“The Post-Classical Ensemble may be the most thought-provoking music group in town . . . using its concerts as laboratories for musical thought experiments. Their performances can be demanding-- but they're invariably beautiful, and never dull.”
- Stephen Brookes, THE WASHINGTON POST
“In a brief introduction, Joseph Horowitz, the artistic director of the Post-Classical Ensemble, said that crossing boundaries is what this group is about and may be a key to the future of classical music. This program showed exactly what he meant.”
- Joseph McLellan, THE WASHINGTON POST
“A welcome, edgy addition to
the musical life of Washington.”
- Daniel Ginsberg, THE WASHINGTON POST
The 2008-2009 Season is made possible with support from:
The National Endowment for the Arts
National Council for Culture and the Arts of Mexico
Mexican Cultural Institute
The Embassy of Mexico
The Ministry of Culture of Spain
The Aaron Copland Fund for Music
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In 2008-2009 the Ensemble for the first time has a principal DC venue: the new Harman Center for the Arts in downtown Washington. In addition, it begins an Educational partnership with Georgetown University, whose first fruits are a week-long Mexican festival and a program exploring the impact of the Red Scare on Aaron Copland. And the Ensemble returns to the Kennedy Center and the Strathmore Music Center
In January, Naxos releases a second post-Classical Ensemble DVD, featuring the classics 1939 documentary The City with the soundtrack – Aaron Copland most remarkable film score – newly recorded.
Carnival of The Creatures
A scary children’s concert
Sunday, October 26,
at 1 pm
The Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda, MD
www.strathmore.org
George Vatchnadze and Genadi Zagor, pianos
Maggie Yin Horowitz, ballerina
Amy Miller and Mona Lisa Arias, readers
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor
Since children adore being scared, we’ve concocted a children’s concert with a really scary second half. The first half is all Saint-Saens, including “The Swan” danced by an 11-year-old ballerina. And we’ll have children reciting Ogden Nash’s ingenious animal poems, and the voodoo chant that inspired the black magic of Sensemaya.
Camille Saint-Saens: The Carnival of the Animals
Henry Cowell: The Banshee, The Tiger
Maurice Ravel: Scarbo
A scary improvisation
Silvestre Revueltas: Sensemayá
The Mexican Odyssey
Thursday, November 6,
7:30 to 10:30 pm
The Harman Center for the Arts. Sydney Harman Hall
610 F Street NW
http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/
harmancenter/index.aspx
Pedro Carboné, piano
Roberto Limón, guitar
Georgetown University Chamber Singers
Gregorio Luke, commentator
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor
Mexico’s explosive cultural saga — from stark Mayan ceremonies to the torrid revolutionary art of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo — produced centuries of explosive music. This unique program, combining music, history, and visual art, includes the Aztec intensities captured by Carlos Chavez, the florid reverence of Mexican Baroque, and the shrill trumpets and booming tubas remembered by Silvestre Revueltas from his rural childhood.
Pre-hispanic culture — Xochipili by Carlos Chávez (with pre-Hispanic instruments)
Mexican Baroque — Choral works by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla
Romantic/Post-Romantic piano music by Ricardo Castro and Manuel Ponce
For solo guitar: Scherzino mexicano and Variations and Fugue on “La Folia” by Manuel Ponce
Nationalism: Three Pieces for solo guitar by Carlos Chavez; Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca by Silvestre Revueltas
High modernism: Three Secular Dances for cello and piano by Mario Lavista; Serenata* by Ana Lara
* East Coast premiere
Additional Mexican programing Nov. 1 at Georgetown University: "Defining Mexico" — an all-day conference followed by a choral concert by Georgetown University Chamber Singers at 6:00 pm in McNeir Hall (New North Building). Free and open to the public.
Copland and the Cold War
Saturday, January 31, 2009
at 7pm
Davis Performing Arts Center, Gonda Theatre. Georgetown University
http://performingarts.georgetown.edu/
DAVIS/
A Post-Classical Production with Benjamin Pasternack, pianist;
Georgetown University Concert Choir and Chamber Singers; actors from Georgetown’s Theater and Performance Studies Program.
Aaron Copland: Cat and Mouse; Piano Variations;
Scherzo (from Piano Sonata); Piano Fantasy
Copland: “Into the Streets May First” (audience sing-along).
Plus a re-enactment of Copland’s testimony before Senator
Joseph McCarthy’s Subcommittee on Special Investigations;
and excerpts from the new Post-Classical Ensemble Naxos DVD
of the classic 1939 documentary film The City, with music by Aaron Copland.
In 1953 Aaron Copland was subpoenaed by Senator Joseph McCarthy and asked about his dealings with Communists. How did the Red Scare impact on the artistic and national identity of America’s most famous concert composer? Our program traces his compositional odyssey: from student years to modernism, to 1930s populism and political radicalism, to a cerebral “late style.”
“The sheer explosion of ideas, coupled with an astonishing array of keyboard variety, hold the attention completely... Playing of razor-sharp clarity and precision.” – MusicWeb International on Benjamin Pasternack’s Naxos recording of the Copland Piano Fantasy
Iberian Inspirations
Sunday, March 1 at 7:30pm
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Fortas Chamber Music Concerts on the Terrace Theater
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/fortas/
Harolyn Blackwell, soprano
"Deeply expressive…impossible to resist"
–The New York Times
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor
As the major presenter of Spanish concert music in both DC and New York City, Post-Classical Ensemble has long made a cause of the lesser-known works of Falla, and of the master Catalonian modernists Montsalvatge and Gerhard. We return to the Kennedy Center with a program including the American premiere of a Montsalvatge sinfonietta inspired by the paintings of Salvador Dali.
Manuel de Falla: Psyché
Joaquin Turina: Poema en Forma de Canciones
Xavier Montsalvatge: Sinfonietta Folia Daliniana (US premiere)
Joaquin Rodrigo: Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Choros no. 7 (Septet)
Roberto Gerhard: Cancionero de Pedrell
Encounters: A John Adams Snapshot
Wednesday, April 22 at 7:30pm
The Harman Center for the Arts. Lansburgh Theatre [LOGO]
450 7th Street NW
http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/
harmancenter/index.aspx
David Krakauer, clarinet
Benjamin Pasternack, piano
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor
A rare opportunity for DC audiences to hear two cutting-edge compositions by an indispensable American original. Phrygian Gates, early Adams, is a landmark of keyboard minimalism, a 30-minute kaleidoscope of swirling colors and textures. Gnarly Buttons, late Adams, is a sizzling clarinet concerto distilling swing, blues, and jazz. Both works will be performed for the first time by two great American instrumentalists.
“Astonishing bravura and a deeply inquisitive and distinctive musical mind”—The Boston Globe about Benjamin Pasternack
“A combination of soulfulness and electrifying showiness” – The New York Times about David Krakauer
