  
|
 |
Making Music: Pierre Boulez, 1/17/08
|
Carnegie Hall News
Back to Press Release List > 12/12/2007 - Making Music: Pierre Boulez, 1/17/08
Most current program information 
CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS MAKING MUSIC: PIERRE BOULEZ
ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 17 AT 7:30 P.M. IN ZANKEL HALL
All-Boulez Program Features Le Marteau sans maître and sur Incises
On Thursday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m., Carnegie Hall presents legendary composer and conductor Pierre Boulez in an evening of music and conversation as part of its Making Music series in Zankel Hall. Moderated by Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean of The Juilliard School, the program features Mr. Boulez leading the Lucerne Festival Academy Ensemble in performances of two of his works: sur Incises and Le Marteau sans maître with contralto Hilary Summers. This performance is presented by Carnegie Hall in partnership with The Juilliard School, as part of an extended residency by Mr. Boulez and the Lucerne Festival Academy at The Juilliard School, which culminates in the opening concert of the 2008 Focus! Festival on Friday, January 25 at 8:00 p.m. at Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater.
Now in its eleventh season, Carnegie Hall’s Making Music series presents contemporary composers in conversation about their musical points of view and includes performances of their own works, featuring many premieres. Moderated by Ara Guzelimian, this season’s Making Music concerts feature Pierre Boulez, Thomas Adès (March 29), and Frederic Rzewski (May 1).
A native of Montbrison, France, Pierre Boulez pursued studies in piano, composition, and choral conducting at the Paris Conservatory. Mr. Boulez began his conducting career in 1958 with the Südwestfunk Orchestra in Baden-Baden, Germany. From 1969 until 1972, he was principal guest conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. In 1971, Mr. Boulez became both chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and music director of the New York Philharmonic, a position he held until 1977. In 1974, the French government invited Mr. Boulez to create and direct a music research center at the Pompidou Centre. From the Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) sprang the Ensemble Intercontemporain, one of the world’s finest contemporary music ensembles. In 1991, he resigned as conductor of the ensemble, while continuing as its president. Mr. Boulez is also co-founder of Cité de la Musique in Paris.
Mr. Boulez’s numerous compositions are widely performed, including Le marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli, three piano sonatas, Eclat/Multiples, Le visage nuptial, Répons, Notations, and . . . explosante-fixe . . .. His awards and honors include honorary doctorates from Leeds, Cambridge, Basel, and Oxford universities, among others; Commander of the British Empire; and Knight of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Mr. Boulez’s discography includes prize-winning recordings of Parsifal and Berg’s Lulu. He has won 24 Grammy awards since 1967.
Contralto Hilary Summers enjoys a varied career encompassing repertoire from the 12th to the 21st century. She has worked extensively with leading interpreters of the Baroque repertoire including Christopher Hogwood, Christophe Rousset, Andrew Manze, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and William Christie. An advocate of contemporary music, in 1999 she premiered the role of Stella in Elliot Carter’s opera What Next? for the Berlin Staatsoper as well as the role of Irma in Peter Eötvös’s opera Le Balcon at the 2002 Aix-en-Provence Festival. In England, Ms. Summers has forged a special relationship with the composer Michael Nyman, performing on the soundtracks to many of his film scores. She has also toured internationally with the Michael Nyman Band and created the lead role in his opera Facing Goya. Since 2002, Ms. Summers has performed Le Marteau sans maître with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain throughout Europe, and her recording of the piece for Deutsche Grammophon won a Grammy Award in 2006.
The Lucerne Festival Academy is a future–oriented training project, in which talented young musicians from all over the world are taught the art of interpreting the music of our time. Under the artistic director Pierre Boulez and with the instrumental soloists and coaches of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, about 140 young musicians are invited to spend three weeks in Lucerne to study and perform pioneering works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Participants are selected internationally on the basis of their audition and the recommendations from schools, music ensembles, and individual musicians worldwide. The Academy also provides training opportunities to composers, with commissions awarded tri-annually, as well as for young conductors, who participate in master classes with Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, and other leading conductors. The Academy performs various public concerts within the scope of the Festival, such as the Academy Forum, in which the Lucerne Festival Academy invites the public to attend open rehearsals and workshops and thus familiarize themselves with contemporary music.
Program Information
Thursday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
MAKING MUSIC: PIERRE BOULEZ
Lucerne Festival Academy Ensemble
Pierre Boulez, Artistic Director and Conductor
Hilary Summers, Contralto
Ara Guzelimian, Series Moderator
ALL- BOULEZ PROGRAM
Le Marteau sans maître
sur Incises
Presented by Carnegie Hall in partnership with The Juilliard School
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
|
Ticket Information
Tickets, priced at $28 and $36, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street. Tickets may also be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or online by visiting
www.carnegiehall.org
.
|
| |
|