November 22nd ZALON Program

Jeffrey Solow

Cellist JEFFREY SOLOW has toured throughout the United States and Canada, Europe, Latin America, and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher, and has been guest artist at many national and international chamber music festivals. A two-time Grammy Award nominee, he is professor of cello at Temple University in Philadelphia and past president of the Violoncello Society, Inc. of New York and the American String Teachers Association.

Jeffrey writes the following on the piece that he will play, Impromptu for solo cello in Three Movements, op. 90c by Ernst Toch:

Ernst Toch (1887-1964) once called himself “the most forgotten composer of the 20th century.” Born in Vienna, his interest in music was discouraged by his parents so he quietly taught himself to compose by studying Mozart’s string quartets and by age 17 he had already written six of his own. Upon winning the Mozart Prize in 1909 (Max Reger was the chair of the jury) he was awarded a fellowship to the Frankfurt Conservatory only to be told by the chair of the composition department, Ivan Knorr, that HE wished to study with Toch!

After serving in the Austrian army in WWI (as did the great violinist Fritz Kreisler), Toch moved to Berlin and soon established notable reputation. At age 24 he was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory of Mannheim, his cello concerto won the Schott Prize for the best instrumental work of 1925 and was premiered by Feuermann, his 1926 piano concerto was introduced by Gieseking, and in 1930 he invented the unique genre of Gesprochene Music—spoken chorus music—with his Geographical Fugue. The rise of the Nazis caused him to flee Europe and he ultimately settled in Santa Monica, CA in 1935, becoming a US citizen in 1940. (He also became friends with my parents.) Toch wrote numerous film scores between 1934-45 (including the excellent 1940 sci-fi thriller Dr. Cyclops) but he continued to compose serious works as well, including five symphonies, the third of which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1956.

Dating from 1963, the “Impromptu for solo cello in Three Movements,” op. 90c bears the dedication, “For Gregor Piatigorsky, the friend and Grand Master of his instrument, on his 60th birthday.” It seems to me that each movement embodies an aspect of Piatigorsky’s personality: the first tender, lyrical and compassionate, the second charming and witty, while the introspective and philosophical third movement contemplates the end of life (a sobering thought as I find myself well past the age when Piatigorsky received Toch’s wonderful gift). Toch was to die from stomach cancer the following year and mortality was undoubtedly on his mind when he was composing this movement. Near the beginning the composer marks "with a great sigh," the middle section bears the words "The Final Struggle," and ultimately the protagonist slips peacefully away "as in a dream." I think Piatigorsky did not like the reference to death and for that reason never played or taught the third movement. – Jeffrey Solow

Heather Lanners

Canadian pianist HEATHER SHEA LANNERS has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and China as both a soloist and chamber musician. Recent engagements include a seven-city concert tour of China with Pangaea Chamber Players, concerto performances with the Bulgarian State Orchestra of Vidin and solo performances at the Dublin International Piano Festival. Ms. Lanners has also performed as pianist for the Cleveland Opera on Tour, the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music, and the Holland Summer Music Sessions. After receiving her Bachelors degree in Piano Performance from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, Lanners continued her studies in Paris with French pianist, Cécile Ousset. While in Paris, she also earned the Diplôme Supérieur en Musique de Chambre at the École Normale de Musique. Since the completion of a Masters degree in Performance with Barry Snyder at the Eastman School of Music, Ms. Lanners has worked as Opera Coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music and currently serves as Associate Professor of Piano at the Greenwood School of Music at Oklahoma State University.

Heather Lanners YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9eYavGBKglENCoToBtWijA/

Webpage: https://music.okstate.edu/heather-lanners

“A talent the ear wants to follow wherever it goes” (Boston Globe), GREGORY MERTL has garnered commissions from the Tanglewood Music Center, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Tarab Cello Ensemble, the Phoenix Symphony, the Big Ten Wind Ensembles, the Ostrava Oboe Festival, Czech Republic, the Hanson Institute, and the Barlow Endowment for a piano concerto for Solungga Liu and the University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble, which was released by Bridge Records in 2017.

Of the Bridge release, the American Record Guide has written, “there’s a wealth of compositional ingenuity and detail, but better yet there’s what I might call attention to the human aspect of music–a concern with drama, passion, and psychological complexity alongside any purely technical achievement. That’s what makes me keep listening to it.”

Mertl has degrees from Yale University (BA 1991) and the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D. 2005) and was a 1998 Tanglewood Composition Fellow, where he worked with Henri Dutilleux and Mauricio Kagel. His most recent works are a four-movement concerto for the French cellist Xavier Phillips, which will be premiered in Paris during l’ONDIF’s 2021-22 season and today’s work for pianist Heather Lanners premiered in early 2020. 

Links: 

for a longer discussion of the piece and a full performance of Pictures Without an Exhibition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM43QCV_b60&t=23s

 www.gregorymertl.com

https://bridgerecords.com/products/9489

Phyllis Chapell

PHYLLIS CHAPELL plays guitar and sings songs from around the world.  Her repertoire features songs in 13 languages from Brazil, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S.  Her 3-octave vocals are supported and complemented by her acoustic guitar, capturing the essence of musical styles from percussive Brazilian sambas and explosive flamenco to elegant folk, jazz, contemporary, and original ballads.  She has been named one of the top 500 jazz vocalists of all time by Scott Yanow (Downbeat, Jazz Times, AllMusic Guide) in his new book, "The Jazz Singers:  The Ultimate Guide".  The Inquirer raved,  "Chapell is an elegant singer who will steal your heart away.  She eludes all labels!"
http://www.phyllischapell.com

For donations, Paypal.me/PChapell

Phyllis Chapell Official Playlist on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJF-46of8KzRH1bxNtl5sJWqCo-wDR-Tl

Thomas Kozumplik

Loop 2.4.3 is an "open format", collaborative ensemble, led by composer/performer THOMAS KOZUMPLIK (Clogs, Yale Percussion Group, Newband). The group has a bent for exploring the vast musical possibilities of percussion instruments, inspired by the founding members’ artistic coming-of-age in room 243 with members of HIP (the Hohner Institute of Percussion). NPR’s Fresh Air described Loop 2.4.3 as an original voice that "sounds like part of a well-thought-out tradition. Only the tradition has never existed until now.”

Links:

Homepage: https://www.loop243.com

Donate: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/brooklyn-arts-council/loop-2-4-3

Recordings: https://musicstartsfromsilence.bandcamp.com

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/loop-2-4-3/251819941

Sheridan Seyfried

SHERIDAN SEYFRIED is a native of Philadelphia, where he grew up playing violin in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. He was trained in composition at the Curtis Institute and the Manhattan School of Music. Sheridan is an active composer, arranger, choral director, educator and church musician in the Philadelphia area. Over the years, he’s drawn a lot of inspiration from his experiences attending and performing at Andrea’s Salons—he first performed at one when he was 14!

The best way to learn more about Sheridan’s work and to contact him is via his website, sheridanseyfried.com

Fahad Siadat

FAHAD SIADAT creates interdisciplinary storytelling works, folding together words, sound, and movement into ritualistic narratives. His work is described by the press as “Exceptional” (LA Times), “hypnotic” (Backstage) and having “a sophisticated harmonic vocabulary” (San Diego Story) with “characteristic vivaciousness” (Theatre Scene). He is an advocate of innovative and adventurous music, particularly for vocal ensembles and approaches this advocacy as a performer, composer, conductor and entrepreneur. Fahad maintains a robust performing schedule, and has performed as soloist with such groups as LA’s groundbreaking opera company The Industry, and the Grammy award-winning ensemble PARTCH.

He is the artistic director of HEX Vocal Ensemble in LA and co-artistic director of The Resonance Collective. Fahad is regularly commissioned to compose for concert music ensembles, dance companies, and theater troupes including: The Esoterics, Theater Dybbuk, Rosanna Gamson Dance, Monmouth University, Jacksonville Dance Theater, the California EAR Unit, and the TOCCATA Orchestra. His music has been performed in Europe, China, and across the United States.

In 2012, he founded See-A-Dot Music Publishing, Inc., a company devoted to the advocacy of adventurous choral music. To hear his work visit www.fahadsiadat.com

He will premiere To Suffer a Sea Change, a new work for voice and live electronics which is part of his on-going research of consciousness and states of mental, physical, and spiritual transformation. The title is taken from Shakespeare’s poem Full Fathom Five, which appears in The Tempest.

Places where people can follow/support

• Join my newsletter: http://eepurl.com/guxL1H

• Support my new oratorio the conference of the birds by making a donation to The Resonance Collective: https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/resonance-collective-productions

• Instagram.com/fahad.siadat

• Twitter.com/fahad.siadat

• For more information: www.fahadsiadat.com

Eleonor Sandresky

Dubbed a "piano goddess," ELEONOR SANDRESKY’s music has been featured in film and on radio, and is available on Koch International, Sony, Orange Mountain Music, One Soul Records, ERM Media, and Albany Record labels. Her music is performed internationally, from London's Cafe Oto to the Totally Huge New Music Festival in Perth, Australia. Much of her recent works, both with and without electronics, are for choreographed musicians, a genre that she has created to enlarge the musical and emotional meaning through a hybrid form that merges and expands the choreography of playing with the actual music-making. To further that goal, she invented the Wonder Suit, a wearable wireless sensor system that triggers electronic events and processes in her choreographed pieces. A founding member of the improvising composer-driven Ensemble 50, she is at the same time one of New York’s pre-eminent new music pianists, with performances and premieres of new works by a wide range of composers from Egberto Gismonti to Philip Glass. Deeply involved in the genre of live music and film, she composes, conducts and produces concerts of her own scores, as well as those of Leonard Bernstein and Philip Glass.

Program notes:

Since 2012 Eleonor has been working on composing Strange Energies. It started with an invitation to write something for a marathon concert at Drom, a bar in the East Village in Manhattan, by Composers Concordance. She premiered that piece just hours after it was finished, and played from the pencil score. It marked a new direction for Eleonor's music. This music plays with space, with how sound moves in space and interacts in the space. Where does the sound go? How does it build and release? Does it disappear or bowl you over? Do some sounds resonate more than others? Each piece asks the listener to actively engage with the path of the sound in the space, whether it's a physical room or the space between one's ears.  These are etudes for the 21st century, etudes for the audience as well as the performers!

Subscribe:

www.patreon.com/EleonorSandresky

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKIoE3rD9Hj-m6D5y1WzNTQ?

Listen:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0m3hasEe39NgKGch1BoceD

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/eleonor-sandresky/315576429

Bert Lee

Long a fixture in the New York songwriting scene, BERT LEE continues to explore, compose and create for the love of music. He is currently completing the third novel of a family history triptych.

You can listen to and purchase Bert's songs at:
https://bertlee.bandcamp.com/

His novels Dead Man's Coat and The Spindrift Factor can be found at Amazon books in eBook and paperback format.

Jim Dragoni

JIM DRAGONI is an eclectic guitarist mixing elements of Indian, Jazz, Classical, Blues and Americana into a hybrid fusion.  His performances have included Lincoln Center, WXPN.FM, WRTI.FM, Pocono Blues Festival, Phila Folk Festival.  Studies:  Dennis Sandole, University of Penn, West Chester University.  He has performed with Mose Allison, Larry Coryell, Gloria Galante, Qin Qian, Byard Lancaster, Andrew Dragoni, Rhenda Fearrington.

Press info:  http://dragoni.com/pressquotes.htm

Recordings: https://soundcloud.com/jimdragoni

Buy Music:  https://jimdragoni.bandcamp.com/

Donate via Venmo:  @james-dragoni

Donate via Paypal:  jim@dragoni.com