25th Annual Ussachevsky Memorial Festival of Electro Acoustic Music Opens the Concert Season

Tom Flaherty, John P. and Magdalena R. Dexter professor of music, has again designed a broad-ranged two-day festival utilizing the specialties of guests and faculty performers in two concerts and a lecture/demonstration in Lyman Hall, Thatcher Music Building (340 N. College Ave., Claremont). The festival runs Feb. 3-4, with the opening concert Friday at 8 p.m., and Saturday’s events include a 3 p.m. lecture/demo and 8 p.m. concert. All events are free and open to the public.

Brightwork newmusic with Pomona College music faculty member and pianist Aron Kallay; Tereza Stanislav, violin; Maggie Parkins, cello; Sara Andon, flute; Phil O’Connor, clarinet; and Nick Terry, percussion, kick off the festival. Called “the brightest new music group you’ve heard in years” by KPFK, “when these players aren’t too busy getting Grammy® nominations or playing LA’s premiere venues (LA Phil, LACO, LA Opera, Jacaranda, Monday Evening Concerts…) they’re commissioning and premiering works from tomorrow’s tastemakers.” The ensemble’s program will include music by Claremont locals Bill Alves and Flaherty, plus works by Kaija Saariaho, Ian Dicke and others.

Day two welcomes guest composer Molly Joyce, whose music has been described as impassioned by The Washington Post. She will lead a lecture/demonstration in Lyman Hall, and later that evening, three champions of contemporary music and Pomona College faculty artists – Sarah Thornblade, violin; Cynthia Fogg, viola; and Genevieve Feiwen Lee, piano, will offer a concert of music by Joyce and works by Eric Moe, Thomas Rex Beverly and Annie Gosfield.

Joyce’s works have been commissioned and performed by several distinguished ensembles including the New World Symphony, New York Youth Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the New Juilliard, Decoda, and Contemporaneous ensembles. Additionally, her work has been performed at the Bang on a Can Marathon and VisionIntoArt’s FERUS Festival.

Saturday’s performers, like the members of Brightwork newmusic, are active performers. The Los Angeles Times describes Thornblade’s playing as “rapturously winning.” She is associate principal second violin of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Eclipse Quartet, and has performed with Camerata Pacifica, Jacaranda Music and Auros Group for New Music (Boston), as well as throughout the country and abroad. Fogg has performed extensively on both viola and violin. She has played with the Pasadena Symphony and Monday Evening Concerts, and has appeared as guest violist with the acclaimed Kronos and Alexander quartets. She has recorded chamber music for Naxos, Bridge, Opus One, Cambria, Klavier, and Innova, as well as soundtracks for motion pictures and television. Lee’s first engagement with the York Symphony came at the age of 12, and she has maintained an active schedule performing with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), the Vratza State Philharmonic (Bulgaria) and The Orchestra of Northern New York. She has given solo recitals at Merkin Concert Hall (NYC), the Salle Gaveau (Paris), in Changsha, China, (broadcast by Hunan State Television) and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She is the Everett S. Olive professor of music at Pomona College.

The festival is named after Vladimir Ussachevsky ’35 (1911-1990), who was a pioneer in the field of electronic music and co-founder of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York. He left a bequest to the College to support activities in the field of electronic music, which has funded much of our equipment and the founding of this series.

###

Friday Program:

Eve Beglarian:................................ Waiting for Billy Floyd

Michael Gordon:............................. Light is Calling

Ian Di>Bill Alves:...................................... Cloud Pass

Kaija Saariaho:............................... TBD

Tom Flaherty:................................. Internal States

Saturday Program:

Molly Joyce:................................... Rave

Joyce:............................................ Lean Back and Release

Eric Moe:....................................... Uncanny Affable Machine

Thomas Rex Beverly:...................... Sitka

Annie Gosfield:............................... Long Waves and Random Pulses

Joyce:............................................ Amplify Release

Additional Upcoming Faculty & Guest Performances

Programs are ticketless and free, with open seating.

The Music of J. S. Bach with William Peterson

3 p.m. Sunday, February 5, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711

William Peterson*, College organist, performs nine compositions from Bach’s “Third Part of the Keyboard Practice” (published in 1739) (Dritter Theil der Clavierübung). These selections represent Bach’s interest in contrapuntal textures with examples of two-voice, three-voice, four-voice, five-voice and six-voice textures. He will perform on the Hill Memorial Organ built by C.B. Fisk of Gloucester, MA (Fisk, Op. 117).

Violin + Piano + Drums

8 p.m. Saturday, February 11, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711

Violinist Lina Bahn and pianist Genevieve Feiwen Lee* come together for a program of music by John Adams, George Antheil and Beethoven. Described as “brilliant” and “lyrical” by The Washington Post, Bahn has a keen interest in collaborative and innovative repertoire. She was a member of the award-winning Corigliano Quartet from 1998 to 2010.

Lee has dazzled audiences and “brought a melting lyricism to the singing melodies” (New Classic LA). Having offered programs on the piano, harpsichord, toy piano, keyboard and electronics in solo, chamber and ensemble performances, she has performed from New York City to Changsha, China.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

3 p.m. Sunday, February 12, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711

Pianist Ming Tsu* is joined by violinist Ken Aiso in the U.S. premiere of Karen Tanaka’s “Ocean” and Rebecca Clarke’s “Sonata.” The program also features Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet with Tsu and Aiso joined by Sarah Thornblade (violin), Dale Hikawa Silverman (viola) and Ben Hong (cello).

Chamber Music with Faculty and Friends

8 p.m. Saturday, March 4, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711

“Poised, ravishing” (The Guardian), the Eclipse Quartet members: Sara Parkins and Sarah Thornblade*, violins; Alma Fernandez, viola; and Maggie Parkins, cello, are joined by Kira Blumberg, viola; and Eric Lindholm*, cello, for Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and music by Flaherty, Lindholm and others.

Brass Extravaganza

3 p.m. Sunday, March 5, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711

Faculty artists Ray Burkhart, trumpet; Phil Keen, trombone; Stephen Klein, tuba; and Jennie Jung, piano, are joined by and friends in a concert of music by Bach, Burkhart, Flaherty, Gabrieli, Handel, Marcello, Piazzolla and others. Additional performers include: Jim Grinta, Richard Chasin, and John Aranda, trumpet; Annie Bosler, and Rachel Berry, horn; Loren Marsteller, and Ken Kugler, trombone/euphonium; and Beth Mitchell, tuba.

Baroque Chamber Music

3 p.m. Sunday, March 26, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711

Cornucopia Baroque Ensemble: Alfred Cramer* and Lindsey Strand-Polyak, baroque violins; Aki Nishiguchi, baroque oboe; Carolyn Beck*, baroque bassoon; Roger Lebow*, baroque cello; Jason Yoshida*, theorbo; Graydon Beeks*, harpsichord, perform music by Handel and others.

Chamber Music with the Mojave Trio

8 p.m. Saturday, April 1, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711

Mojave Trio: Sara Parkins, violin; Maggie Parkins, cello; and Genevieve Feiwen Lee*, piano, perform music by Schumann, Shostakovich and others

Chiaroscuro: Light and Dark in Art Song with soprano Melissa Givens

3 p.m. Sunday, April 2, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711

This Grammy-award-winning soprano is joined by pianist Shannon Hesse for a program of music by Bolcom, Haydn, Martucci, Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Purcell and Strauss. Opera L hails Givens for her “clear, expressive voice, bright, strong and yet with tinges of vulnerability, laced with seamless legato and tasteful phrasing.”

*Pomona College Department of Music faculty members
www.pomona.edu/music-calendar