Making Music: Evan Ziporyn

Performers

• Carol McGonnell, Clarinet
• David Krakauer, Clarinet
• Evan Ziporyn, Bass Clarinet
• Gamelan Galak Tika
  Evan Ziporyn, Director
• Jeremy Geffen, Series Moderator
• Signal
  Brad Lubman, Conductor
• Theodore Schoen, Bass Clarinet
• Vicky Chow, Piano

Program

• EVAN ZIPORYN Tsmindao Ghmerto
• EVAN ZIPORYN Hive (NY Premiere)
• EVAN ZIPORYN In Bounds
• EVAN ZIPORYN Bayu Sabda Idep (NY Premiere)
• 
  Program is approximately 1 hour, 40 minutes, including one intermission

Bios

• Carol McGonnell
  
  Widely hailed as an extraordinary clarinetist, Carol McGonnell has performed as soloist in both John Adams’s In Your Ear festival at Carnegie Hall and Los Angeles’s Monday Evening Concerts, curated by Esa-Pekka Salonen. She performed in the inaugural concert in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and appeared with Midori in Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series. She also has been a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.
  
  Ms. McGonnell has performed as soloist with the Ulster Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, The Knights chamber orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Camerata Pacifica, and The Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert. She has been broadcast on Irish national television and radio, RTÉ Lyric FM, BBC, and NPR.
  
  Ms. McGonnell is a founding member of the Argento Chamber Ensemble, recently listed in The New York Times as giving one of the best classical performances of 2009. She is Artistic Director of New Music New Ireland, promoting the performance of Irish compositions abroad, and has guest-curated the Kilkenny Arts Festival.
  
  Ms. McGonnell was one of the 16 handpicked fellows of the first phase of The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute. She studied with Charles Neidich, and has been on the clarinet faculty of The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program and the chamber music faculty of the Fontainebleau American Conservatory.

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• David Krakauer
  
  Internationally acclaimed clarinetist David Krakauer redefines the notion of a concert artist. Known for his mastery of myriad styles, he occupies the unique position of being one of the world’s leading exponents of Eastern European Jewish klezmer music, and at the same time is a major voice in classical music. As one of the foremost musicians of the vital new wave of klezmer, Mr. Krakauer tours the globe with his celebrated Klezmer Madness! ensemble.
  
  In addition to his annual European tours to major international festivals and jazz clubs, recent seasons brought Mr. Krakauer and his band to the Library of Congress, Stanford Lively Arts, San Francisco Performances, La Biennale di Venezia, Krakow Jewish Festival, BBC Proms, Jazz Festival Saalfelden, New Morning (Paris), and many others. He has recently done extensive international touring with the multi-genre Abraham Inc. that he co-leads with funk legend Fred Wesley and hip-hop renegade Socalled.
  
  In addition, Mr. Krakauer is in demand worldwide as a guest soloist with the finest ensembles, including the Emerson, Orion, and Kronos string quartets, as well as the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, The Phoenix Symphony, Dresdner Philharmonie, and Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
  
  Mr. Krakauer is on the clarinet and chamber music faculties of Mannes College The New School for Music, Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

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• Evan Ziporyn
  
  Evan Ziporyn makes music at the crossroads between genres and cultures, East and West. He studied at Eastman School of Music; Yale University; and University of California, Berkeley, with Joseph Schwantner, Martin Bresnick, and Gérard Grisey. He first traveled to Bali in 1981, studying with Madé Lebah, Colin McPhee’s 1930s musical informant. He returned on a Fulbright scholarship in 1987.
  
  Earlier that year, Mr. Ziporyn performed a clarinet solo at the first Bang on a Can Marathon in New York. His involvement with the organization continues to this day: In 1992, he co-founded the Bang on a Can All-Stars (Musical America’s 2005 Ensemble of the Year), with whom he has toured the globe and premiered more than 100 commissioned works, collaborating with Nik Bärtsch, Iva Bittová, Don Byron, Ornette Coleman, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Thurston Moore, Terry Riley, and Tan Dun. Their latest recording, Steve Reich’s 2x5, was recently released on Nonesuch.
  
  Mr. Ziporyn joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty in 1990 and is currently the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor. He founded Gamelan Galak Tika at MIT in 1993, beginning a series of groundbreaking compositions for gamelan and Western instruments. These include three evening-length works, 2001’s ShadowBang, 2004’s Oedipus Rex, and the 2009 opera A House in Bali.
  
  As a clarinetist, Mr. Ziporyn recorded the definitive version of Steve Reich’s multi-clarinet New York Counterpoint, and performed on Reich’s Grammy-winning Music for 18 Musicians CD. In 2001, Mr. Ziporyn’s solo CD, This Is Not a Clarinet, made recommendation lists across the country. His compositions have been commissioned by Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, Kronos Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, Maya Beiser, So Percussion, Wu Man, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
  
  Mr. Ziporyn lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, and has two children, Leonardo and Ava.

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• Gamelan Galak Tika
  
  Gamelan Galak Tika is an ensemble-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with members ranging from MIT students to professional musicians. Founded in 1993 by Evan Ziporyn, Nyoman Catra, Desak Suarti Laksmi, the group is dedicated to commissioning and performing new works by Balinese and American composers, as well as traditional Balinese music and dance. Galak Tika has released CDs on the New World, New Albion, and Airplane Ears labels.
  
  The instruments used tonight were custom-designed by Ziporyn for this project, combining attributes of the Balinese scales with Pythagorean tuning principles, allowing for a unique, dynamic interplay with Western instruments. They were built by Pandé Wayan Sukarta and tuned by hand by Christine Southworth.
  
  The ensemble learns aurally—without the aid of notation—and functions in the tradition of a Balinese village sekeha, with decisions made communally and responsibilities shared by all members. The word gamelan means “to hammer”; the term refers generally to the large percussion orchestras of Java and Bali. There are dozens of different types of gamelans in Bali, ranging from large metal orchestras to bamboo ensembles, vocal groups, and groups dedicated to the imitation of frog sounds. All Balinese gamelan is marked by a pentatonic orientation and rhythmically precise interlocking parts known as kotekan. Galak Tika is Bahasa Kawi (classical Javanese, a dialect of Sanskrit) for “intense togetherness.”

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• Jeremy Geffen
  
  Jeremy Geffen has served as Director of Artistic Planning at Carnegie Hall since March 2007. In this position, his responsibilities include program planning and development, as well as the creation of a wide range of audience education programs. Prior to his appointment at Carnegie Hall, Jeremy served as vice president of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (2005–2007), and artistic administrator of the New York Philharmonic (2000–2005). In addition, he worked for the Aspen Music Festival and School as associate artistic administrator from 1998 to 2000. During that time, he also taught courses in music at Colorado Mountain College, hosted a weekly classical music radio show on KAJX, and became the Aspen Institute’s youngest-ever moderator, creating and leading the seminar The Marriage of Music and Ideas with Dr. Alberta Arthurs in February and March 2000.
  
  Jeremy currently serves on the Artistic Committee of the French-American Fund for Contemporary Music, as well as advisory entities for both the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two and the Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has also served as an adjudicator for numerous auditions and competitions, including CMS Two auditions and The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
  
  A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Jeremy was raised in Newport Beach, California. While pursing a bachelor of music degree in viola performance at the University of Southern California, Jeremy developed problems with his right hand that led him away from performance and into artistic programming, which combines his curiosity for and love of the breadth of the classical repertoire, as well as the artists who bring that repertoire to life.

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• Signal
  
  Signal is dedicated to performing the music of our time with energy, virtuosity, and passion. Its members include some of most gifted and innovative young musicians working in New York. Signal performs under the musical direction of Brad Lubman, who founded the group with cellist and Co-Artistic Director Lauren Radnofsky. Signal is flexible in size and instrumentation—ranging from a nonet (ensemble of nine)—to chamber orchestra to meet the demands of its diverse repertoire.
  
  Signal gave two sold-out performances of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians and You Are (Variations) at (Le) Poisson Rouge in 2008. Capacity crowds greeted Signal’s return the following spring, featuring Philip Glass’s Suite from The Hours and Symphony No. 3, Michael Gordon’s Trance, and Steve Reich’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Double Sextet.
  
  Signal’s 2009–2010 season included a US tour with iconoclastic German composer Helmut Lachenmann and the US premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s chamber opera The Corridor. Highlights of the 2010–2011 season include the release of four recordings: the premiere recording of Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe’s collaborative multimedia work Shelter (Cantaloupe Records); Philip Glass’s Glassworks (Orange Mountain Music); a CD/DVD of the music of Helmut Lachenmann, featuring Mr. Lachenmann performing his own works with Signal (Mode Records); and Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Penelope with singer Shara Worden (New Amsterdam Records).
  
  
  Brad Lubman
  
  American conductor and composer Brad Lubman enjoys a multifaceted career. Having been assistant conductor to Oliver Knussen at the Tanglewood Music Center from 1989–1994, he has since emerged as an unusually versatile conductor of orchestras and ensembles all over the world. He has worked with a great variety of illustrious musical figures, including Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, Steve Reich, Michael Tilson Thomas, and John Zorn.
  
  During the 2010–2011 season, Mr. Lubman continues his collaboration with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and returns to work with Ensemble Modern and the Radio Kamer Filharmonie. He will also make his debuts with Klangforum Wien, Remix Ensemble in Porto, and the illustrious Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
  
  Mr. Lubman is Associate Professor of conducting and ensembles at the Eastman School of Music, where he has directed the Musica Nova ensemble since joining the faculty in 1997. He is also on the faculty of the Bang on a Can Summer Institute.
  
  Mr. Lubman’s own compositions have been performed across the US and Europe. He has also recorded for the BMG/RCA, Bridge, CRI, Centaur, Koch, New World, Nonesuch, and Tzadik labels.

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• Theodore Schoen
  
  Theodore Schoen has performed, toured, and recorded with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, in addition to being a frequent performer with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He has served as principal clarinetist with The Atlanta Opera Orchestra and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and performed with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Bellingham Festival Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra, and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Schoen received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School and his doctorate from The Florida State University. His teachers include Stanley Drucker, Joseph Allard, Charles Russo, and Anthony Ciccarelli.
  
  An active chamber musician, Dr. Schoen has given recitals at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. He had also performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Ural State Philharmonic Orchestra. Dr. Schoen recently released a CD on the Naxos label that includes the world premiere of Evan Ziporyn’s Hive and other works for clarinet.
  
  Dr. Schoen currently serves as the head of the music department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He has received the prestigious University of Minnesota McKnight Presidential Fellow Award in 2005.

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• Vicky Chow
  
  Canadian pianist Vicky Chow has performed extensively as a classical and contemporary soloist, chamber musician, and ensemble member. She performs with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, most recently touring China, Italy, Germany, and Holland. Ms. Chow is currently finishing her first solo piano album, featuring music by Ryan Anthony Francis and scheduled for release later this year.
  
  An avid advocate of new music, Ms. Chow has worked with many composers and contemporary musicians, including John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Nik Bärtsch, Oscar Bettison, Edward Bilous, Don Byron, Mira Calix, Jakub Ciupinski, Michael Gordon, José-Luis Hurtado, Glenn Kotche, David Lang, Felipe Lara, David Longstreth (of Dirty Projectors), Lewis Nielson, Kate Moore, Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth), Terry Riley, Neil Rolnick, Julia Wolfe, and Evan Ziporyn. In addition to performing contemporary music, Ms. Chow produces and curates new-music concerts at the Gershwin Hotel in New York City.
  
  Ms. Chow has appeared with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony, Vancouver Academy Symphony Orchestra, White Rock Festival String Orchestra, and the B. C. Sinfonietta. She has performed under numerous conductors, including George Manahan, James Conlon, JoAnn Falletta, Bramwell Tovey, Victor Feldbrill, and Jeffrey Milarsky. She receives continuous support from Canada Council for the Arts.

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