Sunday, May 5, 2019

Earplay Concludes 34th Season this Month

Tristan Murail, featured composer of the Earplay season (courtesy of Earplay)

Windrose Lines, the final concert to be presented by Earplay in its 34th season, entitled Desire and Idea, will couple two important pieces from the Seventies with premiere performances of two recent pieces by young composers. Tristan Murail, whose works have been distributed across all three programs of the season, will be represented by his 1978 “Treize Couleurs du soleil couchant” (thirteen colors of sunset). This seminal composition was scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, all mediated by acoustic-enhancing electronics. This piece will be paired with the 1976 piano trio composed by local composer Olly Wilson, who died at the age of 80 this past March.

The program will begin with the world premiere of Kyle Hovatter’s “Flowers by the Sea,” composed on an Earplay commission and inspired by a short poem by William Carlos Williams of the same title. This will be followed by the West Coast premiere of “The Dunhuang Lovers,” completed in 2017 by Xinyan Li. Both pieces are trios that will feature the flute work of Tod Brody. Scoring for “Flowers by the Sea” also includes viola (Ellen Ruth Rose) and cello (Thalia Moore). In “The Dunhuang Lovers” the flute and cello parts are complemented by a pipa, which will be played by Shenshen Zhang.

This concert will take place in Herbst Theatre, whose entrance and box office are located on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 20. 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 City Box Office 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. A reception will follow the performance.

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