concert I: Sunday, October 15, 3pm
Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music
Mary Mackenzie, soprano
At the center of Collage's opening program is the world premiere of James Primosch's new song cycle, A Sibyl, music commissioned for Collage New Music. Collage will be joined by our wonderful guest soprano Mary Mackenzie (who will also perform in Helgeson's work) on the journey through this six-movement work for soprano and sextet, which marries Primosch's eloquent text setting with American poet Susan Stewart's provocative words. Together, they focus on the mysterious line between earth and spirit, life and death, despair and love. The cycle begins:
Will you die and will you love?
Will the armies tread the wheat?
Will the storms erase the sky?
Will the wicked come to grief?
James Primosch, composer
Works of beautiful contrast surround this premiere, with recent music by Marti Epstein (Oil and Sugar) and the Collage classic, Fred Lerdahl's Fantasy Etudes, balanced with outstanding younger composers Aaron Helgeson and our former fellow, Yi Yiing Chen.
Program
Aaron Helgeson: Poems of sheer nothingness (2013, selected movements)
Marti Epstein: Oil and Sugar (2016)
Yi Yiing Chen: The Starry Night (world premiere)
James Primosch: A Sibyl* (world premiere)
Fred Lerdahl: Fantasy Etudes (1985)
Performers
David Hoose, conductor; Mary Mackenzie, soprano; Cathy French, violin; Jennifer Lucht, cello; Chris Kreuger, flute; Gary Gorczyca, clarinet; Chris Oldfather, piano; Nick Tolle, percussion
*This piece was made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation