[POSTPONED] Symmetrical Lives at the NYBG - Conservatory Plaza

• Zara Lawler, flute
• Maja Cerar, violin
• C. Neil Parsons, choreographer
• Rebecca Fischer, violin
• Colin Brookes, viola
• Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello

This performance has been postponed due to inclement weather. The new date is TBD.

Symmetrical Lives is a site-specific production of J.S. Bach’s beloved Orchestral Suite in B-minor, created by flutist Zara Lawler, violinist Maja Cerar, and choreographer C. Neil Parsons.

The creation emerged from the pandemic experience and the artists’ desire to be together safely in a natural environment that afforded freedom of expression and room to play. Lawler, Cerar, and a string trio all dance and play at the same time, exploring musical and physical ideas of balance and imbalance, equality and inequality, symmetry and asymmetry, isolation and togetherness – what is hidden and what is revealed.

About Zara Lawler, flute

Ground-breaking flutist Zara Lawler, “an engaging, fluent, mellifluous soloist,” (Houston Chronicle) made her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony and her recital debut at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall. Highlights include the US premiere of "Il Cerchio Tagliato dei Suoni," Salvatore Sciarrino’s work for 104 flutists, directed by Lawler at the Guggenheim Museum, a Flute Jamboree directed by Lawler at the Kennedy Center, and tours of Texas, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Ohio with her flute and marimba duo Lawler + Fadoul.

Lawler has given solo recitals in New York, Santa Barbara, and Hong Kong, and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Utah, Indianapolis, and Oregon Symphonies, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and in venues including the Kennedy Center, the Kravis Center, and Lincoln Center. She has won many competitions including the Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition and Artists’ International, and studied at the Juilliard School with Carol Wincenc and Sam Baron. Her summer festival credits include Marlboro, Tanglewood, Banff (Canada), Bach Aria Festival, and Schleswig-Holstein (Germany).

She teaches at Manhattan School of Music Precollege and Silver Music, and has a blog on practice techniques at www.thepracticenotebook.com.

About Maja Cerar, violin

Violinist Maja Cerar's repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the present, and her stage experience includes performances with live electronics as well as theater and dance. Since her debut in the Zürich Tonhalle in 1991, she has performed internationally as a soloist with orchestras and given recitals with distinguished artists.

In 2016, she was the featured performer at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF), an event of the New York Philharmonic Biennial, and she has continued as a featured performer with NYCEMF to the present. Her collaborative works have been featured at the "Re:New Frontiers of Creativity" symposium celebrating the 250th anniversary of Columbia University and "Listening in the Sound Kitchen" festival at Princeton University. She has also created her own works, fostered by The Tribeca Film Institute’s “Tribeca Hacks” and by the Future Music Lab at the Atlantic Music Festival, involving robotics and wearable motion sensors.

Maja Cerar has premiered and recorded numerous works written for and dedicated to her. She has worked with composers Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Sebastian Currier, R. Luke DuBois, Beat Furrer, Elizabeth Hoffman, György Kurtág, Alvin Lucier, Katharine Norman, Yoshiaki Onishi, Morton Subotnick, and John Zorn.

Ms. Cerar graduated from the Zurich-Winterthur Conservatory and has a Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from Columbia University, where she is currently a member of the Music Performance Faculty.

About C. Neil Parsons, choreographer

C. Neil Parsons has been performing for as long as he can remember, appearing in his first professional theatre production at age three. Extensive touring has taken him to 40 states, with performances at major performing arts centers such as the Kennedy Center, residencies at numerous universities, and solo engagements with symphony orchestras, including the Boston Symphony.

His creative output runs the gamut of music, theatre, and dance productions: from solo to chamber to orchestral music (including symphony, pit, and disco orchestras); from Shakespeare to musical theatre to outdoor drama; and from modern to tap to site-specific dance pieces. Neil also has experience with aerial silks and clowning.

Beyond his versatility across disciplines and genres, Neil is best-known for combining his talents in music, theatre, and dance. In 2010 he co-founded the hybrid arts ensemble The Fourth Wall with flutist Hilary Abigana and percussionist Greg Jukes. Winners of the 2014 Savvy Musician in Action Chamber Ensemble Competition, The Fourth Wall continues to develop interdisciplinary works and innovative performances for diverse audiences, including New Music concerts, Fringe Festivals, collaborative productions with The Phoenix Theatre and Windfall Dancers, guest artist appearances with orchestras, and arts-integrated educational offerings. Through residency programs, The Fourth Wall leads hybrid arts workshops for musicians, dancers, and actors to share collaborative techniques.

An active commissioner of new music, Neil has premiered the works of many composers, including Brett Abigaña, Jen Baker, Miguel Bareilles, Alla Borzova, Justin Casinghino, Ramon Castillo, Jon Deak, Jesus Gonzalez, Chris Grymes, Davide Ianni, Clifton Ingram, Jerome Kitzke, Doug Lofstrom, Stefanie Lubkowski, Luigi Morleo, Greg Nahabedian, Jose Guillermo Puello, Bahar Royaee, George Tsontakis, Jeremy Van Buskirk, Po-Chun Wang, Randall Woolf, and Mark Zuckerman.

Neil graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy and received his Bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied bass trombone with Ray Premru. While at Oberlin, he combined his interests in music, dance, and teaching by designing an individual major: Interdisciplinary Performance and Education. He then continued his studies with trombonist Tony Baker and at the Ohio University School of Dance. Neil earned a Master's degree in 2017 as an inaugural member of the newly-launched Contemporary Classical Music Performance graduate program at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Neil is an Assistant Professor of Theater in Boston Conservatory at Berklee's Contemporary Theater BFA program.

Neil is also a Licensed Massage Therapist, specializing in the needs of performers and athletes.

About Rebecca Fischer, violin

Praised for her “beautiful tone and nuanced phrasing” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), violinist Rebecca Fischer is sought after as a highly expressive, intuitive performer of solo, chamber music, and chamber orchestra repertoire. Garnering attention for her compelling programs of solo violin and singing violinist music, Ms. Fischer has premiered solo works by composers Lisa Bielawa, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Mathew Fuerst, Augusta Read Thomas, Byron Au Yong, Pierre Jalbert, and others.

She is the concertmaster of Ensemble Baroklyn, a group run by pianist Simone Dinnerstein specializing in the music of Bach, and she performs regularly with other ensembles based in New York City. Ms. Fischer is also a member of The Afield, a multidisciplinary collaboration with visual artist/writer Anthony Hawley combining new and original compositions for violin, voice, and electronics with video and other media. The Afield has performed at the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe, Carnegie Hall, and the Atlanta Contemporary Museum, and has published work in Art Papers.

First-violinist of the Chiara String Quartet for 18 years until the group’s final season in 2018, Ms. Fischer recorded and performed numerous works by heart, held residencies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard University, and premiered many major new works by composers such as Gabriela Lena Frank and Philip Glass. Performance highlights include the complete Bartók Quartets by heart at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, several complete Beethoven quartet cycles, and collaborations with such artists as the Juilliard and Saint Lawrence Quartets, Roger Tapping, Robert Levin, and the electronic duo Matmos. Ms. Fischer has recorded for Azica Records (the complete string quartets of Brahms and Bartók) and New Amsterdam Records (the string quartets of Jefferson Friedman, a Grammy-nominated album).

Ms. Fischer is the Executive Director and Director of Senior Camp at Greenwood Music Camp, where she has been on the faculty since 2006. During the year she teaches violin and chamber music at the Mannes School of Music and serves as co-chair of the string department. She has given masterclasses and run workshops at Carnegie Hall, Rice University, Seoul National University, Peabody Conservatory, the University of Michigan, and San Francisco Conservatory, among others, and she was on the faculty of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for over a decade. Ms. Fischer holds degrees from Columbia University (B.A.) and The Juilliard School (M.M., A.D.).

About Colin Brookes, viola

Versatile and virtuosic violist Colin Brookes delights in drawing audiences into his warm and colorful sound world. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his work as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher has taken him to cities across the United States, Europe, and the Americas.

An avid chamber musician, he is a founding member of the Ulysses Quartet, winners of the Grand Prize and the Gold Medal in the Senior String Division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He is also a winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society, Symphony North Competition, Tuesday Musical Club, and Music For Mount Lebanon competitions.

About Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello

Cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach has been lauded by the press for the “gripping emotion” and “powerful artistry” of her interpretations; qualities which have led to a career striking for its wide range of artistic collaborations. She has appeared extensively in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras across the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America, with such conductors as Mstislav Rostropovich, James DePreist, and Peter Oundjian. Her recording with pianist Fabio Bidini of the Franck and Rachmaninoff Sonatas is released on the Encore Performance label.

As a sought-after chamber musician, she performs at major festivals including Marlboro, Aspen, Bridgehampton, La Musica di Asolo, and Caramoor, where she is a Texaco Rising Star, and as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has played extensively with Musicians from Marlboro, on both national and international tours. As a founding member of Concertante, a string sextet based in New York City, Gerlach performs on major concert series throughout North America, and has toured Asia and the Middle East. Concertante’s recordings of the string sextet repertoire have been met with critical acclaim.

A frequent collaborator with dancers, Gerlach has performed as on-stage solo cellist with the Paul Taylor Dance Company on tour in India and at New York’s City Center, and as a duo with New York City Ballet principal dancer, Damian Woetzel.

She is active in commissioning and premiering new chamber works from many preeminent composers, such as Kevin Puts, Lowell Liebermann, Shulamit Ran, Richard Danielpour, Tigran Mansurian, and Paul Moravec, and has worked with many others including Philip Glass, Thomas Adès, Osvaldo Golijov, and Bright Sheng.

Gerlach was born in New York City, where she first studied cello at The Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division. She graduated from The Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School, where she was a student of Aldo Parisot. She worked additionally with Pierre Fournier, William Pleeth, and Janos Starker.