Kaufman Center Press Releases
Merkin Concert Hall presents Elliott Carter’s First Hundred Years (Nov. 23, 2008)
Kaufman Center’s Musically Speaking series continues with Elliott Carter’s First Hundred Years featuring Elliott Carter, New York Woodwind Quintet and pianist Ursula Oppens. In honor of Mr. Carter’s 100th birthday, the NYWQ and Ms. Oppens will perform works that span the composer’s entire career. The program will demonstrate how Mr. Carter’s musical language evolved, resulting in the vibrant, unique voice of his maturity. Frank J. Oteri of the American Music Center will conduct a preconcert interview with Mr. Carter and the performers at 7:00 pm. The evening’s repertoire includes the following Carter pieces: Pastorale (1941), Eight Etudes and a Fantasy (1949), Woodwind Quintet (1948), Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux (1985), Gra Polish: "to play"(1993), Retracing (2002), Scrivo in Vento (1991), Steep Steps (2001), Two Thoughts about the Piano (2005-06) and Quintet for piano and winds (1991).
The NYWQ’s collaboration with Ms. Oppens on the recording of Quintet for piano and winds will be reprised at this concert alongside groundbreaking solo and chamber works of Mr. Carter’s that have defined elements of his evolving style over the decades. The members of the NYWQ are uniquely poised to perform this music given their close proximity to Mr. Carter throughout their respective careers. Widely known as a crack ensemble of virtuoso solo performers, the quintet has performed and recorded Mr. Carter’s music both for ensemble and solo pieces with and without the ensemble. Ms. Oppens has long been a champion of Carter’s music, most notably as the dedicatee of his piano concerto.
About Elliott Carter
First encouraged to pursue a career in music by his friend and mentor Charles Ives, Mr.
Carter won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1960 for his groundbreaking String Quartet No. 2.
Stravinsky hailed his Double Concerto for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras
(1961) and Piano Concerto (1967) as masterpieces. While Mr. Carter spent much of the
1960s working on just two works, the Piano Concerto and Concerto for Orchestra (1969),
the breakthroughs he achieved in those pieces led to an artistic resurgence that gathered
momentum in the decades that followed. One of the extraordinary features of Mr. Carter’s
career is his astonishing productivity and creative vitality as he reaches the zenith of his
tenth decade.
Mr. Carter has shown his mastery of smaller forms throughout his career. Along with a large number of brief solo and chamber works, his later years have brought major essays such as Quintet (piano and winds, 1991) among others. Recent premieres of chamber works include the playfully humorous Mosaic with the Nash Ensemble in 2005 as well as three premieres in 2006: Intermittences, a piano solo co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall Corporation and The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and performed by Peter Serkin; In the Distances of Sleep, with Michelle DeYoung and the MET Chamber Ensemble under James Levine; and Caténaires, a solo piano piece performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard. His Horn Concerto, written for James Sommerville, premiered in November of 2007 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine.
About the New York Woodwind Quintet
Now entering its seventh decade, the New York Woodwind Quintet continues to maintain
an active concert presence around the world while also teaching and mentoring the next
generation of woodwind performers. Unique among all woodwind quintets touring today,
the NYWQ is comprised of artists dedicated to chamber music yet who are individually
known as soloists with far-ranging careers. Current members are flutist Carol Wincenc,
clarinetist Charles Neidich, oboist Stephen Taylor, bassoonist Marc Goldberg and french
hornist William Purvis. One of the oldest continuously active chamber ensembles in the
U.S., the quintet has commissioned and premiered numerous compositions, some of which
have become classics of the woodwind repertoire. NYWQ has recorded extensively for such
labels as Boston Skyline, Bridge, New World and Nonesuch. Since 1989 it has been an
Ensemble-in-Residence of The Juilliard School.
About Ursula Oppens
Ursula Oppens is one of the few pianists today who has won equal renown as an interpreter
of the established repertoire and a champion of contemporary music. She has received two
Grammy nominations: one for her Vanguard recording of Frederic Rzewski's The People
United Will Never Be Defeated and another for American Piano Music of Our Time, a
classic compilation of piano works by 20th century American composers for the Music &
Arts label.
An enduring commitment to integrating new music into regular concert life has led Ms. Oppens, a co-founder of Speculum Musicae, to commission and premiere many compositions, including works by Anthony Braxton, Elliott Carter, Anthony Davis, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, Tania Leon, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Singleton, Joan Tower, Lois V. Vierk, Christian Wolff, Amnon Wolman and Charles Wuorinen.
A friend and colleague of Elliott Carter, Ms. Oppens celebrates his 100th birthday with performances of his complete music of solo piano all over the globe.
Listings Information:
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center presents
Elliott Carter’s First Hundred Years
Elliott Carter / New York Woodwind Quintet / Ursula Oppens
Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 8:00pm
129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam)
Tickets at 212 501 3330 or http://www.kaufman-center.org
Single tickets are $25 (members $20)
EDITORS: Please refer to the series by its name, MUSICALLY SPEAKING
and its location, Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
Press Only: Hi-res photos for download at http://kaufman-center.org/press/image-library
About Merkin Concert Hall
Renowned for its acoustics, accessibility and innovative programming, the recently renovated Merkin Concert
Hall is the recipient of multiple awards for adventurous programming, most recently from ASCAP/Chamber
Music America in 2002–03. The Hall is a division of Kaufman Center, which also includes Lucy Moses School (a
community arts school) and Special Music School (a New York City public school for musically gifted children).
A not-for-profit organization founded in 1952, Kaufman Center occupies its own facility, the award-winning
Goodman House, located in Manhattan’s Lincoln Square arts district. The Center is an unsurpassed cultural
resource where people of all ages can experience the joy of artistic creation, expression and appreciation.
Kaufman Center’s presentations in Merkin Concert Hall are made possible in part by institutional support from
the Amphion Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Edward T. Cone
Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas
Foundation, Fink Foundation, Inc., Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Herman
Goldman Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Florence Gould Foundation, The Edith
Meiser Foundation, Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Adolph
and Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation, Starr Foundation, Phyllis Fox and George Sternlieb Foundation, and with
public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency
and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.