For Composer Michael Hersch, 2015-16 Brings World Premieres of Violin Concerto and Violin-Cello Duet, Plus Opera in Baltimore and Nashville
“One of the most fertile musical minds to emerge in the U.S. over the past generation.”
– Financial Times
Michael Hersch – “a natural musical genius who continues to surpass himself” (Washington Post), winner of both the Rome and Berlin prizes and one of the youngest-ever Guggenheim Fellowship recipients – begins the 2015-16 season with two more performances of his first opera, On the Threshold of Winter. Based on Romanian poet Marin Sorescu’s harrowing final work, The Bridge (a poetic documentation of his unsuccessful battle with cancer), Hersch’s two-act monodrama premiered last year at BAM and receives additional performances this fall at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute and Nashville’s Vanderbilt University. The new season also brings several major premieres for the composer. The world premiere performances of his Violin Concerto will be given by violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, which commissioned the piece. In Washington, DC, members of Berlin’s ATOS Trio will give the first performance of Carrion-Miles to Purgatory: thirteen pieces after texts of Robert Lowell, Hersch’s substantial new work for violin and cello, commissioned by the Library of Congress. In addition, his Zwischen Leben und Tod: twenty-two pieces after images by Peter Weiss (given its world premiere last February in Nashville by violinist Carolyn Huebl and pianist Mark Wait) receives its New York premiere by the same duo in a full multimedia presentation at the new Brooklyn performance and art space National Sawdust.
The fall performances of Hersch’s opera On the Threshold of Winter, as in the BAM premiere last year, will feature soprano Ah Young Hong with the Nunc ensemble and its artistic director, Miranda Cuckson, under the leadership of Tito Muñoz, music director of the Phoenix Symphony. Of the opera’s premiere, the New York Times wrote:
“Death casts a long shadow over the recent work of Mr. Hersch, who lost a close friend to cancer while battling the disease himself. But in On the Threshold of Winter Mr. Hersch has given himself the space to burrow past anger and incomprehension in search of an art fired by empathy and compassion.”
A video preview of On the Threshold of Winter can be viewed here.
Hersch’s Violin Concerto, slated for its world premiere in November by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, was commissioned by that ensemble for the Moldovan-Austrian violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year Award, Kopatchinskaja’s playing has been characterized by The Times, UK, as “touching, mesmerising, and slightly mad.” As the violinist says of the upcoming premiere,
“Michael Hersch … writes out of the present and for the present. His violin concerto says just the things I feel myself; I can play it as if it would be my own music. It is a force of nature, deep, gripping, uncompromising.”
As Hersch remarks:
“This is a particularly meaningful season for me in that I have the honor of working with some remarkable soloists and ensembles – musicians for whom I have the deepest respect. It is both inspiring and humbling. I am also most grateful for having been asked to be a small part of bold initiatives taken by institutions, from the venerable Library of Congress to the newly opened National Sawdust in Brooklyn. It is an exciting period to be writing and performing new music in the United States.”
High-resolution photos can be downloaded here.
https://www.facebook.com/MichaelHerschMusic
Michael Hersch’s 2015-16 season highlights:
Oct: On the Threshold of Winter performed at Peabody Institute in Baltimore and Vanderbilt University, Nashville. Monodrama in 2 acts with Ah Young Hong (soprano), Tito Muñoz (conductor) & Nunc Ensemble (Miranda Cuckson, artistic director).
Oct: World premiere of Carrion-Miles to Purgatory: thirteen pieces after texts of Robert Lowell with members of ATOS Trio at Library of Congress.
Nov: World premiere of Violin Concertoby Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, with Patricia Kopatchinskaja as soloist.
June: New York premiere of Zwischen Leben und Tod: twenty-two pieces after images by Peter Weiss in full multimedia presentation at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, with Carolyn Huebl, violin & Mark Wait, piano.
Michael Hersch: 2015-16 engagements
Oct 3
On the Threshold of Winter – a monodrama in two acts
Ah Young Hong, soprano
Tito Muñoz, conductor
James Daniel, director
Nunc Ensemble (Miranda Cuckson, artistic director)
Peabody Institute
Baltimore, MD
Oct 16
Carrion-Miles to Purgatory: thirteen pieces after texts of Robert Lowell (world premiere)
ATOS Trio
Annette von Hehn, violin
Stefan Heinemeyer, cello
The Library of Congress
Washington, DC
Oct 18
Of Sorrow Born: Seven Elegies for unaccompanied violin (2014)
After Hölderlin’s Hälfte des Lebens for viola and cello (2001)
NOVA Chamber Music Series
Alexander Woods, violin
Brant Bayless, viola
Anne Francis Bayless, cello
Jason Hardink, director
Oct 30
On the Threshold of Winter – a monodrama in two acts
Ah Young Hong, soprano
Tito Muñoz, conductor
Nunc Ensemble (Miranda Cuckson, artistic director)
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Nov 6, 7
Violin Concerto (world premiere)
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Saint Paul, MN
Dec 2
Tenebrae for piano
Two Pieces for Cello and Piano
the wide-wandered hour for soprano and piano
(program also includes two works by Josquin des Prez)
Lunar Ensemble
Baltimore War Memorial
Baltimore, MD
Dec 7
The Wreckage of Flowers (selections)
Darragh Morgan, violin
Mary Dullea, piano
The Forge, Camden Town
London, UK
Dec 14
Milosz Fragments (NYC premiere)
Jason Hardink, piano
Spectrum
New York, NY
April 17
Sonata No. 2 for Unaccompanied Cello (2000/01)
NOVA Chamber Music Series
Anne Francis Bayless, cello
Jason Hardink, director
June 28
Zwischen Leben und Tod: twenty-two pieces after images by Peter Weiss (NY premiere)
Presented in full multimedia
Carolyn Huebl, violin
Mark Wait, piano
National Sawdust
Brooklyn, NY
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© 21C Media Group, September 2015