Spectrum Welcomes Pianist Beth Levin Today

Spectrum presents an afternoon recital with virtuoso pianist Beth Levin today, May 5th at 3. The program features a world premiere by Andrew Rudin, a New York premiere by David Del Tredici and works by Scott Wheeler, Yehudi Wyner, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert and Michael Rose.

Just released yesterday by Parma Records is A Single Breath, Beth Levin's magnificent live performance recording of the final three Beethoven Sonatas Op. 109-111 on the Navona Records label.

The concert will take place today, May 5, 2013 at 3pm at SPECTRUM, 121 Ludlow Street, Second Floor, New York, NY. Subway: F, M, J & Z trains to Essex/Delancey station Admission: $25. For more information, visit www.spectrumnyc.com/blog/.

On the Program:

Moments Musicaux op. 94

Moderato Andantino Allegro moderato Moderato Allegro vivace Allegretto

Refrain

Arietta:
A Portrait of Nancy Armstrong

Spy vs. Spy

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Yehudi Wyner (b. 1929)

Scott Wheeler (b. 1952) Michael Rose (b. 1959)

--INTERMISSION--

*Sonata for Piano 2013

Allegro Satirico Andante malinconico Maestoso

**Bittersweet
Four Piano Pieces, Op. 119

Intermezzo: Adagio
Intermezzo: Andantino poco adagio Intermezzo: Grazioso e giacoso Rhapsodie: Allegro risoluto

*World Premiere

**New York Premiere

Andrew Rudin (b. 1939)

David Del Tredici (b. 1937) Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Beth Levin, Pianist: Pianist Beth Levin's playing style can only be described as one of complete and selfless immersion into music, aided by an impeccable technique and an understanding that can be traced back to her unique artistic lineage. Levin, a former child prodigy who made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 12, was subsequently taught and guided by legendary pianists such as Rudolph Serkin, Leonard Shure, Dorothy Taubman and Paul Badura-Skoda (who praised her as a pianist of rare qualities and the highest professional caliber). It is this lineage that allows Levin to connect the golden age of the great Romantic interpreters to the modern musical landscape and lends itself to her astonishing interpretive ease with all music, whether written one hundred years ago or one hundred days ago.

As a concerto soloist, Beth has appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Boston Civic Symphony, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and numerous other symphony orchestras throughout the Americas, working with noted conductors such as Arthur Fiedler, Tonu Kalam, Milton Katims, Joseph Silverstein and Benjamin Zander.

Chamber music festival collaborations have brought her to the Marlboro Festival, Casals Festival, Harvard, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Ankara Music Festival and the Blue Hill Festival, collaborating with such groups such as the Gramercy Trio (founding member), the Audubon Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet and the Trio Borealis with whom she has toured extensively.

Among Levin's many recordings, her renderings of Bach's Goldberg Variations, (Centaur Records, 2008) and Beethoven's Diabelli Variations (Centaur Records, 2011) stand as two of her most crowning achievements. Her interpretation of the Diabelli Variations has been described as "consistently fascinating" (Steve Smith, NY Times) and simply "stunning" (Robert Levine, Stereophile Magazine). Of her Goldberg Variations, it is said that she plays "as if she is in love with the notes....with always the sense that she is exploring Bach's genius" (Peter Burwasser, Fanfare Magazine). Her performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio, WGBH (Boston), WFMT (Chicago) and WNYC, WNYE and WQXR (New York).

Levin remains committed to the performance of newly written works, collaborating with composers such as Henryk Gorecki, Louis Karchin, Michael Rose among many others. Her closest relationships remain with composers David Del Tredici and Andrew Rudin, both of whom have written works for her. www.bethlevinpiano.com

Andrew Rudin, Composer: Andrew Rudin is a Texas-born composer of Swedish ancestry. His "Il Giuoco" was the first large-scale work for Moog Synthesizer.

His synthesized music is heard in the sound-track of the film "Fellini: Satyricon" and his "Tragoedia"on Nonesuch Records was described by critic Alfred Frankenstein as "The best large-scale electronic work I have ever heard. In Andrew Rudin's hands the electronic idiom finally comes of age." He has composed ballets for the Pennsylvania Ballet, Murray Louis, Dance Theatre Workshop, Louis Falco, Jeff Duncan, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, four collaborations with Alwin Nikolais, and music for Tennessee Williams' "Outcry". His opera "The Innocent" was produced in Philadelphia by Tito Capobianco in 1972. His music has been performed by such artists as pianists Lydia Artymiw, Marcantonio Barone, Beth Levin and Steven Beck, duo-pianists Stephanie & Saar, violinists Diane Monroe & Miranda Cuckson, violist Brett Deubner,

percussionist Anthony Orlando, flutists Mimi Stillman and Patricia Spencer, cellists Sam Magil, Eugene Moye, and Michal Schmidt, and clarinetist Ronald Reuben. Recent concertos for Violin, Viola, and Piano, available on Centaur and Innova labels, have brought him renewed recognition.. He is the recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, Ucross Foundation, and Virginia Center. His teachers have included George Rochberg, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ralph Shapey, Kent Kennan, and Paul Pisk. He has served on the faculties of the Juilliard School and The University of the Arts, where he taught until 2001. www.composerudin.com

Michael Rose, Composer: Michael Rose is a composer and pianist. He is on faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and runs their New Music Collective concert series. His works have been performed by American Opera Projects, eighth blackbird, and the Richmond County Symphony, among many others. Awards include a Fulbright to India ("Music of Kathakali" 2006-07), AMC, MTC and NFAA grants, and residencies at Centrum and Djerassi artists colonies. Michael is also a member of the South Oxford Six, a composers collective that puts on concerts in NYC and holds an annual composition workshop in Serbia, "Summer in Sombor."

David Del Tredici, Composer: Generally recognized as the father of the Neo-Romantic movement in music, David Del Tredici has received numerous awards (including the Pulitzer Prize) and has been commissioned and performed by nearly every major American and European orchestral ensemble. "Del Tredici," said Aaron Copland, "is that rare find among composers - a creator with a truly original gift. I venture to say that his music is certain to make a lasting impression on the American musical scene. I know of no other composer of his generation who composes music of greater freshness and daring, or with more personality."

Much of his early work consisted of elaborate vocal settings of James Joyce (I Hear an Army; Night Conjure-Verse; Syzygy) and Lewis Carroll (Pop-Pourri, An Alice Symphony, Vintage Alice and Adventures Underground, to name just a few). More recently, Del Tredici has set to music a cavalcade of contemporary American poets, often celebrating a gay sensibility (three examples: Gay Life, Love Addiction and Wondrous the Merge). OUT Magazine, in fact, has twice named the composer one of its people of the year.

Over the past several years he has ventured into the more intimate realm of chamber music with String Quartet No. 1, Grand Trio (brought to life by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and recently printed by Boosey & Hawkes), and - harkening to his musical beginnings as a piano prodigy - a large number of solo- piano works (Gotham Glory, Three Gymnopedies, Ballad in Yellow, S/M Ballade, and Aeolian Ballade). Still, the extravagant Del Tredici remains at large and busy. In May 2005 Robert Spano conducted the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus in the premiere and subsequent recording of Paul Revere's Ride, recently nominated for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards as the Best New Classical Composition of 2006. November 2005 held the world premiere of the melodrama Rip Van Winkle with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin and narrated by world famous Broadway actor, Brian Stokes Mitchell.

In recent years several Del Tredici CDs have abounded: on Deutsche Grammophon, an all-Del Tredici CD (released in its highly-regarded "20/21" series) featuring conductor Oliver Knussen, soprano Lucy Shelton and the Netherlands' ASKO Ensemble; on the Music and Arts label, a pair of recent Del Tredici song cycles featuring soprano Hila Plitmann with the composer at the piano; on Dorian, In Wartime, a spectacular new work for concert band; and on Koch, a selection of piano compositions played by Anthony de Mare. Among past recordings were two best-sellers - Final Alice and In Memory of a Summer Day (Part I of Child Alice); the latter work won Del Tredici the Pulitzer Prize in 1980.

March 2007 marked David Del Tredici's 70th birthday, with concerts given throughout the year, including the premiere of Magyar Madness, a chamber piece for clarinet and string quartet, commissioned by Music Accord for clarinetist David Krakauer and the Orion String Quartet. Another premiere was S/M Ballade for solo piano which was commissioned and performed by Marc Peloquin.

Recent publications include a collection entitled Songs for Baritone and Piano as well as the score and parts for the piano trio entitled Grand Trio. A second printed volume of solo piano pieces is in progress which will include Gotham Glory and Three Gymnopedies.

Distinguished Professor of Music at The City College of New York, Del Tredici makes his home in Greenwich Village. David Del Tredici is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes. www.daviddeltredici.com

Yehudi Wyner, Composer: Awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for his Piano Concerto, "Chiavi in mano", Yehudi Wyner (b.1929) is one of America's most distinguished musicians. His compositions include over 100 works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo voice and solo instruments, piano, chorus, and music for the theater, as well as liturgical services for worship. He has received commissions from Carnegie Hall, The Boston Symphony, The BBC Philharmonic, The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, The Library of Congress, The Ford Foundation, The Koussevitzky Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Fromm Foundation, and Worldwide Concurrent Premieres among others. His recording "The Mirror" on Naxos won a 2005 Grammy Award, his Piano Concerto,"Chiavi in Mano" on Bridge Records was nominated for a 2009 Grammy, and his Horntrio (1997) was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Other honors received include two Guggenheim Fellowships, The Institute of Arts and Letters Award, the Rome Prize, and The Brandeis Creative Arts Award. In 1998 Mr. Wyner was awarded the Elise Stoeger Prize given by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for "lifetime contribution to chamber music." He is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and The American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Yehudi Wyner has also had an active career as a solo pianist, chamber musician collaborating with notable vocal and instrumental colleagues, teacher, director of two opera companies, and conductor of numerous chamber and vocal ensembles in a wide range of repertory. Keyboard artist of the Bach Aria Group since 1968, he has played and conducted many of the Bach cantatas, concertos and motets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Music Center from 1975-97.

He has been composer-in-residence at DePaul University (2012), The Shepherd School of Music, Rice University (2012), Civitella Ranieri (2009), the Eastman School of Music (2008), Vassar College (2007), the Atlantic Center for the Arts (2005), the Rockefeller Center at Bellagio, Italy (1998), the American Academy in Rome (1991), and at the Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival (1982).

Mr. Wyner was a Professor at the Yale University School of Music from 1963-1977 where he also served as Chairman of the Composition faculty. He became Dean of the Music Division at State University of New York, Purchase, in 1978, where he was a Professor for twelve years. A guest Professor at Cornell University in 1988, Mr. Wyner has also been a frequent Visiting Professor at Harvard University since 1991. From 1991- 2005, he held the Walter W. Naumburg Chair of Composition at Brandeis University, where he is now Professor Emeritus.

Born in Western Canada, Yehudi Wyner grew up in New York City. He came into a musical family and was trained early as pianist and composer. His father, Lazar Weiner, was the preeminent composer of Yiddish Art Song as well as a notable creator of liturgical music for the modern synagogue. After graduating from the Juilliard School with a Diploma in piano, Yehudi Wyner went on to study at Yale and Harvard Universities with composers Paul Hindemith, Richard Donovan, and Walter Piston. In 1953, he won the Rome Prize in Composition enabling him to live for the next three years at the American Academy in Rome, composing, playing, and traveling.

Recordings of his music can be found on Naxos, Bridge, New World, Albany, Pro Arte, CRI, 4Tay, and Columbia Records. His Bridge release, Orchestra Music of Yehudi Wyner, was chosen by American Record guide as one of the Ten Best Recordings of 2009.

Recent compositions include Concordance for violin, viola, cello and piano (2013), "Save me O God;" Psalm 49 for chorus a cappella (2012), Refrain for solo piano (2012), "The Lord is close to the Heartbroken" for chorus, harp and percussion (2012), commissioned by Soli Deo Gloria's psalms project; "Give thanks for all things" for Orchestra and Chorus (2010), commissioned by The Cantata Singers; Fragments from Antiquity for Soprano and Orchestra (rev 2011); Fantasy on B.A.C.H. for Piano (2010), commissioned by Wigmore Hall and Angela Hewitt; TRIO 2009, for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, commissioned by Chamber Music San Francisco for Lynn Harrell, Robert Levin and Richard Stoltzman.

Mr. Wyner's music is published by G. Schirmer--Associated Music Publishers, Inc. He is married to conductor and former soprano Susan Davenny Wyner.

Scott Wheeler, Composer: Scott Wheeler has received commissions and performances from the orchestras of Minnesota, Houston, Toledo and Indianapolis, as well as New York City Opera, sopranos Renée Fleming and Lauren Flanigan, baritone Sanford Sylvan, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Scott Wheeler's opera Democracy: An American Comedy, on a libretto of Romulus Linney, was commissioned and premiered by the Washington National Opera. His chamber symphony City of Shadows was commissioned by Kent Nagano and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestra Berlin and premiered by them on a portrait concert of the music of Scott Wheeler at the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonie.

Scott Wheeler's most recent commission is for an opera for the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theatre. Other current and recent commissions include the Mirror Visions Ensemble, Boston Cecilia, the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, the Marilyn Horne Foundation, the ASCAP Foundation, the Barlow Foundation, and Concert Artists Guild.

There are two recordings of Scott Wheeler's music on the Naxos American Classics series. The latest of these is a CD of songs for voice and piano, entitled Wasting the Night. The first Naxos disc is of the one-act opera The Construction of Boston. The Gramercy Trio and friends have recorded a disc of Scott's music for strings and piano on Newport Classic. Other recordings are available on GM, New World, Bridge and other labels.

As a conductor, Scott Wheeler has appeared with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestra Berlin, the Chamber Ensemble of St. Luke's in New York, the Wellesley Composers Conference, and Dinosaur Annex. His conducting can be heard on the Bridge, CRI, Capstone and Newport Classic labels. At Emerson College, Wheeler has also conducted productions of the Musical Theatre Works of Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weill, George Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim and many others.

Scott Wheeler studied at Amherst College, New England Conservatory and Brandeis University; his principal teachers were Lewis Spratlan and Arthur Berger. He pursued further study at the Tanglewood Music Center (with Olivier Messiaen), the Dartington School (with Peter Maxwell Davies) and privately with Virgil Thomson. He teaches at Emerson College in Boston, where he co-directs the BFA program in musical theatre.

He is a founding member of the new-music ensemble Dinosaur Annex.

He has received awards and commissions from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Koussevitsky Foundation (2), the Fromm Foundation (2), Tanglewood, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council (3), the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2), Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, as well as the Stoeger Prize for excellence in chamber music from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He was a Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin in 2007. He is the 2010 recipient of the Composer of the Year Award from the Classical Recording Foundation.

Scott Wheeler is a member of the Board of Directors of the Virgil Thomson Foundation, a member of the Advisory Board of the Bogliasco Foundation, a member of the Education Board of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, a director of Antilever Press, and Composer in Residence with Boston Cecilia. www.scottwheeler.org