The Miller Theatre Announces the Spring Season of POP-UP CONCERTS

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts announces the spring season of POP-UP CONCERTS. The cocktail hour series where the audience sits onstage.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Ensemble Signal
Monday, May 11, 2015
Daedalus Quartet with Benjamin Hochman

Tuesday, June 2, 2015
American Contemporary Music Ensemble

and rescheduled for
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Trios by Zorn

Free admission • Doors at 5:30pm, music at 6:00pm

at Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street)

From Miller Theatre Executive Director Melissa Smey:
"It is a delight to announce the third (and final) installment of Pop-Up Concerts this season. These concerts will feature a diverse range of works, from modern master Elliott Carter to rising star Timo Andres to the Soviet composer Mieczys?aw Weinberg. This vibrant series is an integral part of our season, and I can't wait to hear these next several programs."

POP-UP CONCERTS

Bring a friend, grab a drink, and join some of today's most interesting performers onstage at Miller Theatre on select Tuesday evenings. Now in the fourth season, Pop-Up Concerts have become a beloved mainstay at Miller, providing free, informal performances in the early evening. The unique format of these hour-long concerts allows the theater to test out new ideas, often welcoming emerging ensembles to that stage for their Miller Theatre debut. Free libations contribute to the laid-back ambiance. All concerts start at 6 p.m. Admission is first-come, first-served, and doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Ensemble Signal

Olivia De Prato, violin; Matt Evans, percussion
Oliver Hagen, piano; Carson Moody, percussion
This Pop-Up celebrates childlike inspirations, and the wonder of creativity. Sean Griffin'sPattycake is a musical riff on a simple clapping game, while Helmut Lachenmann's Ein Kinderspiel, or "Child's Play," was designed to be technically simple enough that a child could play it (as Lachenmann's daughter did at age 7). The members of Ensemble Signal discover the depth beneath these seemingly straightforward surfaces. The performance is rounded out by a work from Austrian composer Clemens Gadenstätter and Elliott Carter'sTwo Diversions for piano.

PROGRAM:
Clemens Gadenstätter: moved by (2012-13)
Sean Griffin: Pattycake (2002)
Elliott Carter: Two Diversions (1999)
Helmut Lachenmann: Selections from Ein Kinderspiel (1980)

Monday, May 11, 2015

Daedalus Quartet
with Benjamin Hochman

Benjamin Hochman, piano; Min-Young Kim, violin; Matilda Kaul, violin
Jessica Thompson, viola; Thomas Kraines, cello

Acclaimed pianist Benjamin Hochman joins the "fresh and vital" (The New Yorker) Deadalus Quartet for a performance of Mieczys?aw Weinberg's stunning Piano Quintet, Opus 18 in F minor. Weinberg fled Poland in 1939, and the Quintet, written shortly after his arrival in Moscow in 1943, was an immediate success. With echoes of his friend Shostakovich's Piano Quintet, Weinberg's work traverses a rich range of emotions in its five movements.

PROGRAM:
Mieczys?aw Weinberg: Piano Quintet, Opus 18 in F Minor (1944)

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

American Contemporary
Music Ensemble

Caroline Shaw, violin; Ben Russell, violin; Caleb Burhans, viola
Clarice Jensen, cello & artistic director; Timo Andres, piano

The American Contemporary Music Ensemble presents works from fast-rising star Timo Andres, whose music "achieves an unhurried grandeur that has rarely been felt in American music since John Adams came on the scene" (The New Yorker). The program draws inspiration from diverse sources, including Schumann's solo piano works and February weather in New England. The four sections of Thrive on Routine-"Morning," "Potatoes," "Passacaglia," and "Coda"-are modeled after a description of composer Charles Ives' daily schedule, which involved rising early to dig potatoes and play Bach.

PROGRAM:
Timo Andres: Clear and Cold (2013) for solo piano - New York premiere
Timo Andres: Piano Quintet (2012)
Timo Andres: Thrive on Routine (2010) for string quartet - New York premiere

Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Rescheduled from January 27, 2015

Trios by Zorn

Vicky Chow, piano
Jennifer Choi, violin
Michael Nicolas, cello

New-music maverick John Zorn created this program of three works for violin, piano, and cello that run the gamut between heaven and hell. The Aristos presents "ten metaphysical ambiguities" for the musicians to perform, while Hexentarot-completed by Zorn on the eve of the Grand Sabbath Beltane-provides music for witches' rites. With Amour Fou, the composer delves into a whirlwind of emotion at the core of human experience: crazy love.

PROGRAM:
John Zorn: The Aristos (2014) ten metaphysical ambiguities for violin, cello, and piano
John Zorn: Hexentarot (2013) twelve simple canons for the witches' Sabbath
John Zorn: Amour Fou (1999)

Photo Courtesy of the Miller Theatre