to view Modern Day Divas: A Festival of New Vocal Music

·A fest·iva·r 'of .' .
n.ew vocal musIc
February i 1~13 .
,
Glenn Gould. Studio ' . . . '.
CBC Stereo's Two New Hours
The Music Gallery
Tapestry Music Theatre
arid the
Glenn Gould Studio
present
. Modern Day Divas
February 11, 12 & 13,1994
8:00 pm
Glenn Gould StudiO,
250 Front st. West, Toronto
•
February 11
February 12
February 13
Modern Day Divas
Glottal Stop
Incantations
page 2
page 11
page 19
1
Saturday, February 12
8:00 pm '
GLOTTAL STOP
AlTlLA J6ZSEF FRAGMENTS, OP.20
selected fragments
GYORGY KURTAG
Valdine Anderson , soprano
THREE OLD INSCRIPTIONS, OP.25
Flower
Transylvanian Szekely Mangle 1792
On a Gross in the Cemetery at Mecsekmjdasd
GYORGY KURTAG
Valdine Anderson , soprano; Andrew Burashko, piano
(GBG commission, World Premiere)
LA NYMPHE DU LADON (1993)
SERGE ARCURI
Valdine Anderson, soprano; Carol Savage, flute; with tape
-intennissionZEBRA SHVUNGK
Lori Klassen, soprano
Marguerite Witvoet, piano
Patricia O'Callaghan, soprano
Andy Morris, percussion
PSYCHO ELECTRO ACOUSTO BRAIN (1994)
RICHARD SACKS
JOHN HARBISON
MIRABAl SONGS (1982)
Patricia O'Callaghan, soprano; Marguerite Witvoet, piano
It's true, I went to market.
AliI was doing was breathing.
Why Mira can't go back to her old house.
Don 't go, don't go
GEORGE APERGHIS
RECITATIONS POUR VOIX SEULE
No. 8
(1977-1978)
TIGIDA PIPA
STEPHEN MONTAGUE
(rev. 1989)
Zebra Shvungk would like to acknowledge the support of all the composers who have written and who
have promised to write exciting works for us. We would also like to thank the Music Gallery, Fides Krucker
and John Hess for their help and support towards th is production ..
11
GYORGY KURTAG was born in 1926 in Romania , and moved to Hungary in 1946 to
enroll in the Budapest Academy of Music where he studied composition and chamber
music. He initially entertained the idea of becoming a pianist and was slow to convince
himself that he had the makings of a composer.
.
Upon returning to Hungary from Paris in 1959, he composed his String Quartet, Op.1,
bearing traces of influence of the two composers who have been of fundamental
importance to him ever since: Webern and Bartok. The work foreshadows many of the
features that were to characterize Kurtag's music in the ensuing years . For one thing , it
is a piece of chamber music which is the domain that the composer has chosen to
cultivate exclusively. For another, it is a string of brief movements and the fragment has
been the form where Kurtag has felt at home ever since. Grandiloquence and padding
are alien to his nature; for him each note music account for itself and he must be able
to control each of them . The result is admittedly sometimes austere - but it is music with
immense emotional charge . It can be nervous, spasmodic and desperate - and the next
moment, may dissolve into the most tender and subtle music. Sarcasm and humour
occasionally add a special flavour. If one were to characterize this music with one word ,
it would probably be intense.
The first work of Kurtag's to gain international attention was also his first use of the
human voice: The Sayings of Peter Bomemisza, Op.7 (1963-68). The voice has
continued to play an important role in his music ever since. A commission by the
Ensemble InterContemporain, Messages of the Late Miss R. V. Troussova, Op.17 (a
setting of poems by the Russian Rimma Dalos) marked the first association of the
composer with the soprano Adrienne Csengery, whose name has become synonymous
in the public mind with Kurtag's vocal music. It was this work which established the
composer in the international musical consciousness .
•
LA NYMPHE DU LADON draws its inspiration from the Greek legend of Syrinx. This
nymph from Arcadia, pursued by Pan, threw herself into the waters of the Ladon river to
be transformed into a reed . From the precious reed, the god carved a flute, to keep as a
reminder of the one he loved. The work was suggested by Vald ine Anderson and
commissioned by the CBC for tonight's performance.
SERGE ARCURI was born in Quebec in 1954 and completed composition and analysis
studies at the Montreal Conservatory with Gilles Tremblay in 1981 . Later he studied
electroacoustic music with Yves Daoust and Marcelle Deschenes at the Conservatory
and the University of Montreal. He won CAPAC's Sir Ernest MacMillan Prize in 1981
and received honourable mention in two categories in the CBC Competition for Young
Composers. He has also been awarded several grants from the Canada Council and
the Ministere des Affaires culturelles and has received commissions from a variety of
organizations including the Societe de musique contemporaine du Quebec. He served
as president of the Association pour la creation et la recherche electroacoustique du
Quebec and as production director of the Printemps electroacoustique of Montreal from
1985-88.
•
14
Modern Day Divas
-ProductionTwo New Hours
David Jaeger, Executive Producer
Larry Lake, Music Consultant
Denise Grison, Production Assistant
Richard Paul, Host
The Music Gallery
Jim Montgomery, Artistic Director
Alan Davis, Communications
Paul Hodge, Technical Director
Andrew Gilcrest, Technician
Tapestry Music Gallery
Wayne Strongman , Artistic Director
Rebecca Morellato, Administrator
Molly Thom , Director of Operations
~LI
Glenn Gould Studio
ADMINISTRATION
Karen Kieser, General Manager (on leave)
Tom Shipton, Interim General Manager
Glen McLaughlin, Interim Studio Manager
Lorraine T. Kidd, House Manager
Faiza R. Ansari, Box Office Coordinator
John Driver, House Technician
Box Office Hours
11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Mondays through Fridays
&
Two hours prior to
performances
Evenings, weekends & holidays
205-5555
Canadian Broadcasting Centre
250 Front Street West
Torol'lto
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CBC
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SRC
Canadian Broadcasting Centre, 250 Front Street West. Toron
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