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Local Event
Cost: $65-$125
New Music Decanted has announced its inaugural New Music Festival taking place August 16-18, 2024 at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center, Napa, CA. The festival will present 39 chamber music works of the late Kaija Saariaho.
Concerts are scheduled for 1:00pm and 7:30pm each day plus lectures, receptions, and artist meet and greets. For more information, please visit the webpage at https://newmusicdecanted.org/schedule.
Twenty-two exemplary artists from across the US will be performing the first presentation of a festival dedicated entirely to Saariaho’s chamber works.
Included in the program are six works that are US premieres, including: Arabesques et adages for piano; Aure for violin and cello; Bon Vent for violin; Étincellles for cello; Im Traume for cello and piano; and Offrande for cello and organ.
Fourteen works are West Coast premieres, including: Dolce Tormento for piccolo; Folia for bass and electronics; Pres for cello and electronics; …de la Terre for violin and electronics; Calices for violin and piano; Cloud Trio for string trio; Couleurs du vent for piano for viola and cello; Duft for clarinet; Jardin Secret II for harpsichord and electronics; Laconisme de l'aile for flute; New Gates for flute, harp and cello; Oi Kuu for bass clarinet and cello; Petals for cello and electronics; Vent Nocturne for viola and electronics.
The New Music Festival is generously sponsored by Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center and the Finlandia Foundation National.
For additional sponsorship opportunities, please ontact Eric@NewMusicDecanted.org.
Individual tickets are available at Eventbrite and range in price from $65 to $125 with consideration allowed for multiple performances.
Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center is located at 2277 Vallejo Highway, Napa, CA. For more information, please visit https://newmusicdecanted.org.
Follow New Music Decanted on Instagram and Facebook @newmusicdecanted.
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ABOUT NEW MUSIC DECANTED
New Music Decanted is the brainchild of Eric Moore and explores contemporary classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial music, electronic music, experimental music, and minimalist music. Since 2019, New Music Decanted has presented 45 concerts with more than 100 pieces of music across Napa, Sonoma, and San Francisco.
ABOUT KAIJA SAARIAHO
Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) was a leading voice of her generation of composers, in her native Finland and worldwide. She studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she lived from 1982 to her death. Her studies and research at IRCAM, the Parisian center for electroacoustic experimentation, had a major influence on her music, and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures were often created by combining live performance and electronics. Kaija Saariaho’s life was prematurely interrupted by a brain tumor in 2023. Her musical legacy is carried forward by a broad network of collaborators with whom she has worked closely over the years, and her publisher Chester Music Ltd.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
The Friction Quartet - 47 Commissions, over 100 premieres. Performances at Carnegie Hall. Residencies across the world, including as First Ensemble-in -Residence at SF’s Center for New Music
Dr. James Beauton – Percussion. Yamaha Performing Artist, San Francisco State University, past member of Red Fish Blue Fish;
Dr. Kyle Adam Blair – Piano. Lecturer UCSD, soloist, La Jolla Symphony. Pianist for Project [Blank], performances with Bang on a Can, at the Ojai Festival, and Mark Morris Dance Company.
Leighton Fong – Instructor UC Berkeley. Principal Cellist – California Symphony, Eco Ensembly, Empyrean Ensemble, SF Contemporary Chamber Players, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
Kathryn Hatmaker – Violin. San Diego Symphony Executive Director, Art of Elan, performances with Pittsburgh Symphony, New World Symphony
Dr. Eija Kankaanranta – Kantele. Lecturer Sibelius Academy (Helsinki). Soloist with Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. Multiple collaborations with Saariaho.
Dr. Matt Kline – Contrabass. Assistant Professor Southwestern College. Performances with Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, Talea Ensemble, LA Philharmonic Monday Evening Concerts
Dr. Batya MacAdam-Somer – Viola. Violinist, Quartet Nouveau and Baby Bushka. Performances with International Contemporary Ensemble, wasteLAnd, WildUP, ant Ojai Music Festival
Michael Matsuno – Flute. Faculty, Chapman University, CalArts, CalState Long Beach, Pierce College. Soloist, La Jolla Symphony. Performances with San Diego Symphony, wasteLAnd, LA Philharmonic Monday Evening Concerts, Ojai Music Festival
Dr. Curt Miller – Clarinet. Former Principal and Soloist La Jolla Symphony, Performances with LA Philharmonic Monday Evening Concerts, International Contemporary Ensemble
Kaitlin Miller – Harp. American Harp Society Concert Artist, 2022-24. Winner American Harp Society National Competition, Anne Adams Competition. Performances with LA Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony.
Eric Moore – Violoncello. Former Adjunct Professor Pacific Union College. Former Principal Cellist of six orchestras including La Jolla Symphony. “Album of the Year,” Time Out New York and The Wire with Wet Ink Ensemble.
Jessie Nucho – Flute. Co-Artistic Director, Ninth Planet. Founding Member, Siroko Duo. Flutist, After Everything. Performances with Wild Rumpus, Ensemble Mik Nawooj and Frequency 49.
Dr. Daniel Pesca – Piano. Assistant Professor, the Eastman School of Music. Former Artist-in-Residence at the University of Chicago. Performances at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center. Has premiered over 150 works, including as concerto soloist.
Anna Presler – Violin. Associate Professor, Cal State Sacramento. Grammy-nominated New Century Chamber Orchestra. Violinist, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
Natalie Raney – Violoncello. Faculty, San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College. Performances at the Kennedy Center and Bing Hall. Winner, Barbara Fritz Chamber Award. Cellist, One Found Sound.
Dr. Michael J. Smith – Piano. Former Faculty, SFSU. Formerly in Residence at Carnegie Hall with Ensemble Connect. Performances at Steinway Hall, Haitink Hall, Mondavi Hall. Worked with Kaija Saariaho.
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New Music Decanted
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