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The New York Philharmonic’s CONTACT!
The New York Philharmonic’s new Contact! series aims to bring innovative contemporary composers into an intimate setting. The program promises to premiere pieces from composers who are currently on the cutting edge. The composers will be on scene to introduce their own music before each performance. The concert on April 16 and 17, conducted by Allan Gilbert, promises to bring three dazzling new pieces to the stage by three highly acclaimed young composers: Nico Muhly, Sean Shepherd, and Matthias Pintscher.
Nico Muhly has been making a name for himself in several different musical arenas over the past few years. He was praised by critics for his soundtrack of the Oscar nominated film The Reader (2008). Recently he has worked with choreographer Benjamin Millepied to create new compositions for American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opéra Ballet, and Netherlands Ballet. He arranged albums for artists such as Anthony and the Johnsons, Björk, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and GrizzlyBear. In 2008 he released a genre-crossing album, Mothertongue, which brings elements of folk and pop music into Muhly’s contemporary composition. Muhly’s piece commissioned for the concert, Detailed Instructions, is based on taking a trip out of the city into the green mountains of Vermont.
Sean Shepherd is a Julliard graduate and winner of several awards, including the Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His piece to be preformed on April 16 and 17, and is titled These Particular Circumstances. Mr. Shepherd says that the piece is “A collection of seven very different kinds and characters of music (episodes with titles like ’Floating’ and ’Teetering’) are stitched together in time, with the specific intention of putting each to use in service of the whole work (a span of about 20 minutes) not unlike ingredients in a sauce.”
Matthias Pintscher of Germany has regularly conducted leading orchestras and ensembles in Europe and the U.S. Since 2007. He also has a long list of awards and achievements for his relatively short career, including the first prize in the Hitzacker Composition Competition (1992). His piece for the night is titled Songs from Solomon’s garden. Dialogue from the bible verse is heard here with interplay between baritone and orchestra, representing a man and a woman.
Performances are scheduled for Friday, April 16, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. at Symphony Space and Saturday, April 17, at 7:00 p.m. at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Tickets available through New York Philharmonic. For more information, please visit www.nyphil.org.