The American Brass Quintet opens Juilliard's 2008-09 Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series on Tuesday, October 7 at 8 PM in Paul Hall

Free program features the New York premiere of Gordon Beeferman's Brass Quintet, and works by Osvaldo Lacerda, Brahms, and Anders Hillborg, as well as canzoni (edited by Raymond Mase)

The American Brass Quintet (Raymond Mase and Kevin Cobb, trumpets, David Wakefield, horn, Michael Powell, trombone, and John D. Rojak, bass trombone), currently in its 49th season, opens Juilliard’s 2008-09 Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series on Tuesday, October 7 at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Paul Hall. Like all Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recitals, the American Brass Quintet’s concert on October 7 is free. To get to Paul Hall, enter Juilliard’s new entrance and lobby, the June Noble Larkin Lobby, at 155 West 65th Street and take the stairs/elevator to the 1st Floor.

The October 7th program features Three Canzoni (edited by Raymond Mase); Brazilian composer Osvaldo Lacerda’s Quinteto Concertante; the New York premiere of Gordon Beeferman’s Brass Quintet, commissioned by the American Brass Quintet with funds from the Jerome Foundation; Brahms’ Three Choral Preludes, Op. 122 (arranged by Brian Fennelly); Swedish composer Anders Hillborg’s Brass Quintet; and Venetian Canzoni (edited by Raymond Mase). Originally adaptations of French and Flemish chansons, the canzona is a type of instrumental music that was popularized in the 16th and 17th centuries. By 1600, it had become the most important instrumental music in Italy.

FREE tickets are required for this concert and are available beginning Thursday, September 25 at the Juilliard Box Office. Although expected to be in its new location in the lobby of Juilliard at 155 West 65th Street by September 23, Juilliard’s Box Office may be affected by construction delays. If so, please look for the Box Office in its temporary location in the blue trailer at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza (escalator and elevator further west on 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam). Box Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 11 AM to 6 PM. Please check with Juilliard for the latest construction updates. For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or visit the Web site at www.juilliard.edu.

Composer Gordon Beeferman says of his work, Brass Quintet, which receives its New York premiere on this concert: “In writing this brass quintet for the American Brass Quintet, I tried to strip down my ideas to their essence – to be as direct as possible- and create drama using repetition, variation and abrupt juxtaposition of these ideas. Thus it turned out to be one of my most formal pieces, and one containing relatively few notes. An important element of the composition is the microtonal language: I use sixth-tones (six equal-tempered pitches to the whole-step). I like to sing these intervals and incorporate them into the melody and harmony. To me, they give the sound a mellow ‘edge’ – a subtle play of consonance and dissonance.” Mr. Beeferman is a composer, pianist, and improviser based in New York City. His works – orchestral, solo, chamber, and opera – have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra. Albany Symphony, Quartet New Generation recorder collective, California EAR Unit, eighth blackbird, and many others. He is a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, studied jazz, Third Stream, and piano privately at the New England Conservatory, and holds a B.M. degree in composition from the University of Michigan.

Brazilian composer Osvaldo Lacerda says of his work, Quinteto Concertante: “I had already written a brass quintet in 1977, Fantasia e Rondó, which was very well received and performed by brass players, including the American Brass Quintet, who performed the premiere in the Inter-American Music Festival in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 1980. So, in 1990, I decided to compose another brass quintet. Suddenly I had an inspiration: why not a concertante one, with few counterpoints, but with beautiful solo melodies, accompanied by good rhythms and harmonies? Thus, this work was born.” The work is in four movements. Mr. Lacerda is founder and artistic director of three musical societies in São Paulo and has won many national composition prizes. He graduated from the Carlos Gomez Conservatory of Music in 1960 with studies in piano, harmony, and composition. He spent a year in the U.S. on a Guggenheim Foundation grant studying composition with Vittorio Giannini, a Juilliard alumnus, and Aaron Copland.

Swedish composer Anders Hillborg writes about his Brass Quintet: “As in most of my more recent pieces, the pulsative element is prominent; the music ‘ticks’ and pulsates, and the rubato of classical music is foreign to it. The piece has two principal moods: one is a rhythmically vital structure in which brief fragments are thrown out, each between the instruments in fiery, pulsative explosions; while the other is a calm, completely accentless stream with no audible rhythm. Apart from a number of cluster-like passages, the harmony is clearly influenced by tonality, and the piece ebbs out in a dreamlike chorale.” The Brass Quintet was commissioned by the Swedish Concert Institute for the Stockholm Chamber Brass in 1998. Mr. Hillborg studied counterpoint, composition and electronic music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Apart from several teaching positions, Mr. Hillborg has been a full-time, freelance composer since 1982. He has written orchestral, choral, and chamber music, as well as music for films and pop music. 
 
The Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series features annual performances by Juilliard’s resident ensembles – the American Brass Quintet, the Juilliard String Quartet, and the New York Woodwind Quintet –and appearances by Juilliard faculty members who often invite guest artists to join them. In addition to this opening concert by the American Brass Quintet on Tuesday, October 7 at 8 PM in Paul Hall, the New York Woodwind Quintet performs on Wednesday, March 18 at 8 PM in Paul Hall. The Juilliard String Quartet presents two recitals, on Tuesday, April 7 and Wednesday, April 15, both at 8 PM, in the newly-renovated Alice Tully Hall. The Quartet will perform works by Mendelssohn, Richard Wernick, and Ravel on April 7 and an all-Haydn program on April 15. Also this season, pianist Seymour Lipkin celebrates the 60th anniversary of his winning the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition and will be joined by friends, pianist Robert McDonald, violinist Ronald Copes, violist Samuel Rhodes, and cellist Joel Krosnick, on Monday, October 20 in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Works by Schubert and Mozart will be performed. Violist Samuel Rhodes gives a recital on Thursday, October 23 at 8 PM in Paul Hall featuring Donald Martino’s Three Sad Songs for viola and piano (1993); Stravinsky’s Elegie for viola solo (1944); Milton Babbitt’s Play It Again, Sam for viola solo (1989); Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola Solo, Op. 25, No. 1; and Hall Overton’s Sonata for Viola and Piano (1960). Bassoonist Judy LeClair and flutist Robert Langevin conclude the series with a recital on Wednesday, April 29 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

About The American Brass Quintet:

Currently in its forty-ninth 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, Joan Tower, 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, and Adam Schoenberg, and released two new recordings—Cheer Boys Cheer (volume two of civil war brass music of the 26th N.C. Regimental Band), and Jewels (ABQ concert favorites). During the 2007-2008 season, the ABQ premiered and toured Two Elements 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. This year the ABQ will premiere a new work by Gordon Beeferman (the first of four brass quintets by emerging composers funded by a grant from the Jerome Foundation), a new piece for brass quintet and organ by Justin Dello Joio, and will complete their ninth recording for Summit Records to be released in celebration of the ABQ’s fiftieth-anniversary season in 2010.
       
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. Hailed as "the high priests of brass" by Newsweek, "positively breathtaking" by The New York Times, and "of all the brass quintets, the most distinguished" by the American Record Guide, the American Brass Quintet has clearly defined itself among the elite chamber music ensembles of our time.

2008-09 DANIEL SAIDENBERG FACULTY RECITAL SERIES

Tuesday, October 7, 8 PM, Juilliard’s Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, 1st Floor
American Brass QuintetThree Canzoni (edited by Raymond Mase)
Osvaldo Lacerda – Quinteto Concertante
Gordon Beeferman – Brass Quintet
Johannes Brahms - Three Chorale Preludes, Op. 122 (arranged by Brian Fennelly)
Anders Hillborg – Brass Quintet
Venetian Canzoni (edited by Raymond Mase)
FREE tickets available beginning September 25 at the Juilliard Box Office

Monday, October 20, 8 PM, The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 155 West 65th Street
Seymour Lipkin, pianist
Mr. Lipkin is joined by guest performers in celebrating the 60th anniversary of his win at the Rachmaninoff International Piano Concerto
Guests: Robert McDonald, piano, Ronald Copes, violin, Samuel Rhodes, viola, Joel Krosnick, cello
Works by Schubert and Mozart
FREE tickets available beginning October 6 at the Juilliard Box Office

Thursday, October 23, 8 PM, Juilliard’s Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, 1st Floor
Samuel Rhodes, viola
Donald Martino – Three Sad Songs for viola and piano (1993)
Igor Stravinsky – Elegie for viola solo (1944)
Milton Babbitt – Play It Again, Sam for viola solo (1989)
Paul Hindemith Sonata for Viola Solo, Op. 25, No. 1
Hall Overton – Sonata for Viola and Piano (1960)
FREE tickets available beginning October 10 at the Juilliard Box Office

Tuesday, April 7, 8 PM, Alice Tully Hall, 65th Street and Broadway
Juilliard String Quartet
Felix Mendelssohn – Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 12
Richard Wernick, String Quartet No. 7 (New York premiere)
Maurice Ravel – Quartet
FREE tickets available March 24 at the Juilliard Box Office

Wednesday, April 15, 8 PM, Alice Tully Hall, 65th Street and Broadway
Juilliard String Quartet Plays Haydn
Works by Franz Joseph Haydn:
Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4
Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20, No. 5
Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2
FREE tickets available beginning March 24 at the Juilliard Box Office

Wednesday, April 29, 8 PM, The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 155 West 65th Street
Judith LeClair, bassoon
Robert Langevin, flute
Jonathan Feldman, piano
Program to be announced
FREE tickets available beginning April 15 at the Juilliard Box Office

Tickets are FREE to all concerts. For further information, call the Juilliard Box Office at (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu.