5. Gallery is very excited to host David Leisner as part of his New Work / Old Friends performance
Friday April 14th
5:30 to 6:45 pm
suggested donation: 5$
Five newly commissioned, short works, plus music from Leisner’s latest solo album of 19th-century guitar pieces.
Composers: Pierre Jalbert | Laura Kaminsky | Chester Biscardi | Bun-Ching Lam | João Luiz
Some of the new works on this program were made possible with generous funding support from the following: Eleanor Eisenmenger, The Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music, Brian Hays, and the Flexite Company (Lee Siroca, President)
Notes on the New Works + Composer and Performer Bios
Laura Kaminsky – Ruminations (2022)
After many years of friendship, it has been an honor and a joy to write a piece for David Leisner, an unparalleled artist and very special human being. Uncharacteristically, Ruminations came to me quickly. By definition, a rumination is a deep or considered thought about something of import, and there is the belief that by ruminating, one can gain insight into life issues, both personal and universal. There are many ways this kind of thinking can occur, both meditatively and introspectively, or, in contrast, agitatedly and with fervent energy. Both modalities are expressed in this piece.
Possessing “an ear for the new and interesting” (The New York Times), LAURA KAMINSKY frequently addresses social and political issues in her work with a distinct musical language that is “full of fire as well as ice, contrasting dissonance and violence with tonal beauty and meditative reflection.” (American Record Guide). As One (co-librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed), the most produced contemporary opera since its 2014 premiere, has played across the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, and Australia. Other operas include Some Light Emerges, Today It Rains, Hometown to the World, and Finding Wright. She is composer and co-librettist (with novelist Lisa Moore) for February, premiering in Canada in 2023. Upcoming: works for the Carpe Diem and Fry Street Quartets, Overflow for Sybarite5 and Lucidity, an opera with librettist David Cote (OnSite Opera, 2024). Head of composition at Purchase College/SUNY, Kaminsky is composer-mentor for the Juilliard School of Music’s Blueprint Fellowship program.
João Luiz – MadrigAfro II (2023)
MadrigAfro II for solo guitar was commissioned by and dedicated to my dear friend, teacher, and master guitarist David Leisner. Besides being a play on words between Madrigal and Afro, the title of my piece deliberately makes reference to two of the subjects that interest me the most—the vocal polyphony of the 16th century and African Rhythms. This merge seems very natural to me as I see many African rhythmic structures and some Afro-Brazilian rhythms as a great source for polyphonic writing. The piece is divided in two parts: Part I. Curandeiro (Healer) evoques the hypnotic atmosphere of the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé gatherings. Part II. Movido, tempo de Afoxé is a dance based on the Ijexá rhythmic pattern. Afoxé also refers to an Afro-Brazilian percussion instrument of the same name. Both the rhythm and the instrument are part of the Candomblé ritual.
Two time Latin Grammy nominee guitarist, educator, and composer JOAO LUIZ, began to play the popular music of his native Brazil professionally during his childhood and was later trained in classical guitar by his mentor Henrique Pinto. Winner of the 2006 Concert Artists Guild Competition as a member of the critically acclaimed Brasil Guitar Duo, João has performed extensively in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Luiz’s harp concerto, Recife, written for Bridget Kibbey, was premiered by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in 2019. Recent commissions include works for the USC Thornton School of Music guitar department, Duo Amaris, GFA, Duo Sonidos, and NYC Master chorale. João has commissioned and premiered works written for him by Sérgio Assad, Leo Brouwer, Clarice Assad, David Leisner, Sebastian Zubieta, Marco Pereira, Ronaldo Miranda, Mariel Mayz, David Sampson, and Frederic Hand. João is the director of chamber music at CUNY Hunter College and also teaches guitar at Stony Brook University and Mannes College.
https://www.youtube.com/@JoaoLuiz12
Chester Biscardi – Finding Beauty in Small Places (2021)
I owe the title of Finding Beauty in Small Places to my dear friend Russell Merritt who listened to me describe how the work was evolving, how I’d been tied to the idea of “breath” in shaping the musical gestures, and how, when the piece opens up and tries to move forward, trying to break free, it always returns inward. He said: “It seems like you’re trying to find beauty in small places.” His words made me think that this work, in fact, is a timely affirmation of beauty and purpose in a changed and challenging world.
CHESTER BISCARDI’s music has been performed throughout Asia, Europe, and North and South America. His catalog includes At the Still Point, for orchestra, Sailors & Dreamers, for voice and chamber ensemble, Tight-Rope, a chamber opera in nine uninterrupted scenes, Trasumanar, for twelve percussionists and piano, and works for piano, voice, chorus, and chamber ensembles, as well as incidental music for theater, dance, and television. Recordings appear on numerous labels, including Albany, Bridge, CRI (New World Records), New Albion, and Steinway & Sons, as well as a Naxos American Classics release entitled Chester Biscardi: In Time’s Unfolding. Biscardi is a recipient of the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Academy Award in Music from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and a commission from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, among many other awards and fellowships.
Bun-Ching Lam – Five Contemplations (2022)
During the pandemic I was safely isolated in my own environment, minding my own business and enjoying my solitude. Time was suspended. It was as if I was perpetually in a flotation tank. When David contacted me for writing a piece for him, I was suddenly awakened from the silence, coming out of the dream world. I was excited to have the opportunity to compose for my friend on an instrument which I am not familiar with (save for a guitar quartet I wrote years ago). After many sketches to no avail, one day I suddenly remembered a piece I wrote long ago entitled “Autumn Sound”, which was a setting of poems by the Song Dynasty poet Li Ching-Zhao for flute and soprano. It captured uncannily the particular state of mind that I was in. So it became the point of departure for this little guitar composition.
Described as “alluringly exotic” (The New York Times), and “hauntingly attractive” (San Francisco Chronicle), the music of BUN-CHING LAM has been performed worldwide. She has been recognized by numerous awards, including a Rome Prize, the highest Award at the Shanghai International Composers’ Competition, two NEA grants, fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has received commissions from the Macao Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Chamber Music America, Bang On a Can Festival, Sequitur, Continuum, Ursula Oppens and the Arditti String Quartet. From 2008 - 2016 she was appointed resident composer for the Macao Orchestra, she also served as the Music Alive! Composer-in-Residence with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Bun-Ching Lam’s work has been recorded on CRI, Tzadik, Deutsche Grammophon, Nimbus, and Koch International. She now divides her time between Paris and New York.
Pierre Jalbert – Two Sides (2023)
I have always been fascinated with two-movement forms ever since encountering the Beethoven Op. 111 Piano Sonata as a student. I have several works which employ this form and found my way back to it as I worked on this piece. Two Sides features opposite tendencies, one lyrical and sustained, the other rhythmic and aggressive. In a way, since both movements share some similar materials, they are like two sides of the same coin, seemingly opposite in character, but organically unified. The first movement contains lyrically floating music, with a middle section that gently pushes the music forward before returning to the opening stillness. The second movement is fast-paced and syncopated. It contains virtuosic rhythmic gestures, with a driving repeated-note figure of changing lengths in the guitar, always pushing and moving the music along to the next arrival point. It was a pleasure to collaborate with my friend, David Leisner, on this piece and reap the benefits of his wisdom on writing for the guitar - my sincere thanks and gratitude to him for his artistry.
Earning widespread notice for his richly colored and superbly crafted scores, PIERRE JALBERT has developed a musical language that is engaging, expressive, and “immediately captures one’s attention with its strong gesture and vitality” (American Academy of Arts and Letters). Among his many honors are the Rome Prize, the BBC Masterprize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Stoeger Award, given biennially “in recognition of significant contributions to the chamber music repertory.” He has drawn inspiration from a variety of sources, from plainchant melodies to the natural world. Recent album releases include his Violin Concerto (2019), String Theory (2021), and most recently, Air in Motion (2022), which features the Escher String Quartet and Carol Wincenc. Jalbert is Professor of Music at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music in Houston, where he has taught since 1996, and his music is published by Schott Music.
https://www.pierrejalbert.com
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DAVID LEISNER is an extraordinarily versatile musician with a multi-faceted career as performing artist, composer and teacher. “Among the finest guitarists of all time”, according to American Record Guide, David Leisner's career began auspiciously with top prizes in both the 1975 Toronto and 1981 Geneva International Guitar Competitions. His recent seasons have taken him throughout the US, Canada and Mexico, Australasia and Europe. An innovative three-concert series at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall included the first all-Bach guitar recital in New York’s history, and currently he is the Artistic Director of Guitar Plus, a New York series devoted to chamber music with the guitar. He is a frequent guest at chamber music festivals around the US. Celebrated for expanding the guitar repertoire, David Leisner has premiered works by Del Tredici, Thomson, Rorem, Glass, Bennett, Sculthorpe, Golijov and many others, and spearheaded the revival of the neglected 19th-century composers, Johann Kaspar Mertz and Wenzeslaus Matiegka. Leisner is a featured solo artist for the Azica label, while Bright Shiny Things recently released his guitar arrangement of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin with baritone Michael Kelly. Other recordings are on the Naxos, Telarc, Koch and Mel Bay labels. Mr. Leisner is also a highly respected composer of music that is “rich in invention and melody, emotionally direct, and beautiful” (Fanfare). His most recent commission is Wayfaring, a guitar concerto for Pepe Romero. Recordings of his music include Acrobats, with the Cavatina Duo on the Cedille label, and Letter to the World on Azica, with a cast of 9 singers and instrumentalists. Leisner is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and former faculty at the New England Conservatory. His book, Playing with Ease, is published by Oxford University Press.