Ensemble Pi Explores Music and Politics at SubCulture Tonight

Ensemble Pi's ninth Peace Project concert "Word Interpretations" will feature world premieres by Laura Kaminsky and Susan Botti and works by Jason Eckardt, Bryant Kong, Penderecki and Shostakovich tonight, December 17 at 7:30 p.m. at SubCulture, NYC.

Language gets appropriated, translated, and sometimes "reformed" by culture and politics. For their annual Peace Project's ninth installment, music collective Ensemble Pi performs new commissions and other works which examine the relationship of language, truth and politics -- and how words change meaning when used in contexts different than the ones intended. The program will feature world premieres by Laura Kaminsky and Susan Botti, followed by the music of Jason Eckardt, Bryant Kong, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Since its inception in 2005, the Peace Project concert series has opened a dialogue between ideas and music on some of the world's great issues of the day through commissions of works and collaborations with writers and artists.

Program:

> PREMIERE: Laura Kaminsky's Deception, for b-flat clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (2014) - a work exploring the manipulation of language in situations such as reconsidered statements, solo pronouncements, intertwined dialogue, and that which is unspoken. Musical gestures and interruptions are used to symbolize two ways of creating language, then using it in a different context to create new meaning.

> PREMIERE: Susan Botti's J'ai Tant Rêvé de Toi, for voice and piano trio (2014) - the setting of a love poem Robert Desnos wrote in 1926, before he became a member of the French Resistance, and which is now used on the wall of the Monument of the Deportation in Paris to express the heartbreak of the victims of war. Botti explores the "transformation" of this poem as it changes of context and merges with our current reality.

> Jason Eckardt's Rendition, for clarinet and piano (2006) - a musical response to the practice of extraordinary rendition, still carried out today, wherein foreign nationals suspected of terrorism may be deported to other countries where regulations for interrogation are less stringent than those imposed by the U.S. or completely absent.

> Bryant Kong's The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld, for piano and voice (2004) (selected songs) - a setting of Donald Rumsfeld's pronouncements from Pentagon briefings and media interviews, which columnist Hart Seely arranged into poetry in the book, Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld.

> Krzysztof Penderecki's Sonata for Violin and Piano (1953) - Penderecki's first sonata for violin and piano, written while still a student, and presumably in response to Stalin's death.

> Dmitri Shostakovich's Seven Romances on the Poems of Alexander Bloch, Op. 127, for Voice piano trio (1967) - composed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, but reflecting private rather than public emotions. Guest singer, Rachel Rosales, will perform.

Performers include Idith Meshulam, piano; Airi Yoshioka, violin; Katie Schlaikjer Schlaikjer, cello; Moran Katz, clarinet; Kristin Norderval, voice; with guest artist Rachel Rosales, voice.

Word Interpretations will take place at SubCulture, located at 45 Bleecker Street (Downstairs) on Wednesday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m. (Doors open at 7 p.m.). Tickets are $20 ($15 for students and seniors). To order tickets, visit www.subculturenewyork.com or call (212) 533-5470. For more information about the ensemble visit www.ensemble-pi.org.

Ensemble Pi, a socially conscious new music group founded in 2002, features composers whose work seeks to open a dialogue between ideas and music on some of the world's current and critical issues. For the last ten years, Ensemble Pi has presented an annual Peace Project concert, praised by The New York Times as "gracefully played...a fiery and emotive performance." The Ensemble has commissioned new works and collaborated with visual artists, writers, actors, and journalists, among them South African artist William Kentridge and American journalist/writer Naomi Wolf, Frederic Rzewski, and Philip Miller. The ensemble was in residence for four American music festivals presented by the American Composers Alliance and now collaborates with the APNM. Ensemble Pi has also created artistic and educational programs in response to major exhibitions at Chelsea Art Museum, The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. Gramophone wrote of the Ensemble's first CD, Keep Going, "a touching tribute to Ellias Tanenbaum, played with conviction and verve". A second CD featuring Laura Kaminsky's music was released by Albany Record this year and was described as "played with warmth and variety... in effective fashion" (American Record Guide). www.ensemble-pi.org

SubCulture is a music and performing arts venue located in the historic NoHo neighborhood of downtown Manhattan. Founded by brothers and lifelong music lovers Marc and Steven Kaplan, the venue was designed to foster an intimate connection between artists and the audience by incorporating the absolute best in sound and lighting technology into a room with naturally strong acoustic and architectural features. SubCulture's programming bridges genres, featuring curated performances that engage, provoke, and inspire. SubCulture has received praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, and Time Out New York for its exquisite sound, comfortable aesthetic, and unparalleled hospitality for guests and artists alike. www.subculturenewyork.com