April 26, 2017
"Off-Beat Operas" May 1st features "Sirens" by Victoria Bond.

The final concert of the 2017 Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival features the Cygnus Ensemble in a program of "Offbeat Operas" by composers William Anderson, Frank Brickle, and the world premiere of Victoria Bond's Sirens.

William Anderson's Eight Rhythms, Settings is based on a set of poems by Djuna Barnes from 1915. Anderson's utilizes many kinds of contemporary idioms-- indie rock, Simon & Garfunkel, and a bit of minimalism as well.

Le Testament de Villon by Frank Brickle begins with the opera by George Antheil and Ezra Pound and condenses it to an essential version dramatically and musically. This is the New York City premiere of Brickle's opera.

Victoria Bond's Sirens draws upon Episode 11 of James Joyce's Ulysses as inspiration. This episode, along with the overall theme of Joyce's Ulysses, is about being an outsider who is scorned and reviled. He is also everyman or everywoman who feels apart and alone in the midst of a world that has no use for him or her.

Program:

William Anderson/Djuna Barnes Eight Rhythms, Settings
Frank Brickle/Ezra Pound Le Testamente de Villon
Victoria Bond/James Joyce Sirens

Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival (CEC), now in its 20th season, was founded by composer and conductor Victoria Bond featuring the music of living composers. CEC has been called "a full-throttle commitment to contemporary music" by Chamber Music America, and "a gift to New Yorkers thirsty for new sounds" by Time Out New York. Discussions with the composers are featured on each program prior to performances by outstanding ensembles and soloists. In 2017 the Festival's three concerts will take place in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space. Highlights of this year's three-concert festival include the Eroica Trio (Monday, April 3) featuring works by Paul Schoenfield, Bruce Wolosoff and Kevin Puts; pianist Taka Kigawa and the String Orchestra of New York City (Monday, April 24) performing works by Richard Carrick, Sean Shepherd, Lisa Bielawa, and premieres by Victoria Bond and Zosha Di Castri; and the Cygnus Ensemble (Monday, May 1) presenting a program of "Offbeat Operas" written by William Anderson, Frank Brickle, and Victoria Bond.

 

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