Simone Dinnerstein: The Eye is the First Circle
Photo by Maria Baranova
LINKS & ASSETS
The Eye is the First Circle Website
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
Music by Charles Ives, Leonard Bernstein,
and Robert Schumann
With projection design by Laurie Olinder
and lighting design by Davison Scandrett
With The Eye Is the First Circle, Simone Dinnerstein ventures into bold interdisciplinary artistic territory in collaboration with projection designer Laurie Olinder and lighting designer Davison Scandrett.
Conceived and directed by Simone, this dynamic production deconstructs and collages elements from two iconic works of art: her father Simon Dinnerstein’s painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata.
Laurie Olinder pulls visuals including animated elements of the painting and real-time video to all points of the stage, and Davison Scandrett’s lighting gives them breathtaking theatricality.
Simone's searching performance sits within this disorientingly immersive visual space.
The piece asks:
How do our origin stories mold us?
How can a sense of self come from the musical and visual fragments we remember from childhood?
The Eye is the First Circle shows us what it is to draw a new circle around the one we stand in, at the edge of what we can see.
Duration: Approx. 70 minutes without intermission
Technical Specifications: The Eye is the First Circle can be performed in a wide variety of theater venues, from black box theaters and non-traditional spaces to proscenium stages. There are two productions available to accommodate different venues. More information.
The Eye is the First Circle was commissioned by PEAK Performances at Montclair State University.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As Emerson wrote in his essay Circles, “The life of man is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles, and that without end.”
The Eye is the First Circle is a very personal piece that, at its core, explores how my family’s world shaped my relationship to art. I devised it using my father Simon Dinnerstein’s Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata. My intellectual, emotional and artistic response to each work, and to the connections I saw between them, is what formed the larger circle I drew.
I envisioned The Eye Is the First Circle as a single artwork with many kinds of expression. To craft it, I collaborated closely with the projection designer Laurie Olinder, along with lighting designer Davison Scandrett and associate video designer/engineer Simon Harding. Laurie’s rich imagination, consummate eye for composition, and artistic skill brought the visual ideas to life. The pieces of the puzzle that I wanted to interweave—such as using hidden cameras inside the piano, interspersing natural and human sounds of the world around us, and filming myself in the actual garden that was the subject of the copper plate at the center of the triptych—were discussed with the entire artistic team. A member of the Kasser Theater’s stage crew sat at the piano as a stand-in for me so that the four of us could be out in the theater, viewing the stage and constructing the work.
While creating this production, I discovered that I had an aptitude for visual composition and for directing. It was as if I discovered a sixth sense that I had never used before, and I felt the joy of generating an artistic experience that expanded beyond music, the area where I am most used to expressing myself. When I began, I did not know what the end point would be. As Emerson wrote, “The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is to forget ourselves, to be surprised out of our propriety, to lose our sempiternal memory, and to do something without knowing how or why; in short, to draw a new circle.”
-Simone Dinnerstein
PHOTOS
VIDEOS
Kristin Lee x Sandbox Percussion
LINKS & ASSETS
Kristin Lee x Sandbox Percussion Brochure
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
Kristin Lee joins GRAMMY®-nominated ensemble Sandbox Percussion in a captivating collaboration of violin and percussion quartet. The focal points of this program are two new works - Joan Tower’s To Sing or Dance, and a new commission by Vivian Fung.
Of her work, Joan Tower says “When I spent some time with the wonderful composer Arvo Pärt, we had a discussion about the origins of music. He felt music came from the voice (or singing) and I had a different idea that it came from the drum (or dancing). Basically, this difference of opinion reflects a longtime split between composers who write mostly for the voice (Pärt, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, etc.) and those that compose mostly for instruments (me, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, etc.). When I was asked to write a piece for violin and percussion, that difference became immediately apparent: how to have these two very different instruments in the same space, living fairly comfortably together.”
Vivian Fung says, “I am very excited to announce this new collaboration with Kristin Lee and Sandbox Percussion. Our relationships extend back many years. I wrote my Violin Concerto No. 1 for Kristin in 2010, with Birdsong and Twist following shortly thereafter. Sandbox and I partnered on (Un)Wandering Souls in 2020.
I see this project as a violin concerto of sorts, but in a more adventurous vein, as a percussion orchestra forms the backdrop for this setting. While the possibilities for sound exploration are almost endless, my focus will be finding percussion sounds that complement, contrast, and augment the sounds of the violin. A natural way of dividing the work is by the material type used - wood, glass, metal, etc. So, for example, the glassy sounds of the harmonics on the violin may be complemented by an orchestra of glass sounds of different timbres in the percussion, and that can be augmented by experimenting with different shaped vessels, such as wine glasses, vases, and tubes. There is an inherent theatricality in the sound world I am seeking to explore, so as part of the process of composition, I will be working with the performers to maximize the use of spatial possibilities in the room, placement of instruments, and movement of performers during the work.”
Booked in collaboration with Blu Ocean Arts for Sandbox Percussion
Maya Beiser x Terry Riley: In C
Photo by Jill Steinberg
LINKS & ASSETS
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“The intrepid cellist Maya Beiser has reimagined the piece ingeniously. The result is transfixing….moody and introspective, but also, by the end, quietly uplifting”
Cellist Maya Beiser joins forces with drummers Shane Shanahan and Matt Kilmer for live performances of Terry Riley's In C, as recorded on her 2024 album Maya Beiser x Terry Riley. Maya recreates In C as a series of ever-evolving cello loops, constructing a hypnotic, rapturous soundscape that re-envisions this classic 1964 Minimalist masterpiece.
As NPR puts it, "This album is a musical journey for mind and body – both a stimulant and a sedative. It offers many engaging stopovers, from an oasis of calm where the pulse evaporates, to Led Zeppelin-like headbanging reminiscent of 'Kashmir,' to moments where the cello loops interleave with the sweet delicacy of Vivaldi. If you have a spare hour to let this singular, hypnotic music wash over you, the world might just seem a little brighter."
Terry Riley describes Maya's performance on the recording as, “stunningly beautiful,” adding, “the overall shape flows so naturally and her cello sound is so warm and powerful.”
Hailed as “the reigning queen of avant-garde cello” by The Washington Post, Maya Beiser brings a bold and unorthodox presence to contemporary classical music. Raised on a commune in Israel’s Galilee Mountains by her Argentinean father and French mother, Beiser spent her early life surrounded by the music and rituals of Jews, Muslims, and Christians, while studying classical cello repertoire. Throughout her extensive career she has been a featured performer on the world’s greatest stages, defying conventional norms with her boundary-crossing performances. Maya has collaborated with eclectic artists across five continents, reimagining solo cello performance in the mainstream arena. Maya’s vast discography includes fifteen solo albums, many of them topping the classical music charts, and she is the featured soloist on numerous film soundtracks. A graduate of Yale University, Maya Beiser is a United States Artists (USA) Distinguished Fellow in Music and was a Mellon Distinguished Visiting Artist at MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology. She is the founder of Islandia Music Records, an independent record label that creates work with large-scale social, cultural, and spiritual impact by pushing the boundaries of the art-music genre.
Shane Shanahan has combined his studies of drumming traditions from around the world with his background in jazz, rock and Western art music to create his own unique, highly sought-after style. Since 2000 he has been touring around the globe performing with Yo-Yo Ma as a founding member of the genre defying, Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble and served as Co-Artistic Director (2017-2020). Shane has performed and/or recorded with Bobby McFerrin, Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, Philip Glass, Alison Krauss, Deep Purple, Jordi Savall, Sonny Fortune, Chaka Khan, Bill Frisell and Glen Velez, among others.
Matt Kilmer has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors including being named a Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute fellow. He has produced albums for many contemporary artists and is an in-demand session drummer and percussionist as well as a highly sought-after live musician for touring acts such as Grammy Award-winning artist Lauryn Hill and master Arabic oudist and violinist Simon Shaheen. He has produced and collaborated with artists as diverse as Reggie Watts, Jon Brion, and Krishna Das.
“Using acoustic and electric cellos, as well as a looper and computer software, Beiser has created a sonic tsunami that runs from soft ripples to towering waves of sound.”
VIDEOS
“The mesmerizing tribal ecstasy of Beiser’s opening movements seems equally rooted in Africa, India, and psychedelic rock. One of the movements sounds as if it was created during prayer in a medieval cathedral; another comes across like an otherworldly variation on an Indian raga. Welcome to In C as you’ve never heard it before—but will surely want to hear again.”
Exchanges: Kristin Lee, Kokayi, Miguel Zenon, and Anthony Tidd
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BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
Violinist Kristin Lee is pleased to offer Exchanges, a new concerto for 3 soloists and full orchestra by Grammy-winning musician/producer/composer Anthony Tidd. Kristin is joined by Guggenheim Fellow wordsmith Kokayi and MacArthur Fellow saxophonist Miguel Zenon in this new composition that will pay homage to three key musical genres at the bedrock of Western music; Classical, Jazz, and Hip Hop.
Exchanges, presented in three movements, celebrates the historic and ongoing cultural exchange which has, over centuries, given birth to the complex tapestry that is our modern arts culture. The piece will draw equally from creative elements at the heart of all three soloists’ sound worlds to produce a cohesive work that is altogether new and fresh, featuring deep grooves, interactive improvisations, narrative freestyles, thematically developed passages, and immense soundscapes that are only possible with orchestra.
Kristin Lee says, “Anthony Tidd and I met back in 2011, just a little over a decade ago. I had just graduated from The Juilliard School, eagerly searching for how music was going to shape my life. Anthony and I met because we were performing at The Kimmel Center for a project that the legendary hip hop band, The Roots, had put together called Philly-Paris Lockdown. The idea of this brilliant project was to bring musicians of various genres onto one stage and showcase the collaboration of classical, hip hop, jazz, folk, and indie artists. As a recent graduate at the time, I had never encountered such brilliant and generous minds from other musical worlds. And from that day on, my love for music has expanded so much beyond just the violin and classical genre. Exchanges is not only about celebrating our friendship but showcasing the importance of inspirations from other genres of music, especially between jazz and classical genres. I envision Anthony writing very complex time signatures and harmonies that will continue to challenge me! Since Anthony is a virtuoso electric bassist, I can also envision some parts that include groove filled bass parts with the violin improvising over it!”
Anthony Tidd says, “I firmly believe that genre is an illusion. As with all other facets of culture, many musicians of different backgrounds and of different persuasions have always mixed, influenced each other, borrowed from other traditions and even played within multiple genres. This is certainly my story. I was educated in London on violin within the classical tradition as a child. I was drawn to jazz later because I wanted to learn to improvise on a high level. Unfortunately, at the time, there weren’t any opportunities to do so on violin, so I began playing the bass. Later still, I worked extensively within hip hop because it was the dominant culture that I grew up in and encountered when I moved to the United States, and because I always had an interest in music production. Today I prefer to call the music I compose creative music, because in reality, like many art musics, it is a mix united by creativity. When it comes to excellence within this type of ‘genre-bending’ experiment, there is no more capable musician than Kristin Lee. After ten years of working together within all kinds of musical situations involving artists such as Steve Coleman and The Roots, and the many discussions we have had about the future of ‘art music’ and great musicians, I have no doubt that Kristin will be the perfect partner for such a project.”
Duration: 20 minutes
Carion Wind Quintet
Photo by Jānis-Porietis
LINKS & ASSETS
High Resolution Photos | Concert Programs | Website
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“most refined arrangements, fresh and vivid performances and a marvellous recorded sound”
Carion Wind Quintet is an award-winning Danish-Latvian ensemble which brings a truly unique and innovative chamber music experience to audiences. Carion fascinates audiences with its carefully choreographed and dramatized performances of classical and modern works, making music on stage visible and adding a new dimension of traditional concert events.
Carion Wind Quintet’s trademark is its unusual way of presenting on stage: without music stands or chairs, there is space for nuanced choreography that adds a theatrical element to the music. Musical structures are visualized through steps, movements and formations and the distribution of roles within the instruments is made visible, inspiring and delighting audiences and critics alike.
Carion Wind Quintet has performed to critical acclaim in Europe’s most prestigious festivals such as the BBC Proms, Rheingau Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Beethovenfest Bonn, Bergen Festival, and Helsinki Festival. Carion has also performed in Dubai and Japan. The ensemble has received first prizes at the Danish Radio Chamber Music Competition and the Marco Fiorindo Competition in Italy.
Carion collaborated with electronica guru Bjørn Svin, as well as legendary flutist Sir James Galway and the Leipziger Streichquartett.
Since Carion Wind Quintet’s formation in 2002, the ensemble has released five albums, receiving stellar reviews from Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine, among others. Carion also presents its dynamic music videos on its YouTube channel, accumulating almost 4 million views.
“the players, all secure in technique and beautiful in tone, combine with immaculate attack, balance and tuning, as well as a sense of shared purpose”
VIDEOS
“If everyone approached an anniversary year like Carion and Odradek have here, our listening would be infinitely richer.”
Boyd Meets Girl & Clarice Assad: ANAHATA
Photo by Mark Allan, Barbican
LINKS & ASSETS
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd and American cellist Laura Metcalf - will give the world premiere performances of Clarice Assad's new concerto, ANAHATA, with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra from February 9-11, 2024, conducted by Carolyn Kuan. The duo is available for further performances of the work during the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 seasons.
A powerful communicator renowned for her musical scope and versatility, Brazilian-American Clarice Assad is a significant artistic voice in the classical, world music, pop, and jazz genres. The Grammy Award–nominated composer, celebrated pianist, inventive vocalist, and educator is acclaimed for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range. With her talent sought-after by artists and organizations worldwide, the polyglot musician continues to attract new audiences both onstage and off.
Boyd Meets Girl has toured the world sharing their eclectic mix of music from Debussy and Bach to Radiohead and Beyoncé, and their two studio albums have been streamed four million times on Spotify alone. Both acclaimed soloists in their own right, Boyd has been described as “truly evocative” by The Washington Post, and as "a player who deserves to be heard" by Classical Guitar Magazine, while Metcalf, who has also toured as a member of the popular chamber ensembles Eighth Blackbird, Break of Reality and Sybarite5, has been called "brilliant" by Gramophone. The duo has toured throughout the USA, India, Nepal, New Zealand, and every state and territory in Australia, including engagements at Caramoor, Newport Classical, Festival Napa Valley, Austin Classical Guitar, Moab Music Festival and many others.
Clarice Assad describes her new concerto, written in three linked movements, as "a musical reflection on the complex nature of love," making it a perfect fit for the married duo.
Clarice writes, "Anahata, meaning 'unhurt' or 'unstricken' in Sanskrit, refers to the core heart chakra in yogic ideas - a psychic hub governing our ability for kindness, calmness, and deep human closeness. As cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd first imagined this joint piece with me, 'love' emerged as our luminous inspiration, reflecting their connected lives as artistic and romantic partners. . . [the piece] traces an abstract romantic arc without literal storytelling; Anahata’s central theme indirectly resonates with the duo’s creative chemistry and personal bond. It merges with echoes emerging from my memories, threads of influence from my childhood in Brazil and adolescence in France. These personal ancestral ornamental details form this fabric of sound."
Duration: Approx. 20 minutes
VIDEOS
Brandon Patrick George: The Community Concerto Project - Commissioning, Mentorship, and Community Empowerment
Marco Borggreve
LINKS & ASSETS
Brandon Patrick George: Community Concerto Project Brochure
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
Brandon Patrick George
Brandon Patrick George is a leading flute soloist and Grammy®-winning chamber musician whose repertoire extends from the Baroque era to today. He draws on his personal experiences in his commitment to educating the next generation.
Since late May 2020, Brandon Patrick George has received frequent invitations to serve on panels about diversity in classical music, being repeatedly asked what institutions can do to support and reflect the communities they serve. The many conversations, and desire to use his platform for change, has inspired this solo project. Brandon aims to help orchestras deepen their connections with their audiences, inspire young musicians of color, and expand the repertoire with programming that reflects the community in which they serve.
Being raised in a single-parent household and beginning his musical journey at age 10, Brandon experienced many of the inequities that continue to plague the classical music industry. He says, “Looking back, it is apparent that the industry was not designed for people like me to succeed. I did not have resources for a great instrument, and my lessons were free, thanks to being admitted to the local performing arts high school at age 12. Until quite recently, symphony orchestras did little to cultivate ties with the Black community, recruit musicians of color, or showcase Black classical artistry, with the rare exception during Black History Month. To this day there are very few people of color in leadership roles in the arts, and traditionally serving on the board of an artistic institution has required wealth, and social connections, both which the average person of color lacks. According to a 2015 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the median net worth for Black households in Greater Boston is only eight dollars.”
Mentoring and Community Engagement
Brandon will curate site-specific chamber music performances for orchestras that allow him to work with young musicians from underserved communities, alongside musicians from the orchestra. Brandon will identify students to work with on an individual basis and workshop the repertoire that they will ultimately perform, first in a recital, and later during a concerto performance.
Concerto Project
Brandon proposes a new concerto written by a composer of his and the orchestra’s choosing. In addition to the solo flute part, the work will feature students that Brandon will have mentored during his collaboration. The small ensemble of students is not limited to flutes, but any chamber instrumentation that allows students to perform with Brandon for a portion. Having a new commission which tells the story of that community, while also representing the community on stage, would allow the orchestra to deeply reflect Brandon’s mission of helping classical musicians make connections with their city through commissioning and mentoring.
Summary
After years of his work with community music initiatives from Atlanta Music Project, Play on Philly, and many others in nearly every city he has toured, Brandon feels that the heart of his work lies in making meaningful connections with the communities he visits through music. He believes this project could plant the seeds for real growth, and help orchestras fully engage their communities, on and off the stage. An investment in the future of orchestral performance, music education, and community engagement.
Performance History
Albany Symphony - Albany, New York
-Commission: Flute Concerto featuring Brandon and the Albany High School Chamber Choir by Michael Gilbertson
-World Premiere: June 8, 2024
-Community Engagement: three workshops with Albany High School Chamber Choir & one career presentation/discussion with Albany High School music students
PHOTOS
Sarah Cahill & Viet Cuong: Stargazer for Piano and Orchestra
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Christine Alicino, Photo of Viet Cuong by Aaron Jay Young
LINKS & ASSETS
Sarah Cahill & Viet Cuong: Stargazer Brochure
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“fiercely gifted”
“wildly inventive”
Pianist Sarah Cahill performs composer Viet Cuong’s new piano concerto, Stargazer, which received its world premiere in May 2023 with the California Symphony, as part of Cuong’s role as the Symphony’s Young American Composer-in-Residence.
Cahill says of Cuong’s new work, “Stargazer is unabashedly gorgeous. It’s very challenging to play, because the piano part is all 32nd notes, very fast, like a toccata—but often a very delicate texture. The inspiration of Baroque music comes through in a kind of chaconne-like recurring bass line and harmonic form. But Stargazer is also unmistakably Viet Cuong: there’s a beautiful sort of echo effect that he’s been using in his work recently. It’s an extraordinary concerto and I’m excited to bring it to life.”
Stargazer showcases Viet Cuong’s deft blending of two musical techniques: an underlying cyclic bass line provides the basic structure, while everything above unfolds and develops, incorporating a layering similar to that created by tape delay.
About the name Stargazer: “I like the idea that the pianist is the Stargazer, with the piano as your telescope,” remarked Cuong during a conversation with pianist Sarah Cahill. “You’re looking out and hearing the orchestra twinkle around you and they’re taking the sounds from you. Each one of the notes echoes itself, so it snowballs and creates this very lustrous texture.”
Instrumentation: 2-2-2-2; 4-4-3-1; tmp+4; str
Duration: 17 minutes
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Pianist Sarah Cahill
Sarah Cahill, hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall. She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF).
Sarah Cahill’s discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Cold Blue, Other Minds, Irritable Hedgehog, and Pinna labels. Cahill’s latest album, The Future is Female, Vol. 3, At Play, was released in April 2023 on First Hand Records. The Future is Female is a three-volume series, which celebrates and highlights women composers from the 17th century to the present day.
Composer Viet Cuong
Called “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, the “irresistible” (San Francisco Chronicle) music of Vietnamese-American composer Viet Cuong (b. 1990) has been commissioned and performed on six continents by musicians and ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sō Percussion, Atlanta Symphony, Sandbox Percussion, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among many others, and has been played at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art, and more. In his music, Cuong enjoys exploring the unexpected and whimsical, and he is often drawn to projects where he can make peculiar combinations and sounds feel enchanting or oddly satisfying. He was recently featured in The Washington Post’s “21 for ’21: Composers and performers who sound like tomorrow.”
Composer Lisa Bielawa & Violinist Tessa Lark: Violin Concerto No. 2: Pulse
Photo of Tessa Lark by Lauren Desberg, photo of Lisa Bielawa by Desmond White
LINKS & ASSETS
Lisa Bielawa & Tessa Lark: Violin Concerto No. 2 Brochure
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“Tessa brings forth a ‘humankind’ in her playing that envelops you in the warmth of her Kentucky roots...She exudes a graciousness that welcomes you to join her in the exploration of the music. Her sound is rich, yet always maintains an underlying purity”
“[Bielawa’s] music boasts a distinctive blend of Romantic effusion and steely, almost austere contemporaneity...a fluid and arresting creation that is at once dramatic and probing.”
2023 Guggenheim Fellow, Rome Prize and American Academy of Arts & Letters Award-winning composer Lisa Bielawa is pleased to offer a new violin concerto, written for GRAMMY-nominated violinist Tessa Lark, with lead co-commissioners the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Louisville Orchestra and additional consortium members to be announced.
Pulse (noun)
1: the regular expansion of an artery caused by the ejection of blood into the arterial system by the contractions of the heart
2: rhythmical beating, vibrating, or sounding
3a: underlying sentiment or opinion or an indication of it
b: vitality
A “pulse” in the musical sense is not always out front and audible like a groove. It is the rhythmic heartbeat way beneath a phrase, the deeply anchored contractions and expansions of time that drive the music forward. We also use the word to refer to the “underlying sentiment” of a place. Composer Lisa Bielawa has a long history of making work inspired by her encounters with music-making communities that have a strong sense of belonging, from Appalachia to Armenia to Serbia to former East Germany. In this way she goes to a place in order to “take its pulse,” to behold its vitality and let it sit alongside her own musical voice, not seeking to integrate, mimic or appropriate, but rather preserving the integrity of both.
In 2023, Lisa immersed herself in the musical traditions of Appalachia, touring alongside violinist Tessa Lark and the Louisville Orchestra. They talked, they jammed, they dreamed of a new concerto that could bring some of the musical ideas they heard just beginning to come to life in their short collaboration into a whole new form: a virtuoso concerto written expressly for an artist who can explore the technical and expressive underpinnings of multiple discrete musical worlds, built through her lifetime of music-making in all of them.
As we approach the 250th anniversary year of the United States in 2026, we are all taking the pulse of the country we call our own. America is so many different organisms to different people in different places. San Francisco, Boston, New York, Kentucky, Knoxville, and beyond – as Americans and as musicians, we are listening to the contractions of our country’s heart, seeking to encounter its underlying sentiment. The shared experiences that inspired this collaboration were deeply joyful ones, and so the piece will be expansive and full of vitality. It is, at its, core, a response to the sense of belonging that pulses through so many diverse American communities.
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Background
Tessa Lark grew up in Kentucky, playing both classical violin and Appalachian traditional music from a young age in a musical family. Lisa Bielawa grew up in San Francisco, also playing violin from a young age in a musical family. As adults, they each embarked on a unique musical path that brought them through Boston for a few years, at different times, where both of them worked with conductor Gil Rose, Lisa as composer-in-residence with his orchestra and Tessa as concertmaster for his opera company. He told Lisa about Tessa and suggested they meet. Little did he know that they had ended up in New York, living down the hall from one another on the fifth floor of the same building in Upper Manhattan. Tessa recognized Lisa’s name on a package in the lobby and reached out. Lisa put two and two together. They were connected, and they could wave at each other through their windows, across the air shaft! Then, the pandemic. Their nascent collaboration had to be satisfied, for the moment, with a socially distanced glass of wine.
Fast forward three years: Lisa was invited to live in Louisville Kentucky for a year in residence with the Louisville Orchestra, where she immersed herself in the musical communities of Appalachia, and – much to her delight – shared the stage in concerts all over the state with Tessa, who had already been working for several years with LO conductor Teddy Abrams. Their paths were now inextricably linked through common colleagues and experiences.
It was a natural next step to want to create something new together that they could share with these conductors, and through which they could continue exploring new American musical communities together. Lisa began her work on PULSE in spring 2024 at the Loghaven Artist Residency in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she continued to connect with traditional music-making as she worked.
Duration: 20-25 minutes
Composer Lisa Bielawa
Composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968) takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. Bielawa was named a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, joining a diverse group of 171 exceptional individuals. Gramophone reports, “Bielawa is gaining gale force as a composer, churning out impeccably groomed works that at once evoke the layered precision of Vermeer and the conscious recklessness of Jackson Pollock.” Her music has been described as “ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically slightly tart,” by The New York Times, and “fluid and arresting ... at once dramatic and probing,” by the San Francisco Chronicle. She is the recipient of the 2017 Music Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and a 2020 OPERA America Grant for Female Composers. She was named a William Randolph Hearst Visiting Artist Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society for 2018 and was Artist-in-Residence at Kaufman Music Center in New York for the 2020-2021 season.
Lisa Bielawa’s music is frequently performed throughout the U.S. and abroad. Her work has recently been premiered at the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, SHIFT Festival, Town Hall Seattle, Naumburg Orchestral Concerts Summer Series in New York’s Central Park, National Sawdust, Le Poisson Rouge, Rouen Opera, Helsinki Music Center, Arsenal de Metz, and MAXXI Museum in Rome, among others. Orchestras that have championed her music include The Knights, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, American Composers Orchestra, and the Orlando Philharmonic; she has also written for the combined forces of The Knights, San Francisco Girls Chorus, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Premieres of her work have been commissioned and presented by leading ensembles and organizations including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Miami String Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Seattle Chamber Music Society, American Guild of Organists, American Pianists Association, California Music Center, Akademiska Sångföreningen (Helsinki), Paul Dresher Ensemble, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, the Washington and PRISM Saxophone Quartets, Ensemble Variances (commissioned by Radio France), and more.
Violinist Tessa Lark
Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. In 2020 she was nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category and received one of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Awards, the special Hunt Family Award. Other recent honors include a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Silver Medalist in the 9th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition. A budding superstar in the classical realm, she is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music and inspiring composers to write for her.
Tessa has been a featured soloist at numerous U.S. orchestras, recital venues, and festivals since making her concerto debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at age sixteen. She has appeared with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; the Louisville Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic; the Albany, Indianapolis, Knoxville and Seattle symphonies; and has been presented by such venues as Carnegie Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Music Center at Strathmore, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, San Francisco Performances, Ravinia, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, Australia’s Musica Viva Festival, and the Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Bridgehampton, and La Jolla summer festivals.
Violinist Kristin Lee & Pianist-Composer Michael Stephen Brown: A New Double Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra
Photo of Kristin Lee by Lauren Desberg, Photo of Michael Stephen Brown by Anela Bence Selkowitz
LINKS & ASSETS
Kristin Lee & Michael Stephen Brown: Double Concert Brochure
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“This is a violinist who has everything: superlative technique to burn, interpretative mastery and incredible sensitivity to the various styles of music...”
“one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers”
In Dialogue Concerto, the violin and piano transcend their traditional roles as mere instruments to become two individuals with distinct personalities, engaging in a continuous dialogue with themselves and with each other. The interplay between the violin and piano is elevated to a new level as they engage in a dialogue not just with each other, but with their surroundings - represented by a string ensemble. This creates a musical microcosm of human relationships, where the two instruments constantly affirm or contrast each other's voices. What makes this piece truly unique is the way it seamlessly integrates intimate chamber music into a larger orchestral world, opening up new relational dynamics, sonic possibilities, and complex questions. It's a powerful exploration of the interplay between tradition and innovation, classical and contemporary, and the personal and the universal.
“My new work brings us back to the famous Mendelssohn salons in the 1820s. Music was then created and heard as a living and breathing organism— flourishing in real time, evolving in sync with the atmosphere and creative surroundings. Felix and his sister Fanny showed off their musical poetry and technical brilliance in an intimate setting, composing music for themselves and for public display. My new work reflects this spirit of an older time in conversation with our present one, exploring human emotions from the most personal to an openly boisterous, united celebration for all.
Dialogue Concerto can act as a companion piece to Felix Mendelssohn’s brilliant Double Concerto for the same instrumentation, and both works can be presented with either a string quintet or string orchestra. The violin/piano collaboration is one of the most beloved forms of chamber music, and as a pianist I have been fortunate to explore a longtime musical collaboration with the extraordinary violinist, Kristin Lee. She is a groundbreaking artist whose musical sense is ideally suited to the fusion of tradition interacting with the contemporary.
-Michael Stephen Brown
“I am honored to have one of my favorite pianists and composers, Michael Stephen Brown, writing this double concerto for us. Michael is one of the most profound and unique musical voices of today. As a pianist, his phrasing always tells a story, and his vulnerable expressions allow communication with the listeners. As a composer, Michael’s music communicates directly and honestly. His colorful expression combined with a sense of drama and humor creates a personal narrative, drawing listeners into his world.
Michael and I have many years of experience as musical partners, and I cannot be more excited to launch this opportunity to deepen our artistic collaboration. When Michael composes, the process is a collaborative one. He respectfully desires my creative input while drawing on our musical chemistry and strengths as a unit. Therefore, the idea that this work will be tailored to us will be the greatest form of celebration for our friendship.”
-Kristin Lee
Duration: 15-20 minutes
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Violinist Kristin Lee
Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the- mill instrumentalists from true artists.”
As a soloist, Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Nordic Chamber Orchestra of Sweden, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and many others.
Pianist-Composer Michael Stephen Brown
Michael Stephen Brown has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” His artistry is shaped by his creative voice as a pianist and composer, praised for his “fearless performances” (The New York Times) and “exceptionally beautiful” compositions (The Washington Post). Brown is the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant.
As a composer, he recently toured his own Concerto for Piano and Strings (2020) around the US and Poland with several orchestras, including the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, and the Grand Rapids, North Carolina, Wichita, New Haven, and Albany Symphonies. He was the Composer and Artist-in-Residence at the New Haven Symphony for the 2017-19 seasons and a 2018 Copland House Residency Award recipient. He has received commissions from the Gilmore Piano Festival, the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra; the New Haven and Maryland Symphony Orchestras.
Invoke: Suite from Evolve and Travel
Photo by Nathan Russell
LINKS & ASSETS
Invoke: Suite from Evolve and Travel Brochure
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“a versatile and musically adventurous,
way more than classical string quartet”
Invoke offers arrangements of their captivating original compositions for string quartet and orchestra, including “Evolve and Travel,” “Alchemy,” and “Doorway.”
Described as “...not classical but not, not classical…beautiful, adventurous, American and immediately engaging” (David Srebnik, former SiriusXM Classical Producer), Invoke (Nick Montopoli, violin/banjo/vocals; Zach Matteson, violin/vocals; Karl Mitze, viola/mandolin/vocals; Geoff Manyin, cello/vocals) strives to successfully dodge even the most valiant attempts at genre classification. The multi-instrumental quartet encompasses traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. Fueled by their passion for storytelling, Invoke weaves all of these styles together to form a unique contemporary repertoire, featuring original works composed by and for the group.
Invoke’s latest album, Evolve & Travel, was released in fall 2023 on Sono Luminus, and features seven original works which reflect the group’s growth as people, composers, and friends with a rich history. Strings Magazine reported, “the remarkable string quartet Invoke has repeatedly proven one thing over its first 11 years: it simply cannot be contained by any one label.” All Music describes the album as, “An intriguing entry for those wishing to sample the growing interface between classical music and progressive bluegrass.”
Invoke writes: “Some works are inspired by books we finally had time to read (“Alchemy” and “Doorway”)...and some were written more recently, in a response to finally being able to reconnect with our audiences around the country (“Evolve and Travel”).”
By arranging these enthralling originals and featuring their unique quartet make-up, Invoke offers orchestras the opportunity to engage with their local communities on a deeper level by appealing to a broader audience.
Invoke seeks to encourage audiences of all ages to push the boundaries of traditional classical music and offer them an insightful view into the limitless innovations of the American orchestra.
Lisa Bielawa: Broadcast USA
Photos by Jon Cherry, O’Neil Arnold, Christina Jensen
LINKS & ASSETS
Lisa Bielawa: Broadcasts Brochure
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“All the boundaries we take for granted in musical life - including those marking the beginning and end of a performance, or separating performers from an audience - are casually obliterated in Crissy Broadcast, composer Lisa Bielawa’s magical and heartbreakingly beautiful exercise in public art. What’s left is a heightened aesthetic sense of the world around us.”
Guggenheim and Rome Prize-winning composer Lisa Bielawa’s Broadcast series of works are large-scale spatialized symphonies that interpret public space and activate diverse communities through deeply collaborative music-making. Since 2013, these works have brought together hundreds of professional, amateur and student music-makers in Berlin, San Francisco, and most recently, Louisville, KY.
Lisa Bielawa is currently seeking partners for performances that would be aligned with an iteration planned for 2026 in recognition of the 250th birthday of the United States, with a working title of Broadcast, U.S.A.
This initiative seeks to bring Broadcasts to locations around the country, highlighting the profound natural beauty within our borders while also honoring the many musical traditions that have accompanied and, in some cases, predated the history of the United States.
Broadcast U.S.A. invites community members to come together to be visible in an innovative expression of shared vitality and joyful reinterpretation of public space. Cities and towns are often comprised of musical groups and communities, many of which operate separately from one another, often unaware of possible synergies and shared goals. This musical moment can set the stage for their connection, expression, and amplification. The performance would be a 45-minute musical work created expressly to showcase diverse musical ensembles. It would be mounted in a park site that features distance expanses, a combination of grass and concrete (which provides resonance),and free-flowing pathways and open space for audience to move through and among performers. At the beginning of the piece, all musical groups play in one large gathering. Gradually, musicians migrate outwards, creating ever-wider distances, culminating finally by reconvening into three large groups of musicians at the outer reaches of the performance area, jamming with their neighbors but no longer audible to one another.
VIDEOS
Maya Beiser x Philip Glass in Concert
Photo by Boyang Hu
LINKS & ASSETS
Maya Beiser x Philip Glass Brochure
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“The adventurous Ms. Beiser has been called the ‘cello goddess,’ which is not hyperbole: She summons from her instrument an emotional power so stirring that even the most stoic audience members risk turning into sobbing sacks of flesh.”
Cellist, arranger, and producer Maya Beiser joins with a group of all-star cellists to perform Maya Beiser x Philip Glass. Drawn from her latest album, the immersive performance brings together an astounding group of avant-garde cellists – Jeffrey Zeigler, Clarice Jensen, Andrew Yee, and Gabriel Cabezas – to create a multi-layered sound sculpture, exploring and unveiling new dimensions in some of Philip Glass’s most powerful and achingly beautiful works.
Maya’s multi-cello arrangements include Glass’s Piano Etudes Nos. 2 and 5, Mad Rush, Music in Similar Motion, and selections from Naqoyqatsi, part of Glass’s Qatsi Trilogy with filmmaker Godfrey Reggio.
Maya says, “In making this album, I searched for layers of sound that might reveal something new about Glass’s ingenious creative power. I was thinking about stratum, the layering that occurs in most sedimentary rocks formed at the Earth’s surface. I imagined the layers of my cello becoming porous and Glass’s music flowing vociferously through each layer, like lava, endlessly creating new patterns, expanding into the landscape. For me, recording a solo album is an introverted, solipsistic process. I go inward and build the sound from within, building my cello’s layers one at a time. In the live performance, I wanted to create a shared communal experience, to expand that powerful communion that enfolds between myself and the audience. I reached out to some of the most brilliant artists/cellists I know, wanting to create another communion between the five cellists performing. It’s a different kind of magic. It’s a dialogue that allows for multiple journeys to happen at once.”
VIDEOS
Rising featuring the Neave Trio, Pigeonwing Dance, Composer Robert Sirota, Choreographer Gabrielle Lamb
LINKS & ASSETS
BOOKING INQUIRIES
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Gina Meola, gina@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
Dances about water - rivers and oceans - are among the oldest human forms of expression; but in this time of climate change and rising sea levels, Rising takes on heightened significance. An exploration of the human connection to Earth’s oceans, this evening-length work intertwines Robert Sirota’s emotive, lyrical music with Gabrielle Lamb’s choreography, rooted in restraint and scientific inspiration, for five members of Pigeonwing Dance
The score for Rising includes recorded text from oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer (Flotsametrics and the Floating World), who likens the structure of earth’s oceanic gyres to an “enormous musical instrument” – and naturalist Craig Foster (My Octopus Teacher). Rising, developed over three years, was initiated by the Neave Trio. Unusually, the musicians handpicked both composer and choreographer. They perform on stage and have been vital to shaping the work’s vision.
Our artists wish to bring attention to the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels on marine ecosystems, while leaving space for the hope that, in Foster’s words, “we can all learn to walk a little more lightly on this planet”.
We welcome partnerships with institutions dedicated tothe intersection of the arts and sciences. Rising offers opportunities to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, engage audiences in meaningful discussion about environmental issues, and demonstrate a commitment to cross-disciplinary dialogue. Past outreach events have included music and dance master classes, panel discussions, and audience Q & As.
Premiere: September 27, 2024
Co-presented by the Patricia Valian Reser Center for Art and Creativity (PRAx) and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University
The program runs approximately 60 minutes with no intermission. Video excerpts here.
