American Brass Quintet Recital Originally Scheduled for Monday, November 6, 2017 Has Been Postponed

PLEASE NOTE: The American Brass Quintet recital for Monday, November 6, 2017, has been postponed. Juilliard will announce the new date soon.

 

NEW YORK –– The American Brass Quintet performs the world premiere of faculty member and alumnus Philip Lasser’s Common Heroes, Uncommon Land, which Juilliard commissioned to commemorate the quintet’s 30th anniversary in residence at the school. The performance takes place on Monday, November 6, 2017, at 7:30pm in Paul Hall. The program also includes the New York premiere of Steven Franklin’s Three Romances; Consort Music of Elizabethan and Jacobean England (edited by Louis Hanzlik); Suite From 19th Century Russia (edited by Kevin Cobb); Canons of the 16th Century (edited by Raymond Mase); and Two Sacred Motets by Giovanni Gabrieli (edited by Louis Hanzlik). The recital is presented as part of Juilliard’s Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series.

The members of the American Brass Quintet are Kevin Cobb and Louis Hanzlik, trumpets; Eric Reed, horn; Michael Powell, trombone; and John D. Rojak, bass trombone. They will be joined for the Gabrieli by six students from American Brass Quintet Seminar.

Tickets for the American Brass Quintet recital are $20 and are available at juilliard.edu/calendar. Tickets are free for Juilliard students; non-Juilliard full-time students may purchase tickets for $10, at juilliard.edu/calendar or at the Juilliard Box Office.

About the Program

The program opens with Consort Music of Elizabethan and Jacobean England (edited by Louis Hanzlik) featuring music from the height of the English Renaissance by Thomas Morley (1557-1603), John Dowland (1563-1626), John Wilbye (1574-1638), and William Brade (1560-1630).

Suite From 19th Century Russia (edited by Kevin Cobb) includes music from notable composer and violinist Ludwig Maurer (1789-1878), a native of Germany, who split his time between Germany and St. Petersburg and European émigré and pianist, Anton Simon (1850-1916), who left Paris at age 21 to live in Moscow until his death in  1916.

Trumpeter and composer Steven Franklin attended Curtis Institute of Music as a trumpet major and also studied composition. He subs regularly with the Rochester Philharmonic and has won first prize at numerous competitions, including the National Trumpet Competition and the International Trumpet Guild. His compositions have been performed all over the world by members of the New York Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and faculty of the Eastman School of Music and Curtis Institute of Music. His Three Romances, a three-movement tone poem has its New York premiere in this concert: He writes, “My goal with Three Romances was not to imitate works from the 19th century, but to continue exploring a warmth, richness, and lyricism in my writing. These characteristics are evident in my Nocturne for brass quartet, a work I composed almost two years ago; I wanted to take that same concept and further develop it, expanding that idea into a full-length brass quintet.” The three movements of the piece are Elegy, Intermezzo, and Finale.

Juilliard faculty member Philip Lasser is an American composer with French musical roots. Trained from an early age at Nadia Boulanger’s famed École d’Arts Américaines in Fontainebleau, he has created a unique sound world that blends together the colorful harmonies of French Impressionist sonorities and the dynamic rhythms and characteristics of American music. He received his BA, summa cum laude, from Harvard College, his MA from Columbia University, and his DMA from Juilliard, where he studied with David Diamond. Following his studies at Harvard, Mr. Lasser moved to Paris to work with Boulanger’s closest colleague and disciple, the Catalan composer, Narcís Bonet, and continue his piano studies with Gaby Casadesus. Juilliard commissioned his work Common Heroes, Uncommon Land on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the American Brass Quintet’s residency at Juilliard. Mr. Lasser provides this note about the work: “Common Heroes, Uncommon Land speaks of the glory of the everyday. It celebrates the human spirit in its daily routine and uncrushable work ethic. Based on five short poems by various poets, each movement explores a particular facet of the American experience. The first movement describes the urban heroes in their dogged morning trek towards work and sustenance. The second honors the farmers in their rural struggle with the land. The third and fourth movements celebrate our common quest for joy and the noble act of holding fast to dreams. The last movement serves as an epilogue to the work offering an ode to the everyday heroes and heroines of our land as they create the future.”

Canons of the 16th Century (edited by Raymond Mase) includes canons from the 15th and 16th centuries by Josquin des Prés (1441-1521), Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-94), and Johannes Martini (c. 1440-97).

The program concludes with Two Sacred Motets by Giovanni Gabrieli (edited by Louis Hanzlik). Gabrieli (c.1550-1612), organist at Venice’s Saint Mark’s Basilica from 1585 until his death, composed many of the best examples of 16th century ensemble music ever written. The two works featured are Surrexit Christus (The Risen Christ) and Deus, qui beatum Marcum (God, who blessed Mark) were composed for blended choirs of singers and instrumentalists. For this performance, the vocal parts are performed by instrumentalists. The American Brass Quintet will be joined by students from their annual seminar.

About the American Brass Quintet

The American Brass Quintet (ABQ), entering its 57th season, was the 2013 recipient of Chamber Music America’s highest honor, the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award for significant and lasting contributions to the field. The quintet’s rich history includes performances in Asia, Australia, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Canada, and the U.S.; a discography of nearly 60 recordings; and the premieres of mre than 150 contemporary works that serve as the foundation of the modern brass quintet repertoire. ABQ’s “emerging composer commissioning program” has brought forth brass quintets by Gordon Beeferman, Jay Greenberg, Trevor Gureckis, and Shafer Mahoney. Among the quintet’s recordings are 12 for Summit Records since 1992, and its most recent album, Perspectives, was released last January.

ABQ’s 2017-18 season includes a U.S. tour across 18 cities in 15 states, and throughout the season, it will perform Steven Franklin’s Three Romances, which had its premiere last July; reprise an ABQ signature piece, Music for Brass Instruments by Ingolf Dahl; and continue to commission and promote new chamber works by established and rising composers. Last month the quintet returned to the Guggenheim Museum for a repeat performance of John Zorn’s Commedia dell’arte, a suite of five miniatures for multiple ensembles inspired by the five classic commedia characters.

Committed to the development of brass chamber music through higher education, the American Brass Quintet has served as ensemble in residence at Juilliard since 1987 and the Aspen Music Festival since 1970. Since 2000, the quintet has offered its expertise in chamber music performance and training with a program of short residencies as part of its regular touring. Designed to give young groups and individuals an intense chamber music experience over several days, the quintet’s residencies have been embraced by schools and communities throughout the U.S. and a dozen countries. The American Brass Quintet is represented by Kirshbaum Associates, New York.

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Program Listing:

Monday, November 6, 2017, 7:30pm, Paul Hall

Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series

American Brass Quintet

Kevin Cobb, trumpet

Louis Hanzlik, trumpet

Eric Reed, horn

Michael Powell, trombone

John D. Rojak, bass trombone

 

Consort Music of Elizabethan and Jacobean England (edited by Louis Hanzlik)

Suite from 19th Century Russia (edited by Kevin Cobb)

Steven FRANKLIN Three Romances (2017, New York premiere)

Philip LASSER Common Heroes, Uncommon Land (2017, world premiere)

Canons of the 16th Century (edited by Raymond Mase)

Giovanni GABRIELI Two Sacred Motets (edited by Louis Hanzlik)

 

Tickets are $20 and available at juilliard.edu/calendar. Tickets are free for Juilliard students; non-Juilliard full-time students may purchase tickets at $10 at juilliard.edu/calendar.