Post-Classical Ensemble PR

New PCE website!

2011-01-04T14:50:00.000-05:00

The Post-Classical Ensemble has relaunched its website today, with News and other features available there by Twitter, Facebook, or soon by RSS feed from the website itself.

Please come and see the newly relaunched website! : http://www.post-classicalensemble.org/

(Please note also that we will no longer post PCE PR announcements from this website but only at ensemble's relaunched website or by social media.)

Washington Post previews P-CE's Russian Gershwin

2010-09-23T19:07:00.000-04:00

Unanswered Question: Joe Horowitz on P-CE's Upcoming 2010-2011 Season

2010-06-27T18:07:00.001-04:00

Last week, we announced our eighth season. It comprises a robust series of festivals celebrating an assortment of iconic twentieth century composers: George Gershwin, Lou Harrison, and Igor Stravinsky.

(Read more)

Examiner notes P-CE's Interpreting Liszt festival

2010-02-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

Washington Post lists P-CE's Interpreting Liszt

2010-01-31T00:01:00.001-05:00

Baltimore Sun notes P-CE's Interpreting Liszt

2010-01-30T16:38:00.002-05:00

WETA announces P-CE's Interpreting Liszt

2010-01-29T09:15:00.001-05:00

WAMU announces P-CE's Interpreting Liszt

2010-01-29T09:00:00.001-05:00

Georgetown announces Interpreting Liszt

2010-01-08T09:00:00.001-05:00

P-CE's Kerry Van Laanen at Gala Theatre in QuinTango

2009-11-12T07:40:00.002-05:00

Season Premieres with 'Encounters: David Taylor'

2009-09-24T10:00:00.008-04:00

For its 2009-10 season opener, P-CE brings to DC a pair of unclassifiable, widely recorded artists prominent both in jazz and classical circles. Both are fixtures of the edgy jazz scene in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The virtuoso bass trombonist David Taylor began his jazz career playing with the likes of Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, and with the Gil Evans and Charles Mingus Big Bands. More recently, he has toured with Winton Marsalis.

Encounters: David Taylor

David Taylor, bass trombone
William Sharp, baritone
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor

DATE: Thursday, October 1, 2009
TIME: 7:30 pm
LOCATION: The Harman Center for the Arts, Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW, Washington, DC
TICKETS: $25, $35, $10 (Students only) - For tickets: 202.547.1122 or www.harmancenter.org
INFO: www.post-classicalensemble.org

When he is not composing for the Berlin Philharmonic or Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, the composer/saxophonist Daniel Schnyder tours widely with a trio also including Taylor and the pianist Kenny Drew, Jr.; their repertoire ranges from Bach to Ellington to Schnyder.

Schubert/Mahler: Death and the Maiden
Schubert: Doppelgänger and other late songs
Stravinsky: Suite from A Soldier's Tale
Daniel Schnyder: Works for bass trombone and orchestra
(Post-concert discussion with Daniel Schnyder and David Taylor)

Post-Classical Ensemble: 2009-2010 Season Announcement

2009-07-13T08:30:00.003-04:00

With the Harman Center for the Arts now principal venue, the Post-Classical Ensemble has its 2009-2010 season planned.

This season includes "Interpreting Liszt," a two-day Post-Classical Ensemble Festival held in collaboration with Georgetown University to explore new perspectives on Romantic art and the Romantic artistic personality. The performances are part of “Interpreting Liszt,” a conference including film, historic recordings, and much more.

The season also includes performances in Chicago for "Beyond Flamenco: Finding Spain in Music," a Post-Classical Productions festival exploring the search for Spanish identity through music, presented by the University of Chicago and sponsored by the Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales of the Spanish Ministry of Culture with additional support from WFMT radio.

ENCOUNTERS: DAVID TAYLOR
“Left every brass player in the packed house shaking his head in disbelief” – The Chicago Tribune about David Taylor

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, 7:30pm
The Harman Center for the Arts, Sidney Harman Hall
610 F Street NW
Washington, DC
www.harmancenter.org

David Taylor, bass trombone
William Sharp, baritone
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor

Are you in the mood for something really edgy? Post-Classical Ensemble showcases one of the world’s great instrumentalists: the bass trombonist DAVID TAYLOR, whose flamboyant virtuosity and eruptive temperament astonishingly transfigure music of every stripe. With P-CE, Taylor performs a medley of harrowing late Schubert songs, plus a pair of jazzy and rambunctious Daniel Schnyder scores: subZERO Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra (DC premiere) and RoTor (world premiere).

Schubert/Mahler: Death and the Maiden (string orchestra)
Schubert: Doppelgänger and other late songs
Stravinsky: Suite from A Soldier’s Tale
Daniel Schnyder: Works for bass trombone and orchestra

Post-concert discussion with the participation of composer Daniel Schnyder

INTERPRETING LISZT

A Post-Classical Ensemble Festival in collaboration with Georgetown University, exploring new perspectives on Romantic art and the Romantic artistic personality.

Evening events at Georgetown University, Gaston Hall (Healy Building)
Liszt Conference at McNair Hall
37th and O Streets NW. (Parking available on campus through Prospect St. and Canal Rd.)
http://performingarts.georgetown.edu/DAVIS/

Friday, Feb. 12, 7:30 pm: LISZT AND ITALY, an illustrated piano concert including poetry by Petrarch and Dante, visual art by Raphael and Michelangeli, Mykola Suk’s harrowing interpretation of Liszt’s Dante Sonata, and Kumaran Arul’s Lisztian improvisation on St. Francis Walking on the Water.

Saturday, Feb. 13, 7:30 pm: ANGELS AND DEVILS
(Illustrated pre-concert on Totentanz by Anna Celenza at 6:30 pm)

Mykola Suk, piano
Georgetown University Chamber Singers; Frederick Binkholder, director
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor

Liszt: Hymne de l'enfant a son reveil and Inno a Maria Vergine, for chorus
Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor
Liszt: Pastorale from Christus
Liszt: Totentanz for piano and orchestra

Feb. 12, 1:15 to 5 pm, and Feb. 13, 10 am to 4:30 pm: “INTERPRETING LISZT” CONFERENCE, including film, historic recordings, speakers Anna Celenza, Joseph Horowitz, and Thomas Mastroianni, and pianists Mykola Suk, George Barth, and Kumaran Arul. Free admission. For information: http://performingarts.georgetown.edu

“An astonishing blend of muscular power, poetry and utter control – one of the more formidable talents to have appeared in this country in years”– The American Record Guide on Mykola Suk.

THE MAGISTRATE AND THE MILLER’S WIFE

Friday, April 23, 2010, 7:30 pm
The Harman Center for the Arts, Sidney Harman Hall
610 F Street NW, Washington, DC
www.harmancenter.org
(Pre-concert film presentation on “Falla and flamenco” at 6:30 pm)

Pedro Carbone, piano
Angel Gil-Ordonez, conductor
Ramon Oller, choreographer
Dancers from the Spanish National Dance Company

Falla: Fantasia Baetica (solo piano)
Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (piano and orchestra)
Falla: The Magistrate and the Miller’s Wife (dance/pantomime; DC stage premiere)

Manuel de Falla, Spain’s most famous composer, used flamenco to revitalize Spanish music after a century of somnolence. All the music on our program is infused with the haunting cante jondo of flamenco song, and the dramatic exuberance of flamenco dance. The Magistrate and the Miller’s Wife (El Corregidor y la Molinera), a boisterous farce, is an early version of Falla’s best-loved score, The Three-Cornered Hat. This new production, also to be conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is Spain’s major American cultural export in celebration of its Spring 2010 Presidency of the European Union.

Benefit Gala
May 20010
A gala benefit for Post-Classical Ensemble will be held in May 2010. Details will be available before the end of the year.

Society of Spain announces P-CE's 2009-2010 season

2009-06-16T22:40:00.001-04:00

Shakespeare Theatre: Encounters - A John Adams Snapshot

2009-03-07T19:30:00.000-05:00

Date: April 22, 2009 (Wednesday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Harman Center for the Arts at the Shakespeare Theatre, 450 7 ST NW, WDC (directions)

"Encounters: A John Adams Snapshot" provides a rare opportunity for DC audiences to hear two cutting-edge compositions by an indispensable American original. "Phrygian Gates," early Adams, is a landmark of keyboard minimalism, a 30-minute kaleidoscope of swirling colors and textures. "Gnarly Buttons," late Adams, is a sizzling clarinet concerto distilling swing, blues, and jazz. Both works will be performed for the first time by two great American instrumentalists.

Principal Performers:
David Krakauer, clarinet
Benjamin Pasternack, piano
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor

Program:
John Adams: Phrygian Gates
John Adams: Gnarly Buttons

Kennedy Center: Iberian Inspirations

2009-03-01T19:30:00.001-05:00

Date: March 1, 2009 (Sunday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Fortas Chamber Music Concerts on the Terrace Theater

As the major presenter of Spanish concert music in both DC and New York City, Post-Classical Ensemble has long made a cause of the lesser-known works of Falla, and of the master Catalonian modernists Montsalvatge and Gerhard. PCE returns to the Kennedy Center with a program including the American premiere of a Montsalvatge sinfonietta, inspired by the paintings of Salvador Dali.

(More at the Kennedy Center's website.)

Principal Performers:
Harolyn Blackwell, soprano
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor

Program:
Manuel de Falla: Psyche
Joaquin Turina: Poema en Forma de Canciones
Xavier Montsalvatge: Sinfonietta Folia Daliniana (US premiere)
Joaquin Rodrigo: Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Choros no. 7 (Septet)
Roberto Gerhard: Cancionero de Pedrell

Harman Center: The Mexican Odyssey

2008-11-06T19:30:00.000-05:00

Date: November 6, 2008 (Thursday)
Time: 7:30-10:30 P.M.
Place: Harman Center for the Arts at the Shakespeare Theatre, 610 F Street NW, WDC (directions)

Mexico’s explosive cultural saga — from stark Mayan ceremonies to the torrid revolutionary art of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo — produced centuries of explosive music. This unique program, combining music, history, and visual art, includes the Aztec intensities captured by Carlos Chavez, the florid reverence of Mexican Baroque, and the shrill trumpets and booming tubas remembered by Silvestre Revueltas from his rural childhood.

(Additional Mexican programing Nov. 1 at Georgetown University: "Defining Mexico" — an all-day conference followed by a choral concert by Georgetown University Chamber Singers at 6:00 pm in McNeir Hall (New North Building). Free and open to the public.)

Principal Performers:
Pedro Carboné, piano
Roberto Limón, guitar
Georgetown University Chamber Singers
Gregorio Luke, commentator
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor

Program:
Pre-hispanic culture — Xochipili by Carlos Chávez (with pre-Hispanic instruments)
Mexican Baroque — Choral works by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla
Romantic/Post-Romantic — piano music by Ricardo Castro and Manuel Ponce
Solo guitar — Scherzino mexicano and Variations and Fugue on “La Folia” by Manuel Ponce
Nationalism — Three Pieces for solo guitar by Carlos Chavez; Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca by Silvestre Revueltas
High modernism — Three Secular Dances for cello and piano by Mario Lavista; Serenata by Ana Lara (East Coast premiere)

Joseph Horowitz at Library of Congress

2008-03-15T17:00:00.001-04:00

Date: March 15, 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 P.M.
Place: Room LJ 119, Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

Moderator Georgette M. Dorn, Chief of the Hispanic Division at the Library of Congress leads discussants Joseph Horowitz, Artistic Director of the Post-Classical Ensemble, Roberto Kolb, Gregorio Luke, Leonora Saavedra, Barbara Tenenbaum, and Sergio Vela. This will be an open discussion, following a panel on cultural context, part of "Two Faces of Mexican Music: Carlos Chávez (1899-1978) and Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) Revisited" running March 11 - 16, 2008, at the Library of Congress.

PCE Performs Revueltas at Library of Congress

2008-03-14T21:00:00.003-04:00

Date: March 14, 2008 (Friday)
Time: 8:00 P.M (Pre-concert Prelude at 6:15 P.M.)
Place: Coolidge Auditorium, Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress (directions)

Eugenia Leon, vocalist, joins the Post-Classical Ensemble for chamber music, poetry, and popular song, celebrating Mexico’s revolutionary 20th-century “sound muralist,” Silvestre Revueltas, whose pulsing sonic canvases parallel in music the achievements of Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros in visual art.

If there is a Latin American composer whose “time has come” it is surely Silvestre Revueltas. For one thing, Revueltas is the composer who most resonates with the charismatic Mexico of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. For another, he is the rare 20th century composer whose voice is both original and instantly recognizable. A program incorporating popular song and poetry as part of a four-day Library of Congress festival: “Two Faces of Mexican Music: Chávez and Revueltas Revisited.”

PCE Performs "Free to Sing" at Strathmore

2008-02-16T20:00:00.002-05:00

Date: February 16, 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 8:00 P.M.
Place: Music Center at Strathmore (directions)

Tickets:

"Free To Sing: The Story of the First African-American Opera Company" is an original Strathmore production featuring 19th Century Music

Commissioned by Strathmore, the original script charts the personal advancement of some of Washington D.C.’s most prominent African- American individuals, as they use their musical talent to raise money for their church community and build schools for their children in the 1870s. Free to Sing focuses on the musical accomplishments of the Opera Company with an introductory narrative. The creative team for the show includes: Emmy Award-winning director Scot Reese, Joseph Horowitz and Angel Gil-Ordóñez of the Post-Classical Ensemble, and the Morgan State University Choir under the direction of Eric Conway.

Almost 150 years ago, in 1858, St. Martin’s Parish, now known as St. Augustine’s Church, was founded as a place of worship for Washington D.C.’s African American Catholic population. With a heavy emphasis on music and education, the church employed the expertise of a former Marine Band member, Professor John Esputa, to lead their chorus. Recognizing the great musical talent found in the church, choir member Willia.m. T. Benjamin and Professor Esputa went on to form the Colored American Opera Company. In 1873, the Opera Company presented 7 performances of Julius Eichberg’s The Doctor of Alcantara to mixed race audiences—two at Lincoln Hall (capacity 1,500) and two at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C., and three at Agricultural Hall in Philadelphia.

Performance: Song of the Earth

2007-03-16T20:00:00.001-04:00

Performance: The Song of the Earth
Date: Friday, March 16, 2007
Time: 8:00 P.M. (Prelude at 7:00 P.M.)
Where: Kay Theatre of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland/College Park (directions)

Tickets: $30; students $7. Clarice Smith Center box office, call 301.405.ARTS, or to order online click here

Description: Experience what happens when cultural boundaries are crossed by intrepid creative spirits. Gustav Mahler's sublime "Der Abschied" (The Farewell) from The Song of the Earth in the context of the traditional Chinese music and poetry that inspired it. The program includes the premiere of a commissioned work by the master Chinese-American composer Zhou Long.

Guests:
DELORES ZIEGLER: mezzo-soprano
MIN XIAO-FEN: pipa
WANG GUOWEI: erhu
SHI HON GALDIN: actress

Performers:
The Post-Classical Ensemble
Angel Gil-Ordonez, musical director
Joseph Horowitz, artistic director

PROGRAM:

7:00 P.M.
- Prelude with Zhou Long, Min Xiao-fen, Wang Guowei, Angel Gil-Ordóñez, and Joseph Horowitz (host)
8:00 P.M.
- Traditional Chinese music, with Min Xiao-Fen (pipa) and Wang Guowei (erhu)
- Poetry by Meng Hao-Ran and Wang Wei, with Shi hong Aldin, reader
- Zhou Long: "The Farewell" (after Wang Wei, Meng Haoran) (2007)
  Premiere performance (Clarice Smith Center commission)
- Gustav Mahler: "Der Abschied" from Das Lied von der Erde (1909)
  (as arranged for chamber orchestra for Arnold Schoenberg's Society for Private Musical Performances)
- Post-concert discussion

(The program has no intermission)

Screening/Discussion: The Plow that Broke the Plains - NYC

2007-03-08T18:00:00.000-05:00

See it Again
... but ...
Hear it Anew!

Date: March 8, 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 P.M.
Where: Donnell Media Center, 20 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 (directions)
What: The classic documentary film The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936)
Who:

Joseph Horowitz, artistic director, Post-Classical Ensemble
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor, Post-Classical Ensemble
George Stoney, Professor of Cinema at NYU, on Pare Lorentz and the New Deal
Charles Fussell, composer, on Virgil Thomson
Moderator: Howard Weinberg, president, New York Film/Video Council

No-Host Reception: 8:15 P.P. at Sushiya Restaurant, 28 West 56th Street (R.S.V.P. 212-330-0450) (directions)

P-CE's Joe Horowitz @ Library of Congress

2007-03-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

Joseph Horowitz, artistic director of the Post-Classical Ensemble will present a lecture on "The Classical Music 'Crisis' and What To Do About It" with music historian Karen Ahlquist and Washington National Opera director of artistic operations Christina Scheppelmann.

The lecture takes place on March 7 (Wednesday) at 7:00 P.M. in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, free and open to the public. (directions)

For more details, please click on the following image from the Library of Congress: