Music at Amherst Series

Composer, pianist, and visual artist Jason Moran reflects on the legacy of a hero of black music in a multidisciplinary program entitled, “James Reese Europe and the Harlem Hellfighters: The Absence of Ruin.” An iconic figure in the evolution of African-American music, ragtime pioneer, and World War I hero, James Reese Europe led a crack military ensemble called the Harlem Hellfighters. In addition to their achievements in combat, Europe and his Hellfighters popularized the new spirit of jazz in a war-torn French nation fascinated with black culture. And that’s only the beginning of their story – their legacy has had an extraordinary impact on African-American music over the past century of cultural and political change. This concert was made possible by the Amherst College Department of Music, the Music at Amherst Series and the Presidential Scholars program.

Emma Frucht and Miho Saegusa, Violins
Ayane Kozasa, Viola
Karen Ouzounian, Cello

The Aizuri Quartet has established a unique position within today’s musical landscape, infusing all of their music-making with infectious energy, joy and warmth, cultivating curiosity in listeners, and inviting audiences into the concert experience through their innovative programming, and the depth and fire of their performances.

PROGRAM:

Clara Schumann: Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen  arr. Karen Ouzounian
Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 4, Sz 91
Tanya Tagaq: Sivunittinni (2015)
Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet Op. 76 No. 4 in B-flat major, Sunrise 

Winner of the Cleveland Quartet Award in 2022, the Aizuri Quartet took home the Grand Prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, and top prizes at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, and the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, featuring new works written for the Aizuri Quartet by five American composers, was released by New Amsterdam Records to critical acclaim (“In a word, stunning” - I Care If You Listen), nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award, and named one of NPR Music’s Best Classical Albums of 2018.

PROGRAM:

Requiem by Johannes Okeghem and music by his contemporaries and successors

Blue Heron has been acclaimed by The Boston Globe as “one of the Boston music community’s indispensables” and hailed by Alex Ross in The New Yorker for its “expressive intensity.” The ensemble ranges over a wide repertoire from plainchant to new music, with particular specialities in 15th-century Franco-Flemish polyphony and early 16th-century English sacred music, and is committed to vivid live performance informed by the study of original source materials and historical performance practices.

Scott Metcalfe is widely recognized as one of North America’s leading specialists in music from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries and beyond. Musical and artistic director of Blue Heron since its founding in 1999.

Photo by Liz Linder

PROGRAM:

Revolutionary aka The Civil Rights Project: Reflecting the struggles we face, the times we live in, and the hope we must have. Works by Sam Cooke, Frederic Rzewski, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, and Valerie Coleman.

Brandon Patrick George, flute
Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
Mark Dover, clarinet
Kevin Newton, French horn
Monica Ellis, bassoon

Celebrating over two decades of music making, the twice Grammy nominated Imani Winds has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The ensemble’s playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire, and as a 21st century group, Imani Winds is devoutly committed to expanding the wind quintet repertoire by commissioning music from new voices that reflect historical events and the times in which we currently live.

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Presenting a celebration of Native culture through music and storytelling. The world class musical ensemble is joined by storyteller, Washington State Poet Laureate, Rena Priest. Together they weave new compositions and songs with witty wise and poignant poetry and satire to honor the elders and ancestors. Their performance unearths the depth, joy and solidarity that Native people find in their community, culture and family. Please join us for a talkback with all the performers following the performance.

Delbert Anderson, Musical Director/Composition/Trumpet/Theramin
Julia Keefe, Assistant Musical Director/ Composition/Voice/Piano/Guitar
Rena Priest, Poet/Storyteller
Nokosee Fields, Composition/Fiddle/Guitar
Mali Obomsawin, Composition/Voice/Bass/Guitar

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Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique compositional gifts have garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. Anthony Tommasini remarked in The New York Times that “Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power…soulful lyricism…unsentimental expressivity.”

Ms. Montero returns to the Buckley stage paying homage to three prominent Russian composers who immigrated to the West in the early twentieth century to escape oppression in their home country. Montero’s carefully selected program includes pieces rarely heard on this side of the globe and concludes with a real-time improvised score alongside a viewing of Charlie Chaplin’s film The Immigrant.”

PROGRAM:

PROKOFIEV: Sarcasms: Five Pieces for Piano, Op. 17
PROKOFIEV: Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14
RACHMANINOV: Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36
STRAVINSKY: Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor (1924)
CHAPLIN: "The Immigrant", with improvised piano score by Gabriela Montero

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Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin
Roman Borys, cello
Jamie Parker, piano

Violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys, and pianist Jamie Parker are creative innovators with an appetite for discovery and new ideas. They have commissioned over 85 new works, and they frequently collaborate with other artists on projects that push the boundaries of Classical music. The The Gryphon Trio is returns to Buckley for an encore performance.

PROGRAM:

Rebecca Clarke: Piano Trio
Dinuk Wijeratne: Love Triangle (2016)
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8

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The Nathaniel Dett Chorale is Canada’s first professional choral group dedicated to Afrocentric music of all styles, including classical, spiritual, gospel, jazz, folk and blues. The twenty-one classically trained outstanding vocalists of the Nathaniel Dett Chorale have shared the stage with internationally recognized artists such as Juno Award-winning jazz pianist Joe Sealy, singers Molly Johnson, and Jackie Richardson, and opera star Kathleen Battle and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The ensemble has performed for such luminaries as opera singer Jessye Norman and Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell. The Chorale has performed at events honoring world leaders Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, personality Muhammad Ali, and pianist Oscar Peterson, and was the only Canadian ensemble invited to perform as part of the celebrations surrounding the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama in January 2009.

The multi-faceted vocalists of the Chorale, whose talent stretches beyond the traditional expectations of a classical chamber choir, seek to broaden their vision to include all styles and genres of music, from classical to jazz, folk, blues, and popular music, as appropriate to the traditions of the African Diaspora.

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Described as “superb” by The New York Times, violinist Tai Murray has established herself a musical voice of a generation. “Technically flawless… vivacious and scintillating… It is without doubt that Murray’s style of playing is more mature than that of many seasoned players…” 

(Muso Magazine). Murray won an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2004, and was named a BBC New Generation Artist. As a chamber musician, she was a member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society II.

Swiss-born American pianist Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of extraordinary versatility and originality. He is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, and winner of the Naumburg and Geneva competitions, and is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

PROGRAM:

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Romance
John Adams: Road Movies
Arvo Pärt: Passacaglia
Franz Schubert: Grand Duo in A Major, D. 574