International Contemporary Ensemble and The Rhythm Method join together for a collaborative premiere of Kevin Ramsay's A pin drops like a pungent odor , a "Call for ____" commission, and Lewis Nielson’s Pastorale para los pobres de la tierra, also commissioned by the Ensemble. Plus performances of works by Anahita Abbasi, Meaghan Burke, and Yaz Lancaster.
Performers:
THE RHYTHM METHOD QUARTET
Leah Asher, violin
Marina Kifferstein, violin
Carrie Frey, viola
Meaghan Burke, cello
INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
Alice Teyssier, voice and flute
Josh Modney, violin
Randy Zigler, bass
Personnel:
Maciej Lewandowski, audio engineer
Nick Houfek, light designer
Program:
Meaghan Burke: Kitchen Quartet (2021)
The Rhythm Method Quartet
Yaz Lancaster: wind_down_2 (2020)
Randy Zigler (bass)
Kevin Ramsay: A Pin Drops Like a Pungent Odor (2022)*
Josh Modney (violin), Marina Kifferstein (violin), Carrie Frey (viola), Meaghan Burke (cello), Randy Zigler (bass)
Anahita Abbasi: Situation IV / Io E iO (2016, rev. 2017)
Josh Modney (violin)
Lewis Nielson: Pastorale para los pobres de la tierra (2022)*
Alice Teyssier (flute/voice), Leah Asher (violin), Marina Kifferstein (violin), Carrie Frey (viola), Meaghan Burke (cello)
*commissioned by International Contemporary Ensemble & world premiere
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ABOUT THE COMPOSERS
Hailed as “outstanding,” with a “street-smart, feline voice” (The New York Times), Meaghan Burke is a cellist, vocalist, and composer working in the space between contemporary music, improvised music, and songwriting. Her compositions and songs explore relationships between sound, storytelling, and the body, seeking new possibilities for care in performance and listening. Meaghan is a founding member of contemporary feminist string quartet The Rhythm Method, avant-grunge band Forever House, and Viennese songwriting collective Loose Lips Sink Ships. Meaghan’s recent album of songs with The Rhythm Method, “A Few Concerns” (Gold Bolus Recordings) was described as “a smart, feisty album that is both provocative and a pleasure to listen to...a culminating work...not to be missed.” (I Care If You Listen) Meaghan is a frequent guest performer with many of NYC’s contemporary ensembles, including International Contemporary Ensemble, TAK, and S.E.M. Ensemble, as well as Miho Hazama’s Grammy-nominated jazz chamber band m-unit. Also an avid writer and translator, Meaghan’s translation of Peter Ablinger’s Now! Writings 1982-2021 was published by MusikTexte in 2022. https://www.meaghanburkemusic.com/about
Yaz Lancaster (they/them) is a Black transdisciplinary artist most interested in practices aligned with relational aesthetics and the everyday; fragments and collage; and liberatory politics. Yaz performs as a violinist, vocalist, and steel pannist in a wide variety of settings from DIY and popular music to contemporary chamber ensembles; and their work is presented in many different mediums and collaborative projects. They are in post-genre duo laydøwn with guitarist-producer Andrew Noseworthy; and have created with artists like A Far Cry, Andy Akiho, BAKUDI SCREAM, Beth Morrison Projects, Contemporaneous, and JACK Quartet. Yaz lives in Lenapehoking (Harlem, NYC) with their dog Nori, and they hold degrees in violin and poetry from New York University. https://www.yaz-lancaster.com/
Kevin Ramsay is a composer, producer, recording/mixing/mastering/ sound engineer, and musician on several critically acclaimed international albums. Brooklyn born and based, Ramsay’s work focuses primarily on theoretical, practical aspects of sound recording/reproduction with unpredictable pairings of acoustic and electronic instruments. Kevin’s current works explore new ways to capture, mix, and process immersive audio for playback, on multichannel sound systems. In addition to serving as the Lead Sound Engineer at Harvestworks Digital Media, he continues to collaborate with a variety of international artists committed to using sound as their main creative medium. Kevin has worked with notable artist such as Michael Byron, Henry Threadgil, Art Jones, Joan Jonas, Pauline Kim- Harris and Conrad Harris (String Noise), Anne Tardos, Danilio Correale, Maria Grand, Prince Harvey, Emilio Vavarella, Malik Ameer Crumpler, Daniel Belquer, Jon-Carlos Evans and many others.
https://www.kevinramsaysound.com/
Anahita Abbasi’s music has been described as “a dizzyingly sophisticated reverie, colorful and energetic. It embodies tremendous timbral exploration and multilayered performance gestures”… (Classical Voice America and A Cunning plan). Her upcoming projects include a commission from derglebe Klang ensemble to be presented on November 13, 2022 in Munich, and a commission from Ensemble modern for Darmstadt 2023. She is currently oscillating between New York and Paris as part of her one-year residency with Ensemble Le Balcon (France). She teaches composition, giving lectures and curating workshops on fundamentals of creation, and serving as a juror at composition competitions. She is also a founding member of Schallfeld Ensemble in Graz, Austria as well as IFCA (Iranian Female Composers Association) in New York City; where she is curating concerts, workshops, conferences, creating platforms and advocating for young composers and acts as their ambassadors in presenting their music to others. Anahita Abbasi (world citizen-1985) was born and raised in Iran. In 2005 she moved to Austria and pursued her undergrad at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where she studied music theory with Clemens Gadenstätter and Christian Utz & composition with Beat Furrer and Pierluigi Billone; while working closely with Georges Aperghis, Franck Bedrossian, and Philippe Leroux. Since 2014, Abbasi is currently finishing her Ph.D. in composition under the supervision of Rand Steiger at the University of California San Diego. http://anahitaabbasi.com/
Lewis Nielson studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, Clark University in Massachusetts and the University of Iowa. His works have been performed throughout the North and South America, and in Europe.
He served for 21 years as Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Georgia while while directing the University of Georgia Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.
In 2000, he joined the composition faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he was Professor of Composition and chair of the Composition Department until 2015.
https://www.lewisnielson.com/about/
ABOUT RHYTHM METHOD
Praised as “fierce, fearless, and virtuosic… unapologetically stylistically omnivorous and versatile” (New Music Box) and “trailblazing...skillful composer-performers” (The New Yorker), The Rhythm Method strives to reimagine the string quartet in a contemporary, feminist context. The four performer-composers of The Rhythm Method continually expand their sonic and expressive palette through the use of improvisation, vocalization, graphic notation, songwriting, and theater. Read more at http://www.therhythmmethod.nyc/
ABOUT INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced. The Ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.
Described as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), the Ensemble has become a leading force in new music throughout the last 20 years, having premiered over 1,000 works and having been a vehicle for the workshop and performance of thousands of works by student composers across the U.S. The Ensemble’s composer-collaborators—many who were unknown at the time of their first Ensemble collaboration—have fundamentally shaped its creative ethos and have continued to highly visible and influential careers, including MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey; long-time Ensemble collaborator, founding member, and 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner Du Yun; and the Ensemble’s founder, 2012 MacArthur Fellow, and first-ever flutist to win Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase.
CREDITS
The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of many individuals as well as the Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The International Contemporary Ensemble was the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology from 2018-2021. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.