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21-Apr-08 11:00 AM CST Da Camera of Houston announces 2008/2009 Season of Chamber Music and Jazz ConcertsHouston, TX, March 26, 2008 -- Da Camera of Houston, the presenter of chamber music and jazz events, announces its 2008/2009 season of concerts, Musical Wanderers: Exiles and Immigrants, which interweaves a number of themes through diverse and exciting concerts. The “From Songs of the Earthfeaturing works by Chinese-American composer Zhou Long and Chopin in Paris: Epigraph for a Condemned Book, to our closing jazz concert with Cuban-American drummer Dafnis Prieto, we explore the multiple ways in which world travel and the intermingling of diverse cultures have contributed to the creation of great music,” says Artistic Director Sarah Rothenberg. A Music, Art & Poetry theme brings five unique programs, ranging from the music of Chopin and Schubert to Schoenberg, Schnittke and beyond; from the artworks of Goya and Delacroix to contemporary photography and painting; from the poetry of Walt Whitman and Charles Baudelaire to the daring work of Allen Ginsberg. A special program at The Menil Collection, Hommage à Max Ernst: A Musical Collage, follows the German surrealist from his native roots to pre-war Paris and his American years, resulting in a new look at the birth of the avant-garde. At The Rothko Chapel, spirituality in music and art come together as Da Camera joins the world-wide celebration of the centenary of French composer Olivier Messiaen. Da Camera presents five international string quartets, with leading groups from Hungary, Spain, Canada and the United States in exclusive performances. OPENING NIGHT CONCERT IS ALL-MOZART EVENT Da Camera’s opening night concert, Mozart in Vienna is Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 7:30 PM at the WorthamTheaterCenter’s Cullen Theater. In his adopted city of Vienna, Mozart composed some of the greatest chamber music of all time. Da Camera welcomes Mozart specialist Krista Bennion Feeney, concertmaster of New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, violinist Laurie Smukler, violist Daniel Panner, violist James Dunham, formerly of The Cleveland Quartet, and cellist Bion Tsang, to perform two of Mozart’s most exquisite masterpieces, the String Quintet in C Major, K. 515 and the Divertimento for string trio in E-flat Major, K. 563. INTERMINGLING OF CULTURES CELEBRATED IN SONGS OF THE EARTH Songs of the Earth, Saturday, January [MSOffice1] 31, 2009 at 8:00 PM at the Cullen Theater, WorthamTheaterCenter, celebrates over 100 years of cross-fertilization between the Asian and Western classical traditions. European composers were inspired at the turn of the century by their discovery of poetry and music from Asia; in our day, Asian composers have come to America and found new musical voices by bringing their musical traditions together with their classical Western training. Da Camera welcomes composer Zhou Long in his Houston debut. Mr. Zhou won a Grammy Award for his CD Words of the Sun and a lifetime achievement from the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Letters. He has also received fellowships from the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts. A world-class chamber orchestra with members of the Houston Symphony and other leading Houston musicians, led by conductor Larry Rachleff, collaborates with virtuosi from the ensemble Music From China on the erhu and pipa. The program is Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (chamber version); Zhou Long’s The Farewellfor pipa, erhu and chamber orchestra; and Mahler’s Abschied from Das Lied von der Erde in its chamber version. Susanne Mentzer is the mezzo-soprano. Zhou’s The Farewell is inspired by the same Chinese texts that Mahler sets in the final song of his work. SEVERAL CONCERTS FEATURE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN The season continues on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 8:00 PM at the Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater with Chopin in Paris: Epigraph for a Condemned Book, conceived, directed and performed by Sarah Rothenberg, piano. A unique tapestry of sight and sound, Epigraph for a Condemned Book reveals the daring genius of Chopin’s piano works. In this original performance collage, fragments of Delacroix’s intense paintings, early photography and the provocative writings of Baudelaire interweave with Chopin’s music to magically evoke 19th-century Paris and its romantic spirit. The repertoire includes Chopin’s Preludes Nos. 2, 3 and 4, Op. 28; the Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20; Two Nocturnes, Op. 27; Berceuse, Op. 57 and the Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52. This performance is presented in collaboration with the CynthiaWoodsMitchellCenter for the Arts and Blaffer Gallery, in conjunction with the Blaffer Gallery’s exhibition Damaged Romanticism. Epigraph for a Condemned Book is a Da Camera of Houston production, co-commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven; University Musical Society, Ann Arbor and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Champaign-Urbana. A second program presented in conjunction with Blaffer Gallery’s exhibition is Damaged Romanticism, Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 8:00 PM at the Moores Opera House, University of Houston. Some of the most powerful art created in recent years by composers and visual artists reveals a shift away from cool modernism towards a new aesthetic that puts emotion front and center. Often, these works are made in response to cataclysmic world events. Da Camera brings together an all-star international group of musicians from Holland, France, New York and Houston to perform music from the U.S., Germany and Russia. Projections of paintings and photographs create a compelling dialogue between music and visual art. The works performed are Stephen Hartke’s Beyond Words, Ricercare for violin, viola, cello and piano; Wolfgang Rihm Von weit for cello and piano; Karim Al-Zand’s Lamentation on The Disasters of War (after etchings by Francisco de Goya); Schnittke’s String Trio and Schubert’s Movement for piano trio in E-Flat Major, D. 897, “Notturno.” The ensemble consists of Vera Beths, violin; Kyung-Sun Lee, violin; Hsin-Yun Huang, viola; Ivo van der Werff, viola; Sonia Wieder-Atherton, cello; Norman Fischer, cello; Timothy Hester, piano and Sarah Rothenberg, piano. The concert is presented in collaboration with the CynthiaWoodsMitchellCenter for the Arts and Blaffer Gallery, in conjunction with Blaffer Gallery’s exhibition Damaged Romanticism. Sarah Rothenberg often creates unique concert events for Menil Collection exhibitions. The exhibition Max Ernst: In the Garden of Nymph Ancolie is the inspiration for Hommage à Max Ernst: A Musical Collage, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 7:30 PM at The Menil Collection. The music selected for this concert follows the path of the German Dadaist and Surrealist painter and sculptor’s life and the evolution of the avant-garde. The program consists of Satie’s Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear and his Gnossiennes; Schumann’s Papillons, Op. 2; Schoenberg’s Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19; Stravinsky’s Tango (arranged for piano); Poulenc’s Tel jour, telle nuit, FP. 86 (nine melodies on texts by Paul Eluard); excerpts from Antheil’s 44 Preludes and Percussion Dance after Max Ernst’s La Femme 100 Têtes; and John Cage’s Dream. The performers are baritone Ryan McKinny and pianists Pedja Muzijevic and Sarah Rothenberg. FIVE CONCERTS FEATURE STRING QUARTETS FROM Da Camera’s series at The Menil Collection begins with the Houston debut of Hungary’s Keller Quartet,Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 7:30 PM. Their program weaves together Mozart’s Five Bach Fugues with Kurtág’s String Quartet Op. 28 (Officium Breve, In Memoriam Andreae Szervánsky), Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor K. 546 and Kurtág’s Six moments musicaux, Op. 44. The second half of the program is Schubert’s String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D 887. The Keller Quartet is András Keller, violin; János Pilz, violin; Zoltán Gál, viola and Judit Szabó, cello. Brentano String Quartet: Poetry and Music, Immigrants and Exiles, Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 7:30 PM at The Menil Collection is a wide-ranging program featuring unusual settings of poetry and music. Lee Hyla’s Howl incorporates a recording of Allen Ginsberg reading his rapturous, confessional 1956 poem. In his Ode to Napoleon for string quartet, piano and narrator, émigré composer Arnold Schoenberg in America sets a poem by Byron in response to Hitler’s world aggression. Another German émigré, Kurt Weill, shifts from Berlin cabaret to the great American poet Walt Whitman with his Whitman Songs. The evening closes with Beethoven’s revolutionary Grosse Fuge. Joining the Brentano String Quartet (Mark Steinberg,violin; Serena Canin,violin; Misha Amory,viola; Nina Maria Lee,cello) are Leon Williams, baritone, Scott Holshauser, piano and Sarah Rothenberg, piano. The rapidly-rising young Cuarteto Casals from Spain makes its Houston debut, Friday, February 27, 2009, at 8:00 PM at Zilkha Hall, HobbyCenter for the Performing Arts. The Quartet took first prize in the 2000 London International String Quartet Competition. Their program includes Arriaga’s String Quartet No. 3 in E-flat Major; Dvořák’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, “American”; and Brahms String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2. Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga is the so-called “Spanish Mozart” who died in Paris at the age of 19. Dvořák’s quartet was composed during his American sojourn. The Cuarteto Casals’s members are Vera Martinez Mehner, violin; Abel Tomas Realp, violin; Jonathan Brown, viola and Arnau Tomas Realp, cello. St. Lawrence String Quartet: Dreams and Prayers isFriday, March 27, 2009 at 8:00 PM at the Cullen Theater, WorthamTheaterCenter. The St. Lawrence String Quartet’s electrifying performances have dazzled audiences all over the world. The Quartet returns to The Chiara String Quartet, making their Da Camera debutTuesday, April 7, 2009 at 7:30 PM at The Menil Collection, has forged a new path for the string quartet. In the concert hall and in intimate galleries and clubs, the Chiara embraces a “no-holds-barred” approach (The Strad). In Houston, the Quartet is joined by violinist Rebecca Fischer’s father, esteemed cellist Norman Fischer, in the world premiere of the Quintet for Strings by Shepherd School of Music composer Richard Lavenda. The Quartet also performs Korngold’s String Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 26 and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 12 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3. The Chiara String Quartet’s members are Rebecca Fischer, violin; Julie Yoon, violin; Jonah Sirota, viola and Gregory Beaver, cello. Beyond the concert hall, the Chiara Quartet participates in Da Camera’s annual Community Residency Project, performing in alternative spaces and schools, and giving a family concert. DA CAMERA CELEBRATES CENTENARY OF GREAT FRENCH COMPOSER OLIVIER MESSIAENOnTuesday, December 9, 2008 at 7:30 PM, Da Camera presents a Messiaen Centennial Concert: Visions de l’Amen at The Rothko Chapel. Pianists Marilyn Nonken and Sarah Rothenberg take on the great French composer’s Visions de l’Amen for two pianos. French composer Olivier Messiaen’s is best known for his chamber work Quartet for the End of Time, his piano piece Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus and the Turangalila Symphony. Messiaen’s great religious piano cycle was first performed by the composer and his student and future wife Yvonne Loriod in a semi-secret art gallery concert in Nazi-occupied Paris. Artistic Director Sarah Rothenberg, who studied the music of Messiaen with Loriod in Paris, is joined by Marilyn Nonken, the contemporary music virtuoso who made an outstanding Da Camera debut in 2007.SEASON CLOSER A COLLABORATION WITH HOUSTON CHAMBER CHOIR Da Camera’s season finale is After Bach on Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 8:00 PM in the Cullen Theater, WorthamTheaterCenter. Felix Mendelssohn led the Bach revival of the 19th century that brought the Baroque master’s music into the concert repertoire. When the romantic composers discovered Bach, their own music was forever changed. The concert includes Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903; selected choral works by Mendelssohn and the Busoni arrangements of selected Bach chorale preludes and Bach’s Chaconne in D Minor. Liszt’s powerful late masterpiece, Via Crucis, a unique religious work for solo piano and chorus, receives a rare performance. A collaboration with Houston Chamber Choir, Robert Simpson, Artistic Director, the concert features Awadagin Pratt, piano. Since winning the prestigious Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1992, Pratt has become an internationally acclaimed soloist and recording artist.
Da Camera Jazz Series Da Camera’s 2008/2009 jazz series features its signature mix of established stars and outstanding talent from the younger generation of emerging jazz artists. The series kicks off on Friday, October 12, 2007 at 8:00 PM in the Cullen Theater of the WorthamTheaterCenter with a performance by The Kenny Barron Trio. Kenny Barron’s unmatched ability to mesmerize audiences with his elegant playing, sensitive melodies and infectious rhythms inspired The Los Angeles Times to name him “one of the top jazz pianists in the world” and Jazz Weekly to call him “The most lyrical piano player of our time.” The series continues with the return of saxophonist Miguel Zenón to the Da Camera stage. The Miguel Zenón Quartet performs Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 8:00 PM at the WorthamTheaterCenter’s Cullen Theater. The number one Rising Star saxophonist in the 2006 Down Beat Critics Poll, Miguel Zenón made a deep impression on Da Camera audiences in his recent appearance with SFJAZZ Collective. “A strong force in both contemporary jazz and Latin music” (New York Newsday), Zenón manages to blur the lines between the two without sacrificing the power of either. Zenón recently received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowhip for music composition. Ring in the holiday season with a jazz Christmas celebration with pianist Cyrus Chestnut, featuring Vanessa Rubin, vocals; Eric Alexander, saxophone and Brian Lynch, trumpet on Friday, December 12, 2008 at 8:00 PM at the Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center. Cyrus Chesnut’s update of Vince Guaraldi’s beloved A Charlie Brown Christmas won him wide acclaim when a recording was released in 2000 and in subsequent live performances. The series continues with The Bad Plus on Saturday, March 21, 2009at 8:00 PM in the Cullen Theater, WorthamTheaterCenter. This collective of bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King is known for complementing original repertoire with their takes on mainstream pop “standards” including ABBA, Black Sabbath, the Bee Gees, Queen, Blondie, Aphex Twin, Neil Young and Björk Waco native trumpeter Roy Hargrove returns to Da Camera Jazz after burning up the stage in his appearance with Directions in Music in 2005. The Roy Hargrove Quintet performs on Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 8:00 PM in the Cullen Theater, WorthamTheaterCenter. Hargrove’s most recent recordings are Distractions and Nothing Serious, featruing both of his touring ensembles. Distractions features the contemporary funk/jazz sounds of The RH Factor. Nothing Serious features straight ahead jazz by The Roy Hargrove Quintet with special guest Slide Hampton on trombone. Da Camera’s jazz series concludes with the Houston debut of Dafnis Prieto Sextet on Friday, April 3, 2009 at 8:00 PM at the Cullen Theater, WorthamTheaterCenter. The New York Times has compared the arrival of Cuban-American drummer Dafnis Prieto in the U.S. to the landing of an asteroid. His groundbreaking drumming techniques have had a powerful impact on both the Latin and jazz music scenes, locally and internationally. Subscriptions for Da Camera’s 2008/2009 season are on sale now. For tickets or a free season brochure, contact Da Camera of Houston, 1427 Branard, at 713-524-5050 or go to www.dacamera.com.
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Leo Boucher
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