Free Admission (suggested donation: $20 | $10 students & seniors)

Carnegie Hill Concerts presents Chamber Music by Eric Lyon performed by the Carnegie Hill Concerts Chamber Players at Church of the Advent Hope.

Carnegie Hill Concerts Chamber Players:

Stephen Gosling, Piano

Conrad Harris, Violin

Pauline Kim Harris, Violin

Dana Kelley, Viola

Meaghan Burke, Cello

Program:

The Book of Strange Positions for Two Violins (2013)

Symphony No. 2 for Violin and Piano (1986)

String Trio No. 1 for Violin, Viola and Cello (2013)

String Quartet No. 2 for Two Violins, Viola and cello + Tape (1991)

Eric Lyon, Composer

Eric Lyon is a composer and computer music researcher. His work focuses on articulated noise, spatial orchestration and computer chamber music. In the 1980s, Lyon developed a wide range of new signal processing strategies for modifying both synthetic and acoustic sounds. This period resulted in many works for fixed media computer-generated sound, and for computer-generated sound with live acoustic instruments. In the 1990s, Lyon developed algorithmic approaches to sound design that resulted in increasingly complex and unpredictable timbres. In parallel, he began working with live processing of acoustic sounds, first with the Kyma system, and next with Max/MSP, ultimately writing a large collection of his own externals. In first decade of the 21st century, Lyon continued developing interactive computer chamber music, with precise DSP strategies integrated into instrumental counterpoint. He also began developing strategies for multichannel music. In the second decade of the 21st century, Lyon has focused on music for massively multichannel systems, also known as high-density loudspeaker arrays. He has increasingly automated the live DSP processing in his works for acoustic instruments and electronics, drawing on the sequencing capabilities of Ableton Live in tandem with its internal DSP plug-in design platform Max for Live.

Lyon’s publicly available software includes FFTease and LyonPotpourri, collections of audio objects written for Max/MSP and Pd. He is the author of “Designing Audio Objects for Max/MSP and Pd”, which explicates the process of designing and implementing audio DSP externals. In 2016, Lyon was guest editor of the Computer Music Journal, editing two issues (CMJ 40:4 and 41:1) dedicated to the subject of high-density loudspeaker arrays (HDLAs). Lyon also curated the 2016 Computer Music Journal Sound Anthology, which was the first binaural anthology published by the CMJ.In 2011, Lyon was awarded a Giga-Hertz prize from ZKM, resulting in the creation of the 43-channel computer music composition Spirits. His 124-channel composition “The Cascades” was premiered in the Cube at the Virginia Tech Center for the Arts, and performed on the BEAST system at BEAST FEaST 2015 in Birmingham, and at the SARC Sonic Lab in Belfast at Sonorities/Speculations 2016. His multichannel composition "Spaced Images with Noise and Line" was selected for performance at MUSLAB 2015, and his computer music composition "Light Rain, Laganside" was selected for performance at the International Society for Contemporary Music’s 2016 World Music Days festival. Lyon was a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition. His music is available commercially on Everglade, Capstone Records, EMF, Isospin Labs Records, Sound’s Bounty, Centaur Records, Smart Noise Records, Ash International, Bohn Media, Northern Spy Recordings, Innova, and Ravello.Lyon has composed for such artists as Sarah Plum, Margaret Lancaster, The Noise Quartet, Ensemble mise-en, String Noise, The Crash Ensemble, Esther Lamneck, Kathleen Supové, Marianne Gythfeldt, Seth Parker Woods, and the String Orchestra of Brooklyn. He has taught computer music at Keio University, IAMAS, Dartmouth College, Manchester University, and Queen’s University Belfast. Currently, Lyon teaches in the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech, and is a faculty fellow at the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology.

Meaghan Burke, Cello

Hailed as “outstanding,” with a “street-smart, feline voice” (The New York Times), Meaghan Burke is a cellist, vocalist, and composer working in the space between contemporary music, improvised music, and songwriting. She is a founding member of the contemporary feminist string quartet The Rhythm Method, avant-grunge band Forever House, bi-hemispherical performance trio Dead Language, and Viennese songwriter collective Loose Lips Sink Ships. Meaghan recently released her second album of her original songs, "Creature Comforts," as well as Forever House's debut album "Eaves" and Loose Lips Sink Ships' self-titled debut.

Stephen Gosling, Piano

Stephen Gosling earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees at Juilliard, where he was awarded the Mennin Prize and Sony Elevated Standards Fellowship. He is a member of New York New Music Ensemble and Talea Ensemble, as well as a pianist at New York City Ballet. He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic (most notably as soloist in Messiaen’s Sept Haikaï), Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, American Composers Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, among many others.

Conrad Harris, Violin

Violinist Conrad Harris has performed new works for violin at Ostrava Days, Darmstadt Ferrienkürse für Neue Musik, Gulbenkian Encounters of New Music, Radio France, Warsaw Autumn, and New York's Sonic Boom Festival. In addition to being a member of the FLUX Quartet and violin duo String Noise, he is concertmaster/soloist with the S.E.M. Orchestra, Ostravská Banda, STX Ensemble, Wordless Music Orchestra and Ensemble LPR.

He has performed and recorded with such artists as Elliott Sharp, Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier, David Behrman "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Jean-Claude Risset, Rohan de Saram and Tiny Tim. His recordings of the Lejaren Hiller Violin Sonatas with pianist, Joseph Kubera will be released in 2018 on New World Records. He has also recorded for Asphodel, Vandenburg, CRI, and Vinyl Retentive Records.

Pauline Kim Harris, Violin

Pauline Kim Harris, aka PK or Pauline Kim is a GrammyTM-nominated violinist and composer. The youngest student to have ever been accepted into the studio of legendary violinist ‪Jascha Heifetz,‬ she has since appeared throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia as soloist, collaborator and music director‪. ‬Currently known for her work with classical avant-punk violin duo String Noise with her husband, Conrad Harris of the FLUX Quartet, she has toured extensively with ‪Orpheus Chamber Orchestra‬, has been a long standing member of the SEM Ensemble and OstravskaBanda in the Czech Republic and has been a guest artist with leading new music ensembles such as Talea, ICE, ‪Alarm Will Sound‬, Argento, TRANSIT,  Object Collection, Glass Farm Ensemble, Ensemble LPR, Wordless Music and Ensemble Signal in New York City.

Committed to the idea that music is one continuous lineage of expression and demonstration of time, Pauline has been dismantling the norm of expectation of a typical classical violinist by performing in concerts presented in museums, churches, nightclubs, out of doors, rooftops, pop-ups to major stages with an openness to genre. As a composer, Pauline searches for a tactile connection between memory and sound. Her music creates a multi-dimensional sonic matrix through composition, transporting the listener to an alternate co-existence. She introduces an environment that alters the listener’s emotional identity to what they are experiencing.

Active in the experimental music scene, her work extends into interdisciplinary worlds, crossing boundaries and connecting visual art, electronics, media, film and dance to music. She has premiered and recorded works by Alvin Lucier, ‪John Zorn‬, ‪Philip Glass‬, ‪Steve Reich‬, George Lewis, David Lang, Du Yun, Annie Gosfield and more.

Crossing over into the rock and pop worlds, she has played and recorded as collaborator and leader for ‪Jeff Beck‬, ‪Lenny Kravitz‬, ‪David Byrne‬ (Talking Heads), Jonny Greenwood (‪Radiohead‬), Greg Saunier (‪Deerhoof‬), ‪Tyondai Braxton‬, ‪Max Richter‬, ‪Gordon Gano‬ (‪Violent Femmes‬), ‪Jon Brion‬, Savion Glover, ‪Gabriel Kahane‬, Mica Levi (‪Micachu‬ and the Shapes), ‪Jay Z/Beyoncé‬, Adele, ‪Peter Gabriel‬, Somi, ‪Jane Siberry‬, Macy Grey, ‪Laurie Anderson‬, ‪Björk‬, ‪Roscoe Mitchell‬, ‪Max Richter‬, ‪Rostam Batmanglij‬ (‪Vampire Weekend‬), Michael Leonhart, ‪Placido Domingo‬, ‪Joni Mitchell‬, ‪John Cale‬ (‪Velvet Underground‬), Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin & Wood), ‪Jason Moran‬, ‪Dan Romer‬, ‪William Basinski‬, Jherek Bischoff, ‪Stars of the Lid‬, ‪Goldfrapp‬, ‪Chilly Gonzales, Louis Michot (Lost Bayou Ramblers), Kishi Bashi, Nico Muhly & Doveman, Nu Deco Ensemble and‬ with ‪Jónsi‬ Birgisson (‪Sigur Ros‬) in the fall of 2019.

Pauline was the first Music Director for the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company and has been the featured artist for choreographers David Parker, Kora Radella and Pam Tanowitz. She has performed at MASS MoCA, MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, iMOCA, ‪Baryshnikov Arts Center‬, Guggenheim, ‪The Drawing Center‬, Paula Cooper Gallery, Barnes Foundation, Brooklyn Museum and ‪Noguchi Museum‬ to name some. She has appeared at ‪Lincoln Center‬ Out of Doors, Ghent Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, ‪Lincoln Center‬ Festival, White Light Festival, Big Ears Festival, Liquid Music, Jacob's Pillow, Barbican, Miller Theater, Baryshnikov Center, DiMenna Classical Center, Symphony Space, Joyce Theater, Roulette, Issue Project Room, BAM, ‪Sydney Opera House‬, Library of Congress, FringeArts, ‪Lincoln Center‬, and Carnegie Hall.

Pauline moved to NYC at the age of 15 to study with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School and is currently a sought after mentor to dance and drama students through the Juilliard Mentoring Program.

Pauline’s solo debut album HEROINE is out now worldwide: www.sonoluminus.com

Dana Kelley, Viola

Violist Dana Kelley has been a top prizewinner in the Sphinx Music Competition and the Irving M. Klein International String Competition. She is a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and recently completed an Artist Diploma in String Quartet Studies from the Juilliard School as a member of the Argus Quartet. The Argus Quartet was named the First Prize Winners of both of the 2017 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, the 2017 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and were recipients of the 2018 Classical Recording Foundation Award and the 2018 Salon de Virtuosi Award. Dana was a 2014-2016 Fellow in Ensemble Connect - a performance and teaching program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute. She received her Bachelor’s of Music from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, studying violin with Cornelia Heard and viola with Kathryn Plummer, and completed her Master’s of Music degree at the New England Conservatory as a student of Kim Kashkashian. Dana has collaborated with artists such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Nobuko Imai, and Miriam Fried, and participated in Ravinia’s Steans Musicians on Tour. She frequently performs with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, A Far Cry, and The Knights chamber orchestras. She has attended festivals such as Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, the Lucerne Academy, the International Summer Academy of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the Schiermonnikoog International Chamber Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, and the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Free Admission (suggested donation: $20 | $10 students & seniors)

Carnegie Hill Concerts presents Chamber Music by Ramin Heydarbeygi performed by the Carnegie Hill Concerts Chamber Players at Church of the Advent Hope.

Carnegie Hill Concerts Chamber Players:

Christina Kay, Soprano

Conrad Harris, Violin

Pauline Kim Harris, Violin

Dana Kelley, Viola

Michael Haas, Cello

Stephen Gosling, Piano

Program:

String Quartet No. 2

WP 2017

Gefangene, Musik hörend

(after Käthe Kollwitz)

for two violins

WP 2019

Setayesh az Anahid

for string trio

2008

(revised version)

Avaz hay Nima

for voice and viola

2011/2019

Astvihad

for soprano and piano

2012

Rok-ku no haiku

2004/2019

for violin and piano

Program Notes:

The title of my song cycle, Astvihad (2012), in Old Persian, refers to the demon of death. I have used a number of poems that relate directly or indirectly to this subject. The collection of poems used for this song cycle are from the 9th century to present by Hafez, Sanai, Rudaki, Khoi, and Khaiyam. Astvihad was commissioned by Dr. Faustus for the “New Art Songs Project 2012,” and premiered on 8 May 2012 at WMP Concert Hall, New York, by Mary Hubbell, soprano, and Mirna Lekic, piano.

For many years I have been fascinated by the poetry of Nima, the father of modern Persian poetry. For me, his poems are musical, with distinct characters; however, once translated to other languages, these distinctions are lost. In many of his poems, including the three I have chosen for this cycle, there is an underlying dark, melancholic tone, which, in this case, unifies the selected poems. Avaz hay Nima (2009, rev 2019) was premiered by H. Roz Woll, voice, and William Hakim, viola, on 20 May 2009 at Elebash Concert Hall, New York. This performance marks the premiere of the revised version.

Gefangene, Musik hörend (after Käthe Kollwitz) (2019) centers on the notions of loss and memory. The title is based a work by German expressionist artist Käthe Kollwitz. Remembering what is lost when only its illusion exists in our memory or dreams is the central idea of this work. The musical element that represents the past is quotations and references made to JS Bach’s Sonata No. 3 for Solo Violin, at times latently. For this piece, I have suggested two performance versions, one is with inclusion of the first movement of Bach’s Sonata. This marks the first performance of this work.

Rok-ku no Haiku (2004-05, rev 2019) is in six movements, each movements expresses a different emotion. Despite the fact that there is a reference to Haiku in the title, this work, similar to my other works, should be viewed as Persian miniatures, an artistic expression found in classical poetry book illustration, as well as in poetic structures found rubai (or rubaiyat). Rok-ku no Haiku was first performed by Pauline Kim-Harris, violin, and Eric Huebner, piano, on 2 June 2005 at CAMI Hall, New York. This performance marks the premiere of the revised version.

Anahid, Anahita, Ab-Nahid, or Nahid, a Zoroastrian yazata, is an Iranian divinity, the one who “possesses waters,” and is the “mother of all knowledge,” and is celebrated in Aban Yasht, the longest of the Avestan hymns, verses from her hymn form the greater part of the Āban Niyayesh. Anahid was worshipped at many natural sanctuaries throughout Iranian territory. An Anahid temple, next to Shapur I’s palace at Bishapur, could be flooded with water, where Anahid was worshiped. This water-goddess and mother-goddess, responsible for life, was royally promoted and became widely popular. Artaxerxes II (404-359 B.C.) invoked Anahita, after Ahura Mazda and Mithra, and he encouraged her worship. Anahita has been a prominent figure in artistic representation and figures mainly in Zoroastrian literature. Setayesh az Anahid is a tribute to Nahid Jenabzadeh. The original version of this work was premiered by members of the Barbad Chamber Orchestra, Cyrus Beroukhim, violin, Miranda Sielaff, viola, and Arash Amini, violoncello, on 28 April 2010 at Steinway Reformed Church in Astoria, New York. This performance marks the premiere of the revised version.

String Quartet No. 2 (2017) consists of seven movements. In this work, a series of gestures in each movement leads to final movement, which is built as a strong closing gesture. This gesture brings the piece to a close in unison on a single note.

Ramin Heydarbeygi, Composer

Critics have described Ramin Heydarbeygi’s music as “rich and expressive” and “honest, direct and uncompromising”, and with “unique artistic voice . . . well crafted, probing, and rich in content.”  His music has been performed in Iran and throughout the US, and featured at international music festivals, including the Silk Road Modern, Icebreaker III Festival, Festival of Modern Music, and Composers Now Festival; and by Ensemble 365, the Cygnus Ensemble, the Seattle Chamber Players, Dr. Faustus Project, Anti-Depressant, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, the Transit, among others, and in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, and the New York Botanical Garden.

Recent commissions have included from the Dr. Faustus Project, the Next Stage, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Seattle Chamber Players.  He studied composition with Bruce Saylor, Leo Kraft, Thea Musgrave, and Paul Cooper, was previously a resident composer with the Next Stage Ensemble in New York, and the founding music director and conductor of the Barbad Chamber Orchestra.  With the Barbad Chamber Orchestra he has conducted a wide range of music from historically informed performances of the baroque to numerous world, US, and New York premieres by contemporary composers from around world.

Stephen Gosling, Piano

Stephen Gosling earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees at Juilliard, where he was awarded the Mennin Prize and Sony Elevated Standards Fellowship. He is a member of New York New Music Ensemble and Talea Ensemble, as well as a pianist at New York City Ballet. He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic (most notably as soloist in Messiaen’s Sept Haikaï), Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, American Composers Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, among many others.

Christina Kay, Soprano

Soprano Christina Kay is a versatile singer with a particular enthusiasm for early and contemporary music. She was recently seen as Daphne in David Chesky’s new satirical opera, La Farranucci, and as Lead Singer in Petr Kotik’s chamber opera, Master-Pieces, for which she was praised for portraying a “vital, intelligent, generous and deeply rewarding” Gertrude Stein. In May 2019, Christina sang the premiere of Hannah Selin’s Six Narratives with the Brooklyn Metro Chamber Orchestra, a piece written for six female soloists with text by Adrienne Rich. An active soloist and chorister, she has sung with many professional groups, including ARTEK, The American Classical Orchestra, and True Concord Voices and Orchestra. She enjoys her weekly position at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and is active as a voice teacher and arts administrator in the NYC-area. 

Conrad Harris, Violin

Violinist Conrad Harris has performed at Ostrava Days, Darmstadt Ferrienkürse für Neue Musik, Gulbenkian Encounters of New Music, Radio France, Warsaw Autumn, and NY Sonic Boom Festival. He is member of the FLUX Quartet and violin duo String Noise, concertmaster/soloist with the S.E.M. Orchestra, Ostravská Banda, STX Ensemble, Wordless Music Orchestra and Ensemble LPR. He has performed and recorded with Elliott Sharp, Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Jean-Claude Risset, Rohan de Saram and Tiny Tim. A recording of the sonatas of Lejaren Hiller was released in 2018 with pianist Joe Kubera on New World Records. Harris has also recorded for Lovely, Mode, Asphodel, Vandenburg, CRI, Northern Spy, and Vinyl Retentive Records.

Pauline Kim Harris, Violin

Pauline Kim Harris is a violinist and composer, prolific in the classical to the experimental/avant-garde. A frequent guest with New York City’s leading new music ensembles, she has also toured internationally with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Pauline serves as Music Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and has performed as violin soloist for choreographer Pam Tanowitz and David Parker of The Bang Group. As a curator, she co-produced Drawing Sounds II, with husband, Conrad Harris at the Drawing Center, Petr Kotik @75 at (le) poisson rouge and continues as co-curator of Carnegie Hill Concerts, a chamber music series committed to new music. Her violin duo, String Noise released their freshman album “The Book of Strange Positions” on Northern Spy Records in 2015 and can also be heard on Dymaxion Groove Records, Cold Blue Music and more. Pauline has discovered an equal passion for composing as performing and is thrilled to be a resident fellow this spring at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Commissioned by the St. George’s Choral Society her piece for organ, choir, cello and soprano, “When We Were” was premiered in 2016. She is currently making a new work for String Noise and Syrinx (acoustic synthesizer) "100 Thimbles in a Box" to be premiered on the Interpretations Series at Roulette on June 6, which will also include new works for String Noise by Sam Yulsman, Jessie Cox and George Lewis. A collection of even more new works will be presented July 9-13 on her first residency at The Stone and look out for her debut solo album on Sono Luminus Label later this summer. Fun fact: Pauline was in the final masterclass of Jascha Heifetz.

Dana Kelley, Viola

Violist Dana Kelley has been a top prizewinner in the Sphinx Music Competition and the Irving M. Klein International String Competition. She is a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and recently completed an Artist Diploma in String Quartet Studies from the Juilliard School as a member of the Argus Quartet. The Argus Quartet was named the First Prize Winners of both of the 2017 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, the 2017 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and were recipients of the 2018 Classical Recording Foundation Award and the 2018 Salon de Virtuosi Award. Dana was a 2014-2016 Fellow in Ensemble Connect - a performance and teaching program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute. She received her Bachelor’s of Music from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, studying violin with Cornelia Heard and viola with Kathryn Plummer, and completed her Master’s of Music degree at the New England Conservatory as a student of Kim Kashkashian. Dana has collaborated with artists such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Nobuko Imai, and Miriam Fried, and participated in Ravinia’s Steans Musicians on Tour.  She frequently performs with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, A Far Cry, and The Knights chamber orchestras. She has attended festivals such as Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, the Lucerne Academy, the International Summer Academy of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the Schiermonnikoog International Chamber Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. 

Michael Haas, Cello

Hailed as a “sterling musician” by the Washington Post, cellist Michael Haas has performed for audiences in New York and around the world. As a member of the acclaimed Momenta Quartet he has premiered works by over 100 living composers and performed internationally at the Cervantino Festival, Ostrava Days Festival, Bolivia’s Instituto Laredo, and at Salihara in Jakarta. He can be seen in New York with a wide range of ensembles, including the American Symphony, Ensemble Échappé, Mark Morris Dance Group, Argento Chamber Ensemble, and Trinity Wall Street's NOVUS NY. Mr. Haas holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and Juilliard School.

Free Admission (suggested donation: $20 | $10 students & seniors)

Carnegie Hill Concerts presents music by Catherine Lamb feat. Carnegie Hill Concerts Chamber Players:

Conrad Harris, Violin

Joshua Modney, Violin

Eric Wubbels, Piano

PROGRAM:

in (tone) for Two Violins (2012)

Prisma Interius VII for Violin and Synthesizer (NY Premiere) (2018)

in (tone) (2012) was written during a phase of trying to comprehend, or discover, overlays or saturations of similar qualities in harmonic colorations. Searching for the moments where monochromatic points of brilliant intensities drift into after-images and resultant vibrations of the other by taking simplified and otherwise very activated and sympathetic resonances around multiples of 3 and unisons, displacing them towards their extremes by their close proximities sounding together, compressed.  All the possible saturations of yellow and white together in one space, perhaps, with a slight shift into orange.

Prisma Interius VII (2018), commissioned by Hellqvist/Amaral duo, comes from a series of nine pieces exploring the role of the secondary rainbow synthesizer, a keyboard instrument that is placing resonant band pass filters with high Qs on whatever the microphones just outside of the listening space are capturing. In each piece the role changes slightly. While mostly the pieces are exploring its bridging potential between the harmonic space made clear by the main voices and the surrounding environment (highlighting or basso continuo instrument), in VII it becomes an actual duo between violin and synthesizer, each phrase an unfurling form as one color shifting into another, and its smeared residue.

The intention is to narrow the (our own) filters and to approach a kind of thread that could have a feeling of an infinite space. from one inner point of listening, being very individual and personal—from that point one could listen with the others into the outer atmosphere and see the connectivity of everything. that’s ideal. that’s what i am trying to find, that space. what is the limit of connectivity from one point to the absolute, outside…

Violinist Conrad Harris has performed new works for violin at Ostrava Days, Darmstadt Ferrienkürse für Neue Musik, Gulbenkian Encounters of New Muisic, Radio France, Warsaw Autumn, and New York’s Sonic Boom Festival. In addition to being a member of the FLUX Quartet, he is concertmaster/soloist with the S.E.M Ensemble, Ostravská Banda, and STX Ensemble. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Elliott Sharp, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Jean-Clause Risset, Rohan de Saram, and Tiny Tim. A solo CD featuring premiers by Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, Robert Ashley and Gordon Mumma will soon be released on Mode Records. He has also recorded for Asphodel, Vandenburg, CRI, and Vinyl Retentive Records.

Eric Wubbels is a composer and pianist, and a Co-Director of the Wet Ink Ensemble. His music has been performed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the U.S., by groups such as Wet Ink Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, yarn|wire, Splinter Reeds, Kupka's Piano (AUS), SCENATET (DK), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and featured on festivals including Huddersfield Festival, Chicago Symphony MusicNOW, New York Philharmonic CONTACT, MATA Festival, and Zurich Tage für Neue Musik.

As a performer, he has given U.S. and world premieres of works by major figures such as Peter Ablinger, Richard Barrett, Beat Furrer, George Lewis, and Mathias Spahlinger, as well as vital young artists such as Rick Burkhardt, Francesco Filidei, Erin Gee, Bryn Harrison, Clara Iannotta, Darius Jones, Cat Lamb, Ingrid Laubrock, Charmaine Lee, Alex Mincek, Sam Pluta, Katharina Rosenberger, and Kate Soper.

He has recorded for Carrier Records, hatART, Intakt, New Focus, Spektral (Vienna),  quiet design, and Albany Records, among others, and has held teaching positions at Amherst College and Oberlin Conservatory.

Josh Modney is a violinist devoted to creative musicmaking. A “new-music luminary,” “superb violinist” (The New York Times), and “multitasking virtuoso” (The New Yorker) hailed for “jaw-dropping technical skill…” and as “one of today’s most intrepid experimentalists” (Bandcamp Daily), Modney collaborates with a wide array of renowned ensembles and artists as part of a broad scene of adventurous music that thrives at the nexus of composition, improvisation, and interpretation.

Modney is violinist and Executive Director of the Wet Ink Ensemble and a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and performed with the Mivos Quartet for eight years, a vital new-music string quartet he co-founded in 2008.

Modney’s playing has been featured on a wide variety of outstanding recordings, including titles on Carrier Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Sound American, hat[now]ART, Nonesuch, and Tzadik Records. Modney’s 2017 release of improvised chamber music with guitarist Patrick Higgins (ZS), EVRLY MVSIC (NNA Tapes), earned praise for its “clairvoyant connection and sheer instrumental prowess” (The Quietus), and his 2018 triple-CD debut solo release, Engage (New Focus Recordings) was lauded by The New York Times as “one of the most intriguing programs of the year”.

Catherine Lamb (b. 1982, Olympia, Wa, U.S.), is a composer exploring the interaction of elemental tonal material and the variations in presence between shades and beings in a room. She has been studying and composing music since a young age. In 2003 she turned away from the conservatory in an attempt to understand the structures and intonations within Hindustani Classical Music, later finding Mani Kaul in 2006 who was directly connected to Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and whose philosophical approach to sound became important to her. She studied (experimental) composition at the California Institute of the Arts (2004-2006) under James Tenney and Michael Pisaro, who were both integral influences. It was there also that she began her work into rational Harmonic Space, which became a clear way to investigate the interaction of tones and ever-fluctuating shapes, where these interactions in and of them-selves became structural elements in her work. Since then she has written various ensemble pieces (at times with liminal electronic portions) and continues to go further into elemental territories, through various kinds of research, collaboration, and practice (herself as a violist). She received her MFA from the Milton Avery School of Fine Arts at Bard College in 2012 and is currently residing in Berlin, Germany.

Free Admission (suggested donation: $20 | $10 students & seniors)

Carnegie Hill Concerts Chamber Players join composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Toby Driver, in an evening of innovative and virtuosic twenty-first-century chamber music, presenting a the full set of compositions from Toby Driver’s most recent album, They Are the Shield.

Carnegie Hill Concerts Chamber Players:

Brian Chase, drums

Will Healy, piano

Conrad Harris, violin

Pauline Kim Harris, violin

Program:

Anamnesis Park

Glyph

470 Nanometers

Scaffold of Digital Snow

Smoke-Scented Mycelium

The Knot

Boys on the Hill (from last record)

Eptaceros (from first solo record)

—

Read what Sputnik has to say about “They Are the Shield”—now ranked as the #1 album of the year in every genre via one of the largest online ratings sites:

“Toby Driver of maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot (along with a slew of other projects) released his first solo album in over a decade just last year. What the excellent Madonnawhore began was a new dimension to the versatile songwriter’s avant-garde and forward-thinking music. It consisted of ghostly songs and a stripped down instrumental line-up, possessing a level of intimacy that was previously unexplored by Driver. His first solo album in over a decade could be considered his most straightforward release by embodying a consistent tone and style from beginning to end, which maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot have avoided. They Are the Shieldexpands on the wistfulness of its predecessor for more complex and dynamic songwriting. Unique soundscapes come alive through an interplay of violins and sublime ambiance, particularly in album opener "Anamnesis Park." Nearly six minutes go by before the singing and main groove of the song even begins, but the violin and keyboard centric intro is so captivating and well-structured that it feels completely natural.

The unconventional writing Driver is known for is at its strongest here, as it is in the best work by maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot. Violins, guitars, and keyboards drift in and out of playing solo or layered together in a uniquely beautiful way. “Glyph” is a lush, sorrowful piece featuring one of Driver’s most impressive vocal performances. The track crescendos with a cinematic slow dance between achingly gorgeous violins and atmospheric guitar tones. Some moments on the first half sound faintly influenced by early Godspeed You! Black Emperor and later-day Talk Talk in rewarding fashion. “470 Nanometers” is a more energetic piece and an album highlight, reminiscent of the maudlin of the Well reunion album Part the Second, with dazzling guitar and violin playing and grooving drums.

While retaining focus, They Are the Shield is able to explore a wide range of dynamics, from unsettling ambient sections to uptempo passages of a kind of undefined middle ground between chamber music and post-rock. Driver lets the influences of contemporary experimental groups and composers like Ulver and Max Richter seep in while making something wholly original. “Scaffold of Digital Snow” possesses a kind of mystique as it begins with solo violin and guitar chords, then transitions to a soaring middle section of stunning string arrangements with singing by Bridget Bellavia, the multi-talented collaborator with Driver on their dark electronic music project Piggy Black Cross. “The Knot” is an ambient ballad that closes the album on an emotional note, as the track builds to a stunning climax that shows the range of Driver’s singing voice and an ethereal blend of piano, violin, and synth tones.

They Are the Shield does what any musical successor should do, by evolving from what came before. Madonnawhore was great in its own right, and what Toby Driver has made here is even more expansive and cinematic, with an unpredictable nature somewhat reminiscent of his other projects. As elegant and alluring as the record sounds, it is not without unsettling and strange moments as well, particularly in the eerie “Smoke-Scented Mycelium.” Each listener will glean something different from the album, including the abstract and mysterious lyrics. Toby Driver continues to prove that he’s an uncompromising artist, obviously not averse to trying new musical ideas but remaining focused on the emotional impact and beauty of what a piece can express. They Are the Shield finds Toby Driver continuing to evolve as a solo artist, with masterful string arrangements and gorgeous atmospheres for one of the finest albums of the year.”

Everything is fluid, the only constant is change, you can't step in the same river twice. Many people hold these truths to be self-evident, and as these ideas become even more more commonplace, it only makes sense that musicians should defy the demand to answer the question "Who are you?" The refusal to answer is, in a way, the best answer possible. Toby Driver's music is what that refusal sounds like.

Having grown up in the Northeast US, surrounded by a confusing combination of progressive social values and religious upbringing, haunted history's abandoned places and nowhere to stop the car even just to take a look, Driver developed an adventurous mind fascinated with exploration, rule breaking, and the unknown. Music was present since birth, through his parents' LP collection, and became a study at age eight following in his older brother's footsteps, whose mere 11-month age difference led to literally everything being shared. It was perhaps here that Driver's urge to discover his own self was stoked.

He studied composition at the experimental school, Hampshire College, with the jazz legend Yusef Lateef, whose unorthodox and innovative artistic practices encouraged Driver's search to become even more vigorous, and he developed a style characterized by imposing architecture and a distinct approach to time, focusing on ensemble performances of grand conducted phrases and impressionistic pulse, strongly influenced by Lateef's sense of harmony–ideas which he later compressed into virtuosic and complex rhythmic counterpoint. Whereas most musicians identify themselves by their chosen genre, Driver's rejection of idioms has resulted in a vast, unpredictable discography full of risks and liberties that invokes influences from every age and place while never settling on one palette of colors, and a career that has brought his music to a considerable breadth of venues, from thousands-capacity metal festivals to classical concert halls, and from basement concerts to the 57th Biennale di Venezia. It is in retrospect then, where the fullest picture of Driver's mission comes into focus: the navigation of his own identity and purpose, the discovery of which aspects are fluid and which are inescapable, and the sustained repetitive insistence of a person's voice and personality passing through environments and time.

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Brian Chase is a drummer and composer living in Brooklyn. His diverse range of work includes that with Grammy nominated rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the community of the New York experimental music scene, and Drums and Drones, an electroacoustic project focusing on the application of the just intonation tuning system to drums and percussion. Performances have taken him across the world to such notable stages as the Sydney Opera House, Reading and Leeds Festivals, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Counted among these are innumerable DIY and independent art spaces of music’s “underground” communities. Recorded works include several with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many albums with leading improvisors. In 2018, Brian released Drums and Drones: Decade, a triple album with 144 page book, covering the first ten years of Drums and Drones. This album was the debut release on his own label, Chaikin Records, which was followed by a duo album with saxophonist Catherine Sikora. As an educator, Brian was a visiting professor at Bennington College and guest lecturer at So Percussion’s Summer Institute at Princeton University. Writings have appeared in John Zorn’s Arcana, Modern Drummer Magazine, and Talkhouse. Performer and artist residencies have been held at The Stone and Headlands Center for the Arts. Away from the drums, Brian is a regular practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga.

www.chasebrian.com | www.chaikinrecords.com

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Will Healy is a composer and pianist based in New York. Noted for his "lushly bluesy" sound and "adroitly blended... textures" (New York Times), he is the artistic director of ShoutHouse, a collective of hip-hop, jazz, and classical musicians. After playing trumpet in an Afrobeat band for a few years, he grew interested in collaborating with performers from many corners of the New York music scene. In addition, he is an accomplished pianist specializing in Bach, with a repertoire that includes the complete Goldberg Variations and WTC Book 1. Healy was the recipient of the Richard Rodgers Scholarship at The Juilliard School, where he studied with John Corigliano, Steven Stucky, and Samuel Adler. He has also studied with Kevin Puts, Harold Meltzer, and Richard Wilson.

Recent awards include a 2017 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an ASCAP Morton Gould Award, the W.K. Rose Fellowship, a JFund commission from the American Composers Forum, and prizes in the Juilliard and Kaleidoscope Orchestra Composition Competitions. He was the recipient of the Aaron Copland Prize from the Bogliasco Foundation in 2018, and has been a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute, and the L.A. Phil’s National Composers Intensive. Healy’s work has appeared at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Apollo, on the NY Philharmonic’s Biennial series, on "New Sounds" with John Schaefer (WNYC) and "Making Music" (WBAI), and more. He studied piano for many years with Dennis Malone at the Crestwood Music School.

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Violinist Conrad Harris has performed new works for violin at Ostrava Days, Darmstadt Ferrienkürse für Neue Musik, Gulbenkian Encounters of New Muisic, Radio France, Warsaw Autumn, and New York’s Sonic Boom Festival. In addition to being a member of the FLUX Quartet, he is concertmaster/soloist with the S.E.M Ensemble, Ostravská Banda, and STX Ensemble. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Elliott Sharp, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Jean-Clause Risset, Rohan de Saram, and Tiny Tim. A solo CD featuring premiers by Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, Robert Ashley and Gordon Mumma will soon be released on Mode Records. He has also recorded for Asphodel, Vandenburg, CRI, and Vinyl Retentive Records.

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Pauline Kim Harris is a violinist and composer, prolific in the classical to the experimental/avant-garde. A frequent guest with New York City’s leading new music ensembles, she has also toured internationally with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Pauline serves as Music Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and has performed as violin soloist for choreographer Pam Tanowitz and David Parker of The Bang Group. As a curator, she co-produced Drawing Sounds II, with husband, Conrad Harris at the Drawing Center, Petr Kotik @75 at (le) poisson rouge and continues as co-curator of Carnegie Hill Concerts, a chamber music series committed to new music. Her violin duo, String Noise released their freshman album The Book of Strange Positions on Northern Spy Records in 2015 and can also be heard on Dymaxion Groove Records, Cold Blue Music and more. Pauline has discovered an equal passion for composing as performing and is thrilled to be a resident fellow this spring at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Commissioned by the St. George’s Choral Society her piece for organ, choir, cello and soprano, “When We Were” was premiered in 2016. She is currently making a new work for String Noise and Syrinx (acoustic synthesizer) "100 Thimbles in a Box" to be premiered on the Interpretations Series at Roulette on June 6, which will also include new works for String Noise by Sam Yulsman, Jessie Cox and George Lewis. A collection of even more new works will be presented July 9-13 on her first residency at The Stone and look out for her debut solo album on Sono Luminus Label later this summer. Fun fact: Pauline was in the final masterclass of Jascha Heifetz.