, Dr. Sachs currently is working on a biography of the American composer Henry Cowell, to be published by Oxford University Press.  He also appears on radio as a commentator on recent music.