Unsuk Chin News

The Philharmonia Orchestra opens its 75th birthday celebrations in January 2020 with the opening weekend of Philharmonia at 75, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. The weekend features a programme centred on the year 1945 (16 Jan 2020), when the Philharmonia was founded, and the world premiere of a horn concerto by Mark-Anthony Turnage, commissioned by the Philharmonia, in a programme inspired by famous French Horn players linked to the Orchestra, including Dennis Brain, Richard Watkins (soloist on this occasion) and Esa-Pekka Salonen himself.

Composer Sebastian Currier's Ghost Trio, written for violinist and longtime champion of his music Anne-Sophie Mutter, receives its world premiere at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, March 12 at 8:00 p.m. Performed by Ms. Mutter with cellist Daniel Muller-Schott and pianist Lambert Orkis, the work is a piano trio that explores the history and legacy of the genre through allusions to classic works. Ms. Mutter, Mr. Muller-Schott, and Mr. Orkis reprise the work at Chicago's Symphony Center on Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 p.m.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents concerts with violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill, its artist in residence.  On Sunday, March 3, O'Neill performs a program of British composers -- Britten, Bowen, Bridge, Carter and Clarke with pianist Steven Lin; he closes on Sunday, May 26 with a program called L.A. Masters with works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Brahms with Jennifer Frautschi (violin), Jesse Mills (violin), Fred Sherry (cello), and Orion Weiss (piano).

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Music Director Louis Langree announced details of the much-anticipated 125th Anniversary Season beginning in September at Music Hall. The 2019-20 season welcomes acclaimed guest artists including Renee Fleming, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Artist-in-Residence Guy Braunstein and Grammy winner Isabel Leonard, among others. The season includes performances of Beethoven's legendary Akademie program, a fully staged production of Ravel's opera, L'Enfant et les sortileges, seven CSO commissions, five world premieres, three U.S. premieres, as well as an experimental new concert series titled CSO Proof. The 125th Anniversary Season marks the launch of new initiatives both on and off the stage that build on the CSO's legacy. Leading up to the season, the Orchestra presents CSO Look Around, a first-of-its-kind event celebrating community, diversity, and inclusivity on August 3.

21C Music Festival - five days of newly-minted music during which audiences have an opportunity to experience fresh new sounds and ideas from the greatest musical minds of today - moves from May to January with the sixth edition of the festival. From January 16 to 20, this edition will celebrate the American minimalist composer Terry Riley, with his music being performed in three of the concerts, including one that he will headline, titled Terry Riley: Live at 85! Additionally, more than a half of the works presented during the festival will be receiving premieres - 6 world, 1 North American, 10 Canadian, 4 Ontario, and 1 Toronto, by 10 Canadian composers.

The Verdi Chorus 35th anniversary season culminates with its Fall 2018 concert Passione! Opera! for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 10 and 11 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, this program, which marks the end of a landmark year for the company, will feature selections from three Verdi operas - Aida, Don Carlo, and the famed chorus "Va, pensiero," from Nabucco, as well as operatic sequences from Boito's Mefistofele, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Catalani's La Wally and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

On October 11, 2018, The Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic was awarded to South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. The Prize consists of $200,000 and a commission for the New York Philharmonic. Listen to her clarinet concerto in the video below!

The Marie-Josee Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic, which recognizes a composer for extraordinary artistic endeavor in the field of new music, has been awarded to South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. One of the world's largest new-music prizes, the Kravis Prize includes $200,000 and a commission to write a work for the New York Philharmonic. Ms. Chin's new orchestral work will receive its World Premiere by the Philharmonic in a future season. Funding for the Kravis Prize comes from a $10 million gift to the New York Philharmonic in 2009 by Henry R. Kravis in honor of his wife, Marie-Josee, for whom the Prize is named. Past Prize winners include Henri Dutilleux, Per Norgard, and Louis Andriessen.

On October 11, 2018, the New York Philharmonic announces that Unsuk Chin is the fourth-ever winner of its esteemed Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music. One of the world's largest new-music prizes, the Kravis Prize recognizes a composer for extraordinary artistic endeavor in the field of new music, and includes a $200,000 award and a commission to write a work for the New York Philharmonic. Chin's new orchestral work will receive its world premiere by the Philharmonic in a future season. Past prize winners include Louis Andriessen, Per Nørgård, and Henri Dutilleux.

On October 24, 2018, Founding Music Director & Conductor, Alex Pauk will lead the orchestra and audience on an intergalactic journey, with the opening concert of Esprit Orchestra's 2018-19 season, For Orbiting Spheres. The program features three talented composers from abroad, whose music will transfix listeners, contemplating our place in the cosmos. For Orbiting Spheres will take place at 8pm in Koerner Hall, preceded by an engaging pre-concert chat moderated by Canadian composer Alexina Louie.

Noted American playwright, screenwriter, and librettist David Henry Hwang who wrote the 1988 Tony Award for Best Play 'M. BUTTERFLY' (which is currently playing at Maybank Performing Arts Theater until September 30) is coming to Manila to conduct a strictly by invitation only 'Master Class' on September 28 - 3 pm.

The Verdi Chorus 35th anniversary season culminates with its Fall 2018 concert Passione! Opera! for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 10 and 11 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.   As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, this program, which marks the end of a landmark year for the company, will feature selections from three Verdi operas - Aida, Don Carlo, and the famed chorus 'Va, pensiero,' from Nabucco, as well as operatic sequences from Boito's Mefistofele, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Catalani's La Wally and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents three concerts with violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill, its artist in residence.  O'Neill will lead three programs - on Saturday September 8, he performs Schubert and Beethoven in a program title Homage with the Ehnes Quartet; on Sunday, March 3 he performs a program of British composers -- Britten, Bowen, Bridge, Carter and Clarke with pianist Steven Lin; and he closes with a program called L.A. Masters with works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Brahms with Jennifer Frautschi (violin), Jesse Mills (violin), Fred Sherry (cello), and Orion Weiss (piano).

Highlights this season include world premieres from Steve Reich, Unsuk Chin, Christopher Rouse, and Louis Andriessen, as well as major stage productions from Tod Machover and Meredith Monk.

Carnegie Hall's has announced some changes to its 2018-2019 schedule. See the newly announced details below!

PATH New Music Theater, the upstart artist collective of composers, musicians, choreographers, and visual artists, proudly announces their debut work for the stage, Simulacrum, co-presented by the 3LD Art & Technology Center on June 8th, 9th, and 10th. A radically ambitious combination of opera, dance, and stunning visual technology, the work combines music of the five composers of PATH and one guest composer with three singers, six dancers, vivid projections, and interactive wearable technology. Based on the captivating Marianna Staroselsky original play Loved for Parts, the opera examines the fraught relationship between man and machine.

PATH New Music Theater, the upstart artist collective of composers, musicians, choreographers, and visual artists, proudly announces their debut work for the stage, Simulacrum, co-presented by the 3LD Art & Technology Center on June 8th, 9th, and 10th. A radically ambitious combination of opera, dance, and stunning visual technology, the work combines music of the five composers of PATH and one guest composer with three singers, six dancers, vivid projections, and interactive wearable technology. Based on the captivating Marianna Staroselsky original play Loved for Parts, the opera examines the fraught relationship between man and machine.

From Sunday, June 3 through Friday, June 22, 2018, conductor Michael Christie will lead the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the world premiere performances of An American Soldier, the new two-act opera by Huang Ruo and Henry David Hwang, at the Loretto-Hilton Center (130 Edgar Road). Tenor Andrew Stenson (Danny Chen), mezzo-soprano Mika Shigematsu (Mother Chen), and soprano Kathleen Kim (Josephine Young) make debuts with OTSL and join bass-baritone Wayne Tigges (Sergeant Aaron Marcum) and director Matthew Ozawa for this production.

From the very first note, Brooklyn-based composer Christopher Cerrone draws listeners into his vibrant sonic imagination—a sublime world of ethereal colors and deep emotional resonance. Riding high following the extraordinary success of his groundbreaking futuristic opera, Invisible Cities, Cerrone teams up with Grammy-award winning Third Coast Percussion ensemble and mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway to perform recent chamber works, including the world premiere of a work commissioned for this Portrait.

Musica Viva NY presents legendary pianist, teacher, and composer Seymour Bernstein in a special benefit concert, Reintroducing Seymour, on Sunday, January 21 at 2:00 p.m at All Souls Church on the Upper East Side (Lexington Avenue at 80th Street).