Back to Press Release List > 09/24/2007 - MET Chamber Ensemble, 10/28/07

On Sunday, October 28 at 5:00 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall, James Levine and The MET Chamber Ensemble kick off their series of concerts at Carnegie Hall this season with a performance of Stravinsky’s theatrical work Histoire du soldat. The work, which premiered in 1918, is based on a Russian folk tale about a soldier who trades his fiddle to the devil for a book that predicts the future of the economy. For this performance, the text has been adapted to feature an all-star new music cast with composers Elliott Carter as the Soldier, Milton Babbitt as the Devil, and John Harbison as the Narrator. This trio first performed this version of the work under the supervision of Mr. Levine at Tanglewood in July 2006, with text adaptations by Mr. Harbison, Mr. Levine, and Ellen Highstein of the Tanglewood Music Center.

Preceding this unique performance are works for soprano and ensemble by each of the three featured composers: soprano Susan Narucki performs Mr. Carter’s Tempo e tempi; mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke performs Mr. Harbison’s North and South; and soprano Judith Bettina is featured in Mr. Babbitt’s The Head of the Bed.

James Levine and The MET Chamber Ensemble return to Carnegie Hall for two additional performances this season. On January 27 at 5:00 p.m. in Zankel Hall, the Ensemble performs as part of Yefim Bronfman’s Perspectives series with soprano Anja Silja, violinist Gil Shaham, and pianist Yefim Bronfman. On March 30 at 5:00 p.m. in Zankel Hall, the Ensemble performs the New York premiere of Gunther Schuller’s Grand Concerto for Percussion and Keyboards. Complete program information is listed below.

The MET Chamber Ensemble, which is composed of musicians from The MET Orchestra, launched its annual Carnegie Hall concert series during the 1998–1999 season. The repertoire is chosen with an eye to presenting chamber works scored for larger instrument combinations, as these are less frequently performed and are ideal for players accustomed to working together in an orchestra setting.

Born in New York City on December 11, 1908, Elliott Carter became interested in music in high school and was encouraged to pursue this interest by Charles Ives. Mr. Carter attended Harvard University, where he studied with Walter Piston, and later went to Paris where he studied with Nadia Boulanger. Mr. Carter’s music is characterized by the explorations of tempo relationships and texture and he is recognized as one of the prime innovators of 20th-century music. The breadth of Mr. Carter’s compositional output includes orchestral works, string quartets, piano pieces, concertos, and more. In 1960, he was awarded his first Pulitzer Prize for his visionary contributions to the string quartet tradition. Fellow composer Igor Stravinsky considered Mr. Carter’s orchestral works—Double Concerto for Harpsichord, Piano, and Two Chamber Orchestras (1961) and Piano Concerto (1967)—to be “masterpieces.” Mr. Carter has been the recipient of many honors including the Gold Medal for Music awarded by the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Medal of Arts, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and honorary degrees from many universities. Hailed by Aaron Copland as “one of America’s most distinguished creative artists in any field,” Mr. Carter has received two Pulitzer Prizes.

Known for his pioneering work in serial organization and in musical electronics, Milton Babbitt is widely regarded as one of the 20th-century’s most influential composers. He is the recipient of numerous honors, commissions, and awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship and a Pulitzer Prize Citation for his "life’s work as a distinguished and seminal American composer." Mr. Babbitt is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Born in Philadelphia on May 10, 1916, Mr. Babbitt was raised in Jackson, Mississippi, and studied the violin, clarinet, and saxophone. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1931 with the intention of becoming a mathematician, but soon transferred to New York University to study music with Marion Bauer and Philip James. Mr. Babbitt also studied composition privately with Roger Sessions and wrote criticism for the Musical Leader. In 1938, he joined the faculty of Princeton University and became a mainstay of the Princeton music department, teaching there in an unbroken span from 1948 until his retirement in 1984. He is currently on the faculty at The Juilliard School, where he has served since 1971. Mr. Babbitt is a founder and member of the Committee of Direction for the Electronic Music Center of Columbia-Princeton Universities and a member of the Editorial Board of Perspectives of New Music.

John Harbison has written for virtually every type of concert performance, with works ranging from orchestral to chamber music, and his compositional style embraces jazz to the pre-classical forms. Mr. Harbison was born in Orange, New Jersey, into a musical family and began improvising on the piano by age five and started a jazz band at age 12. Mr. Harbison studied at Harvard University and earned an MFA from Princeton University. Following completion of a junior fellowship at Harvard, Mr. Harbison joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Recent premieres include his overture for an imagined opera, Darkbloom, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2005; Milosz Songs for Soprano and Orchestra, premiered by the New York Philharmonic and soprano Dawn Upshaw in 2006; and the Concerto for Bass Viol and Orchestra, premiered in 2006. His opera The Great Gatsby, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, was premiered to great acclaim in December 1999. Mr. Harbison’s music has been performed by many of the world’s leading ensembles, and many of his compositions have been recorded on the Nonesuch, Naxos, Decca, Koch, Centaur, and CRI labels, among others. From 1990 to 1992 he was Creative Chair with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. The former music director of the Cantata Singers in Boston, Mr. Harbison has conducted many other ensembles, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society, and Emmanuel Music. Mr. Harbison has received many awards, including the Distinguished Composer award from the American Composers Orchestra (2002), the Harvard Arts Medal (2000), the American Music Center’s Letter of Distinction (2000), the Kennedy Center Friedheim First Prize (for his Piano Concerto), and a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989 and he also holds four honorary doctorates.

Program Information
Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 5:00 p.m.
Weill Recital Hall
THE MET CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
James Levine, Artistic Director and Conductor
Judith Bettina, Soprano
Susan Narucki, Soprano
Sasha Cooke, Mezzo-Soprano
Elliott Carter, Soldier
Milton Babbitt, Devil
John Harbison, Narrator

ELLIOTT CARTER Tempo e tempi
JOHN HARBISON North and South
MILTON BABBITT The Head of the Bed
IGOR STRAVINSKY Histoire du soldat

Tickets: $94
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Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.
Zankel Hall
THE MET CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
James Levine, Artistic Director and Conductor
Anja Silja, Soprano
Gil Shaham, Violin
Yefim Bronfman, Piano

Perspectives: Yefim Bronfman

ANTON WEBERN Symphony, Op. 21
ANTON WEBERN Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24
ALBAN BERG Chamber Concerto for Piano, Violin, and 13 Winds
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21

Tickets: $56, $68
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Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.
Zankel Hall
THE MET CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
James Levine, Artistic Director and Conductor

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Serenade in B-flat Major for 13 Winds, K. 361, "Gran Partita"
GUNTHER SCHULLER Grand Concerto for Percussion and Keyboards (New York Premiere)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525

Tickets: $56, $68
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