The American Brass Quintet is joined by jazz pianist Billy Childs for New York premiere of Childs' work 2 Elements on Wednesday, October 3, at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater

Program opens the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series

Billy Childs

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The American Brass Quintet is joined by jazz pianist and composer Billy Childs for the New York premiere of Mr. Childs’ 2 Elements on Wednesday, October 3, at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater, at its temporary construction entrance at 144 West 66th Street. The program opens Juilliard’s 2007-08 Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series, and in addition to 2 Elements, a work blending jazz and modern classical music in two movements: Water and Fire, includes a second piece by Mr. Childs, Solo. In remarking on his newly composed work, written especially for the American Brass Quintet, Mr. Childs said: “The piece is called 2 Elements, and it’s a reflection on water and fire. Both can extinguish each other, and I see them as both interdependent and opposites. Music is visual to me; I think of not only what a fire would sound like, but what it looks like. There are many different things that motivate people to compose. Some can be wanting to deal with just the music from a theoretical vantage point; then other people want to write expressionistic music with angst. Impressionists can try and relate to a visual; some relate to something in nature. The latter is what I intend to do; this is an aural representation of fire and water.” Other works on the program include Three English Fancies edited by Raymond Mase, Miniature Suite by William Lovelock, Solo by Billy Childs, Music for Brass Octet (1981) by composer and trumpeter Anthony Plog, and Venetian Canzoni, edited by Michael Powell and Raymond Mase. Members of the American Brass Quintet include Juilliard faculty members Kevin Cobb and Raymond Mase (trumpets), Joseph Alessi and Michael Powell (trombones), and John D. Rojak (bass trombone).

The fancy is the English version of the Italian fantasia and is one of Elizabethan England’s most important contributions to instrumental music. It first appeared in England in the 1570s and was performed by consorts of viols of two to six players, sometimes with winds or brass. The Three English Fancies, edited by Raymond Mase and performed by the ABQ, are by William Simmes (1607-1616), John Ward (1571-1638), and Giovanni Coperario (1575-1626).

The ABQ met composer William Lovelock while on an eight-week tour in Australia in 1968. Of the Miniature Suite, William Lovelock wrote: “The first movement, Prelude, is cheerfully rhythmical. The second is a fairly complex Fugue, serious in feeling. The third movement, Intermezzo, has the instruments muted throughout and is rather elusive in style, acting as a bit of relaxation between the gravity of the Fugue and the rumbustiousness of the Finale.” The work was composed in 1967 for the Laiton Brass Quintet of Brisbane.
       
Composer and trumpeter Anthony Plog’s Music for Brass Octet is scored for two antiphonal choirs of two trumpets and two trombones – a modern setting of a standard formula used by Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1557-1612) and his peers in Venice. The piece is dedicated to Edward Tarr, noted Baroque trumpeter and scholar. 
       
FREE tickets are required for this concert and are available beginning September 19 at the Juilliard Box Office located at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza.  Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM through 6 PM.  For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or visit www.juilliard.edu.  The Juilliard Box Office is accessible by elevator/escalator located on W. 65th Street near Amsterdam Avenue.

The Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series is presented annually and features members of the Juilliard faculty, often with guest artists. Juilliard’s other resident ensembles – the Juilliard String Quartet and the New York Woodwind Quintet – make annual appearances.  This season, the Juilliard String Quartet performs on Monday, October 22 at 8 PM and Monday, February 25 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater.  The New York Woodwind Quintet makes an appearance on Wednesday, February 6 at 8 PM in Paul Hall.  In addition, cellist Joel Krosnick and pianist Gilbert Kalish give two recitals on the series in Paul Hall on Tuesday, November 13 and Thursday, December 6, both at 8 PM.  Pianist Margo Garrett collaborates with sopranos Elizabeth Futral and Lucy Shelton in Elizabeth, Lucy, Margo and More…on Wednesday, January 23 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

Currently in its forty-eighth season, the American Brass Quintet has been internationally recognized as one of the premiere chamber music ensembles of our time. The ABQ's rich history includes performances in Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and all fifty of the United States; a discography of over fifty recordings; the premieres of over one-hundred contemporary brass works, and in the last decade, mini-residencies that have brought the ABQ's chamber music expertise to countless young musicians and institutions worldwide. ABQ commissions by Samuel Adler, Bruce Adolphe, Daniel Asia, Jan Bach, Robert Beaser, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, Jacob Druckman, Eric Ewazen, Anthony Plog, Huang Ruo, Steven Sacco, David Sampson, Gunther Schuller, William Schuman, Ralph Shapey, Melinda Wagner, and Charles Whittenberg, are considered among the most significant contributions to the modern brass quintet repertoire. In the last two seasons, the ABQ has premiered new works by Robert Dennis, Robert Maggio, Paul Moravec, David Sampson, Adam Schoenberg, and Joan Tower, and released three new recordings—In Gabrieli’s Day (the music of 16th century Venice), Cheer Boys Cheer (volume two of civil war brass music of the 26th N.C. Regimental Band), and Jewels (ABQ concert favorites). This season the ABQ will premiere and tour a new work for brass quintet and piano by Grammy-winning composer-pianist Billy Childs commissioned for the ABQ by a grant from the New York State Music Fund, and will begin work on four new brass quintets from emerging composers supported by a multi-year grant from the Jerome Foundation.
       
Equally committed to the promotion of brass chamber music through education, the American Brass Quintet has been in residence at The Juilliard School since 1987 and at the Aspen Music Festival since 1970. Many young ensembles, including the Extension Ensemble, Manhattan Brass Quintet, and the Meridian Arts Ensemble have worked with the ABQ through these residencies, and gone on to establish their own presence in the brass chamber music field.  Since 2001 the ABQ has offered its expertise in chamber music performance and training with a program of mini-residencies as part of its regular touring season. Designed to offer young groups and individuals an intense chamber music experience over several days, ABQ mini-residencies have been embraced by schools and communities throughout the United States and internationally. Through its acclaimed performances, diverse programming, commissioning, extensive discography and educational mission, the ABQ has created a legacy unparalleled in the brass field.

California-based, Grammy-winning pianist Billy Childs played and apprenticed with Freddie Hubbard for six years from 1978 – 1984. His solo jazz recording career began in 1988, when he released Take for Example, This… the first of many critically-acclaimed and popular disks. Mr. Childs, alone and with his Jazz-Chamber Ensemble, have collaborated to create compositions with several classical music groups, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic (For Suzanne) and the Los Angeles Master Chorale (The Voices of Angels), and in 2004, they were awarded a sizeable “New Works: Creation and Presentation” grant from Chamber Music America. Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis premiered his The Fierce Urgency of Now, set to texts by Dr. Martin Luther King, as part of the inaugural concert series for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home in 2004. In addition to ABQ’s premiere, Mr. Childs’ upcoming commissions include collaboration with the Ying Quartet, Imani Winds, and The Brass Group.