Marilyn Nonken concert

Marilyn Nonken showcases Ives and contemporary piano works

Marilyn Nonken, a gifted young pianist dedicated to the modern and contemporary repertoires, will give a recital Friday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall as a guest artist of the Department of Music. The recital, which is free and open to the public, is titled "Signature Pieces" and will include a performance of American composer Charles Ives' (1874-1954) Piano Sonata No. 2 ("Concord"). The program will be rounded out by three pieces dedicated to Nonken: Tristan Murail's "Les Travaux et Les Jours" (2003); Michael Finnissy's Verdi Transcription No. XXII, "I Vespri Siciliani" (2004); and Jason Eckardt's "Echoes' White Veil" (1996).

The performance is part of the continuing series this fall commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ives' death. The concert is funded in part by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Named "Best of the Year" five times by the Boston Globe, Nonken has been described by The New York Times as "a pianist from music's leading edge." With degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Columbia University, she has performed in venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Museum and the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as many festival appearances. Nonken writes: "If there is one thing I love about 20th- and 21st-century music, it is that it celebrates the individual."

South Indian Carnatic concert

A unique instrumental ensemble, conceived by mrudangam maestro Sri Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, will feature high-caliber artists in various combinations to present the ocean of bliss that is South Indian Carnatic music. Sponsored by the South Asia Program, Cornell Council for the Arts, Society for the Humanities, Hatch Foundation and the Department of Music, "A Musical Odyssey in Rhythm Fantasies" will be presented in Barnes Hall on Sunday, Oct. 31, at 3 p.m.

The musicians (Sivaraman plus five others) will take the audience on an exciting journey into the world of Carnatic music, violin, jalatharangam (water bowls) and percussion of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Songs by various composers of India in a variety of thaalam (rhythmic cycles) and a variety of ragam (melodies) will be presented, as well as South Indian songs with a Western flavor.

Ensemble X presents 'Living on the Edge'

Ensemble X launches its new season with its annual visit to South Hill with "Living on the Edge," to be presented Nov. 3 at 8:15 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall at Ithaca College's Whalen Center for Music. New conductor member Chris Younghoon Kim is featured alongside longtime local favorites such as soprano Judith Kellock.

"Living on the Edge" presents music of primal emotion: love, death, fear and exultation. It ranges across several decades, too, going all the way back to the 1940s for the pioneering rhythmic experiments of American experimentalist Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997), recognized now for having one of the most innovative musical minds of the 20th century.

October 28, 2004