Third Coast Percussion Pays Homage to Ligeti

Third Coast Percussion Pays Homage to Ligeti,

“The Poet of Sonorous Matter”, in Poetry-Inspired Program

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –November 16, 2017

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University of Chicago Presents

773.702.8068

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CHICAGO–On Friday, February 16, 2018, at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion will join forces with mezzo-soprano Rachel Callowayand students at the University of Chicago in a unique concert celebrating the legacy of György Ligeti (1923–2006). The performance is part ofTheUniversity of Chicago Presents’Ligeti Series.

This program features one of Ligeti’s most ironic and controversial works, his PoèmeSymphonique(1962) for 100 wind-up metronomes. Each set to a different tempo, the metronomes are started at once and eventuallydie away until just one is left ticking.UChicago students will assist Third Coast Percussion in this performance, and patrons can take part, too, by sponsoring metronomes for the performance through UCP’s Adopt-a-Metronomecampaign.

Also on the program is Ligeti’sContinuum (1968), for two-manual harpsichord, and one of his final works, Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel (With Pipes, Drums, and Fiddles) (2000), a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and percussion quartet with texts by Hungarian poet SándorWeöres, as well as Christopher Cerrone’s song cycle Goldbeater’s Skin.

Christopher Cerrone (1984–) is a 2015 Rome Prize winner and a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for his opera Invisible Cities. Using the same instrumentation as Ligeti’sSíppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel, Goldbeater’s Skin is set to a collection of poems of the same name by G.C. Waldrep. In an interview with the Black Warrior Review at the University of Alabama, Waldrep said of his work, “I trained as a singer and the idea that poetry should be performative on some basis—that it should live in the tongue—is important to me. There are poems that don’t do that—or don’t do that primarily, that are meant to be transmitted through the page. But I hope for my work that the sound quality is important.”

Third Coast Percussion and Calloway gave the premiereof Goldbeater’s Skin at the Universityof Notre Dame in February 2017. This performance marksits Chicago premiere.

FRIDAY / FEBRUARY 16 / 7:30 PM / LOGAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Third Coast Percussion

David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, Sean Connors

Rachel Calloway, mezzo-soprano

LIGETIPoèmeSymphonique(for 100 metronomes) (1962)

Continuum (1968)

Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel (With Pipes, Drums, and Fiddles)(2000)

CERRONEGoldbeater’s Skin (2017)

CONCERT LOCATION
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St., Chicago IL, 60637

TICKETS

$38 | $30 Faculty and Staff | $20 Under 35 | $10 Students

Call773.702.ARTS (773.702.2787) or visit tickets.uchicago.edu.

BOX OFFICE

UChicago Arts Box Office, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th Street.

Regular hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 12 pm – 6 pm and through concert intermission;

1 – 4 pm on concert Sundays.

Concert information online atchicagopresents.uchicago.edu.

ABOUT THIRD COAST PERCUSSION

Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy-winning, artist-run quartet of classically-trained percussionists hailing from the great city of Chicago. For over ten years, the ensemble has forged a unique path in the musical landscape with virtuosic, energetic performances that celebrate the extraordinary depth and breadth of musical possibilities in the world of percussion. The ensemble has been praised for “commandingly elegant” (New York Times) performances, the “rare power” (Washington Post) of their recordings, and “an inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune). The four members of Third Coast are also accomplished teachers, and since 2012, have served as ensemble-in-residence at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

A direct connection with the audience is at the core of all of Third Coast Percussion’s work, whether the musicians are speaking from the stage about a new piece of music, inviting the audience to play along in a concert or educational performance, or inviting their fans around the world to create new music using one of their free mobile apps.

Third Coast Percussion maintains a busy touring schedule, with past performances in 32 of the 50 states plus Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland, and venues ranging from concert halls at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and De Doelen to clubs and alternative performance spaces such as New York’s Le Poisson Rouge and the National Gallery’s West Garden Court.

A commission for a new work from composer Augusta Read Thomas in 2012 led to the realization that commissioning new musical works can be – and should be – as collaborative as any other artistic partnership. Through extensive workshopping and close contact with composers, Third Coast Percussion has commissioned and premiered new works from DonnachaDennehy, Glenn Kotche, Lei Liang, Gavin Bryars, Christopher Cerrone, Timo Andres, Marcos Balter, Ted Hearne, and today’s leading up-and-coming composers through their Emerging Composers Partnership Program. These works have become part of the ensemble’s core repertoire and seen hundreds of performances across North America and throughout Europe.

Third Coast Percussion’s recordings include three full-length albums, three EPs, and a number of appearances on other releases. The quartet has put its stamp on iconic percussion works by John Cage and Steve Reich, and Third Coast has also created first recordings of commissioned works by Augusta Read Thomas, David T. Little, and Ted Hearne, in addition to recordings of the ensemble’s own compositions. In 2017, the ensemble won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble performance for their recording of Steve Reich’s works for percussion.

Third Coast Percussion has always maintained strong ties to the vibrant artistic community in their hometown of Chicago. They have collaborated with Chicago institutions such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Adler Planetarium, performed at the grand opening of Maggie Daley Children’s Park, conducted residencies at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, created multi-year collaborative projects with Chicago-based composers Augusta Read Thomas, Glenn Kotche, and chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird, and taught tens of thousands of students through partnerships with Urban Gateways, the People’s Music School, the Chicago Park District, Rush Hour Concerts, and others.

The four members of Third Coast Percussion met while studying percussion music at Northwestern University. Members of Third Coast also hold degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Rutgers University, the New England Conservatory, and the Yale School of Music. Third Coast Percussion performs exclusively with Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo Drumheads, and Vic Firth sticks and mallets.

ABOUT RACHEL CALLOWAY

As an internationally recognized leading interpreter of contemporary and modern music, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway brings versatility and compelling insight to stages worldwide. Her work has been praised by the New York Times for “penetrating clarity” and “considerable depth of expression” and by Opera News for her “adept musicianship and dramatic flair.”

On the concert stage, Ms. Calloway recently sang Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Oratorio Society of New York in Carnegie Hall and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Omaha Symphony.She debuted with Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany, singing Alban Berg’s Der Wein under the auspices of AlteOper for a national radio broadcast by HeissicherRundfunk. Ms. Calloway has covered Thomas Adès’ Totentanz with the New York Philharmonic, and appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Series (Green Umbrella), Berkeley Symphony, San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, BAM Next Wave Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Cal Performances, Resonant Bodies Festival, SONiC Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, Ensemble Signal, Alarm Will Sound, Talea, JACK Quartet, American Composers’ Orchestra, and many more. In addition, she has collaborated with today’s foremost composers, including Gabriela Lena Frank, Georg Friedrich Haas, Unsuk Chin, Oliver Knussen, Nico Muhly, Chris Cerrone, and DonnachaDennehy.

Equally at home on the operatic stage, Ms. Calloway created the roles of “Dominant” and “Musicologist” in Steven Stucky and Jeremy Denk’sThe Classical Style (Zankel Hall, Ojai Festival) with Robert Spano conducting, which brought recognition from the New York Times praising her singing as “rich-voiced.” Through this engagement she became a finalist for the internationally recognized Warner Music Prize. She has created many other roles including “Sister” in the American premiere of Vasco Mendonça’sThe House Taken Over at National Sawdust, “Asakir” in Mohammed Fairouz’sSumeida’s Song in the inaugural PROTOTYPE Festival in New York, and “Memory 2” in Lembit Beecher’s I Have No Stories to Tell You with Gotham Chamber Opera. She made her European operatic debut as Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Opéra de Reims, AthénéeThéâtre Louis-Jovet (Paris) and Opéra de Lille. She has performed with Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival in Virginia, Tulsa Opera, Central City Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival.

Ms. Calloway holds degrees from The Juilliard School (BM) and Manhattan School of Music (MM). She joined the faculty of the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy) in 2014 and Summer Arts with Juilliard (Switzerland) in 2016. Ms. Calloway serves on the faculty of the University of South Carolina. She is a founding member of Shir Ami, an ensemble dedicated to the preservation and performance of lost and unknown Jewish art music. She can be heard on Albany Records, Tzadik Records, BCMF Records, and Toccata Classics.

ABOUT GYÖRGY LIGETI

This season UChicago Presents offers a series dedicated to exploring the life, works, influences, and legacy of György Ligeti (1923-2006), one of the most significant 20th century composers.

Born in Hungary in 1923, Ligeti lived through the tumultuous events of the 20th century, including the Hitler/Nazi and Stalin/Soviet regimes. As a composer, Ligeti was caught between – and wanted to escape from – the limitations of tonality and the avant-garde. He found his way through many musical influences to his own original music, which, toward the end of his life, he characterized as “non-atonality.” His music has beenwidely heardin films by Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey)and Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island), among others, and he has been called “the poet of sonorous matter.”

The series begins and ends with artists who had close and deep associations with Ligeti, bookending performances of his works by younger generations of artists and ensembles who continue to perpetuate his legacy. Each concert will be preceded by a lecture one hour prior to the performance.

ABOUT UCHICAGO PRESENTS

Now in its 74th year of bringing the world's best artists to Chicago, The University of Chicago Presents offers 25 unique performances in six distinct series in the 2017/18 season, from early music to classical, contemporary, and jazz. This season celebrates the richness that music has to offer with unrivaled musical experiences that bring passion and virtuosity to the stage.

We are grateful to all of our supporters and partners, including:

Presenting Partners:

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