American Brass Quintet Performs Works From the 16th and 21st Centuries in Recital on Monday, September 24, 2018, at 7:30pm in Paul Hall

Presented as Part of Juilliard’s Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series

NEW YORK –– The American Brass Quintet performs works from the 16th century as well as contemporary pieces in a recital on Monday, September 24, 2018, at 7:30pm in Paul Hall as part of Juilliard’s Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series. The program features a suite of Elizabethan dances by Anthony Holborne (edited by Gerard Schwarz); Dan Coleman’s Daybreak (2018, New York premiere); Juilliard faculty member and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner’s Brass Quintet No. 1 (2000); John Zorn’s Blue Stratagem (2016); David Sampson’s Still (2013); and polychoral music from the High Renaissance (edited by Louis Hanzlik) with music by Sebastián de Vivanco, Francisco Guererro, and Giovanni Gabrieli.

American Brass Quintet members are Kevin Cobb and Louis Hanzlik, trumpets; Eric Reed, horn; Michael Powell, trombone; and John D. Rojak, bass trombone.

Tickets at $20 ($10 for full-time students with a valid ID) are available at juilliard.edu/calendar.

About the Program

Anthony Holborne (c.1545-1602) was an accomplished lutenist and courtier in Elizabeth’s court and a contemporary of composers Thomas Morley, John Dowland, and William Byrd of England, and the Gabrielis (Andrea and Giovanni) of Italy. The suite of Elizabethan dances is from a collection published in London in 1599, and the dances are: The Honie-Suckle; Wanton; The Fruit of Live; The Choice–The Fairie-round; and Two Galliards .

Dan Coleman’s Daybreak was composed this year for the American Brass Quintet on a commission from the Melbourne (Florida) Chamber Music Society for its 40th anniversary season. The work, which has its New York premiere on this recital, is performed as a single movement. Coleman, a native of N.Y.C., has received commissions and performances from the Dallas Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Orpheus, New York Chamber Symphony, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Cypress String Quartet, among many others. He has received two symphonic premieres in Carnegie Hall, most recently by the American Composers Orchestra. His concert music can be heard on the Albany, Centaur, Crystal, and Summit record labels. Coleman is the recipient of many awards for his music, including fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the MacDowell and Yaddo artist colonies, and others. He was a member of Juilliard’s adjunct faculty from 1995 to 1999 and the University of Arizona from 2001 to 2002 and has given guest lectures at Harvard, John Hopkins, and M.I.T. He also serves on the board of trustees of the BMI Foundation.

Melinda Wagner is chair of Juilliard’s composition department. She received widespread attention when her Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. Since then, major works have included her Concerto for Trombone for Juilliard faculty member Joseph Alessi and the New York Philharmonic; a piano concerto, Extremity of Sky, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Juilliard piano faculty member and alumnus, Emanuel Ax. Among her honors are a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and ASCAP. Wagner was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2017. The Brass Quintet No. 1, in three movements, was composed in 2000 for the American Brass Quintet and is featured on its CD American Visions (Summit DCD365).

John Zorn has been a central figure in New York’s downtown music scene since 1975. Drawing upon his experience in jazz, rock, hardcore punk, classical, and klezmer, as well as film, cartoon, popular, and improvised music, he has created an influential body of experimental work that incorporates a range of styles and compositional formats. His experimental works in rock and jazz with bands such as Naked City, Painkiller, and Masada have earned him a cult following, and his music has been performed by rock bands, improvisers, jazz musicians, and classical ensembles alike. Zorn, who established the Tzadik label in 1995, is the recipient of commissions from the Kronos Quartet, the New York Philharmonic, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, and pianist Stephen Drury, among others. Mr. Zorn commented about his work Blue Stratagem: “It is a quietly moody abstract work inspired by Agnes Martin’s mystical approach to color, shape, line, and texture.”

David Sampson’s Still was composed for (and commissioned by) the Gaudete Brass Quintet. It was premiered in 2013 during a live broadcast of Backstage Pass, hosted by Julia Figueras, at the NPR station WXXI in Rochester, N.Y. Sampson, who was composer in residence with the Colonial Symphony Orchestra from 1998 through 2007, has received major grants from the N.E.A., American Academy of Arts and Letter, Chamber Music America, among others. His music is published by Editions BIM, Cantate Press, and Redrunner Music. He has served on the board of the Composers Guild of New Jersey and the advisory board of the Bergen Foundation.

To conclude the recital, the American Brass Quintet members are joined by students from their seminar on polychoral music From the High Renaissance (edited by Louis Hanzlik). The Venetian polychoral style, in both vocal and instrumental forms by Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli, was influential on composers from across all of Europe, including the other composers featured in this compilation: Sebastián de Vivanco and Francisco Guerreo of Spain.

About the American Brass Quintet

The American Brass Quintet is internationally recognized as one of the premier chamber music ensembles of our time, celebrated for peerless leadership in the brass world. As 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 ABQ’s rich history includes performances in Asia, Australia, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East and all fifty of the United States; a discography of nearly sixty recordings; and the premieres of over 150 contemporary brass works.

ABQ commissions by Robert Beaser, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, Eric Ewazen, Anthony Plog, Huang Ruo, David Sampson, Gunther Schuller, William Schuman, Joan Tower, Melinda Wagner, and Charles Whittenberg, among many others, are considered significant contributions to contemporary chamber music and the foundation of the modern brass quintet repertoire. The 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 11 CDs for Summit Records since 1992 including the ABQ’s 50th release State of the Art—The ABQ at 50 featuring works recently written for them.

Committed to the promotion of brass chamber music through education, the American Brass Quintet has been in residence at Juilliard since 1987 and the Aspen Music Festival since 1970. Since 2000 the ABQ has offered its expertise in chamber music performance and training with a program of mini-residencies as part of its regular touring. 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 a dozen foreign countries.

Through its acclaimed performances, diverse programming, commissioning, extensive discography and educational mission, the American Brass Quintet has created a legacy unparalleled in the brass field.

Last season, the quintet’s U.S. tour brought it to 18 cities in 15 states, including New York; Portland, Oregon; Savannah; and Colorado Springs, among others. This season, the American Brass Quintet appears at the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Idaho, Barrus Concert Hall, and Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, and in Stamford, New York; Norfolk, Virginia; and Bryan, Texas. In a special project presenting a multicultural exploration of chamber vocal literature and featuring music of Victoria, Guerrero, and other Spanish composers, the ABQ collaborates with the Grammy®-nominated vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire and embarks on a tour of Los Angeles, La Jolla, Kansas City and Goshen, Indiana, and five cities in Florida: Miami, Boca Raton, Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale and Cutler Bay.

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Program Listing:

Monday, September 24, 2018, 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

 

Suite of Elizabethan Dances by Anthony Holborne (edited by Gerard Schwarz)

Dan COLEMAN Daybreak (2018, New York premiere)

Melinda WAGNER Brass Quintet No. 1 (2000)

John ZORN Blue Stratagem (2016)

David SAMPSON Still (2013)

Polychoral Music from the High Renaissance by Sebastián de Vivanco, Francisco Guererro, and Giovanni Gabrieli (edited by Louis Hanzlik)

 

Tickets at $20 ($10 for full-time students with a valid ID) are available at juilliard.edu/calendar.