Thursday, May 2, 2024, 7:30 PM
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center • Rose Studio at CMS
SONIC SPECTRUM IV
New York Premiere by Kevin Puts
Sold Out! Press Tickets Available

The fourth and final installment of CMS's Sonic Spectrum series, which highlights the works of living composers, is presented in the intimate Rose Studio. This program features the Miró Quartet in the New York Premiere of "Home," a story of the refugee crisis in Europe, by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. Written for and premiered by the Miró Quartet, "Home" begins with a tonal center of “C”, as a sonic representation of "home”, which it abandons after the idyllic atmosphere of the work’s first several minutes in search of new and unfamiliar terrain. The quartet is joined by horn player David Byrd-Marrow for music by Jörg Widman, 2009 recipient of the Elise L. Stoeger Prize, Dai Fujikura, Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw, and Eleanor Alberga. 

All Sonic Spectrum concerts are also available via free livestream.
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Link to livestream

Jörg Widmann Air for Horn (2005)
Dai Fujikura Yurayura for Horn and String Quartet (2017)
Caroline Shaw Selections from Microfictions, Volume 1 (2021)
Eleanor Alberga Shining Gate of Morpheus for Horn and String Quartet (2012)
Kevin Puts Home (2019) 

Miró Quartet, Ensemble • David Byrd-Marrow, Horn 

Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 7:30 PM 
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center • Alice Tully Hall
SONGS AND SNOW
Music of George Crumb and Tan Dun

CMS presents an evening of music from two towering figures of innovation and experimentation in contemporary composition, with works that contain sound worlds that redefine the parameters of chamber music with shocking intensity. George Crumb’s haunting song cycle of American Civil War songs, The Winds of Destiny from his American Songbook IV, is paired with Tan Dun’s visceral remembrance of the Tiananmen Square conflict, Elegy: Snow in June. The all-star line-up of performers features the incomparable soprano Dawn Upshaw, pianist Gilbert Kalish (a longtime colleague and collaborator of Crumb), cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and the ensemble Sandbox Percussion, winner of a 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, making their CMS debut.

The first half of the concert is devoted to selections from Crumb’s The Winds of Destiny, subtitled "Songs of Strife, Love, Mystery, and Exultation: a Cycle of American Civil War Songs, Folk Songs and Spirituals" and written for singer, percussion quartet and amplified piano. "We have played George Crumb's music for many years now," say the members of Sandbox Percussion. "His American Songbook series is an incredibly important collection in the percussion canon. These pieces masterfully take common American folk songs - like 'Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory' and 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home' - and surround them with an otherworldly atmosphere that is unmistakably Crumb." 

The second half of the concert is devoted to Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June for cello and percussion quartet; the voice of the cello, performed by one of today’s most sought-after cellists, Alisa Weilerstein, opposes and joins Sandbox Percussion throughout the work. "Tan Dan's concert music has all the drama and theatricality that has made his film music so well-known," according to Sandbox Percussion. "In his Elegy, Tan Dun depicts images from a 13th-century Chinese drama, with an incredibly colorful battery of pitched and unpitched percussion instruments. Alisa, Dawn, and Gil have been idols of ours for years - we can't wait to share the stage with them!"

George Crumb Winds of Destiny (American Songbook IV) for Singer, Percussion Quartet, and Amplified Piano (2004)
Tan Dun Elegy: Snow in June for Cello and Percussion Quartet (1991) 

Dawn Upshaw, Soprano • Gilbert Kalish, Piano • Alisa Weilerstein, Cello • Sandbox Percussion, Ensemble

Saturday, May 18, 7:30 PM 
Sunday, May 19, 5:00 PM 
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center • Alice Tully Hall
SEASON FINALE
TOTALLY MOZART

In its season finale, CMS offers an immersion in the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The program includes well-loved masterpieces as well as works not often performed, like the Quartet in F major for oboe, violin, viola and cello; one of Mozart's earliest Church Sonatas for two violins, basso continuo, and cello; and Grand Sestetto Concertante for String Sextet.  Paolo Bordignon, harpsichordist of the New York Philharmonic and organist and choirmaster of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue plays the portative organ for the basso continuo. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sonata in E minor for Violin and Piano, K. 304 (1778)
Quartet in F major for Oboe, Violin, Viola, and Cello, K. 370 (1781)
Trio in G major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, K. 564 (1788)
Church Sonata in C major for Two Violins and Basso Continuo, K. 328 (1779)
Church Sonata in E-flat major for Two Violins and Basso Continuo, K. 67 (1772)
Church Sonata in D major for Two Violins and Basso Continuo, K. 245 (1776)
Grande Sestetto Concertante for String Sextet after the Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364 (1779, ARR. 1808) 

Gilbert Kalish, Piano • Paolo Bordignon, Portative Organ • Stella Chen, Violin • Cho-Liang Lin, Violin • Misha Amory, Viola • Paul Neubauer, Viola • Nicholas Canellakis, Cello • David Requiro, Cello • Stephen Taylor, Oboe