Meredith Monk Continues Season-Long Carnegie Hall Residency This Spring

Carnegie Hall presents acclaimed composer and singer Meredith Monk in four concerts this winter and spring, continuing her season-long residency as holder of the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair. On Monday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall, Ensemble ACJW -- an inspirational collective of young professional musicians -- performs the New York premiere of Ms. Monk's new three-movement instrumental work, Backlight, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the group, which plays sonically with the idea of shadow and light, exploring it from different vantage points.

Two concerts on March 20 and March 22 show the breadth and wide-ranging influence of Ms. Monk's work. First up, Music Director David Robertson leads the St. Louis Symphony, mezzo-soprano Katie Geissinger, baritone Theo Bleckmann, and Members of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus in the New York premiere of the composer's WEAVE for Two Voices, Chamber Orchestra and Chorus on Friday, March 20 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, on a program that also includes Debussy's Nocturnes and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.

Two days later in Zankel Hall, in a concert hosted by WNYC's John Schaefer, an all-star line-up of colleagues from the new music, classical, jazz, and DJ worlds, including Bang on a Can All-Stars, Jessye Norman, Missy Mazzoli and Victoire, Don Byron, DJ Spooky, John Zorn and Cyro Baptista, and many more perform in celebration of the composer's 50th anniversary of creating work in New York on Sunday, March 22 at 3:00 p.m. The all-Meredith Monk program, which also includes a performance by Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble, features three world premiere arrangements by David Lang, Lukas Ligeti, and Lee Ranaldo. See below for complete artist line-up and repertoire.

To conclude her residency, Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble performs a special anniversary concert featuring selections from the early '70s to the present-including On Behalf of Nature, impermanence, and mercy-on Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall.

Ms. Monk began her residency as Debs Composer's Chair in November with an all-Monk birthday celebration concert at Le Poisson Rouge with pianists Bruce Brubaker and Ursula Oppens, followed by a performance of her work Night by the American Composers Orchestra and George Manahan on the following evening.

Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, and creator of new opera and music theater works. Over the last five decades, she has been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major creative force in the performing arts. A pioneer in what is now called "extended vocal technique," Ms. Monk has been hailed as a "magician of the voice" (The New York Times) and "one of America's coolest composers" (Time Out New York). Her groundbreaking exploration of the voice as an instrument, as an eloquent language in and of itself, expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories for which there are no words. Among her many accolades, Ms. Monk was recently named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France, and the 2012 Composer of the Year by Musical America. She is also one of NPR's 50 Great Voices, and has received a 2012 Doris Duke Artist Award and a 2011 Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts.

In 1965, Ms. Monk began her innovative exploration of the voice as a multifaceted instrument, composing mostly solo pieces for unaccompanied voice and voice and keyboard. In 1978, she formed Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble to further expand her musical textures and forms. In addition to numerous vocal, music-theater works and operas, Ms. Monk has created vital new repertoire for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments, with commissions from Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony and San Francisco Symphony, Kronos Quartet, St. Louis Symphony and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Ms. Monk has made more than a dozen recordings, most of which are on the ECM New Series label, including the 2008 Grammy-nominated impermanence and highly acclaimed Songs of Ascension (2011) and Piano Songs (2014) with pianists Ursula Oppens and Bruce Brubaker. Her music has also been featured in films by Jean-Luc Godard and the Coen Brothers, and on So You Think You Can Dance and the recent HBO series True Detective. Celebrated internationally, Ms. Monk's work has been presented by Lincoln Center Festival, BAM, Houston Grand Opera, London's Barbican Centre, and at major venues in countries from Brazil to Syria.

Ms. Monk's numerous honors include a MacArthur "Genius" Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships, an American Music Center Letter of Distinction, an ASCAP Concert Music Award, and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She holds honorary Doctor of Arts degrees from Bard College, the University of the Arts, The Juilliard School, the San Francisco Art Institute and the Boston Conservatory. In 1999, Ms. Monk performed A Vocal Offering for His Holiness the Dalai Lama as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles. In 2005, her 40th year of performing and creating new music was celebrated by a series of New York city-wide events, including a marathon concert in Carnegie's Zankel Hall. Another marathon, Meredith Monk Music @ the Whitney, was presented by the Whitney Museum in 2009. In 2012, Ms. Monk was honored with a remix and interpretations cd, MONK MIX, featuring 25 artists from the jazz, pop, dj and new music worlds. More recently, she premiered "Realm Variations" for six voices and small ensemble, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, and performed in John Cage's "Song Books" as part of the Symphony's American Mavericks Festival. Ms. Monk's newest music-theater piece, On Behalf of Nature, premiered in January 2013 at UCLA and is currently touring internationally. Currently Meredith Monk is celebrating her 50th season as a creator and performer. Recognized as one of the most unique and influential artists of her generation, she is the holder of the 2014-2015 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall.

Ensemble ACJW is made up of some of the finest young professional classical musicians in the United States taking part in a two-year fellowship program, created in 2007 by Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, that prepares them for careers combining musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. It offers them top-quality performance opportunities, intensive professional development, and the opportunity to partner throughout the fellowship with a New York City public school.

As performers on the concert stage and in their work in schools and communities, musicians of Ensemble ACJW have earned accolades from critics and audiences alike for the quality of their concerts, their fresh and open-minded approach to programming, and their ability to actively engage any audience.

Exemplary performers, dedicated teachers, and advocates for music throughout the community, the forward-looking musicians of Ensemble ACJW are redefining what it means to be a musician in the 21st century.

---

Program Information:

Monday, February 16, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Weill Recital Hall
ENSEMBLE ACJW
•• Jacqueline Cordova-Arrington, Flute
•• James Riggs, Oboe
•• Paul Won Jin Cho, Clarinet
•• Michael Zuber, Bassoon
•• Michael James Smith, Piano
•• Kobi Malkin, Violin
•• Dana Kelley, Viola
•• Andrea Casarrubios, Cello

ALBERT ROUSSEL Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello, Op. 40
MEREDITH MONK Backlight (NY Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
MAURICE RAVEL Piano Trio in A Minor

Tickets: $32

Friday, March 20 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY
David Robertson, Music Director and Conductor
Katie Geissinger, Mezzo-Soprano
Theo Bleckmann, Baritone
Members of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus
Amy Kaiser, Director

CLAUDE DEBUSSY Nocturnes
MEREDITH MONK WEAVE (NY Premiere)
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36

Pre-concert talk starts at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage: Meredith Monk and David Robertson in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Director of Artistic Planning, Carnegie Hall.

Tickets: $34-$100

Sunday, March 22 at 3:00 p.m.
Zankel Hall
MEREDITH MONK AND FRIENDS
Bang on a Can All-Stars
•• Ashley Bathgate, Cello
•• Robert Black, Bass
•• Vicky Chow, Piano
•• Ian Antonio, Percussion
•• Taylor Levine, Guitar
•• Ken Thomson, Clarinets
Don Byron and Guests
Future Quest
•• Theo Bleckmann, Vocals
•• John Hollenbeck, Percussion
•• Ellery Eskelin, Saxophone
•• Tony Malaby, Saxophone
•• Erik Deutsch, Keyboard
Ha-Yang Kim
Lukas Ligeti
The M6
Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble
Missy Mazzoli and Victoire
Jessye Norman
Courtney Orlando
Cynthia Powell
Lee Ranaldo
Todd Reynolds
Nadia Sirota
DJ Spooky
Young People's Chorus of New York City
Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director
John Zorn and Cyro Baptista
John Schaefer, Host

ALL-MEREDITH MONK PROGRAM

Cellular Songs (work in progress)
"Future Quest" from ATLAS: an opera in three parts (arr. Theo Bleckmann and John Hollenbeck)
"Wheel" (arr. Theo Bleckmann and John Hollenbeck)
"Dawn" from Book of Days (remix DJ Spooky)
"Fields/Clouds" from Book of Days (remix DJ Spooky)
Gotham Lullaby (arr. Todd Reynolds)
"Memory Song" from The Games (arr. Julia Wolfe)
"totentanz" from impermanence (arr. David Lang; World Premiere)
"Double Fiesta" (arr. David Lang)
"Click Song #1" from Light Songs (arr. Don Byron)
"passage / What does it mean?" (arr. Missy Mazzoli)
"epilogue" from mercy
"Prayer II" from The Politics of Quiet
"Things Heaven and Hell" from Three Heavens and Hells
"Dungeon"
"Shadow Song" (reimagined Lukas Ligeti; World Premiere)
"Tablet"
"Astronaut Anthem" (arr. Lee Ranaldo; World Premiere)
Selections from ATLAS: an opera in three parts
Selections from Songs of Ascension
"Panda Chant II"

Tickets: $43-$50

Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
MEREDITH MONK AND VOCAL ENSEMBLE
50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Program to include:
ALL- MEREDITH MONK PROGRAM
Selections from On Behalf of Nature
Selections from impermanence
Selections from mercy

Tickets: $43-$50

---

Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

For Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.

In addition, for all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.

Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Need more Broadway Theatre News in your life? Sign up for all the news on the Spring season, discounts & more...