CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT PENN STATE

ONSTAGE

Luke

Rat

ray

Nancy VanLandingham, chairLam Hood, vice chair

Judy Albrecht William Asbury

Lynn Sidehamer BrownPhilip Burlingame

Deb LattaEileen Leibowitz

Ellie LewisChristine Lichtig

Mary Ellen Litzinger

Bonnie MarshallPieter OuwehandMelinda StearnsLillian UpcraftPat WilliamsNina Woskob

student representativesBrittany BanikStephanie CorcinoJesse Scott

Community Advisory CounCilThe Community Advisory Council is dedicated to strengthening

the relationship between the Center for the Performing Arts and the community. Council members participate in a range

of activities in support of this objective.

George Trudeau, director

Lea Asbell-Swanger, assistant director

Annie Doncsecz, finance director

Tracy Noll, sales and development services director

Laura Sullivan, marketing and communications director

Amy Dupain Vashaw, audience and program development director

Shannon Arney, assistant ticket manager

Erik Baxter, multimedia specialist

Shannon Bishop, downtown ticket center manager

Len Codispot, sales and development accounting coordinator

Gary Collins, production supervisor

Aimee Crihfield, contracts/logistics coordinator

Medora Ebersole, education and community programs manager

Lisa Faust, audience services manager

Deanna Heichel, assistant finance director

Tom Hesketh, events manager

Wanda Hockenberry, assistant to the director

Christine Igoe, ticket manager

Urszula Kulakowski, art director

Heather Mannion, advertising associate

Sherren McKenzie, group sales coordinator

John Mark Rafacz, editorial manager

Dave Shaffer, assistant director for special programs

Chad Swires, production supervisor

Mark Tinik, production supervisor

Center for the Performing Arts stAff

presents

The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state

agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT PENN STATE

eighth blackbird

Tim Munro, flutesMichael J. Maccaferri, clarinetsYvonne Lam, violin and viola

Nicholas Photinos, celloMatthew Duvall, percussion

Lisa Kaplan, piano

7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 2, 2015Schwab Auditorium

This performance includes one intermission.

This concert is a component of the Center for the Performing Arts Classical Music Project. With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project

provides opportunities to engage students, faculty, and the community with classical music artists and programs. Marica Tacconi, Penn State professor of musicology, and Carrie Jackson, Penn State associate professor of German and linguistics, provide faculty leadership for the curriculum and academic

components of the project.

The Steinway piano used this evening is provided courtesy of Robert M. Sides Music Centers and Steinway & Sons of New York City.

media sponsor WPSU

ProgrAmCounting Duets (1982) for two performersTom Johnsonand Études (1985–94) for solo piano, arranged for sextetGyörgy Ligeti

1. Counting Duet No. 1 — Étude No. 4: Fanfares (arr. Lisa Kaplan) 2. Counting Duet No. 2 — Étude No. 11: En Suspens (arr. Tim Munro)3. Counting Duet No. 3 — Étude No. 12: Entrelacs (arr. Kaplan)4. Counting Duet No. 4 — Étude No. 6: Automne à Varsovie (arr. Munro)

Duo for Heart and Breath (2012)Richard Reed Parry

Pieces of Winter Sky (2012) for sextetAaron Jay Kernis

Music Accord generously commissioned Pieces of Winter Sky for eighth blackbird. Comprised of top classical music presenting organizations from throughout the United States, including the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State, Music Accord is a consortium that commissions new works in the chamber music, instrumental recital, and song genres.

INTERMISSION

Number Nine (2013) for sextetGabriella Smith

Selections from Murder Ballades (2013) for sextetBryce Dessner

1. “Omie Wise”2. “Young Emily”3. “Wave the Sea”4. “Brushy Fork”

Counting Duets (1982) and Études (1985–94)

Tom Johnson’s (b. 1939, Colo-rado) obsessions are with simple forms, limited scales, and re-duced materials, but this dry and dour-sounding list doesn’t capture the light, satirical na-ture of many of his best-known works. Narayana’s Cows is a mu-sical translation of the work of Narayana, a fourteenth-century Indian mathematician. The text begins, “A cow produces one calf every year. Beginning in its fourth year, each calf produces one calf at the beginning of each year. How many cows and calves are there altogether after twenty years?” Failing: a very difficult piece for solo string bass challenges a bassist to give live commentary on the difficul-ties of playing this “very difficult piece.”

Johnson writes: “Soldiers count the cadence as they march; ag-ricultural surveyors count blades of grass; farmers count sheep; astronomers count galaxies; lab technicians count red blood cells; we all count money. The formalistic, religious, arithmetic, psychological, linguistic, and musical implications of count-ing interest me a great deal, and since I have a special love for patterns and numbers anyway, I have focused much of my work in this direction. There must be countless ways of counting. And come to think of it, ‘countless-ness’ is another fascinating sub-ject. Or is it the same subject?”

Born in Romania and trained in Hungary, György Ligeti (1923–2006) fled post-war commu-nism at the age of 30. Ligeti’s

solo piano Études reflect the radically varied musical pas-sions of the composer’s later years: the music of sub-Saharan African cultures; the complex wildness of Conlon Nancarrow’s Studies for Player Piano; the harmonic freedom of Theloni-ous Monk and Bill Evans; and the keyboard music of Scarlatti, Chopin, Schumann, and De-bussy.

Fanfares spins wildly around the instruments, flinging scale-like patterns (derived from Middle Eastern music) against irregu-lar, fanfare-like flourishes. Two musical worlds float simultane-ously through the calm skies of En Suspens (Suspended): a soft, nostalgic waltz and a darker, more impersonal tolling bell. Entrelacs, named for an intricate Celtic decorative pattern, spins layer upon layer upon layer of interlaced, complex musical ribbon around the listener. Au-tomne à Varsovie (Autumn in Warsaw) sings an anxious, un-comfortable, rage-filled lament for the people of Poland, who suffered under the brutally op-pressive communist regime of the 1980s.

Duo for Heart and Breath (2012)

Richard Reed Parry (of indie band Arcade Fire) connects the rhythms of the physical body to the rhythms of the musi-cal performance in Duo for Heart and Breath. Musicians wear stethoscopes, which en-able them to play in synch with their heartbeats. At other times, players are in synch with their individual breathing. Accord-ing to the composer, “The idea

is less about ‘performing’ and more about directly translating into music the subtle, naturally varying internal rhythms of the individual players.”

Pieces of Winter Sky (2012)

The composer writes: “Pieces of Winter Sky evokes the still, lingering, misty, gray winter sky—hovering, immobile. There is occasionally turbulence on the surface, but underlying lyricism is at its core. Rather than affecting a narrative arc or clear dramatic progression, Pieces of Winter Sky is a se-quence of short episodes, some closely related and connected in sequence, others strongly contrasting and sharply juxta-posed. Fragments of bird song, most notably the song of the Winter Wren (heard in slow mo-tion), are played by the clarinet beginning a middle section, which features soloists from the ensemble—clarinet, cello, violin, and piano. Flute/piccolo is often highlighted, and percus-sion provides an ongoing shim-mer. The sound world of Pieces of Winter Sky is unified by the resonant, sustained sounds of bowing—bowed piano, crotales, vibraphone, cymbals, and, in some performances, bowed glockenspiel. Schubert’s aching, unyielding song cycle, Winter-reise (Winter Journey) echoes from the distant past—like faint, spiritual radio waves.”

One of the youngest compos-ers to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960, Philadelphia) is among the most esteemed musical figures of his generation. His music is

featured prominently on or-chestral, chamber, and recital programs worldwide. He has won numerous awards in addi-tion to the 1998 Pulitzer Prize, including the 2002 Grawemeyer Award, the 2012 Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University, a Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fel-lowship, and others. Recordings of two of his compositions were nominated for Grammy Awards. Kernis serves as director of Min-nesota Orchestra’s Composer Institute, a program that gives young composers the opportu-nity to hear their works played by one of the world’s great en-sembles. He teaches composi-tion at Yale School of Music and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Number Nine (2013)

The composer writes: “Number Nine is inspired by the Beatles’ ‘Revolution 9,’ their collage-like, Musique-concrète-inspired aural depiction of a revolution positioned at the climactic point of the White Album. In-spired by the looped phrase ‘number nine,’ ‘number nine,’ ‘number nine,’ etc. at the be-ginning of the Beatles’ song, I began my Number Nine with an instrumental version of that repeated phrase, and the rest of the piece evolves from its rhythmic and pitch contour. I also incorporated many other ‘Revolution 9’ references, weav-ing their collage fragments into Number Nine’s continuously evolving arc. Number Nine was commissioned by percussionist Ted Babcock for his program Machine in the Garden and pre-miered in January 2014 at the Curtis Institute of Music.”

Gabriella Smith (b. 1991), a com-poser from the San Francisco Bay area, attends Princeton University, where she is a Na-umberg and Roger Sessions doctoral fellow. Her commis-sions include new works for the 2014 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and Ga-briel Cabezas. Smith’s music has been performed throughout the United States and in China, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Turkey by PRISM Quartet, Aspen Contemporary Ensem-ble, Azure Ensemble, Berkeley Symphony, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Classical Revolution, Contemporaneous, Dinosaur Annex, Ensemble39, Friction Quartet, Monadnock Music, and Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. She received her bachelor of music degree from Philadel-phia’s Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with David Ludwig, Jennifer Higdon, and Richard Danielpour.

Before beginning her studies at Curtis, Smith performed as a violinist in the Superdelegates (an improvisational avant-garde classical/blues string quartet), the Formerly Known (a classical new music ensemble), and the Young People’s Symphony Or-chestra. She sings in the Princ-eton University Georgian Choir. When she is not making music, she enjoys backpacking, birding, home brewing, dancing Argen-tine tango, and working with her six chickens on her backyard farm in northern California.

Selections from Murder Ballades (2013)

The composer writes: “When eighth blackbird asked me for a piece, I immediately knew what to do: let great American folk music inspire a great American new music ensemble. The ‘mur-der ballad’ has its roots in a Eu-ropean tradition, in which grisly details of bloody homicides are recounted through song. When this tradition came to America, it developed its own vernacular, with stories and songs being told and re-told over the gen-erations. In Murder Ballades, I re-examine several of these old songs, allowing them to inspire my own music. ‘Omie Wise’ and ‘Young Emily’ are classic murder ballads, tales of romantically charged killings that are based on real events. ‘Brushy Fork’ is a Civil War-era murder bal-lad/fiddle tune, and ‘Wave the Sea’ is an original composition woven out of the depths of the many months I spent inhabiting the seductive music and violent stories of these murder ballads.”

Murder Ballades was commis-sioned by eighth blackbird and Lunapark and funded by The Doelen Concert Hall, Rotterdam, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Am-sterdam, and Muziekgebouw Frits Philips, Eindhoven, with the financial support of The Van Beinum Foundation, The Neth-erlands, and additional support from Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

eighth blackbird \’ātth ‘blak-’bərd\ slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).

1. verb. to act with commitment and virtuosity; to zap, zip, sock.2. adjective. having fearless (yet irreverent) qualities.3. noun. a flock of songbirds, common in urban areas since 1996.

eighth blackbird combines the finesse of a string quartet, the energy of a rock band, and the audacity of a storefront theatre company. The Chicago-based, three-time Grammy-winning “super-musicians” (Los Angeles Times) entertain and provoke audiences across the country and around the world.

Colombine’s Paradise Theatre is eighth blackbird’s new staged, memo-rized production hailed as a “tour de force” by the Washington Post. Composer Amy Beth Kirsten challenges the sextet to play, speak, sing, whisper, growl, and mime, breathing life into this tale of dream and delusion. The sextet’s 2014–15 season kicked off with a performance at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, followed by a season-open-ing performance at The Miller Theater in New York City.

The season’s acoustic program, Still in Motion, features new works by The National’s Bryce Dessner (the folk-inspired Murder Ballades), Lee Hyla, Sean Griffin, and rising star Gabriella Smith. eighth blackbird takes the show to Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, Washington, and Hawaii.

Other highlights include the premiere of Hand Eye, a new work for eighth blackbird by the superstar composer collective Sleeping Giant; the sextet’s debut at Brooklyn Academy of Music in collaboration with LA Dance Project; and a New Orleans-inspired romp with special guest singer-songwriter-accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman at Symphony Space in New York City. To top it off, the group is conducting guest residencies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and a multi-visit residency at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

eighth blackbird holds ongoing ensemble-in-residence positions at Curtis Institute of Music, University of Richmond, and University of Chicago. A decade-long relationship with Chicago’s Cedille Records has produced six acclaimed recordings. The ensemble has won three Grammy Awards, for the recordings strange imaginary animals, Lonely Motel: Music from Slide, and Meanwhile.

eighth blackbird’s members hail from America’s Great Lakes, Keystone, Golden, and Bay states, plus Australia’s Sunshine State. The group in-cludes four foodies, three beer snobs, and an exercise junkie. The name “eighth blackbird” derives from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens’s evocative, aphoristic poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (1917). David Lieberman Artists manages eighth blackbird.

eighth blackbird is ensemble in residence with Contempo. Michael Mac-caferri is a Rico Performing Artist and Clinician. Doug Perkins endorses Black Swamp Percussion, Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, Vic Firth Sitcks and Mallets, and Zildjian Cymbals. Lisa Kaplan is a Steinway Artist.

www.eighthblackbird.org

Nancy L. HerronLam and Lina HoodCindy and Al JonesChick KingJames and Bonnie KnappJames and Barbara KornerJohn and Michelle MasonPatrick W. and Susan N. MorseMarcia and Bill NewtonSteve and Anne PfeiffenbergerJack and Sue PorembaPatricia Hawbaker QuinlivanAndy and Kelly RenfrewShirley SacksSally L. SchaadtRussell and Jeanne SchleidenPaul and K. C. SheelerVaughn and Kay ShirkSusan and Lewis SteinbergMarilynne W. StoutKenton StuckMark and Anne ToniattiElizabeth TrudeauGeorge and Debbie TrudeauMark and JoAnne WesterhausMary Jane and William WildCharlotte Zmyslo

PARTNER

$250 TO $499

Steve and Chris AdamsWilliam W. AsburyDr. Deborah F. AtwaterSven and Carmen BilénAlan BrownRoger and Corinne CoplanLee and Joan CoraorStephanie Corcino

MEMbERSThe Center for the Performing Arts recognizes the following members for their support. For information on the membership program or how you may contribute to the Center for the Performing Arts, please contact Dave Shaffer at 814-863-1167 or DaveShaffer@psu.edu.

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

$3,000 AND MORE

Lynn Sidehamer BrownMimi U. Barash CoppersmithMarty and Joan DuffBlake and Linda GallRobert and Helen HarveyBob and Sonia HufnagelRichard and Sally KalinDan and Peggy Hall LeKanderBarbara PalmerDotty and Paul RigbyLouis P. Silverman and Veronica A. SamborskyGeorge and Nina Woskob

DIRECTOR’SCIRCLE

$2,000 TO $2,999

Patricia Best and Thomas RayLynn Donald BreonJanet Fowler Dargitz and

Karl George StoedefalkeRod and Shari EricksonEdward R. GalusArnold and Marty GascheDonald W. Hamer and Marie BednarBeverly HickeyHoney and Bill JaffeKay F. KustanbauterEileen W. LeibowitzTom and Mary Ellen LitzingerPieter W. and Lida OuwehandWilliam RabinowitzRobert Schmalz

ENCORECIRCLE

$1,000 TO $1,999

Pamela M. AikeyGrace M. Bardine Mary and Hu BarnesPhilip and Susan BurlingameEdda and Francis G. GentryRichard B. GidezJudith Albrecht and Denny GioiaDavid and Margaret GrayMichael P. Johnson and

Maureen MulderigStan and Debra LattaBenson and Christine LichtigKenneth and Irene McllvriedKaren and Scott ShearerJackson and Diane SpielvogelCarol and Rex WarlandTerry and Pat WilliamsDavid and Diane Wisniewski

ADVOCATE

$500 TO $999

Ned and Inga BookJack and Diana BrenizerSandra Zaremba and Richard Brown Richard Carlson and Lori ForlizziJoseph and Annie DoncseczMichael T. and Ann F. DotseySteve and Sandy ElbinMark A. FalvoNancy S. GambleJohn and Carol GrahamBill and Connie HayesSteven L. Herb and

Sara Willoughby-Herb

Bold listings represent members who increased their donations by 10 percent or more this season. Be Bold! Contact Dave Shaffer, assistant director for special programs, at 814-863-1167.

Jo DixonMargaret DudaHeather F. FleckPamela FrancisPeg and Joe FrenchCatherine GreenhamAndrea HarringtonSue HaugDawn E. HawkinsDale T. HoffmanAnne HummerChristopher and Gail HurleyJohn and Gina IkenberryAllen and Nancy JacobsonLaurene Keck and Dave SweetlandJohn and Gretchen LeathersDebra LeithauserFran E. LevinJack and Ellie LewisDorothy and Kenneth LutzRichard and Juanita LysleJodi Hakes McWhirterSusan and Brian McWhirterJim and Sharon MortensenJoe and Sandy NiebelEva and Ira PellMartena RogersMike and Joan RoseberryRobert and Peggy SchlegelTom and Carolyn SchwartzDave Shaffer and Eve EvansJohn and Sherry SymonsShawn and Amy VashawGary and Tammy VratarichBarbara R. and Joel A. WeissSue WhiteheadDavid and Betsy WillSharon and Carl WinterCraig and Diane ZabelDr. Theodore ZiffCal and Pam Zimmerman

FRIEND

$150 TO $249

Lynn and Ellis AbramsonShirley AllanAnne and Art AndersonScott and Sandy BalboniDr. Henry and Elaine BrzyckiJohn Collins and Mary BrownJohn M. Carroll and Mary Beth RossonGeorge and Bunny DohnSteven P. Draskoczy, M.D.Terry and Janice EngelderBarry and Patti FisherFrank and Vicki ForniBob and Ellen FrederickAndris and Dace FreivaldsDavid and Kay GreenBethlyn and Scott GriffinCharlie and Laura HackettElizabeth Hanley and

Patrick KolivoskiJohn Lloyd HansonBetty Harper and Scott SheederAnn and Tom HettmanspergerJackie and John HookJim and Susan HouserSteven and Shirley HsiDaniel and Kathleen JonesEd and Deb KlevansJohn F. KneppHarry B. Kropp and

Edward J. LegutkoThomas Kurtz and Grace Mullingan-KurtzMark and Theresa LaferFred and Louise LeoniakSharon and David LiebBob and Janice LindsayHerb and Trudy LipowskyJane and Edward LiszkaNancy and John LoweSandy and Betty MacdonaldHelen ManfullDeborah Marron Betty McBride-ThueringSherren and Harold McKenzieTom Caldwell Memorial Fund

Don MillerJune MillerGary and Judy MitchellBetty and John MooreChris and Bobbie MuscarellaRobert F. and Donna C. NicelyClaire M. PaquinGuy and Grace PilatoProforma LLH Promos, LLCAndrew and Jean Landa PytelEd and Georgia ReutzelPhil and Judy RobertsSusan J. ScheetzThe Shondeck FamilyDonald Smith and Merrill BudlongAllan and Sherrill SonstebyCarol Sosnowski and

Rosemary WeberBarry and Ellen SteinJoLaine TeyssierJames and Deena UltmanStephen and Jennifer Van HookNancy and Wade VanLandinghamAlice Wilson and FriendsDavid L. and Connie Yocum

THE JAzz TRAIN

$250 AND MORE

Help us continue to present world-class jazz artists by becoming a member ofThe Jazz Train. For details, contact Dave Shaffer at DaveShaffer@psu.edu or 814-863-1167.

William W. AsburyPatricia Best and Thomas RayDavid and Susan BeyerleLynn Donald BreonPhilip and Susan BurlingameDavid and Lisa CogginsGordon and Caroline DeJongJim and Polly DunnEdward R. GalusArnold and Marty GascheCharlene and Frank Gaus

PARTNER (CONT’D)

$250 TO $499

ENdOwMENT CONTRIbuTORS$150 AND MORE

We recognize the following donors who have contributed to endow-ments at the Center for the Performing Arts in the past year. For more information about how to contribute to existing endowments, contact Dave Shaffer at 814-863-1167 or DaveShaffer@psu.edu.

John L. Brown Jr. and Marlynn Steele Sidehamer Endowment

The Sturtz-Davis Family

Nina C. Brown EndowmentPamela M. Aikey

Richard Robert Brown Program EndowmentRichard Brown and Sandra Zaremba

Norma and Ralph Condee Chamber Music EndowmentRobert and Dorothy CecilWilliam F. and Kathleen Dierkes Condee

Honey and Bill Jaffe EndowmentHoney and Bill Jaffe

McQuaide Blasko EndowmentMr. and Mrs. James Horne

Penn State International Dance Ensemble EndowmentElizabeth Hanley and Patrick Kolivoski

John and Michelle GroenveldLee Grover and Anita BearSteven L. Herb and

Sara Willoughby-HerbAnne and Lynn HutchesonHoney and Bill JaffeBrian and Christina JohnsonMichael P. Johnson and

Maureen MulderigCindy and Al JonesRobert Martin and Kathy WeaverKathleen D. Matason and

Richard M. SmithRandi and Peter MenardDr. Marla L. MoonWilson and Maureen MosesWilliam and Annemarie MountzLarry and Kelly MrozJack and Sue PorembaSally L. SchaadtDavid and Ann Shallcross-WolfgangDan and Melinda StearnsDennis W. and Joan S. ThomsonDan and Linda TreviñoBarbara R. and Joel A. WeissCharlotte Zmyslo

visionEnriching lives through inspiring experiences

missionThe Center for the Performing Arts provides a context, through artistic connections, to the human experience. By bringing artists and audiences together we spark discovery of passion, inspira-tion, and inner truths. We are a motivator for creative thinking and examination of our relationship with the world.

Front cover photos: 1. Diavolo Kenneth Mucke 2. Antibalas Marina Abadjieff 3. Imago Theatre’s Frogz Jerry Mouawad 4. SISTER ACT © 2014 Joan Marcus 5. Cyrille Aimée 6. The King’s Singers Axel Nickolaus 7. Time for Three Sherry Ferrante 8. THE CHIEFTAINS Kevin Kelly 9. Brussels Jazz Orchestra’s Graphicology Philip Paquet 10. eighth blackbird Luke Ratray 11. Rosanne Cash © Clay Patrick McBride 12. Theatreworks USA’s The Lightning Thief Jeremy Daniel 13. Brooklyn Rider Sarah Small 14. CAMELOT 15. The Nile Project Matjaz Kacicnik    

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CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT PENN STATE

ROSANNE CASHThe River & The Thread

The singer-songwriter and bandmates perform music from her 2014 album. The River & The Thread evokes the American South’s rich landscape—physical, musical, and emotional.

7:30 P.M. THURSDAY, APRIL 9EISENHOWER AUDITORIUM

cpa.psu.edu814-863-0255

sponsors

Richard and Sally Kalin

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