Da Capo Chamber Players: Carter, Karchin, Davis
$30 ($15 student/senior)
- Curtis Macomber, violin
- Chris Gross, cello
- Marianne Gythfeldt, clarinet
- Steven Beck, piano
- Catherine Boyack, flute (guest artist)
- John Ferrari, percussion (guest artist)
- James Baker, conductor (guest artist)
Elliott Carter — Con leggerezza pensosa (1990)
Louis Karchin — Incantations and Dances (2023, world premiere)
Elliott Carter — Enchanted Preludes (1988)
Elliott Carter — Triple Duo (1982-3)
We celebrate innovation by three generations of American composers.
This concert will include a short panel discussion with Tyson Davis, Louis Karchin, and Carter scholar John Link, following the intermission.
About Da Capo Chamber Players
The Da Capo Chamber Players has been hailed by The New Yorker as a "distinguished ensemble...at the center of the New York new-music scene for forty-five years" (May 2016). Winner of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award early in its trajectory (1973), the ensemble enters its 50th season in 2022. It is a five-member "Pierrot" ensemble (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano). The internationally acclaimed group has worked closely with today's most respected composers, building a heritage of present-day American chamber music drawn from an enormous spectrum of styles.
Known for its unique and dedicated attention to every work, its dynamic performances are consistent with the highest musical standards found in performances of traditional repertoire. A further very important goal is to bring exciting American music to other destinations around the world, and to present musics of global cultures for American audiences.
The Da Capo Chamber Players' annual New York series has been praised for "superb" and "gripping" performances. Ground-breaking programs have included premieres by Elliott Carter, George Perle, Louis Karchin ('American Visions', setting of poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, with the poet as guest reader), Joan Tower, Shulamit Ran, Chinary Ung, and countless others. The five ensemble members bring years of creative insight, involvement, and artistic vision to their work and performances of today's repertoire, including over 150 works written especially for the group. Adventuresome programs with electronic sounds, works by young composers, and collaborations with choreographers – all have sparked the imagination of listeners. Their Merkin Concert Hall celebration of the centenary of Arnold Schoenberg's 'Pierrot Lunaire' (with Lucy Shelton) received a standing ovation, just as it did again at New Music New College in Sarasota, FL, in 2016.
In 2010, NPR named the ensemble's recording, 'Chamber Music of Chinary Ung' (Bridge Records), as one of the five Best Contemporary Classical CDs of the Year.
Educational outreach has always been and continues to be a vital part of Da Capo’s work. The ensemble shares its love and commitment to this important repertoire with next generation artists through its ongoing residency at Bard College and touring engagements that feature masterclasses, readings, and performances. As young composers continue to develop after graduation, Da Capo continues to program them, helping them with career-building.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped the ensemble from reaching out to its audiences. In 2021, anchored by Da Capo Chamber Players’ conviction regarding culture, diversity, and human rights, the Da Capos presented Musical Offerings for Human Rights, a three-concert virtual series through YouTube Premiere: Hearing the African-American Experience; Asian Echoes; and Paean To Merging Cultures.
Since its founding in 1970, the Da Capo Chamber Players has received funding from the New York State Council on the Arts. This season, it has received increased support from NYSCA for its 50th anniversary.
https://www.dacapochamberplayers.org/About Curtis Macomber, violin
Violinist Curtis Macomber is considered one of today’s most versatile soloists and chamber musicians, equally at home and committed to works from Bach to Babbitt, with a discography ranging from the complete Brahms String Quartets to Roger Sessions’s Solo Sonata to the complete Grieg Sonatas. His playing has been praised by the New York Times for its “thrilling virtuosity.”
https://www.msmnyc.edu/faculty/curtis-macomber/About Chris Gross, cello
Cellist Christopher Gross' performances have been praised by The New York Times ("beautifully meshed readings....lustrous tone") and The Strad Magazine (“...the tone of Gross’ cello enveloped the crowd [as he] showed energy and intonational accuracy, even when racing around the fingerboard”). He is a founding member of the Talea Ensemble, a member of the Da Capo Chamber Players, and has appeared at venues and festivals throughout the US and Europe including Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Disney Hall, Darmstadt Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Wien Modern, the Composers Conference, and many others.
https://www.chrisgrosscello.com/About Marianne Gythfeldt, clarinet
Clarinetist Marianne Gythfeldt has played a central role in the music scene of New York City for three decades, as a chamber ensemble player, an electroacoustic music soloist, and educator.
Winning the Naumburg chamber music award with New Millennium Ensemble in 1995 launched a wide-ranging career as clarinetist with Ensemble Sospeso, SEM ensemble, Absolute Ensemble, Collide-o-scope Music, Da Capo Chamber Players, Zephyros Winds, and Talea Ensemble.
Ms. Gythfeldt’s recent solo CD release on the New Focus label was called “…stunning, Gythfeldt is setting a new standard for her instrument here.” Marianne can also be heard on recordings by CBS Masterworks, CRI, Albany, Innova, New World Records, Koch and Mode Records.
https://www.mariannegythfeldt.com/About Steven Beck, piano
A New York concert by pianist Steven Beck was described as "exemplary" and "deeply satisfying" by Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where his teachers were Seymour Lipkin, Peter Serkin, and Bruce Brubaker.
Mr. Beck made his concerto debut with the National Symphony Orchestra, and has toured Japan as soloist with the New York Symphonic Ensemble. His annual Christmas Eve performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations at Bargemusic has become a New York institution. He has also performed as soloist and chamber musician at Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and Miller Theater, as well as on WNYC, and summer appearances have been at the Aspen Music Festival and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. He has performed as a musician with the New York City Ballet and the Mark Morris Dance Group, and as an orchestral musician he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and Orpheus.
Mr. Beck is an experienced performer of new music, having worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, George Perle, and Fred Lerdahl. He is a member of the Knights, the Talea Ensemble, Quattro Mani, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His discography includes George Walker’s piano sonatas on Bridge Records, and Elliott Carter’s Double Concerto on Albany Records. He is a Steinway Artist, and is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as the Colorado College Summer Music Festival and the Sewanee Music Center.
https://nyphil.org/about-us/artists/steven-beckAbout Catherine Boyack, flute (guest artist)
Catherine Winters Boyack, whose playing has been described by renowned flutist Carol Wincenc as having “dazzling, brilliant flair” and “unparalleled artistry,” was the first prize winner of the National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition and the lone American semifinalist in the prestigious Kobe International Flute Competition in 2021.
Other accolades include prizes in the MTNA National Woodwind Performance Competition, the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia Competition, and the NFA High School Soloist Competition.
https://www.wmshaynes.com/catherine-boyackAbout John Ferrari, percussion (guest artist)
John Ferrari is active in classical, jazz, pop, Broadway, film, television and dance music, the avant-garde, and multi-media. He performs and gives master classes nationally and abroad, and appears on dozens of recordings as percussionist, drummer, and conductor. He is a founding member of the Naumburg Award winning New Millennium Ensemble, a regular guest artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Chamber Music Northwest, and has been a member of Meridian Arts Ensemble since 1993.
https://www.msmnyc.edu/faculty/john-ferrari/About James Baker, conductor (guest artist)
James Baker is principal percussionist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. He is music director and conductor of the Composers Conference at Wellesley College and director of the Percussion Ensemble at the Mannes College of Music. Mr. Baker was the conductor of the New York New Music Ensemble and is conductor of the Talea Ensemble.
As instrumentalist or conductor, he has premiered music by many of the great composers of the 20th and 21st centuries including Boulez, Cage, Carter, Messiaen, Dillon, Harvey, Wourinen, Davidovsky, Glass, Aperghis, Reynolds, Henze, Crumb, Babbitt, Neuwirth, Furrer, and many, many others, often working closely with the composers.
Through his work with his groups at conferences, universities, and festivals, he is an advocate for the music of a whole new generation of composers from around the world, premiering hundreds of new works. Mr. Baker was a conductor of Broadway shows for many years, conducting "The King and I," "The Sound of Music," "The Music Man," "Oklahoma," "An Inspector Calls," and "La Boheme," among others.
An active composer of electro-acoustic music, Mr. Baker won a Bessie award for composition for dance. He has written extensively for the theater and for various ensembles with electronics and has written a number of pieces for longtime collaborator/choreographer Tere O'Connor. Recent commissions include the Opera Ballet de Lyon, BAM Next Wave, The Dublin Dance Festival, and the Abbey Theater in Dublin.
As a percussionist he appears often with Orpheus, was a member of the American Composers Orchestra and the Eos Orchestra, and has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Paris Opera Orchestra, and the Royal Danish and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras, among others.
https://www.newschool.edu/mannes/faculty/james-baker/