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Press Contacts:
Linda Reichert, Artistic Director
Lisa Miller, Executive Director
215-848-7647
info@networkfornewmusic.org
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2011-2012 CONCERT SEASON: WORD MUSIC
A season that explores what happens when music meets words
Network for New Music commissions and world premieres by Lewis Spratlan, Thomas Whitman, Jan Krzywicki, and more. Featuring collaborations with The Crossing, FELYX_M, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Philadelphia poets. Featuring the virtuoso Network for New Music Ensemble Conducted by Jan Krzywicki.
“This is one of the best, and best-run, ensembles anywhere in the country, and Philadelphia is lucky they’re here.” -composer Gerald Levinson
PHILADELPHIA – Network for New Music, the award-winning chamber ensemble dedicated to commissioning and performing works by living composers, is pleased to announce its 2011-2012 concert season, WORD MUSIC.
This season, Network for New Music explores the art thta happens when music meets words. Every concert in our 2011-2012 season brings together exceptional American composers and virtuoso musicians with the words of American poets, playwrights, and even physicists; every performance is a different and invigorating conversation between artist and audience, with words that are sung, spoken, and silent.
Each concert includes at least one world premiere, and each concert is a collaboration with artists deeply connected to words: poets, writers, and singers. In addition to inviting two Philadelphia poets to create their own new work to accompany the virtuoso solos of our ensemble musicians, Network presents first-time collaborations with two stellar chamber choirs: The Crossing, directed by Donald Nally; and FELYX_M, directed by Alan Harler.
Network’s recent seasons have resulted in unprecedented audience attendance and interest; last year’s exploration of music inspired by Asian themes was extraordinarily successful, with most concerts close to sold out or standing room only. This season’s concerts present world premieres by some of PHiladelphia’s best composers, as well as a major co-commissioned work by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lewis Spratlan. All the performances will present pre-concert talks by composers and others, and all will include the popular Aperitif, a pre-concert performance of music by student musicians.
Here’s an overview of WORD MUSIC, Network’s 2011-2012 concert season:
- The Poetry of Solo features virtuoso solos by Network for New Music’s incomparable musicians, and new poetry written especially for this concert! World premieres by Ingrid Arauco, Joseph Hallman, Thomas Kraines, and Arne Running, and new poetry written and read by Philadelphia poets Jeanne McGinn and Lamont Dixon.
- Philadelphia Voices: O My Earth presents Network’s first collaboration with FELYX_M, an elite chamber choir directed by Alan Harler and drawn from the larger forces of the Mendelssohn Club. World premieres by Philadelphia composers Thomas Whitman and Jan Krzywicki.
- Hesperus is Phosphorus is a long-anticipated collaboration between Network for New Music and The Crossing, directed by Donald Nally. Together, these virtuoso new-music groups have commissioned Pulitzer Prize-winner Lewis Spratlan to write an evening-length chamber work, to be premiered and recorded in June 2012.
- Special Event: Rope and Chasm is a gender-bending, multi-media exploration of Also Sprach Zarathustra, by Mathhew Greenbaum. Featuring the spectacular mezzo Re’ut Ben Ze’ev, it’s a stage work using video, animation, and pre-recorded sound to illuminate Nietzsche’s seminal work.
About Network for New Music
Founded over twenty-five years ago by Linda Reichert and Joseph Waters, Network for New Music has become one of the country’s pre-eminent commissioning and performing ensembles of contemporary classical music. Artistic Director Linda Reichert draws in the very best composers from across the nation and the world, and programs their work with that of the best and most interesting Philadelphia composers.
As performed by the brilliant Network for New Music Ensemble (many of whom are also members of The Philadelphia Orchestra), the result is an invigorating and exceptional take on the best of contemporary music, and a window into the future’s standard repertoire. Network’s creative programming and spectacular musicianship has attracted world-class guest artists and composers such as Leon Fleisher, Peter Serkin, William Bolcom, Christoph Eschenbah, and many others; and Network often collaborates with artists from the worlds of dance, video, poetry, and theater. Through residencies, workshops, and outreach concerts, the ensemble nurtures the gifts and enthusiasm of students who write and play the music of the next generation.
For more information, photos, and interviews, please contact:
Lisa Miller, Executive Director
Linda Reichert, Artistic Director
215-848-7647 ~ info@networkfornewmusic.org
DOWNLOAD this press release for additional program information