Announcing the world premiere of a new work for viola by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Roger Reynolds. Written for CalArts professor of viola and violin, Mark Menzies, "imAge/viola" is a significant new work by the acclaimed American composer; Menzies will be releasing a recording of the work later this year.
The premiere will be presented at CalArts' Wild Beast as part of their series Sunday Chamber Music at CalArts. Titled (re)made in America, the program will also include music by John Cage, and younger American composers.
Reynolds is known for his capacity to integrate diverse ideas and resources, for the seamless blending of traditional musical sounds and those newly enabled by technology. His reputation rests, in part, upon his “wizardry in sending music flying through space: whether vocal, instrumental, or computerized." Reynolds’s work embodies an American artistic idealism reflecting the influence of Varèse and Cage.
Concert start time is 5 pm, Sunday, April 5th.
John Cage Tunes from Apartment House (for viola)
Élise Roy Coalescing flutes III
Erik Ulman Lacrimosa for Solo Flute for Cy Twombly(performed by CalArts alumna flutist Élise Roy)
Roger Reynolds Fantasy for a pianist (performed by CalArts alumna pianist Dzovig Markarian)
Henry Cowell work TBA
About Roger Reynolds
During his early career, Reynolds worked in Europe and Asia, returning to the US in 1969 to accept an appointment in the music department at the University of California, San Diego. He is the composer of three symphonies, and four string quartets, works that have been performed internationally as well as in North America. Reynolds won early recognition with Fulbright, Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Institute of Arts and Letters awards. In 1989, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for a string orchestra composition, Whispers Out of Time, an extended work responding to John Ashbery’s ambitious Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. Reynolds is author of three books and numerous journal articles. In 2009 he was appointed University Professor, the first artist so honored by University of California. His work has been featured at festivals including Warsaw Autumn, the Proms and Edinburgh Festivals (UK), the Suntory International Series (Tokyo), the Helsinki and Venice biennales. The Library of Congress established a Special Collection of his work in 1998. His nearly 100 compositions to date are published exclusively by the C. F. Peters Corporation, and several dozen CDs and DVDs of his work have been commercially released.