ENSEMBLE / PARALLAX Launches 5th Season With Northeast Performance Tour

Cutting-edge contemporary music and multimedia group ENSEMBLE / PARALLAX (E/P) kicks off its 2019-20 season with a four-concert tour of the Northeast from September 26 through October 4, with performances in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York. The ensemble comprises top Northeast instrumentalists, led by Artistic Director and Conductor Peyman Farzinpour, performing a program centered on Italian works featuring renowned Italian master Salvatore Sciarrino, culminating in the American premiere of a work by composer Patricia Alessandrini. The performances are enhanced by the premiere of three multimedia video commissions, each custom created for its companion music counterpart by German multimedia artist Wolfgang Lehmann.

ENSEMBLE / PARALLAX's four fall concerts feature soprano Kathleen Roland-Silverstein performing Salvatore Sciarrino's "Infinito Nero" (Black Infinity), noted for its delicate passages linked to the dark visions and utterances of 16th century Italian mystic nun St. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi. Roland-Silverstein is also featured in Sciarrino's "Le voci sottovetro" (The Voices Under Glass), re-settings of 16th century madrigals by composer Gesualdo da Venosa. The exploration of the themes of night and darkness continue with E/P's performance of Patricia Alessandrini's gripping "Nachtgewächse." All three pieces are accompanied by premiere presentations of Lehmann's video art commissions.

Awarded "Ensemble of the Year" in Rhode Island during its 2015 inaugural season, ENSEMBLE / PARALLAX is a premiere new music and multimedia group led by Artistic Director and Conductor Peyman Farzinpour, based in New England. The ensemble performs 20th century masterworks alongside 21st century avant-garde music from composers such as Schoenberg and Boulez to Hosokawa, Haas, Francesconi, Nono, Sciarrino, Grisey, Alessandrini, Xenakis and Farzinpour. Multimedia video art is presented in tandem through collaborations with award-winning artists from around the world. In its first four seasons, E/P commissioned and premiered over two-dozen compositions and multimedia works, as well as numerous U.S. and regional premieres of new compositions. The group is considered a champion of original composition and video art premieres on the regional and national stage.

E/P most recently collaborated with AgX Boston Film Collective at Tufts University, and in residencies and performances at Eastern Connecticut State University, Tufts University, Miami University (Ohio) and Berklee College of Music. The group recently performed the world premiere of the multimedia chamber opera Island of Peoples in New York City by Berklee Professor Gabriele Vanoni. The ensemble has collaborated with numerous award-winning multimedia and video artists from around the globe, including Zebbler, Ionee Waterhouse, A-li-ce, Maura Mcdonnell, Russell Chartier, Malo Lacroix, David Webber and Roxell Karr.

Highlights of E/P's fifth season include residencies at Syracuse University and Middlesex Community College, as well as performances in Boston, Providence and at Brooklyn's premiere contemporary music and multimedia venue, National Sawdust. The ensemble's spring tour destinations feature new programs in March and April.

Northeast Tour Schedule:

Thursday, September 26, 8 pm

Rhode Island College's Sapinsley Hall, 600 Mt Pleasant Avenue, Providence, RI, ric.edu/nazarian-center

Admission: $20, $10 students and seniors

Friday, September 27, 8 pm

The Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA, artsatthearmory.org

Admission: $20, $10 students and seniors

Sunday, September 29, 3 pm

Syracuse University's Hendricks Chapel, West Zone, Crouse Drive, Syracuse, NY

humcenter.syr.edu/event-items/2019/2019.09.29-Edge.html

Admission: Free

Friday, October 4, 7:30 pm

National Sawdust, 80 N. 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY, nationalsawdust.org

Admission: $25

Program:

Salvatore Sciarrino: Le voci sottovetro

Salvatore Sciarrino: Infinito Nero

Patricia Alessandrini: Nachtgewächse

Kathleen Roland-Silverstein, Soprano

Wolfgang Lehmann, Video Artist

Peyman Farzinpour, Conductor

For more information about ENSEMBLE / PARALLAX, visit ensembleparallax.com, email ensembleparallax@gmail.com, or follow the ensemble on Facebook or YouTube.

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