The third annual Avant Music Festival celebrates the 100th birthday of John Cage, the centennial of the premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and contemporary experimental works by Randy Gibson, Eve Beglarian, and Jenny Olivia Johnson
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012
Randy Gibson’s Circular Trance Surrounding The Second Pillar with The Highest Seventh Primal Cirrus, The Utmost Fundamental, and The Ekmeles Ending from Apparitions Of The Four Pillars
Video by Oscar Henriquez. Commissioned and Performed by Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble – Mellissa Hughes, soprano; Linda Lee Jones, soprano; Eric S. Brenner, soprano/countertenor; Patrick Fennig, countertenor; Matthew Hensrud, tenor; Jeffrey Gavett, baritone and director; Steven Hrycelak, bass with sine wave drones.
This piece is an Avant-Premiere, an updated and expanded version from the World Premiere at Music At First.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2012
Celebrating John Cage at 100
4pm: John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes
Vicky Chow, Piano
5.30pm: Composer Roundtable moderated by Megan Schubert
Eve Beglarian, Randy Gibson, and Jenny Olivia Johnson discuss John Cage, Contemporary Music, and the working life of a Composer. This is a free event. It will also be livestreamed.
8pm: Cage, Unlocked
· John Cage: Living Room Music
loadbang – Alejandro T. Acierto, Andrew Kozar, William Lang, Jeffrey Gavett.
· John Cage: Concert for Piano and Orchestra
Vicky Chow, piano – loadbang, Drew Blumberg, and additional performers tbd.
· John Cage: Ryoanji
William Lang, trombone; Megan Schubert, voice; Randy Gibson, percussion.
· John Cage: Nocturne
Vicky Chow, piano; Drew Blumberg, violin.
· John Cage: number piece to be determined
Program co-curated with Festival composers: Living Room Music (Johnson), Ryoanji (Gibson), Nocturne (Beglarian).
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012
Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire
The Pierrot Project: Megan Schubert, sprechstimme; Nicole Camacho, flutes; Alejandro T. Acierto, clarinets; Josh Modney, violin and viola; Mariel Roberts, cello; Chris Goddard, piano.
2012 is the 100th Anniversary of the World Premiere of Pierrot Lunaire.
Jenny Olivia Johnson: An After School Vespers: 4 Songs on Youth/Sex/Death
Includes the works: Cutter, Dollar Beers (Redondo Beach ’96), After School Vespers (Solemn), Starling.
The Pierrot Project: Megan Schubert and Lucy McVeigh, sopranos; Jude Traxler, percussion; Jeffrey Gavett, conductor; Jenny Olivia Johnson, electronics.
After School Vespers (Solemn) is a World Premiere, and was written for the festival performance.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012
Eve Beglarian’s Songs from The River and Elsewhere
Eve Beglarian, voice; Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble – Megan Schubert, soprano; Rachel Calloway, mezzo soprano; Eric S. Brenner, soprano/countertenor; Jeffrey Gavett, baritone and director; Vicky Chow, piano; Ana Milosavljevic, violin.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012
Randy Gibson’s The Third Pillar in Primal Imperfect Palindrome with The Souvenir of The Second Pillar, The Floating Cirrus over the Pumping Slush, and The Highest Moving Chordal Motif from Apparitions of the Four Pillars
Video by Oscar Henriquez. William Lang, trombone with sine wave drones and digital delay.