Musiqa to Present MYTHS & LEGENDS at Hobby Center Today

As part of its major concert series downtown, Musiqa presents Myths & Legends, an exciting, premiere-filled concert at Zilkha Hall tonight, January 10, 2015 at 7:30 PM.

The concert features the world premiere of a new chamber opera by Musiqa's Artistic Director Anthony Brandt, with a libretto by Neena Beber. Entitled Ulysses, Home, the half-evening work draws on Beber's experiences leading a writing seminar for war veterans and their spouses. It tells the story of a soldier returning home with post-traumatic disorder. Librettist Beber writes that she was that she was inspired by the "men and women who might look much the same on the outside, but who began to reveal to their loved ones and to themselves how much had been changed by their experiences in a slow-burning war." The government currently estimates that a quarter of a million soldiers are affected by PTSD.

Another major premiere is also slated for the concert: a new film score for nine musicians by Karim Al-Zand to accompany the 1922 silent film Aschenputtel (Cinderella,) directed by Lotte Reiniger. The new work was commissioned by Musiqa, in partnership with the Houston Cinema Arts Society, with grant assistance from New Music USA. Reininger's thirteen-minute film is one of the first animated movies ever made; it has recently been restored.

Filling out the program are two further works: the Houston premiere of String Quartet No. 4 by Musiqa composer Pierre Jalbert and Elena Kats-Chernin's Fast Blue Village. Musiqa's guest artists are the Del Sol String Quartet, two-time winners of Adventurous Programming Awards from Chamber Music America and ASCAP.

Ulysses, Home stars soprano Karol Bennett and baritone Liam Bonner. Joining the Quartet for the Al-Zand are Greg Hammond, trombone, Philip Hembree, trumpet, Craig Hauschildt, percussion, Lin Ma, clarinet, and Aaron Perdue, flute. The Brandt and Al-Zand premieres will be conducted by Jerry Hou. Playwright Neena Beber was awarded an Obie in 2005 as "Best Emerging Playwright." She has written for the stage, film, and television. Her honors include a Weissberger Award, and Obie Grant, an A.S.K. exchange to the Royal Court Theater in London, and a distinguished alumni award from New York University's Tisch School of Drama.

Musiqa Artistic Director Anthony Brandt is an Associate Professor of Composition and Theory at the Shepherd School of Music. His chamber opera "The Birth of Something," with a libretto by playwright Will Eno, has been released on Albany Records. Other recent collaborations include "Sphinx," created with Blackburn-winning playwright Jennifer Haley; "What Time is It?," a sound and art installation with artist Jo Fleischhauer and composer Chapman Welch; and "Maternity," an oratorio for soprano and chamber orchestra with neuroscientist and author David Eagleman.

Hailed for her "sumptuous sound, wrenching poignancy, and faultless musicianship" (The New York Times), "resonant focus, glimmering tone and creamy fluidity" (The Los Angeles Times), and "ravishing tone and fire of imagination" (The Boston Globe), soprano Karol Bennett has been heard worldwide in lieder, oratorio, opera, and new music. Her honors include the Pro Musicis International Award, an Artistic Ambassadorship, a fellowship from the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, and a Duo Recitalists Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Ms. Bennett is celebrated for her versatility and interpretive insight in repertoire ranging from Baroque music to numerous contemporary works, many written especially for her. Her recording of music of Earl Kim with the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra was chosen for the "Critics' Choices: Classical Music, 2001" by the New York Times. Her recording of Tod Machover's Flora was selected as the Boston Globe's "New Music Recording of the Year." Of her recording of Tod Machover's Song of Penance, the Boston Globe wrote "No praise can be too high" and the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "So good you'd be tempted to proclaim it one of the new-music discs of the decade." Her release of Jonathan Harvey's From Silence was praised by Gramophone as "strikingly agile and secure, powerfully convincing." Fanfare wrote of her recording of Anthony Brandt's vocal music that "her voice is pure, focused, and dramatically dead on" and the All Music Guide wrote that she handles Brandt's "treacherous vocal lines with strength, security and conviction." Other acclaimed releases include a collection of twentieth century sacred music with the Boston Cecilia, John Harbison's Simple Daylight, and the Victoria Requiem.

Praised by Opera News for his "rich, versatile voice" and "beautiful instrument," rising baritone Liam Bonner returns to LA Opera as Aeneas in Barrie Kosky's production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. He will also return to the Lyric Opera of Kansas City reprising the role of Lieutenant Audebert in Silent Night, a role he created, and will debut at the Portland Opera in Showboat as Gaylord Ravenal. Mr. Bonner recently sang the role of Lieutenant Audebert in the world premiere of the Pulitzer Prize winning opera Silent Night at Minnesota Opera, a role which he reprised at the Opera Company of Philadelphia in the 2012-13 season.

Recently appointed Associate Conductor for the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Jerry Hou is quickly gaining recognition as a versatile and exciting young conductor. For the past two seasons, he has worked closely with the St. Louis Symphony and their music director David Robertson, including assisting the orchestra and an all-star cast of singers at Carnegie Hall last November for an acclaimed concert performance of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes. Mr. Hou recently made his debut with the orchestra, collaborating with David Robertson in the US premiere of John Cage's Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras. Other debuts this past season included concerts with Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Slee Sinfonietta in a portrait concert of Bernard Rands at the June in Buffalo Festival. Previously, Mr. Hou served as an assistant/cover conductor with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for two seasons. In this capacity, he worked closely with guest conductors and conducted the orchestra in family and educational concerts. In the summer of 2013, Mr. Hou served as an assistant conductor for the Lincoln Center Festival , collaborating with conductor Brad Lubman, Ensemble Signal, and director Chen Shi-Zheng in the festival production of the opera, Monkey: Journey to the West. He has also worked as assistant conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Hailed by Gramophone as "masters of all musical things they survey" and two-time top winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the Del Sol String Quartet is a leading force in 21st century chamber music. Founded at Banff Centre for the Arts in 1992 and based in San Francisco, the ensemble enjoys a unique vantage point from which the stories of Pacific Rim shine as vibrantly as those told in European concert halls or East Coast art spaces. At the heart of Del Sol's work is a commitment to unearthing overlooked narratives that represent the full-range of human experience in a globalizing world. This worldview is evident in Del Sol's collaborative performance projects and chamber music programs that have become highly anticipated happenings in the Bay Area and beyond. Recently, Del Sol has kicked down the wall between the pit and the stage in STRINGWRECK, its cheeky collaboration with critically acclaimed choreographers Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton; explored the intimate impact of AIDS in composer Ricky Ian Gordon's deeply moving, autobiographical chamber opera GREEN SNEAKERS with baritone Jesse Blumberg; and put its audience in motion through a four-dimensional soundscape created with composer and video artist Chris Jonas in GARDEN. In their thoughtful chamber programs, Del Sol challenges audiences to dig deep into a single work or transcend increasingly moot genre designations. Other times, the players guide listeners through meditations on the Earth or lead an illuminating tour of non-Western cultures. Through the ensemble's extensive commissioning program, Del Sol has premiered well over 100 works representing a remarkably diverse range of contemporary voices including Mason Bates, Gabriela Lena Frank, Chinary Ung, Mohammed Fairouz, Tania León, Peter Sculthorpe, and Per Nørgård. Many of these works are included in Del Sol's eclectic discography, comprised of seven full-length albums that reflect the ensemble's signature fascination with the intersection of place and culture through sound. The New York Times praised Del Sol's most recent recording, Sculthorpe Complete String Quartets with Didjeridu on GRAMMY Award-winning label Sono Luminus, as "a hypnotic sound world well worth exploring." Other recordings have dug into the string quartets of George Antheil, Robert Erickson and Marc Blitzstein (First Life); expanded their musical vocabulary to include influences from Peru, Turkey, Spain, Iran and Uzbekistan (Zia) and created a vibrant musical dialogue between 20th century masters and young composers from the Americas (Tear).

About Musiqa - Musiqa (www.musiqahouston.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. Founded in 2002 and led by four composers, Musiqa aims to enrich and inspire the community through programs that integrate contemporary music with other modern art forms. Musiqa celebrates modern creative arts through interdisciplinary concerts that highlight modern music and its connections to literature, film, dance, art, and more. With its innovative collaborations and educational programming, Musiqa strives to make modern repertoire accessible and vital to audiences of all ages and musical backgrounds.

DETAILS:

Musiqa's Myths & Legends

Saturday, January 10

Zilkha Hall (at the Hobby Center)

800 Bagby Street

Houston, TX 77002

7:30 PM

Tickets: $40/30/20, available at the Hobby Center website and box office

On the program:

Anthony Brandt: Ulysses, Home (Musiqa commission, World premiere)

Karim Al-Zand: Cinderella (Musiqa commission, World premiere)

Pierre Jalbert: String Quartet No. 4 (Houston premiere)

Elena Kats-Chernin:Fast Blue Village

Performers in Ulysses, Home:

Karol Bennett, soprano

Liam Bonner, baritone

Del Sol String Quartet

Jerry Hou, conductor

Performers in Fast Blue Village and String Quartet No. 4:

Del Sol String Quartet

Performers in Cinderella:

Aaron Perdue, flute

Lin Ma, clarinet

Del Sol String Quartet

Philip Hembree, trumpet

Greg Hammond, trombone

Craig Hauschildt, vibraphone/glockenspiel

Jerry Hou, conductor