Addressing the audience

Sofia Dimitrova

After the concert congratulations!

As is the habit of the NYCC, I was asked to say a few words about the piece beforehand. Instead, I couldn’t help but remark this is the second time the NYCC has asked me to open a concert with a piece that is rather dark in tone. (The first time was “Three Elegies” at Symphony Space, back in 2007, performed by Tiffany DuMouchelle and percussionist Stephen Solook.) It doesn’t seem like the best idea to open a concert with pieces along the lines of “Three Elegies” or “When Time is Over!” So I joked that if you want someone to open your concert with one of those slow, meditative, ruminative pieces about life and death, I’m obviously your go-to guy! Fortunately, the audience got the joke. Here’s some pics and, because of the low lighting, apologies for the quality! (Click images for larger size.)

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On January 6, 2010, the NYCC gave two back-to-back recitals, each lasting a full school period, to nearly 200 students and their music faculty at the Bronx High School of Science (the NYCC’s first Community Encores recital in a school venue to teenagers). In a survey of art songs spanning the last 100 years, soprano Sofia Dimitrova and pianist Catherine Miller, with introductions and commentary by executive director, John de Clef Pi√±eiro, presented samples of the new music vocal repertoire of Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Gian Carlo Menotti, as well as music by current and former NYCC member composers. Notably, Composer Member Richard Russell was on hand to introduce and comment on the composition of his Three Elegies, and to answer questions from the audience. Both presentations were very well received and the NYCC was invited back by the faculty to give other future recitals. This first outreach recital of 2010 is part of an expanded series of outreach programs that the NYCC will present during the spring.

Here are some pics; click for larger size.

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Soprano
Sofia Dimitrova
“picture of a pretty lady”

piano Dimiter Fournadgiev
in the program: arias of Mozart, Donizetti and Massenet, and songs of Tcimpidis and Russell

Free Admission

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It was a beautiful day — Mother’s Day, as it happens — and after the concert we took a walk over to Cafe Mozart to relax! (Click pics for larger size.)

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Of the nine pieces performed, three had vocal components. Particularly lovely were Three Elegies composed by Richard Russell, settings of poems by Emily Dickinson, Chidiock Tichborne and Hart Crane. These graceful and dramatic airs had in common the theme of loss and acceptance. Tiffany Du Mouchelle, soprano, had a lovely voice and clear enunciation. Stephen Solook, percussionist, lent intensity to the Dickinson poem, and, playing marimbas, provided the melodic underpinnings for the other two poems.

In reposting this paragraph, I’ve corrected a few of the typos from the original review. The whole thing can be found here.

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Tiffany DuMouchelle and Stephen Solook

Here’s a pic from the concert, which took place in the intimate Goldmark Hall of Mannes College of Music in New York on March 25, 2007.

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Below, Richard Russell addresses the audience before the performance.

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Tickets are $15.

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Tiffany DuMouchelle, Stephen Solook

“Three Elegies” is a song cycle of three short pieces: “I Died for Beauty” (text by Emily Dickinson), “Tichborne’s Elegy” (text by Chidiock Tichborne) and “Exile (After the Chinese)” (text by Hart Crane).

Other composers being performed are Keith Fitch, Jorge Sosa, Seth Rozanoff, and Raphael Fusco. Adam Berkowitz will play clarinet on several pieces, as well.

Mannes College’s Concert Hall is on the second floor at 150 West 85th Street, New York City. This is a free concert!

But if you are unable to attend, this same piece, with the same performers, will be performed March 9, 2007 at 7:30pm at the Thalia at Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th Street, in a concert presented by the New York Composers Circle (www.nycomposerscircle.org). Suggested contribution for that concert is $15.

I hope to see you at one of these concerts!

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