Earplayers Mary Chun (conductor), Thalia Moore (cello), Ellen Ruth Rose (viola), Brenda Tom (piano), Tod Brody (flutes), Peter Josheff (clarinets), and Terrie Baune (violin) (courtesy of Earplay)
Once again February will see the launch of the Earplay season. This will be the 35th season of an ensemble of lyrical and ferocious musicians that are committed to performing bold new chamber music. The title of the new season will be Light and Matter, which happens also to be the title of a piano trio that Kaija Saariaho composed in 2014. Saariaho will be the focus composer of the season, whose programming will include six world premieres, two United States premieres, and five Earplay commissions. My guess is that many readers of this site are already aware of Saariaho’s “Light and Matter,” since it was performed when the Curium piano trio made its debut in the Old First Concerts series in June of 2018.
As usual, the season will consist of three programs, all of which will take place on Monday evenings. All performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., each preceded by a preconcert talk at 6:45 p.m. All three concerts will be held in the Veterans Building, the first in Herbst Theatre and the remaining two in the Taube Atrium Theater. Program specifics are as follows:
February 10, Sky Dances: The Saariaho selection will be the West Coast premiere of “Terrestre,” which she scored for flute, harp, percussion, violin, and cello. The program will also feature “Late Shadow” by Gilad Cohen, the winner of Earplay’s 2019 Donald Aird Prize for composition. There will also be world premieres of two works composed on Earplay commissions, “the art of disappearing” by Bruce Christian Bennett, scored for viola and harp, and Addie Camsuzou’s “Twilit,” scored for clarinet, violin, and viola. The program will conclude with another piece written on an Earplay commission, “Fray” by Laurie San Martin.
March 30, Earthly Luminosities: This will be the program at which “Light and Matter” will be performed. (This may be the first time I shall have encountered music I have already heard at an Earplay concert!) The work composed on an Earplay commission will be a duo for flute and viola that has not yet been given a title. There will also be United States premieres of the seventh set in the series by Brian R. Banks entitled A Bonsai Garden and Haris Kittos’ “Dyades,” scored for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. The program will conclude with a memorial performance of George Walker’s “Perimeters” for clarinet and piano.
May 4, Life Circles: This will be my second opportunity to listen fo a Saariaho composition I have previously encountered, “Je sens un deuxième cœur” (I feel a second heart). Like “Light and Matter,” this is music that I came to know through an Old First Concerts recital given by the Ensemble Illume trio this past June. (June seems to be the month in which Saariaho’s music gets performed at Old First!) There will be two world premiere performances of works composed on Earplay commissions, neither of which has yet been given a title. The composers are likely to be familiar to many readers, Hyo-shin Na and Jen Wang. The program will begin with the world premiere performance of “Songs of Majnūn Leyla” by Richard Aldag.
The Veterans Building is located at the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. The entrance to Herbst Theatre is on the ground floor, and the Taube Atrium Theater is on the fourth floor in the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera. 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 Brown Paper Tickets. Each of the above dates has a hyperlink to the necessary event page.
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