Frederic Rzewski: An Appreciation – Evening Concert, featuring pianists Ursula Oppens & Lisa Moore

• Ursula Oppens, piano
• Lisa Moore, piano
• HOCKET

Frederic Rzewski — Suite (world premiere)
Frederic Rzewski — Amoramaro (West Coast premiere)
Frederic Rzewski — Friendship
Frederic Rzewski — 4 Piano Pieces (No. 4)
Frederic Rzewski — Rondo
Frederic Rzewski — Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues (arr. for 2 pianos)

The internationally acclaimed American pianist Ursula Oppens will perform as part of the Piano Spheres’ memorial concert Frederic Rzewski: An Appreciation, in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 16, 2022, at Zipper Concert Hall. Celebrating the late iconic composer-pianist Frederic Rzewski's music, life, and legacy, Ms. Oppens will play two of his works: Rondo, and a piece he dedicated to her entitled Friendship, which she premiered in New York at Bargemusic in May 2021.

The memorial for Mr. Rzewski, who died last year in June 2021, is in two parts; first there will be an open-air concert at 4pm Pacific at The Colburn School Plaza (200 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA,) which will include many of his works for piano. The second half takes place at Zipper Concert Hall at 8 p.m. Ms. Oppens will be joined by fellow pianist Lisa Moore, and Piano Spheres core artists, Emerging Artists, as well as Guest Artists from the last 20 years.

Mr. Rzewski had been slated to make a rare United States appearance as recitalist at Piano Spheres in February 2022.

One ticket provides admission to both performances.

About Piano Spheres

Piano Spheres was founded in 1994 by pianist and scholar Leonard Stein, to present the best of contemporary piano music as well as rarely heard treasures from centuries past. Stein, a protégé of Arnold Schoenberg and founding Director of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, was a champion of new music for more than sixty years as pianist, scholar, teacher, and presenter, both in Los Angeles and abroad. He hand-selected four of his most adventurous, new-music-minded former students from the University of Southern California – Gloria Cheng, Vicki Ray, Mark Robson, and Susan Svrček – to mentor as his colleagues in a unique cooperative venture: a concert series presenting five solo piano recitals programmed by each of the five pianists, all of whom share a fierce dedication to new and unusual music. On September 13, 1994, marking the 120th anniversary of Schoenberg’s birth, Piano Spheres presented its first concert. Since then, it has continued to combine the highest musical standards with a passionate commitment to exploring the music of today, to create the piano repertoire of the future.

The passing of Leonard Stein in 2004 led to a decision to invite a distinguished guest pianist each season to program and perform one concert of the five-concert series, which draws audiences from throughout the region. Among these guest pianists have been composer-pianist Thomas Adès, Jeffrey Kahane, Kathleen Supové, Christopher O’Riley, Ursula Oppens, composer-pianist Terry Riley, Eric Huebner, Joanne Pearce Martin, Liam Viney, the Bugallo-Williams Duo, the Viney-Grinberg Duo, Aron Kallay, Steven Vanhauwaert, Nic Gerpe, Richard Valitutto, and HOCKET.

In 2019 PS added the dynamic piano duo HOCKET (Sarah Gibson & Thomas Kotcheff) as their first new core artists since 1994. HOCKET was recently named Best Chamber Ensemble, Best New-Music Ensemble, Best Discovery, and Best Streamed Performance by the San Francisco Classical Voice.

Critics have called Piano Spheres “A nourishing, lasting LA invention” and one of “our most imaginative, best-planned, courageous and stimulating concert series.” Perhaps the LA Times said it best: “Clearly, Piano Spheres is intent on promoting new musical piano culture, not only by affording a handful of L.A.’s finest [pianists] a regular showcase, but also helping to expand and update the existing solo piano repertoire and offer needed encouragement to young composers.”

To date, Piano Spheres’ core artists and renowned guest artists have presented 830 works for piano by more than 300 composers from across the globe, of which 92 are women and 254 are American. These works include solo, duo piano, piano chamber music, and piano vocal music, comprising 126 premieres, 44 of which were commissioned by PS itself. Past performances are presented both on our website and the PS YouTube channel (YouTube/Piano Spheres).

The Piano Spheres core artists are determined to mentor and spotlight the next generation of concert pianists. Through the well-received Emerging Artist Series (formerly Satellite Series), now in its fifth season, PS core artists guide younger L.A.-area pianists in commissioning, interpreting, and performing new works for the piano. Public workshops, featuring the Piano Spheres artist, the emerging artist, and the commissioned composer, are held prior to the artist’s performance. Working to develop new audiences and new sources of funding, the board authorized Friends of Piano Spheres to initiate free “Artists Salons” in private homes, open to the public. Each artist selects a topic within the new music field, addresses the audience, performs examples, and takes questions. This model has proved so popular that we are planning to offer the salon model to college and university campuses.

Piano Spheres artists have performed in Minimalist Jukebox at the LA Philharmonic as part of the LA Philharmonic’s “California Project” festival and “Noon to Midnight”; in a series of four yearly recitals at Boston Court Theater, Pasadena; and for the UCLA Music Library Tribute to Leonard Stein in Schoenberg Hall.

https://pianospheres.org/

About Ursula Oppens, piano

Ursula Oppens, a legend among American pianists, is widely admired particularly for her original and perceptive readings of new music, but also for her knowing interpretations of the standard repertoire. No other artist alive today has commissioned and premiered more new works for the piano that have entered the permanent repertoire.

A prolific and critically acclaimed recording artist with five Grammy nominations to her credit, Ms. Oppens is renowned for her cult classic The People United Will Never Be Defeated by the late iconoclastic composer Frederic Rzewski. That 1979 release, for the Vanguard label, marked her first Grammy nomination. In 2016 she put out a new recording of The People United Will Never Be Defeated, also nominated for a Grammy, and earlier Grammy nominations were for Winging It: Piano Music of John Corigliano; Oppens Plays Carter; a recording of the complete piano works of Elliott Carter for Cedille Records (also named a “Best of the Year” selection by The New York Times' long-time music critic Allan Kozinn); and Piano Music of Our Time featuring compositions by John Adams, Elliott Carter, Julius Hemphill, and Conlon Nancarrow for the Music and Arts label. Ms. Oppens recently added to her extensive discography by releasing Fantasy: Oppens plays Kaminsky in 2021 for the Cedille label. She also recorded Piano Songs, a collaboration with Meredith Monk, as well as a two-piano CD for Cedille Records devoted to Visions de l’Amen of Oliver Messiaen and Debussy’s En blanc et noir performed with pianist Jerome Lowenthal.

During the pandemic, Ms. Oppens has concertized both live and online. In May 2021 she was chosen to re-open the New York City Bargemusic series in person. Performing works by Chopin, Carter, and a newly composed piece entitled Friendship, by Frederic Rzewski, prompted Harry Rolnick of Concertonet to review in glowing terms:

"[in] her extraordinary one-hour concert last night…her fingers danced over the difficulties of Carter’s Caténaires with the same effortless elegance as she played five Chopin Nocturnes. And she gives her music the oomph, the bravado, the vivacity which they deserve…Her virtuosity goes hand in hand–literally–with her understanding. And yes, her attitude, her beatific smile after each work, her nuances that we in the audience are the important visitors, make a concert a thing of joy. But most important for this listener is that she can take the most supposedly recondite algorithmic composition and make it absolutely logical. Not logical philosophically or structurally, but with a logic of understanding. As possibly the world’s most accomplished extant of Frederic Rzewski, I am certain her performance of Rzewski’s Friendship was authoritative…Ms. Oppens creates the universe of great artists without judgments, only the obligation to offer her frequently ineffable artistry."
–May 22, 2021

In early 2019, Ms. Oppens performed a recital at Merkin Concert Hall for a celebration of her 75th birthday, inaugurating the Kaufman Music Center’s newest series, Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight. Her program showcased all works written for her by Elliott Carter and John Corigliano, and gave the world premiere of a piano quintet by Laura Kaminsky—commissioned by the pianist for the occasion with production support from the Newburgh Institute for The Arts & Ideas—alongside the Cassatt String Quartet and Tobias Picker’s Ursula for solo piano, a birthday present for his dear friend and collaborator.
Of Ms. Oppens’ Merkin Hall concert, David Wright of New York Classical Review wrote on February 3, 2019:

"Merkin Concert Hall was packed Saturday night…for a celebration of the pianist’s 75th birthday on its exact date. Here one was especially aware of the quality of Oppens’ tone—full and projected even in the softest pianissimo, and capable of producing tremendous impact in forte chords without sounding pinched or banged. Her pedaling was unusually subtle for new-music interpretation, managing resonances and overlapping tones like an expert Chopin player."

Over the years, Ms. Oppens has premiered works by such leading composers as John Adams, Luciano Berio, William Bolcom, Anthony Braxton, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Anthony Davis, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, David Hertzberg, Laura Kaminsky, Tania Leon, György Ligeti, Erik Lundborg, Witold Lutoslawski, Harold Meltzer, Meredith Monk, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Bernard Rands, Frederic Rzewski, Allen Shawn, Alvin Singleton, Joan Tower, Lois V Vierk, Amy Williams, Christian Wolff, Amnon Wolman, and Charles Wuorinen.

As an orchestral guest soloist, Ms. Oppens has performed with virtually all of the world’s major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and the orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Milwaukee. Abroad, she has appeared with such ensembles as the Berlin Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Deutsche Symphonie, the Scottish BBC, and the London Philharmonic Orchestras. Ms. Oppens is also an avid chamber musician and has performed with the Arditti, Cassatt, JACK, Juilliard, and Pacifica quartets, among other chamber ensembles.

Ursula Oppens is a Distinguished Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City; she also joined the faculty of Mannes College, The New School, in fall 2017. In 2019, Ms. Oppens was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The New England Conservatory. From 1994 through the end of the 2007-08 academic year she served as John Evans Distinguished Professor of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. In addition, Ms. Oppens has served as a juror for many international competitions, such as the Bachauer, Busoni, Concert Artists Guild, Young Concert Artists, Young Pianists Foundation (Amsterdam), and Cincinnati Piano World Competition. Ms. Oppens lives in New York City.

http://www.colbertartists.com/ursula-oppens/

About Lisa Moore, piano

http://lisamoore.org/

About HOCKET

HOCKET is a cutting edge piano duo based in Los Angeles. Lauded as "brilliant" by Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times and as an "adventurous young ensemble" by The New Yorker, members Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff are both pianist-composers dedicated to commissioning and performing contemporary music. They have performed in some of the most exciting festivals and venues across the country including The Bang on Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, MATA Festival in New York City, The Center for New Music in San Francisco, the Carlsbad Music Festival, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic's "Noon to Midnight" Festival. Together, they have premiered over one hundred chamber and solo works and have collaborated with the premier, new music ensembles Eighth Blackbird and the Bang on a Can All-Stars. They have performed concerti with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, USC Thornton Edge, Oberlin Sinfonietta, and Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra. HOCKET has received grants from the Presser Foundation and The Earle Brown Music Foundation and has been a selected artist in Firebird Ensemble's Outstanding Young Artists Initiative and Eighth Blackbird’s Blackbird Creative Lab. HOCKET is a Piano Spheres core artist and a performing artist on the Schoenhut Piano Company Artist Roster.

http://www.hocket.org/