On September 17th and 18th, The Ikarus Chamber Players will present a magnificent concert at the Duo Cultural Arts center in downtown New York.

The program is called ‘L’heure bleue,’ after the period in Paris at the turn of the last century.

L’heure bleue

September 17th – 18th, 2010
Duo Multicultural Arts Center, NYC

The blue hour refers to that special time, just before dawn, when a few solitary birds begin to sing and when the heavily cloaked night sky first hints at its inevitable retreat, as well as to a time of innocence in Paris, just prior to World War One, when Maurice Ravel was composing music for piano trio and Claude Debussy was writing his cello sonata. This program celebrates French music, food, and wine, and that time of night – in France or elsewhere – when the electric energy of great friendships finally gives way to the peaceful morning light.

Messiaen ~ Theme And Variations
Debussy ~ Sonate pour violoncelle et piano
Blachly ~ La fête de l’été (commissioned by Salchow & Sons)
—
Ravel ~ Piano Trio

Owen Dalby (vln), Julia MacLaine (vc), Ilya Kazantsev (pno)

Location: 62 East 4th Street, NYC
My major compositional effort from last year, La fête de l’été, will be premiered in fashionable fashion, in the extremely good company of Messiaen, Debussy and Ravel, and will be paired with a crisp Chenin Blanc, the wine that inspired the piece as I wrote it last Summer.

It is a substantial work, some 25 minutes in length, in four movements: la bulle, la gitane, le code a changé, and la nuit. It was inspired by my stay last summer in the beautiful town of le Puy-Notre-Dame in the Saumur region of France.

This is a self-produced and rather ambitious project, and we are endeavording to fill the theater for both nights, so please come and bring many friends. Tickets will be available at the Duo Multicultural Arts Center (212-598-4320) and through SmartTix.

More details to follow!

Read the article here.

It was a moving experience to perform this rich music for people who rarely experience classical music performed live, and we made lots of friends. Special thanks to James and Tay Cooper, who hosted us while we were up there.

Doppelgangers

Check out ca. 1:45 into the segment…

Listen

The concert will benefit work at the All Souls Music Camp in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where I have volunteered my time in recent years.

Tickets are a suggested donation of $20; no one turned away.

Please come and bring many friends!

The concert will take place at Trinity Church on Wall Street and Broadway

I am calling this a dream project. It started with the desire to re-create in some form the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and so with Owen Dalby I have assembled a ‘dream-team’ of young professionals in New York. But I realized that the concert could benefit the long-standing work that Trinity Church supports in the Lower Ninth Ward, where I worked alongside several of my Trinity Choir colleagues.  In that program, the kids are thirsty for real musical learning, as well as for support and guidance; and this symphony, with its profound view of a child’s view of heaven, ties in perfectly with the kids I met in New Orleans last week. They have lived a lot of life in their few years, and there is nothing diminutive or simplistic about the spiritual and musical life of a young person.

The Sheep Island Ensemble presents Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the New York City Summer Mahler Project on July 14th at 6pm at Trinity Church, Wall Street.

Inspired by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado, conductor James Blachly has assembled an all-star cast of young professionals in New York City to perform this concert on a volunteer basis. Most members of the ensemble are teaching artists, and many are former and current members of the Academy of Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and the Weill Music Institute (ACJW), as well as seasoned free-lance veterans.

The concert will be presented free of charge (with a $20 suggested donation) with the hope that the audience consist of people who would not otherwise attend a symphony concert, with all proceeds to benefit the All Souls Music Camp in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where Trinity Church has an ongoing relationship.

Summertime is quiet, and there is room in our busy schedules for a project outside of the normal parameters of New York freelance work. While many busy freelancers leave town to play in festivals, others who have already passed that stage in their career are in the city and are happy to have the chance to play great music with beloved colleagues.

The early starting time reflects the desires of a summer-time crowd-to come right after work, enjoy an exquisite early evening of music, and retire to a glass of wine in Lower Manhattan as the sun sets.

Watch it here.

Enjoy!

Watch the link here.

To celebrate the opening of the beautiful loft of a close friend of mine, I organized an orchestra of 45 professional New York musicians to play Brahms 2 for an audience of 75 in his living room. Yes, it is an extraordinary space, and he is an amazing man.

The feeling in the room was excited, joyful, festive. The reading of the piece was fresh (we had less than 3 hours to rehearse the entire symphony), but full of vigor. Because the space was so small, dynamics had to come down, but people could hear each other in new ways, and essentially everyone was a principal player, in the thick of the action. The brass were heroic, and we indulged them (and they indulged my indulgence) by having them stand for the final exultant fanfares of the fourth movement. Afterwards we drank delicious 2001 Barolo and visited the roof-deck, where we could see the Empire State Building. It was a truly exultant evening.

This morning, I had the great honor of having my music performed by the Trinity Choir, directed by my great friend Steven Fox. They (we) performed two movements of my mass, the Gloria and Sanctus/Benedictus. The choir sounded great, the music was exciting and playful, and the church gave me a very gracious welcome. You can watch it here.

I’m not generally a fan of self-congratulatory behavior or writing, but this weekend was a great celebration for me of what I care about, and the direction I am headed professionally, and so I am indulging in posting about it here. Conducting one of my favorite pieces with a smart ensemble for an enthusiastic audience, trying something new in the process, and hearing my music performed expertly in a real liturgical setting was a combination I want to remember as a highlight of my career thus far.