The Miller Theatre Opens 2015 Bach, Revisited Series with MICHAEL GORDON + BACH Tonight

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts announces the start of its 2015 series BACH, REVISITED. The "enticing," "alluring," and "intriguing" (The New York Times) series returns, pairing contemporary composers with Bach. MICHAEL GORDON + BACH is set for tonight, March 12, 2015, 8:00 p.m. and features Ensemble Signal, Kristian Bezuidenhout, harpsichord, Courtney Orlando, violin, Christa Robinson, oboe, and Brad Lubman, conductor.

Continuing with two more concerts this spring Helmut Lachenmann + Bach • Thursday, April 9, 2015, Sofia Gubaidulina + Bach • Friday, May 8, 2015. All concerts will be held at Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street) and begin at 8:00pm. Series Season Tickets: $64-$92 • Single Tickets: $25-45. Students with valid ID: $15-27

From Miller Theatre Executive Director Melissa Smey: "Last season's Bach series was a tremendous success, in terms of both artistry and audience. This spring, I'm thrilled to be partnering with Ensemble Signal to present another year of concerts that pair the music of Bach with contemporary composers he inspired. These versatile programs demand extraordinary feats of musicianship, and we are so lucky to be collaborating with an ensemble that will bring these works to life with consummate talent."

Past and present collide in the current iteration of Miller's long-running Bach series. Each living composer in the 2014-15 series has a different affinity for Bach: Michael Gordon admires his structural innovation; Helmut Lachenmann continues his quest to re-define performers' technical boundaries; Sofia Gubaidulina mirrors Bach's spirituality in her transcendent compositions. A variety of soloists join Signal, this year's ensemble-in-residence, for these performances, including the celebrated harpsichordist Kristian Bezuidenhout.

Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon blends "the fury of punk rock, the nervous brilliance of free jazz and the intransigence of classical modernism" (The New York Times). He is constantly staking out new territory-a quest exemplified by Hyper, his musical manifestation of a never-ending staircase that, curiously, delivers the climber back to the point where they began. This same inquisitiveness draws him to Bach, a harmonic and structural innovator. The program pairs Gordon's chamber pieces with two of Bach's concertos.

Michael Gordon (michaelgordonmusic.com) - Composer Michael Gordon is the co-founder and co-director of New York's Bang on a Can new music festival. Although he was born in Florida, Gordon grew up in an Eastern European community in Nicaragua. He eventually returned to the U.S. and studied composition with Martin Bresnick at Yale, and played in various rock bands in New York City.

Gordon's works have been performed by the Icebreaker ensemble of London (Trance andYo Shakespeare), Ensemble Modern (Love Bead), and the Michael Gordon Philharmonic. Icebreaker has recorded a couple of Gordon's works for releases on Argo, and performed his score for the Jeyasingh Dance Company piece Intimacies of a Third Order. Formed in 1983, the Michael Gordon Philharmonic adds string instruments to a rock group's instrumentation. In the years since its founding, the Philharmonic has toured North America and Europe.

Gordon began working in the music theater in the early '90s, collaborating with video artist Elliot Caplan on Van Gough Video Opera (1991). He has since worked on other operas, including Chaos, and comic-book opera The Carbon Copy Building (1999). In 2001, his first collaboration with filmmaker Bill Morrison, Decasia, premiered and has since been performed at several festivals. Decasia places the orchestra and large projection screens around the audience. Such multi-media works and other projects that bend the traditional make-up of ensembles are common in his work. Timber (2009) is a percussion sextet performed on 2x4s and accompanied by dancers.

Ensemble Signal (signalensemble.org) - Ensemble Signal, described by The New York Times as "one of the most vital groups of its kind," is a New York-based ensemble offering the broadest possible audience access to a diverse range of contemporary works through performance, commissioning, recording, and education. Since its debut in 2008, the Ensemble has performed over 90 concerts, has given the New York, world, or U.S. premieres of over 20 works, and co-produced five recordings.

Signal was founded by Co-Artistic/Executive Director Lauren Radnofsky and Co-Artistic Director/Conductor Brad Lubman. A "new music dream team," (Time Out New York), Signal regularly performs with Lubman and features a super-group of independent artists from the modern music scene. Signal is flexible in size and instrumentation-everything from solo to large contemporary ensemble in any possible combination-enabling it to meet the ever-changing demands on the 21st century performing ensemble.

At home in concert halls, clubs, and international festivals alike, Signal has performed at Lincoln Center Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Miller Theatre, (le)Poisson Rouge, The Tanglewood Music Festival of Contemporary Music, Cleveland Museum of Art, The Wordless Music Series, and the Bang on a Can Marathon.

Signal's fearless programming ranges from minimalism or pop-influenced to the iconoclastic European avant-garde. Signal has worked with artists and composers including Steve Reich, Helmut Lachenmann, Irvine Arditti, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Oliver Knussen, Hilda Paredes, and Charles Wuorinen. Their educational activities have included workshops with emerging composers at the June in Buffalo Festival, where they are a resident ensemble. Signal's recordings are available on Philip Glass's Orange Mountain, New Amsterdam Records, Mode, and Cantaloupe. Recent highlights include performing in the 2013 Lincoln Center Festival's production of Monkey: Journey to The West. Upcoming highlights include the co-commission of a new work for large ensemble by Steve Reich.

Kristian Bezuidenhout (kristianbezuidenhout.com) - Harpsichordist Kristian Bezuidenhout was born in South Africa in 1979. He began his studies in Australia, completed them at the Eastman School of Music and now lives in London. Bezuidenhout is a frequent guest artist with the world's leading ensembles, including The Freiburger Barockorchester, Chicago Symphony, and Collegium Vocale Gent, in many instances assuming the role of guest director. He divides his time between concerto, recital, and chamber music engagements, appearing in the early music festivals across Europe; the festivals of Salzburg, Edinburgh, Schleswig Holstein, Tangelwood, Luzern, and Mostly Mozart Lincoln Center, and at many of the world's most important concert halls including the Berlin and Köln Philharmonie, Suntory Hall, Symphony Hall, Konzerthaus Vienna, Wigmore Hall, and Carnegie Hall. Recent recordings include three volumes of the complete keyboard music of Mozart (prizes include Diapason D'or, a Caecilia Prize, and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik); Mendelssohn piano concertos with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and Schumann Dichterliebe with Mark Padmore (both won Edison Awards).

Courtney Orlando - Heralded by The New York Times as a violinist of "tireless energy and bright tone,"Courtney Orlando specializes in the performance of contemporary and crossover music. She is a founding member of the acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, which has premiered works by and collaborated with some of the foremost composers of our time, including John Adams, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Michael Gordon, and David Lang. Performances with AWS include those at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center Festival, Amsterdam's Holland Festival, and a tour of Moscow and St. Petersburg. She is also a member of Ensemble Signal. Courtney serves on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory, where she teaches Ear Training and Sight Singing. Prior to her appointment at Peabody, she received her doctorate from and taught at the Eastman School of Music.

Christa Robinson - Oboist extraordinaire Christa Robinson moved to NYC from Saskatchewan, Canada, where she performed as Principal Oboe with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. She now lives in Brooklyn, NY and is a member of the Colonial Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Chamber Orchestra of NYC, and the Double Entendre Music Ensemble, and can frequently be heard performing with the Harrisburg Symphony, The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, the DiCapo Opera, and new music ensembles Sequitur, Argento, Alarm Will Sound, the S.E.M Orchestra, and Signal. In 2010, Christa premiered an oboe quartet written by Martin Bresnick commissioned through the Meet the Composers organization, and awarded to the Double Entendre Music Ensemble. In addition to performing, Christa is a faculty member of the Third Street Music School Settlement, and teaches early childhood music at several nursery and elementary schools throughout NYC. When away from the stage or the classroom, Christa can be found in the pottery studio covered from head to toe in clay.

Brad Lubman - Brad Lubman, conductor/composer, is founding co-Artistic Director and Music Director of Ensemble Signal. Since his conducting debut in 1984, he has gained widespread recognition for his versatility, commanding technique, and insightful interpretations. His guest conducting engagements include major orchestras such as the DSO Berlin, Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie, Residentie Orchestra Den Haag, WDR Symphony Cologne, NDR Symphony Hamburg, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Deutschland Radio Philharmonie, American Composers Orchestra, and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, performing repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary orchestral works. He has worked with some of the most important ensembles for contemporary music, including London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, musikFabrik, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, and Steve Reich and Musicians.

Photo courtesy of the Miller Theatre; Photo by Peter Serling.

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