Guest Artist Recital
Seattle Modern Orchestra:
May 13, 2011 - 7:30 PM
Meany Theater
$15 general; $10 students and seniors. Notecard
Buy Tickets
The Seattle Modern Orchestra, led by co-artistic directors and School
of Music alumni Julia Tai and Jeremy Jolley, performs works by
Saariaho, Scelsi,
Berio, and Ligeti. Soloists include Clifford Dunn, flute; Michael Lim, violin; Maria Mannisto, soprano; Valerie Muzzolini Gordon, harp; and Matthew Kocmieroski and Gunnar Folsom, percussions.
The Seattle Modern Orchestra’s season finale “20th Century Concerti?” includes concerti of various forms. What is a concerto? Is it purely a solo instrument with an orchestra, or could it be a solo instrument with electronic sounds? What are the roles of the soloist and the ensemble – are they clearly defined? How can they interact with each other in the most unconventional ways? This concert will make you re-think the musical genre of the Concerto and take you through the different ideas that composers have come up with to redefine the form. Through this musical tour we hope to achieve the mission of every Seattle Modern Orchestra concert: to give you a new perspective on what music can be!
PROGRAM DETAIL
Saariaho: NoaNoa for Flute and Electronics
Clifford Dunn, flute
Scelsi: Anahit for Violin and 18 Instruments
Michael Lim, violin
Berio: Circles for Soprano, Harp and Percussions
Maria Mannisto, soprano; Valerie Muzzolini Gordon, harp; Matthew Kocmieroski and Gunnar Folsom, percussions
Ligeti: Chamber Concerto
ARTIST BIOS:
Seattle Modern Orchestra
Led by Co-Artistic Directors and School of Music alumni Julia Tai and Jeremy Jolley, the Seattle Modern Orchestra is dedicated to presenting musical masterpieces of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Orchestra's mission is to provide Seattle audiences with live performances of the best in contemporary chamber and orchestral music, music seldom if ever performed in Seattle until now.
Jeremy Jolley
French-American composer Jeremy Jolley grew up in the French Alps where he played guitar in rock and fusion bands. He moved to Seattle to pursue his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music degrees in Composition from the University of Washington, where he was the recipient of the Brechemin Scholarship in Music as well as the William Bergsma Endowment for Excellence in Music Composition. During that time he studied composition with Joël-François Durand, electronic music with Juan Pampin, and classical guitar with Steven Novacek.
Jolley was awarded a residency in the 2008 Jack Straw Artist Support Program for his work in the improvisation and experimental ensemble Unused Lexical Variable. His works have been performed by the celebrated Dutch pianist René Eckhart as well as the JACK Quartet. Most recently, he followed the master classes of Brian Ferneyhough, Chaya Czernowin, Pierluigi Billone, and Mark André at the 2010 Darmstadt Internationalen Ferienkurse, where he wrote a new work for cello solo for Fathom Trio’s Moritz Müllenbach, and a clarinet and voice duo for Chirstie Finn and Felix Behringer.
Julia Tai
Julia Tai has established herself as one of the most capable young conductors on the international stage. Her career has led to acclaimed performances and rehearsals with both professional and youth orchestras around the world, including the American Youth Symphony, Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Estonian National Youth Symphony, New Symphony Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Carlos Chávez. She was a conducting participant in the renowned Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice at the New England Conservatory, and a quarter finalist in the fourth Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition in Mexico.
A champion of contemporary music, Tai has premiered many works with the Seattle Chamber Players, Seattle Experimental Opera, and the Affinity Ensemble of the Washington Composers Forum.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Tai began her violin studies at age four and piano at eight. She gave many recitals and performed concerts with choirs and orchestras, touring extensively in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, United States, Japan, and Taiwan. She received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where she was honored with the departmental award of “Outstanding Graduate of 2004.” She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington, where she served as the principal conductor of the Contemporary Ensemble, the assistant conductor of the University Symphony, as well as the conductor in the productions of Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Kurt Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden.
PERFORMER BIOS
Clifford Dunn, flute
Clifford Dunn is a flautist and composer. He has premiered many works and worked with many of the world’s most prominent flautists, including Anne LaBerge (for three years in Amsterdam), Robert Dick, Jos Zwaanenburg, Matthias Ziegler, Wil Offermans, Hal Ott, and Paul Taub. He performs on a Brannen expanded Kingma-System flute with ten additional keys, which made possible of multiphonics, and timbrel expansion. Cliff is interested in cutting-edge new music and performance art. He has done extensive interdisciplinary works such as creating music for theater, dance, and text-settings. His musical influences include George Crumb, John Zorn, The Beatles, David Dramm, Charles Ives, Radiohead, Ned McGowan, Shostakovich, Brad Mehldau, Doctor Nerve, Primus, Eric Dolphy, Mr. Bungle, and many others. Apart from being a musician, Cliff is a passionate vegan, politically progressive/socialist, a city-bicyclist, and a world-traveler.
Gunnar Folsom, percussion
Gunnar Folsom is one of the Pacific Northwest's most in-demand percussionists. He is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and performs frequently with the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera, the Tacoma Symphony, the Northwest Sinfonietta, and the Bellingham Festival of Music. As a chamber musician, Gunnar has performed with John Taverner and the Tallis Scholars, The Ensemble Sospeso, the Seattle Chamber Players, Sorelle, the Seattle Modern Orchestra, the Annis Bay Music Festival, and the Festival Chamber Music Society at Merkin Hall in New York. He is a founding member of Pacific Rims, a percussion quartet based in Seattle. Additionally, he can be heard on countless movie and video game soundtracks such as Die Hard With A Vengeance, Runaway Jury, Drag Me To Hell, Enter the Matrix, and Halo III. Gunnar devotes much of his career to teaching and mentoring young musicians. His private students have competed at the state level and many have gone on to study at conservatories throughout the country. He serves on the faculty of the University of Puget Sound, as well as the Marrowstone music festival, and the Mid-Summer Musical Retreat. He has given master classes at Western Washington University, the University of Puget Sound, and was a regular clinician for Brass Band Northwest. Gunnar is a percussion coach for the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras: the largest youth symphony organization in the country. He has previously served on the faculties of Music Works Northwest, Marrowstone In The City, and the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine. Gunnar received a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Christopher Lamb, Duncan Patton, and Don Liuzzi.
Valerie Muzzolini Gordon
Valerie Muzzolini Gordon is Principal Harp of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, a position which she has held since the age of twenty-three. In demand both nationally and internationally, she has performed as guest Principal Harp of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France and the Nice Philharmonic, and has also appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra. As soloist, she has performed with the Seattle Symphony, The Nice Philharmonic, and the Vancouver Symphony. Valerie has performed at prestigious festivals worldwide, including Tanglewood and Verbier, Switzerland, and has played under the batons of such renowned conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, and Bernard Haitink. An active chamber musician and avid proponent of new music, she performs regularly with the Seattle Chamber Players, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Music of Remembrance. Born in Nice, France, Valerie began her musical education at the Nice Conservatory, from which she received top honors. She continued her studies at the Curtis Institute with Marilyn Costello and Judy Loman, followed by graduate work at Yale University with Nancy Allen.
Matthew Kocmieroski, percussion
Matthew Kocmieroski is principal percussionist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra. He regularly performs with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and the Auburn Symphony and is also currently the President of the International Guild of Symphony, Opera and Ballet Musicians. In the field of chamber music he served for ten years as artistic director and percussionist of the New Performance Group, and was a founding member of both Taneko and Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet. In the Northwest he regularly performs with the Seattle Chamber Players, and has appeared at the Seattle Chamber Music Society Festivals, the Icicle Creek Music Festival, the Marrowstone Music Festival, the Methow Music Festival, the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, the Seattle International Chamber Music Festival and the Bellingham Festival of Music. Internationally he has appeared at the Bergen, Moscow Autumn, Moscow Cold Alternativa, St. Petersburg's Sound Waves, Kiev MusicFest and Warsaw Autumn festivals. One of the greatest satisfactions Matthew has had is his work with numerous composers on their music and the emergence of a number of new works and recordings from these collaborations. He may be heard on many recordings of chamber music, orchestral music and on a wide variety of both Major and Independent motion picture, television, and video game soundtracks.
Maria Mannisto
Maria Mannisto has an extensive performing history as an opera singer, concert soloist, pianist and organist. She received her Masters degree in voice from the University of Washington in 2009, studying under renowned soprano Jane Eaglen. She has appeared in productions of Lakme (Ellen), Norma (Clotilde), La finta giardiniera (Sandrina), Suor Angelica (La Zelatrice), scenes from Rigoletto (Gilda) and La traviata (Violetta), and as soprano soloist in Reich's Tehillim, Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire, Berio's O King, and Bach's Mass in B Minor. In 2010 she performed with the Seattle Modern Orchestra in Steve Reich's Tehillim. Maria has been featured in two operas with Seattle Experimental Opera: The Gospel of the Red-Hot Stars in 2006 and Hunger: The Journey of Tamsen Donner in 2008, both by local composer Tom Baker. She has also performed in operas by numerous other Seattle composers including Wayne Horvitz, Bill Smith, Garrett Fisher, and Brian Cobb. In 2007 she was awarded the Finlandia Foundation Performer of the Year, which provided her with the opportunity to perform recitals around the United States, Canada and Finland. Maria was a finalist in the 2010 Kanagsniemi Song Competition in Kangasniemi, Finland.
Michael Jinsoon Lim
Praised by Gramophone for playing with "delicious abandon," and described as "bewitching" by the Seattle Times, violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim enjoys a dynamic musical career as concertmaster, soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. Acclaimed for his role as concertmaster of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra in Seattle ("beautifully executed, clear violin solos" - Dance International), Lim is also in demand as a chamber musician and as a performer of new and experimental music ("a formidable violinist who gave a knockout reading of Davidovsky's Synchronisms No. 9" - The Stranger). He is co-founder of the acclaimed Corigliano Quartet and a member of Open End, a New York City-based ensemble specializing in contemporary music and improvisation. As a member of the Corigliano Quartet, Lim has enjoyed critical acclaim across the U.S. and abroad and has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming. The Corigliano Quartet has performed in the nation's leading music centers, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center. The quartet's Naxos label CD, featuring string quartet works by John Corigliano and Jefferson Friedman, was named as one of The New Yorker's Top Ten Classical Recordings of the Year. Lim received his formal training at Indiana University, where he studied with the legendary violinist and teacher Josef Gingold. While at Indiana, he won First Prize in the school's Violin Concerto Competition and served on the faculty as a Visiting Lecturer. Lim later studied chamber music at the Juilliard School and taught there as an assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. He currently serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts, where he teaches violin and chamber music. Lim has recorded for Naxos, DreamWorks, Albany Records, CRI, Bayer Records, and Aguava New Music, and appears on numerous television and film soundtracks, including the Oscar-winning score to Brokeback Mountain. He has been heard on NPR programs such as Performance Today and All Things Considered. Lim currently lives in Seattle with his wife, violist Melia Watras.
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Berio, and Ligeti. Soloists include Clifford Dunn, flute; Michael Lim, violin; Maria Mannisto, soprano; Valerie Muzzolini Gordon, harp; and Matthew Kocmieroski and Gunnar Folsom, percussions.
The Seattle Modern Orchestra’s season finale “20th Century Concerti?” includes concerti of various forms. What is a concerto? Is it purely a solo instrument with an orchestra, or could it be a solo instrument with electronic sounds? What are the roles of the soloist and the ensemble – are they clearly defined? How can they interact with each other in the most unconventional ways? This concert will make you re-think the musical genre of the Concerto and take you through the different ideas that composers have come up with to redefine the form. Through this musical tour we hope to achieve the mission of every Seattle Modern Orchestra concert: to give you a new perspective on what music can be!
PROGRAM DETAIL
Saariaho: NoaNoa for Flute and Electronics
Clifford Dunn, flute
Scelsi: Anahit for Violin and 18 Instruments
Michael Lim, violin
Berio: Circles for Soprano, Harp and Percussions
Maria Mannisto, soprano; Valerie Muzzolini Gordon, harp; Matthew Kocmieroski and Gunnar Folsom, percussions
Ligeti: Chamber Concerto
ARTIST BIOS:
Seattle Modern Orchestra
Led by Co-Artistic Directors and School of Music alumni Julia Tai and Jeremy Jolley, the Seattle Modern Orchestra is dedicated to presenting musical masterpieces of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Orchestra's mission is to provide Seattle audiences with live performances of the best in contemporary chamber and orchestral music, music seldom if ever performed in Seattle until now.
Jeremy Jolley
French-American composer Jeremy Jolley grew up in the French Alps where he played guitar in rock and fusion bands. He moved to Seattle to pursue his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music degrees in Composition from the University of Washington, where he was the recipient of the Brechemin Scholarship in Music as well as the William Bergsma Endowment for Excellence in Music Composition. During that time he studied composition with Joël-François Durand, electronic music with Juan Pampin, and classical guitar with Steven Novacek.
Jolley was awarded a residency in the 2008 Jack Straw Artist Support Program for his work in the improvisation and experimental ensemble Unused Lexical Variable. His works have been performed by the celebrated Dutch pianist René Eckhart as well as the JACK Quartet. Most recently, he followed the master classes of Brian Ferneyhough, Chaya Czernowin, Pierluigi Billone, and Mark André at the 2010 Darmstadt Internationalen Ferienkurse, where he wrote a new work for cello solo for Fathom Trio’s Moritz Müllenbach, and a clarinet and voice duo for Chirstie Finn and Felix Behringer.
Julia Tai
Julia Tai has established herself as one of the most capable young conductors on the international stage. Her career has led to acclaimed performances and rehearsals with both professional and youth orchestras around the world, including the American Youth Symphony, Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Estonian National Youth Symphony, New Symphony Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Carlos Chávez. She was a conducting participant in the renowned Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice at the New England Conservatory, and a quarter finalist in the fourth Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition in Mexico.
A champion of contemporary music, Tai has premiered many works with the Seattle Chamber Players, Seattle Experimental Opera, and the Affinity Ensemble of the Washington Composers Forum.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Tai began her violin studies at age four and piano at eight. She gave many recitals and performed concerts with choirs and orchestras, touring extensively in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, United States, Japan, and Taiwan. She received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where she was honored with the departmental award of “Outstanding Graduate of 2004.” She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington, where she served as the principal conductor of the Contemporary Ensemble, the assistant conductor of the University Symphony, as well as the conductor in the productions of Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Kurt Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden.
PERFORMER BIOS
Clifford Dunn, flute
Clifford Dunn is a flautist and composer. He has premiered many works and worked with many of the world’s most prominent flautists, including Anne LaBerge (for three years in Amsterdam), Robert Dick, Jos Zwaanenburg, Matthias Ziegler, Wil Offermans, Hal Ott, and Paul Taub. He performs on a Brannen expanded Kingma-System flute with ten additional keys, which made possible of multiphonics, and timbrel expansion. Cliff is interested in cutting-edge new music and performance art. He has done extensive interdisciplinary works such as creating music for theater, dance, and text-settings. His musical influences include George Crumb, John Zorn, The Beatles, David Dramm, Charles Ives, Radiohead, Ned McGowan, Shostakovich, Brad Mehldau, Doctor Nerve, Primus, Eric Dolphy, Mr. Bungle, and many others. Apart from being a musician, Cliff is a passionate vegan, politically progressive/socialist, a city-bicyclist, and a world-traveler.
Gunnar Folsom, percussion
Gunnar Folsom is one of the Pacific Northwest's most in-demand percussionists. He is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and performs frequently with the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera, the Tacoma Symphony, the Northwest Sinfonietta, and the Bellingham Festival of Music. As a chamber musician, Gunnar has performed with John Taverner and the Tallis Scholars, The Ensemble Sospeso, the Seattle Chamber Players, Sorelle, the Seattle Modern Orchestra, the Annis Bay Music Festival, and the Festival Chamber Music Society at Merkin Hall in New York. He is a founding member of Pacific Rims, a percussion quartet based in Seattle. Additionally, he can be heard on countless movie and video game soundtracks such as Die Hard With A Vengeance, Runaway Jury, Drag Me To Hell, Enter the Matrix, and Halo III. Gunnar devotes much of his career to teaching and mentoring young musicians. His private students have competed at the state level and many have gone on to study at conservatories throughout the country. He serves on the faculty of the University of Puget Sound, as well as the Marrowstone music festival, and the Mid-Summer Musical Retreat. He has given master classes at Western Washington University, the University of Puget Sound, and was a regular clinician for Brass Band Northwest. Gunnar is a percussion coach for the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras: the largest youth symphony organization in the country. He has previously served on the faculties of Music Works Northwest, Marrowstone In The City, and the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine. Gunnar received a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Christopher Lamb, Duncan Patton, and Don Liuzzi.
Valerie Muzzolini Gordon
Valerie Muzzolini Gordon is Principal Harp of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, a position which she has held since the age of twenty-three. In demand both nationally and internationally, she has performed as guest Principal Harp of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France and the Nice Philharmonic, and has also appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra. As soloist, she has performed with the Seattle Symphony, The Nice Philharmonic, and the Vancouver Symphony. Valerie has performed at prestigious festivals worldwide, including Tanglewood and Verbier, Switzerland, and has played under the batons of such renowned conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, and Bernard Haitink. An active chamber musician and avid proponent of new music, she performs regularly with the Seattle Chamber Players, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Music of Remembrance. Born in Nice, France, Valerie began her musical education at the Nice Conservatory, from which she received top honors. She continued her studies at the Curtis Institute with Marilyn Costello and Judy Loman, followed by graduate work at Yale University with Nancy Allen.
Matthew Kocmieroski, percussion
Matthew Kocmieroski is principal percussionist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra. He regularly performs with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and the Auburn Symphony and is also currently the President of the International Guild of Symphony, Opera and Ballet Musicians. In the field of chamber music he served for ten years as artistic director and percussionist of the New Performance Group, and was a founding member of both Taneko and Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet. In the Northwest he regularly performs with the Seattle Chamber Players, and has appeared at the Seattle Chamber Music Society Festivals, the Icicle Creek Music Festival, the Marrowstone Music Festival, the Methow Music Festival, the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, the Seattle International Chamber Music Festival and the Bellingham Festival of Music. Internationally he has appeared at the Bergen, Moscow Autumn, Moscow Cold Alternativa, St. Petersburg's Sound Waves, Kiev MusicFest and Warsaw Autumn festivals. One of the greatest satisfactions Matthew has had is his work with numerous composers on their music and the emergence of a number of new works and recordings from these collaborations. He may be heard on many recordings of chamber music, orchestral music and on a wide variety of both Major and Independent motion picture, television, and video game soundtracks.
Maria Mannisto
Maria Mannisto has an extensive performing history as an opera singer, concert soloist, pianist and organist. She received her Masters degree in voice from the University of Washington in 2009, studying under renowned soprano Jane Eaglen. She has appeared in productions of Lakme (Ellen), Norma (Clotilde), La finta giardiniera (Sandrina), Suor Angelica (La Zelatrice), scenes from Rigoletto (Gilda) and La traviata (Violetta), and as soprano soloist in Reich's Tehillim, Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire, Berio's O King, and Bach's Mass in B Minor. In 2010 she performed with the Seattle Modern Orchestra in Steve Reich's Tehillim. Maria has been featured in two operas with Seattle Experimental Opera: The Gospel of the Red-Hot Stars in 2006 and Hunger: The Journey of Tamsen Donner in 2008, both by local composer Tom Baker. She has also performed in operas by numerous other Seattle composers including Wayne Horvitz, Bill Smith, Garrett Fisher, and Brian Cobb. In 2007 she was awarded the Finlandia Foundation Performer of the Year, which provided her with the opportunity to perform recitals around the United States, Canada and Finland. Maria was a finalist in the 2010 Kanagsniemi Song Competition in Kangasniemi, Finland.
Michael Jinsoon Lim
Praised by Gramophone for playing with "delicious abandon," and described as "bewitching" by the Seattle Times, violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim enjoys a dynamic musical career as concertmaster, soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. Acclaimed for his role as concertmaster of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra in Seattle ("beautifully executed, clear violin solos" - Dance International), Lim is also in demand as a chamber musician and as a performer of new and experimental music ("a formidable violinist who gave a knockout reading of Davidovsky's Synchronisms No. 9" - The Stranger). He is co-founder of the acclaimed Corigliano Quartet and a member of Open End, a New York City-based ensemble specializing in contemporary music and improvisation. As a member of the Corigliano Quartet, Lim has enjoyed critical acclaim across the U.S. and abroad and has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming. The Corigliano Quartet has performed in the nation's leading music centers, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center. The quartet's Naxos label CD, featuring string quartet works by John Corigliano and Jefferson Friedman, was named as one of The New Yorker's Top Ten Classical Recordings of the Year. Lim received his formal training at Indiana University, where he studied with the legendary violinist and teacher Josef Gingold. While at Indiana, he won First Prize in the school's Violin Concerto Competition and served on the faculty as a Visiting Lecturer. Lim later studied chamber music at the Juilliard School and taught there as an assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. He currently serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts, where he teaches violin and chamber music. Lim has recorded for Naxos, DreamWorks, Albany Records, CRI, Bayer Records, and Aguava New Music, and appears on numerous television and film soundtracks, including the Oscar-winning score to Brokeback Mountain. He has been heard on NPR programs such as Performance Today and All Things Considered. Lim currently lives in Seattle with his wife, violist Melia Watras.
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