Under the artistic direction of Cornell faculty member and pianist Xak Bjerken, the Department of Music presents "Through the Iron Curtain: Music of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union 1945-89," a festival of four concerts, free and open to the public, scheduled for Nov. 5-8. Celebrated will be the music of composers from the region, who were writing during the Cold War, from the end of World War II until the fall of the Berlin wall. The event is funded in part by the Cornell Council for the Arts.
Tonight, Nov. 5, at 8 in Barnes Hall, the first concert in the festival features chamber music works by five different composers: three works by György Ligeti and one work each by György Kurtág, Krzysztof Penderecki, Arvo Pärt and Witold Lutoslawski.
Featured performers include David Yearsley, assistant professor of music, and undergraduate Timothy Fuller, both on harpsichord; violist Lev Zhurbin; pianist and festival director Bjerken; cellist Elizabeth Simkin, violinist Ellen Jewett and clarinetist Richard Faria, all of the Ithaca College faculty; and pianist Miri Yampolsky.
The festival moves to Sage Chapel for the second concert Friday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m., featuring music for organ and chorus. Four works of Ligeti will be performed as well as single compositions by Pärt, Sofia Gubaidulina and Alfred Schnittke.
Featured performers for the festival's second night will be the Cornell Chamber Singers, under the direction of Vineet Shende; University Organist Annette Richards; cellist Elizabeth Simkin; and the soprano section of the Cornell University Chorus with vibraphonist Robert Paterson, under the direction of Scott Tucker.
Saturday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall, the third concert of "Through the Iron Curtain" features Hungarian music for voice and piano composed by Ligeti and Kurtág. Performers will include pianists Bjerken, Christina Dahl, Timothy Fuller and Emily Green; associate professor and soprano Judith Kellock; soprano Rebecca Plack; pianist Noah DeGarmo; sopranos Rebecca Marques and Arsenia Soto; baritone Joseph Gregorio; and pianist Victor Kam.
The fourth and final concert of the festival is presented Sunday, Nov. 8, at 8 p.m. in Sage Chapel and features orchestral works of Giya Kancheli, Kurtág and Schnittke. Performing will be the alto section of the Cornell University Chorus and the orchestral ensemble, led by Scott Tucker, director of choral activities; conductor Mark Davis Scatterday, chair of the music department; soprano Rebecca Plack; pianist Noah DeGarmo; sopranos Rebecca Marques and Arsenia Soto; baritone Joseph Gregorio; and pianist Victor Kam.
In a change of pace, on Friday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall, Karlton Hester, the Herbert Gussman Director of Jazz Studies, and fellow musicians will present the annual "Hesterian Musicism," a term coined by Hester to represent the process through which composition and performance merge to create aesthetic environments where musicians, kinetic and visual artists, and poets can produce new art forms through imaginative effort. Participants in the free and open event will include Hester (flute, sax), Bill Johnson (trumpet, flugelhorn), Phil Bowler (bass), Cecilia Smith (vibes), Edward B. Smith (percussion) and Arthur Fuller (percussion).
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