Born in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1938, Frederic Rzewski first studied music with Charles Mackey of Springfield, and subsequently with Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, and Milton Babbitt at Harvard and Princeton Universities. Rzewski then went to ltaly in 1960, where he studied with Luigi Dallapiccola and met Severino Gazzelloni, with whom he performed in a number of concerts, thus beginning a career as a performer of new piano music. Rzewski’s early friendship with Christian Wolff and David Behrman, and (through Wolff) his acquaintance with John Cage and David Tudor, strongly influenced his development in both composition and performance. In Rome in the mid 1960s, together with Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum, Rzewski founded the MEV (Musica Elettronica Viva) group, which quickly became known for its pioneering work in live electronics and improvisation. Bringing together both classical and jazz avant-gardists like Steve Lacy and Anthony Braxton, MEV developed an aesthetic of music as a spontaneous collective process, one that was shared with other experimental groups of the same period such as Living Theater and the Scratch Orchestra.
The experience of MEV can be felt in Rzewski’s compositions of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which combine elements derived equally from the worlds of written and improvised music (Les moutons de Panurge, Coming Together). During the ’70s, he experimented further with forms in which style and language are treated as structural elements; the best-known work of this period is The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, a 50-minute set of piano variations.
A number of pieces for larger ensembles written between 1979 and 1981 show a return to experimental and graphic notation (Le silence des espaces infinis, The Price of Oil), while much of the work of the 1980s explores new ways of using 12-tone technique (Antigone-Legend, The Persians). A freer, more spontaneous approach to writing can be found in more recent work (Whangdoodles, Sonata). Rzewski’s largest-scale work to date is The Triumph of Death (1987-8), a two-hour oratorio based on texts adapted from Peter Weiss’s 1995 play Die Ermittlung (The Investigation).
Rzewski’s most recent recording is a seven-CD box set for Nonesuch Records titled Rzewski Plays Rzewski: Piano Works 1975–1999. He has recorded The People United; North American Ballads, and Squares; and the Sonata and De Profundis for hat ART records; Four Pieces on Vanguard; and Bumps, Andante con Moto, and The Turtle and the Crane for Newport Classic.
Since 1977, Rzewski has been Professor of Composition at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Liège, Belgium. He has also taught at the Yale School of Music, the University of Cincinnati, the State University of New York at Buffalo, the California Institute of the Arts, the University of California at San Diego, Mills College, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, and the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe.
Pianist Stephen Drury, named 1989 Musician of the Year by the Boston Globe, has concertized throughout the world with a repertoire that stretches from Bach to Liszt to the music of today. A champion of 20th-century music, Drury’s performances of music ranging from the piano sonatas of Charles Ives to works by John Cage and György Ligeti have received the highest critical acclaim. Drury has commissioned and performed new compositions for solo piano from John Cage, John Zorn, Terry Riley, and Chinary Ung, among others. He has appeared at venues including the Kennedy Center, the MusikTriennale Köln (Germany), the Subtropics Festival, the Festival of New American Music, Spoleto Festival USA, and the Angelica Festival (Italy), as well as at the Knitting Factory and Symphony Space in New York City. In 1999, Mr. Drury was invited by choreographer Merce Cunningham to perform onstage with Mr. Cunningham and Mikhail Baryshnikov as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. He has recorded extensively for several labels, championing the music of John Cage, Elliott Carter, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Colin McPhee, John Zorn, and Frederic Rzewski, as well as the works of Liszt and Beethoven. He currently teaches at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he created and directs the school’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano Performance and its Enchanted Circle concert series.
Actor, writer, and director Steve ben Israel made his performing debut in the late 1950s as a comedian in the Greenwich Village “coffee house renaissance,” working alongside Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul, and Mary. In 1961, he appeared in the Theater de Lys production of Threepenny Opera. Mr. Israel then toured the world with the New York–based experimental ensemble Living Theater, performing in the streets of Brazil, Brooklyn, and Pittsburgh. During this time, Mr. Israel collaborated in a number of performances with Frederic Rzewski, including the 1972 world premieres of Mr. Rzewski’s Coming Together and Attica, as well as the original 1973 recording of these works on the Opus One label. In the late 1970s, he returned to comedy with his first one-man show, Nostalgic for the Future. In the last 20 years, Mr. Israel has performed a number of one-man shows, including his current theater piece, Nonviolent Executions, and has also performed extensively with his son, the New York–based hip-hop performing artist Baba Israel. In 2007, Mr. Israel received an Obie Award for his work in the theater.
Honored in 2006 with the Chamber Music America / ASCAP First Prize for Adventurous Programming, Opus 21 has established itself as a truly innovative new-music ensemble, presenting a diversity of “art music” and crossover works geared toward audiences with eclectic, wide-ranging musical tastes.
The ensemble, founded by composer Richard Adams, gave its debut performance at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City in the spring of 2003. Over the past five seasons, the group has continued to grow nationally and has appeared at some of the country’s most prestigious venues, including the Library of Congress in Washington, DC; Symphony Space in New York City; and the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit.
Opus 21’s programming has ranged from the contemporary classical works of William Bolcom, John Harbison, and Steve Reich to the jazz compositions of Dave Brubeck and Fred Hersch; from the art rock music of Frank Zappa to a collaborative performance with legendary Motown pianist Joe Hunter. The ensemble is committed to the creation and premiering of new works by both established and emerging American composers. Since 2005, the group’s ambitious commissioning program has led to 19 new compositions by composers from a wide variety of musical backgrounds, including Eve Beglarian, Martin Bresnick, Chen Yi, Michael Daugherty, Paquito D’Rivera, Fred Hersch, Kamran Ince, Tania León, and Daniel Bernard Roumain.
Opus 21’s underlying mission has been to increase public awareness and understanding of “art music” in the 21st century, introduce the public to works it might not otherwise hear, and build bridges between audiences of different musical backgrounds. In all its activities, Opus 21 is committed to the proposition that great music is without boundaries.
Ara Guzelimian was appointed Provost and Dean of The Juilliard School in New York City in August 2006. In that capacity, he oversees the faculty, curriculum, and artistic planning of the distinguished performing arts conservatory in all three of its divisions—dance, drama, and music.
Prior to his Juilliard appointment, Ara Guzelimian was Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall from 1998 to 2006. He continues his association with Carnegie Hall as host and producer of the acclaimed Making Music composer series, which has included concerts devoted to such composers as John Adams, Hans Werner Henze, Peter Lieberson, Leon Kirchner, and Osvaldo Golijov, as well as Oliver Knussen, Meredith Monk, George Perle, and Chen Yi. This season, Pierre Boulez, Thomas Adès, and Frederic Rzewski are the featured composers.
Previously, Ara Guzelimian was the Artistic Administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado from 1993 to 1998. In addition, he was Artistic Director of the Ojai Festival in California from 1992 to 1997. He was associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1978 to 1993, first as producer for the Orchestra’s national radio broadcasts and, more recently, as Artistic Administrator. Mr. Guzelimian is also an active lecturer, writer, and music critic. In the recent seasons, he has been heard both on the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts and as a guest host on public radio’s Saint Paul Sunday. He is the editor of Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Pantheon Books, 2002), a collection of dialogues between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. In September 2003, Mr. Guzelimian was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.