Miller Theatre to Continue 'Composer Portraits' Series with Zosha di Castri

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts continues its Composer Portraits series with Zosha Di Castri, featuring Yarn/Wire and Ekmeles, on Thursday, December 1, 8:00 p.m. at Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street).

Tickets: $20-$30 • Students with valid ID: $7-$18 at www.millertheatre.com/events/zosha-di-castri.

From Miller Theatre Executive Director Melissa Smey: "I've been watching Zosha Di Castri's career blossom for some time, and I'm thrilled to present an evening of her work at Miller Theatre. Her music is captivating and multi-dimensional, and will be expertly performed by two ensembles with whom she's collaborated closely over the years. It's especially exciting that this concert will celebrate her recent appointment to the faculty in Columbia's Department of Music."

"Imagine sound on a spectrum," says Zosha Di Castri, "moving fluidly between abstract soundscapes, gestural outbursts, and referential echoes of musics half-remembered."

Pianists, percussionists, and vocalists come together alongside electronics to explore the rich gamut of Di Castri's work. Two premieres-including Near Mute Force for members of both ensembles-are among the evening's repertoire.

PROGRAM:
New work for Yarn/Wire (2016) world premiere
Near Mute Force (2016) U.S. premiere
The Animal after Whom Other Animals are Named (2013)
The Thinking Eye (2006)

ARTISTS:
Zosha Di Castri, composer
Yarn/Wire
Ekmeles

Sophia (Zosha) Di Castri (born 1985) is a Canadian composer/pianist living in New York. She was appointed as Assistant Professor of Music at Columbia in 2014, at age 29, after completing her DMA in the Department. Her work extends beyond purely concert music, including projects with electronics, installations, and collaborations with video and dance. Her latest work, Serafiniana, for solo amplified violin, amplified harp, orchestra, and electronics premiered in Toronto in May. Other recent orchestral compositions have been programmed by the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra among others. Zosha has made appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the L.A. Philharmonic in their chamber music series and has worked with many local groups including Talea Ensemble, Wet Ink, Ekmeles, and Ensemble Pamplemousse. She was the recipient of the Jules Leger Prize for New Chamber Music for her work Cortege in 2012, and participated in IRCAM's Manifeste Festival, writing an interactive electronic work for Thomas Hauert's Dance Company ZOO. Upcoming projects include an evening-length collaborative interdisciplinary work with David Adamcyk and ICE, and a piece for the Cecilia String Quartet.

Yarn/Wire is a New York-based percussion and piano quartet (Ian Antonio and Russell Greenberg, percussion / Laura Barger and Ning Yu, pianos). Yarn/Wire has commissioned many American and international composers including Rick Burkhardt, Raphaël Cendo, Alex Mincek, Thomas Meadowcroft, Misato Mochizuki, Tristan Murail, Kate Soper, and Øyvind Torvund. The group has given the United States premieres of works by Enno Poppe, Stefano Gervasoni, and Georg Friedrich Haas, among others. The ensemble enjoys collaborations with genre-bending artists such as Tristan Perich, David Bithell, and Pete Swanson. Yarn/Wire appears nationally at prominent festivals and venues including New York's Miller Theatre, River-to-River Festival, La MaMa Theatre, and the Festival of New American Music. Their new and ongoing series, Yarn/Wire|Currents, serves as an incubator for new experimental music at ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, NY.

Ekmeles-praised for their "extraordinary sense of pitch" by The New York Times, and called a "promising addition to the New York scene" by The New Yorker's Alex Ross-is a vocal ensemble dedicated to the performance of new and rarely-heard works, and gems of the historical avant garde. Their recent concert performances include a program of premieres by Columbia University composers, and a concert of American works including world and U.S. premieres by Taylor Brook, Aaron Cassidy, and Zosha Di Castri. Recent collaborations with instrumental ensembles include the U.S. premieres of Beat Furrer's FAMA with Talea Ensemble, and Luigi Nono's Quando Stanno Morendo with AMP New Music.