Music from Copland House Brings LIFE CYCLES to NYC

The internationally-acclaimed Music from Copland House ensemble brings a dazzling program to Elebash Hall at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, featuring music inspired, colored, and defined by the sounds of our surroundings, relationships, cultures, faiths, and more. The ensemblwill present scintillating, richly communicative works by three of America's most enthralling composers, whose cultural and personal backgrounds span continents. The free, hour-long program celebrating life and the sounds of living is part of Music from Copland House's FREE FOR ALL! series, and takes place on Tuesday evening, February 6 at 6:30PM. 

Hilos (“Threads,” in Spanish), a major work by Gabriela Lena Frank -- one of The Washington Post’s “35 Most Important Women Composers in History” -- evokes the vibrant songs, dances, games, and vignettes of her ancestral Peru. Pierre Jalbert’s Piano Trio No. 1 bridges secular and sacred, contrasting the hyper-energy, drive, and intensity of life with the ethereal beauty and stillness of a liturgical prayer; called “a masterwork” and “a winner” (American Record Guide) when Music from Copland House premiered it in New York 20 years ago, the ensemble has since performed it frequently all across America, and recorded it on a highly-praised CD. Indian-American composer Reena Esmail returns to her roots in her hypnotic Tasveer, the first piece she wrote after spending a year in India; commissioned by Copland House, it embraces the wisps of sound at the heart of Hindustani melodic ornamentation, and melds the worlds of her parental homeland, Indian singing, and Western classical music.

The program is immediately followed by OFFBEAT / ONSTAGE, Music from Copland House's lively post-performance conversations with the artists and audience Q&A.

Based at the award-winning creative center for American music at legendary composer Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in northern Westchester, Music from Copland House has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, and Euro-Radio; engaged by the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and the Caramoor, Cape Cod, Bard, Bowdoin, and Ecstatic Festivals; and heard on the Arabesque, Koch International, and COPLAND HOUSE BLEND labels. It has commissioned nearly 100 works, and undertakes extensive educational and community outreach activities. Its stellar performers at this concert are clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, violinist Curtis Macomber, cellist Caleb van der Swaagh, and pianist Michael Boriskin.

Tickets are free, and reservations are strongly advised, and may be made online or by calling Copland House at (914) 788-4659.