Earplay Begins 34th Season Next Month

Earplayers conductor Mary Chun, cellist Thalia Moore, violist Ellen Ruth Rose, pianist Brenda Tom, and violinist Terrie Baune (standing) and flutist Tod Brody and clarinetist Peter Josheff (seated) (from the Earplay home page)

In a little less than a month’s time, Earplay will begin its 34th season entitled Desire and Idea. As in the past, this chamber ensemble continues to be committed to performing bold new music; and the new season will offer five world premieres, four United States premieres, and two West Coast premieres, including four new works commissioned by Earplay. Also as in the past, the season will focus on one particular composer, Tristan Murail, whose music will be performed in all three of the programs prepared for the new season.

The title of next month’s concert will be Mise en abyme. The literal translation of this French phrase is “placed into abyss;” but in Western art history it refers to creating an image within which is situated a copy of another image. Examples include the insertion of another painting or the inclusion of a mirror in which one sees a reflection.

The world premiere performance based on an Earplay commission will be Charles Nichols’ “Flutter, Pulse, and Flight,” scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and real-time software. The other world premiere on the program will be Hi Kyung Kim’s “Untamed Brush I.” The Murail selection, “Paludes,” composed in 2011 for alto flute, clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, will be given its first United States performance. The other United States premiere will be Patricia Alessandrini’s “Hommage à Purcell,” also composed in 2011 and a Finalist in Earplay’s 2014 Aird Prize. The remaining work on the program will be Stephen Blumberg’s 2016 “Aura,” scored for clarinet, cello, and piano.

This concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, February 11. The venue will be the Taube Atrium Theater, part of the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, which is located on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building at the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. General admission will be $25 with a $10 rate for students. There will also be a premium rate of $35 for preferred front-and-center seating. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through a Brown Paper Tickets event page. As always, there will be a preconcert talk, which usually involves both composers and performers, beginning in the performing space at 6:45 p.m.