Gil Morgenstern's Reflections Series International Announces 2013-14 Season

Violinist and artistic director Gil Morgenstern's acclaimed Reflections Series International is pleased to announce its 2013-2014 season at a new home adjacent to New York's Highline Park, Avenues: The World School (259 Tenth Ave.). Reflections'relationship with Avenues is particularly appropriate, as the school seeks to integrate learning across subject areas in a globally aware setting. Avenue's state of the art black box theater, designed by architecture firm Perkins Eastman and interior design firm Bonetti/Kozerski Studio, is the perfect setting for Reflections' sophisticated but relaxed performances. Throughout the year, Gil Morgenstern will work with the students at Avenues on interdisciplinary projects both in and out of the classroom.

Of the series, Morgenstern says, "The 2013-2014 season marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the Reflection's Series growth. With established residencies both in the United States and Europe, the series has changed its name to Reflections Series International, and has a new, prestigious venue at Avenues: The World School. I can't think of a better fit for Reflections' engaging and innovative programming given our mutual commitment to curricular and programming diversity, an international presence, and interactive multi-disciplinary collaborations."

In the season-opening concert, The World According to Bach: A Musical Mandala on September 19 at 7:30pm, Morgenstern and pianist J.Y. Song use the spiritual imagery of the Mandala to explore Bach's influence on the music of successive generations of composers, performers, and audiences over the centuries. Beauty Born of Terror on November 21 at 7:30pm will consider how artistic inspiration can emerge from the terror, fear, and pain of the cataclysmic horrors of the twentieth century. Morgenstern will be joined by pianist Rieko Aizawa and an actor to be announced who will narrate the performance reading prose and poetry. The Magic of Mendelssohn on February 13 at 7:30pm, performed with J.Y. Song and cellist Ole Akahoshi, will illustrate the structure and style of Felix Mendelssohn's famous Piano Trio in D Minor as well as a selection of chamber music by the featured composer and others. Concluding the season on May 15 at 7:30pm with A Celebration of Reflections at Avenues, Morgenstern will present a special multi-disciplinary and multi-media program celebrating the inaugural season ofReflections at Avenues, reflecting a yearlong project with students and faculty.

Reflections presents solo and chamber music along with works of different artistic disciplines, engaging its audiences in combinations of music, text and images. Through its unique contextualization of historical artistic styles and events of their time period, its innovative programming entertains and enlightens the 21st century audience. Using both existing and original works, and with the collaboration of a superb ensemble of creative and performing artists representing all art forms, Reflections programs present works that both reflect upon one another and invite the audience to reflect anew on universal themes.

The 2013-2014 season includes four engaging concerts. Tickets are now available for purchase.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BACH: A MUSICAL MANDALA
Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 7:30pm
Gil Morgenstern, violin and artistic director
J.Y. Song, piano

Mandala, the Sanskrit word for circle, is used in many traditions as an artistic aid for meditation to advance practitioners towards a state of spiritual enlightenment. The works of J. S. Bach can equally be said to advance practitioners, in this case composers, performers, and audiences, towards a state of musical enlightenment.

This opening concert of Reflections Series International's 2013-2014 season explores Bach's influence on the music of every successive era through the lens of his monumental Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. Musical selections, circling through works by Brahms, Ysaÿe, Bloch, Stravinsky, Kurtág, Bartók, Crumb, and Villa-Lobos, will be punctuated by imagery ranging from Hildegard von Bingen's 12th Century The Cosmic Wheel to George Crumb's musical score The Magic Circle of Infinity.

BEAUTY BORN OF TERROR
Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 7:30pm
Gil Morgenstern, violin and artistic director
Rieko Aizawa, piano
Actor TBA

No one chooses the place, the time, or the circumstances of his or her birth; notes and words have even less choice. Yet one of the ironic facts of creative life is that inspiration often emerges from terror, fear and pain.

Through music and literature, "Beauty Born of Terror" will explore the endurance of hope and spirituality amid the cataclysmic horrors of the twentieth century. Morgenstern is joined by pianist Rieko Aizawa in musical works by Pärt, Schulhoff, Chen Yi, Poulenc and Messiaen. An actor will narrate, reciting ancient parables, as well as the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke, Li Bai, Federico García Lorca, Sir Edmund Hillary and a newly commissioned work.

THE MAGIC OF MENDELSSOHN
Thursday, February 13, 2014 at 7:30pm
Gil Morgenstern, violin and artistic director
Ole Akahoshi, cello
J.Y. Song, piano

Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D Minor is one of the most popular works for this instrumentation. Emerging from his great admiration of the trios of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, Mendelssohn managed with this brilliant composition to bridge the ever-growing divide between the Classical and Romantic styles.

Cellist Ole Akahoshi and pianist J.Y. Song will join Morgenstern in performances of other works by Mendelssohn, as well as those of different composers, deconstructing and reconstructing how this beloved trio successfully incorporates the new Romantic spirit within a Classical structural framework.

A CELEBRATION OF REFLECTIONS AT AVENUES
Thursday, May 15, 2014 at 7:30pm
Gil Morgenstern, violin
J.Y. Song, piano
Andy Clayman, videographer

This special multi-disciplinary and multi-media program celebrates the inaugural season of Reflections Series International at Avenues: The World School. The musical selections will be but one element in a trio of artistic disciplines: music, video and the spoken word. Joining Morgenstern in producing this special performance will be Avenues' Creative Director Andy Clayman, and accomplished students and faculty of the school.

About Gil Morgenstern:
Acclaimed for his artistry and technical brilliance, violinist Gil Morgenstern is devoted to exploring and expanding the possibilities for inventive classical music programming. His vision is to present the audience with a more complete concert experience, meticulously curated from start to finish, by organically integrating music with other artistic disciplines in innovative and unexpected ways. The New York Times describes Mr. Morgenstern as a, "brilliant and musically curious artist."

A violinist with a long history of performing in the world's great concert halls, Mr. Morgenstern's career has taken him to international venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Cultural Center Concert Hall, Hong Kong; the American Academy, Rome; Salone dei Cinquecento, Florence; El Teatro Sucre, Quito; Arts Centre and State Theatre, Melbourne, Australia. He has also toured the U.S. extensively, performing in recital and as guest soloist with many leading orchestras including the symphonies of St. Louis, Baltimore, Louisville, Indianapolis, Denver, Milwaukee, New Jersey and North Carolina. New York Times has hailed his playing as "a perfect demonstration of supreme ability;" "a rare poet of the violin" reported The South China Morning Post; "Morgenstern played a program that tested every part of a violinist's equipment and he did it all beautifully," wrote The Washington Post.

Mr. Morgenstern has also shared the stage with such eminent musicians as Philippe Entremont, Lynn Harrell, André-Michel Schub, Jeffrey Kahane, Sharon Isbin, and Heinz Holliger, and has collaborated with United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, and performance artist Laurie Anderson.

Mr. Morgenstern's discography includes works by Beethoven, Fauré, Copland, Ravel, Kodaly, Sessions and the award-winning American composer George Tsontakis. His latest recording, 20th Century Duos for Violin and Cello, was the No. 1 classical CD for over a month on eMusic, the largest online store for independent music in the world, and was one of the top ten best selling classical music albums on Amazon.com. Of the CD The New York Times raved, "the music is terrific and the performances compelling on this surprisingly exciting and excellently engineered recording." Mr. Morgenstern records for the MMC, Engine Company and Koch International Classics labels, and can regularly be heard on National Public Radio and classical music radio stations across the country.

Highlights of Mr. Morgenstern's recent seasons include interdisciplinary performances with the Juilliard Dance Company at Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Ballet; the premieres of staged versions of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Venus and Adonis with Claire Bloom and John Neville, and Samuel Beckett at 100 at New York City's 92nd Street Y and at Harvard University. Mr. Morgenstern's performance in the Nine Circles Chamber Theatre production of When Samson Met Delilah toured Holland to rave reviews and his recent appearance in Toronto was broadcast throughout Canada on CBC. He also appeared as violin soloist in U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky's translation of Dante's Inferno, which toured the country and was broadcast on PBS and NPR, for which it received a Peabody nomination. Mr. Morgenstern continues to tour the United States and Europe, and his highly acclaimed Reflections Series has recently been presented in London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice. Mr. Morgenstern lives in New York City. For more information, visit www.gilmorgenstern.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.