News
From the Director - Steven Klimowski
January
2005! It's going to be a great year! I'm very excited about VCME happenings.
We begin with a three day residency with Pulitizer Prize winning composer
Paul Moravec. On March 3-5, 2005, Mr. Moravec will be in residence with
the VCME in preparation for the Vermont premiere of his 2004 Pulitzer
prize winning work Tempest Fantasy. He will engage in a variety of free
residency activities for students, audience members and the general public.
Featuring Paul Moravec's Pulitzer prize winning work, our TEMPEST program
on March 4 & 5 will include two other works of great breadth: Thomas
Read's Ricercar from Piano Partita and Dmitri Shostakovich's
Seven Poems of Alexander Blok. We will begin this concert with Shostakovich's
Seven Poems...; a very late work, for piano trio and voice. This
is a very personal and intimate setting of Blok's mostly gentle and pastoral
poems written while Shostakovich's health was deteriorating in his advanced
age. Thomas Read's Ricecar for piano solo will follow. This past
Fall, VCME pianist Paul Orgel performed this dramatic work in the intimacy
of our annual house concert at the home of Catherine Orr. Stunning! It's
Read at his best interpreted by one of Vermont's finest pianists. We will
close out the program with Paul Moravec's Tempest Fantasy for piano
trio and clarinet/bass clarinet. A meditation on Moravec's favorite Shakespeare
play The Tempest, this fantastical work is alive with color and
virtuosity. Each of the five movements draws inspiration from a character
or passage from the play and displays a creative and refreshing approach
to tonality.
We will close out our season with a celebration of the VCME's commissioning
history and Vermont composers. All works on the program are VCME commissions
including two new works. Often a commission results in a premiere and
perhaps a few performances. Without multiple performances, these new compositions
have little chance of developing longevity, an essential component to
the sustenance of new music. This program strikes at the core of the ensemble
and its mission; to give voice to Vermont's finest professional composers
and performers and their love for new music. Entitled COMMAND, the concerts
of April 31st and May 1st aim to satisfy the audiences's desire for a
second, command performance of these compelling works. In this instance,
we've programed several pieces begging to be performed again. Representing
the soon-to-be released 9/11 CD are three works first played to overwhelming
acclaim as part of our "Response to 9/11" concert. For that
program I had asked ten composers to musically document their impressions
following the 9/11 tragedy. We received ten very powerful pieces and offer
three of them here: Troy Peter's Lament for mezzo-soprano and cello,
Don Jamison's Three Threshold Songs and Erik Nielsen's We Must
Always Have a Song. Also on the concert are two pieces premiered in
our 2003/2004 season, Alexander Abele's Green Mountain Blue for
violin, cello and guitar (polymetric with bluegrass influence) and Jorge
Martín's Conjuration for clarinet, violin, cello and piano
(aggressive drive, primitive rhythms and raw passion). It will be great
fun to revisit these works. The two new works on our Spring concert are
creations of Thomas Read and Laura Koplewitz. Thomas Read is the regular
violinist with the VCME and one of our favorite composers. This most recent
commission is called Cartography for violin and guitar. Laura Koplewitz
is a St. Albans native and has been composing for several years. Long
overdue, we are pleased to present her first VCME commission, Bridge
of Sighs for violin, clarinet and cello. I enjoyed the piece she wrote
for the Vermont Symphony a few years ago; now I look forward to this more
intimate musical expression.
Besides our music and performance there is a lot going on behind-the-scenes.
Manager, Roxanne Vought has been using her organizational skills to restructure
our administration through updates in our bookkeeping system; board development;
fund-raising; long-term planning; community outreach activities and partnering
with educational and social service programs, including the addition of
a new intern to our team, composer Jennifer Jolley. I have been planning
the 05/06 season and following the 9/11 CD to completion as well as writing
grants with some success—the Meet the Composer Fund is generously
helping with our Paul Moravec residency. The VCME is moving and growing—an
exciting time for us.
I hope you will join us for our upcoming concerts. Each concert is a unique
artistic experience. To hear this repertoire in your own community is
a rare and special treat. Enjoy!
Sincerely,
