Anthony de Mare's “LIAISONS Project” Continues Nationwide Tour in Chicago on April 7th

A special tribute concert to Stephen Sondheim, including 17 premieres of commissioned works inspired by his songs, will be taking place at "Music in the Loft" in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 801, on April 7, 2013 at 3:00 pm. Pianist Anthony de Mare will be premiering/performing some of the 36-piece "LIAISONS Project" featuring Sondheim-inspired pieces by composers ranging from Nico Muhly and Steve Reich to Duncan Sheik and Jason Robert Brown.

De Mare is performing this piano project just four times this year, and the Chicago area will host two of them (the other is on August 25 at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park). He performed at Symphony Space in New York on March 9, receiving a review from The New York Times which stated in part:

"..adventurous...alluring...colorful, rhythmically driven...Mr. De Mare performed with vivid commitment throughout fully plumbing the nuances of each work"

The only other performance he has scheduled this year is on May 22 at the Virginia Arts Festival in Norfolk.

Internationally acclaimed concert pianist Anthony de Mare premiered 17 new pieces in 2012 in the "LIAISONS Project," his landmark concert and commissioning project based on the work of legendary musical theater composer Stephen Sondheim. With LIAISONS, de Mare is building a brand new piano repertory, featuring 36 of today's most revered contemporary composers, that marries his reputation as a champion of contemporary classical music with his deep respect for Sondheim as one of the 20th century's great composers. The first 17 completed works from the "LIAISONS project" premiered on a 2012 multi-city tour that culminated with a sold-out performance at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharp Theater in April 2012. Another 17 will premiere during the 2013 season.

This ongoing project marks the first time that Sondheim songs have been formally adapted for solo piano. With Sondheim's blessing, de Mare selected a remarkable and diverse roster of composers from around the world to re-imagine a Sondheim song of their choosing, resulting in a wide variety of settings ranging from jazz and classical to opera, film and musical theater. "It is aesthetically fulfilling to hear composers take my music and treat it seriously," said Sondheim, himself a student of seminal composer Milton Babbitt, during an on stage interview at last year's Symphony Spaceconcert.

Contributing composers represent varying genres of music including: jazz (Fred Hersch, Ethan Iverson); contemporary classical (Frederic Rzewski, Phil Kline, Mason Bates, Mary Ellen Childs, Derek Bermel, Andy Akiho); pop/classical hybrid (Nico Muhly, Gabriel Kahane, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Jherek Bischoff); opera (Mark-Anthony Turnage, John Musto, Jake Heggie); musical theater (Ricky Ian Gordon, Jason Robert Brown, Eric Rockwell); film (Peter Golub, Thomas Newman) and more. LIAISONSalso includes works by Pulitzer Prize-winners William Bolcom, Steve Reich, Michael Daugherty and Paul Moravec, Academy Award-winners Thomas Newman and David Shire, and TONY Award-winner Jason Robert Brown.

De Mare encouraged the composers to choose whichever song most compelled them, with the only criteria being a maximum length of 10 minutes and adherence to the song's basic melodic material. Composers put their own spin on recognizable classics like "Send in the Clowns," "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and "Being Alive," to name a few, but also on lesser-known works including "Sorry-Grateful," "Someone in a Tree" and "A Bowler Hat," among others. "Each piece represents a totally unique union of the composer's individual style with Sondheim's underlying substance," comments de Mare. "These aren't songs without words--they are complete musical compositions in their own right that reveal Sondheim's unparalleled capacity for melody and musical architecture."

De Mare, who has a long and fearless track record as a new music visionary, first had the idea for the "LIAISONSproject" over 20 years ago. In 2007 he engaged a producer and began pursuing the project in earnest; by 2011 they had secured 31 of the 36 commissions and had 17 pieces in hand, which de Mare began unveiling in a series of critically acclaimed "sneak previews" across the country. Material is exclusive to de Mare through 2016; a full recording of the project is also underway, produced by Judith Sherman, for release in spring 2014.

Praised for his "muscularly virtuosic, remarkably uninhibited performance [and] impressive talents" (The New York Times), Anthony de Mareis recognized as one of the world's most versatile pianists. A foremost champion of contemporary music, and a pioneer in the speaking-singing pianist genre, recent performance highlights include: the national tour of The American Pianowith pianist Steven Mayerand scholar Joseph Horowitz; Playing With Myself,a multi-media concert event; Missing Peace, an eclectic series of old and new works inspired by the exhibition The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama; Cool ~ A Journey into the Influence of Jazz;and Unities: Music of Pride and Celebration. De Mare has also collaborated and performed with the Lark Quartet, the Bang-On-A-Can All Stars, Meredith Monk/The House, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among many others. He currently serves on the roster of Yamaha Artists and is a professor of piano at Manhattan School of Music and New York University.

For more information, please visit www.anthonydemare.com and www.musicintheloft.org.

"LIAISONS: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano"

Program Details (subject to change; 12-14 works per concert):

*2013 premieres*

*Andy Akiho (b.1978) Into the Woods

Mason Bates (b. 1979) Putting it Together

*Eve Beglarian (b.1958) Happiness

Derek Bermel (b. 1967) Sorry-Grateful

*Jherek Bischoff (b.1979) TBA

William Bolcom (b. 1938) A Little Night Fughetta

*Jason Robert Brown (b.1970) Green Finch and Linnet Bird

Kenji Bunch (b. 1973) Ballad of Sweeney Todd

*Mary Ellen Childs (b. 1957) Now-Later-Soon

*Michael Daugherty (b. 1954) Everybody's Got the Right

*Peter Golub (b. 1959) Children and Art

Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956) Every Day a Little Death

*Annie Gosfield (b. 1960) A Bowler Hat

Jake Heggie (b. 1961) Weekend in the Country

Fred Hersch (b. 1955) No One Is Alone

Ethan Iverson (b. 1973) Send in the Clowns

Gabriel Kahane (b. 1981) Being Alive

*Phil Kline (b. 1960) Paraphrase

Tania Leon (b. 1943) Good Thing Going

Ricardo Lorenz (b. 1961) The Worst Pies in London + A Little Priest

Paul Moravec (b. 1957) Losing My Mind

*Nico Muhly (b. 1981) Color and Light

*John Musto (b. 1954) Epiphany

*Thomas Newman (b. 1955) Not While I'm Around

David Rakowski (b. 1958) Ladies Who Lunch

Steve Reich (b. 1936) Finishing the Hat (two pianos)

*Eric Rockwell (b. 1959) You Could Drive a Person Crazy

Daniel Bernard Roumain (b. 1972) Another Hundred People

*Frederic Rzewski (b. 1938) I'm Still Here

*Rodney Sharman (b. 1958) Beautiful

*Duncan Sheik (b. 1969) Johanna

David Shire (b. 1936) Love is In the Air

*Bernadette Speach (b. 1948) Love is in the Air + Send in the Clowns

Marc-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960) Pretty Women

*Nils Vigeland (b. 1950) Alma Mater + Merrily We Roll Along

*1 composers TBA....