Miller Theatre Concludes 2013-14 Composer Portraits Series with LIZA LIM Tonight

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts concludes the 2013-14 Composer Portraits series with the music of Australian composer, Liza Lim, featuring International Contemporary Ensemble: Karina Cannellakis, conductor, Tony Arnold, soprano, Gareth Flowers, trumpet, Ross Karre, percussion, and Michael Nicolas, cello. The show is tonight, April 10, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. at the Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street). Tickets are $20-$30 and for Students with valid ID they are $12-$18.

COMPOSER PORTRAITS

Miller Theatre's "ever-intriguing" (The New Yorker) signature series continues to celebrate the best contemporary composers from around the globe-emerging and established-with evening-length musical profiles. This season, all seven composers will participate in onstage discussions during their Portraits.

Composer Portraits

Thursday, April 10, 2014, 8:00 p.m.
Liza Lim

Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th street)

The Australian composer Liza Lim is slowly becoming better known on this side of the world, with commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and Ensemble Modern, among others. Her compositions reflect an interest in Australian Aboriginal culture. Mother Tongue was inspired by the impending extinction of a native Aboriginal language. Invisibility also has its roots in Aboriginal thought, but is more practically concerned with the physical properties of the cello, using both traditional and prepared bows to unlock myriad new sonic possibilities.

Liza Lim

Liza Lim's compositions are marked by visceral energy and vibrant color and often explore ritual forms and performance aesthetics from Asian and Australian Aboriginal cultural sources?. Some recurring themes in her work include hiddenness and revelation; violence and meditation; and ecstatic transformation. Recent projects have been based on the Sufi poetry of Hafez: Tongue of the Invisible, a 1-hour work written for jazz pianist Uri Caine, baritone Omar Ebrahim and Ensemble musikFabrik, and The Guest, for recorder soloist Jeremias Schwarzer and the Southwest German Radio Orchestra. Recent major commissions from organizations such as the Holland Festival, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Lucerne Festival, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Salzburg Festival, Donaueschinger musiktage, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and Pinakothek der Moderne Munich as well as multiple projects with Ensemble musikFabrik, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern and Ensemble für neue musik zürich amongst others. She has been closely associated with the Australian ELISION Ensemble for over 20 years, with projects including three operas: The Oresteia (1993), Moon Spirit Feasting (1999), and The Navigator (2008) performed in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Tokyo, Moscow, Paris, Zurich, and Berlin. She was composer-in-residence with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2005 and 2006. Awards include the Paul Lowin Prize, DAAD Artist-in-residence Berlin 2007-08, and Ian Potter Foundation Senior Fellowship. She was appointed a member of the Akademie der Künste der Welt, Cologne, in 2012 and curated the music program for the opening Cutting Edge festival. Since 2008, she has been Professor of Composition and Director of CeReNeM, Centre for Research in New Music at the University of Huddersfield. Her works are published by Casa Ricordi (Milano, London & Munich) and on CDs with Hat Hut, ABC-Classics, HCR, Neos, Dischi Ricordi, and Vox Australis.

International Contemporary Ensemble

http://iceorg.org/

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), described by the New York Times as "one of the most accomplished and adventurous groups in new music," is dedicated to reshaping the way music is created and experienced. With a modular makeup of 33 leading instrumentalists performing in forces ranging from solos to large ensembles, ICE functions as performer, presenter, and educator, advancing the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement. ICE redefines concert music as it brings together new work and new listeners in the 21st century. Since its founding in 2001, ICE has premiered over 500 compositions, the majority of these new works by emerging composers, in venues ranging from alternate spaces to concert halls around the world. The ensemble received the American Music Center's Trailblazer Award in 2010 for its contributions to the field, and received the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming in 2005 and in 2010. ICE is Ensemble-in-Residence at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago through 2013. The ICE musicians also serve as Artists-in-Residence at the Mostly Mozart Festival of Lincoln Center through 2013, curating and performing chamber music programs that juxtapose new and old music. ICE has released acclaimed albums on the Nonesuch, Kairos, Bridge, Naxos, Tzadik, New Focus, and New Amsterdam labels, with several forthcoming releases on Mode Records. Recent and upcoming highlights include headline performances at the Lincoln Center Festival, Musica Nova Helsinki, Wien Modern, Acht Brücken Music for Cologne, La Cité de la Musique (Paris), and tours of Japan, Brazil and France. ICE has worked closely with conductors Ludovic Morlot, Matthias Pintscher, John Adams and Susanna Mälkki. With leading support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, ICE launched ICElab in early 2011. This new program places teams of ICE musicians in close collaboration with six emerging composers each year to develop works that push the boundaries of musical exploration. ICElab projects will be featured in more than one hundred performances from 2011-2014 and documented online through DigitICE, a new online venue, and ICE's blog. ICE's commitment to build a diverse, engaged audience for the music of our time has inspired The Listening Room, a new educational initiative for public schools without in-house arts curricula. Using team-based composition and graphic notation, ICE musicians lead students in the creation of new musical works, nurturing collaborative creative skills and building an appreciation for musical experimentation.?

Karina Canellakis

Rapidly gaining recognition as one of the most promising and exciting young American conductors, Karina Canellakis recently made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut, leading works by Adams, Mackey, and Carter on the American Soundscapes series in Zankel Hall. An enthusiast of 21st century composers, she also frequently appears as guest conductor of New York's groundbreaking International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). Ms. Canellakis is the winner of the 2013 Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship. This award will present her with guest conducting appearances over the next two seasons and guidance by world-renowned music directors. She conducted the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in Switzerland as a selected conductor in the 2013 Lucerne Festival Masterclass with Bernard Haitink, the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in concert in Sapporo, Japan, as well as the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zürich as part of an international masterclass with David Zinman. She has also led performances with the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Karina Canellakis holds a bachelor's degree in violin from the Curtis Institute of Music and a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Alan Gilbert and James Ross. While at Juilliard, she won the 2013 Charles Schiff Conducting Award for outstanding achievement in orchestral conducting, as well as the American Conductors Award, Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship, and Isidore Komanoff Award. Other prominent mentors include Fabio Luisi and Sir Simon Rattle.

As a violinist, Ms. Canellakis has been praised for her "big, lustrous tone...power and expressiveness" (Philadelphia Inquirer). She appears as soloist with orchestras across the United States. For several years she played on a regular basis with both the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony. She has also been on several occasions guest concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway. As a chamber musician, she spent many summers at the Marlboro Music Festival. Ms. Canellakis plays a 1782 Mantegazza violin, generously loaned to her by a private patron.