New music inspired by nature takes center stage in this chamber music concert celebrating the centennial of the National Park Service.
Landscape Music Composers Network, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, and Parrish Art Museum join forces to commemorate the National Park Service’s century of conservation in a concert of new music evoking landscape, ecology, wildlife, and adventure.
The concert will take place on Friday, September 9, 2016 at 6:00pm at Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY (The Hamptons). Tickets are $20 ($10 for Members and Students), include Museum admission, and are currently available for advance purchase on the Museum’s website.
“Commission-crazed” (Time Out NY) Cadillac Moon Ensemble (Karen Kim, violin; Roberta Michel, flute; Aminda Asher, cello; Sean Statser, percussion) is one of NYC’s most visible new music groups. They bring their adventurous spirit and impeccable musicianship to this program of works for ensemble and solo instruments, their first collaboration with Landscape Music Composers Network.
Including both established and emerging artists from across the country, Landscape Music Composers Network is newly formed group of composers unified by a passion for increasing awareness of the natural world through music. Their works featured on this concert will include Hall of the White Giant for marimba by Stephen Lias, inspired by Carlsbad Caverns National Park; Vista for violin and electronics by Alex Shapiro; and Celestial Seasons for cello by Stephen Wood.
Cadillac Moon Ensemble will also give the World Premieres of two works composed specially for this occasion. Evoking butterflies fluttering among wind-swept wildflowers and sea turtle hatchlings crawling toward the surf, Refuge by Nell Shaw Cohen is a narrative suite featuring musical portraits of three species’ conservation stories—the Mission blue butterfly of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Kemp’s ridley sea turtle of Padre Island National Seashore, and the bison of Yellowstone National Park. Each of these species offers a different perspective from which to reflect upon the National Park Service’s role in wildlife conservation. Of Wolves and Rivers by Justin Ralls is inspired by ground-breaking research on trophic cascade in Yellowstone and explores the theme of “ecological listening” in parks by integrating soundscapes made from field recordings with instrumental textures, drawing listeners into an engagement with natural sounds.
Situated in a community with a long history of exploring the intersections of nature and art, the East End of Long Island’s Parrish Art Museum is a wonderful venue for this program. Founded in 1867, the Parrish—the Hamptons’ premier fine arts museum—is distinguished by its excellent public programs, spearheaded Century Arts Foundation Curator of Special Projects Andrea Grover. This will be Cohen’s second collaboration with the Parrish, preceded by two standing-room-only performances of her wind quintet Watercolors, which was cited by Director of the Museum as one of the best events at the opening of their Herzog & de Meuron designed building in 2012.
There will be opportunities on the evening of the concert for the audience to interact with the composers, four of whom will be in attendance.
For composer biographies and further information about the music, visit Landscape Music Composers Network.
For directions, tickets, and venue information, visit Parrish Art Museum.
Press inquires may be directed to Nell Shaw Cohen, nell@nellshawcohen.com
Visit FindYourPark.com to explore other experiences and events celebrating the National Park Service’s 2016 centennial.
About the Presenters
Inspired by the natural setting and artistic life of Long Island’s East End, the Parrish Art Museum illuminates the creative process and how art and artists transform our experiences and understanding of the world and how we live in it. The Museum fosters connections among individuals, art, and artists through care and interpretation of the collection, presentation of exhibitions, publications, educational initiatives, programs, and artists-in residence. The Parrish is a center for cultural engagement, an inspiration and destination for the region, the nation, and the world. www.parrishart.org
The Landscape Music Composers Network is a group of living composers from across the United States whose music engages with and reflects upon landscape, nature, and place. Including artists both established and emerging, writing in a diverse array of styles for a variety of ensembles and media, this network is a platform for collaborative projects aiming to increase appreciation and awareness of the natural world through music.
Current members include Jenni Brandon (Long Beach, CA); Oliver Caplan (Boston, MA); Linda Chase (Boston, MA); Nell Shaw Cohen (Founder & Director; Brooklyn, NY); Michael Futreal (Shreveport, LA); Stephen Lias (Nacogdoches, TX); Libby Meyer (Houghton, MI); Rachel Panitch (Boston, MA); Justin Ralls (Portland, OR); Christina Rusnak (Portland, OR); Alex Shapiro (San Juan Island, WA); Ryan Suleiman (Sacramento, CA); and Stephen Wood (Atlanta, GA). www.landscapemusic.org
Cadillac Moon Ensemble (Karen Kim, violin; Roberta Michel, flute; Aminda Asher, cello; Sean Statser, percussion) is a new music quartet dedicated to retaining the intimacy and artistry of traditional chamber music while exploring the expansive sonic possibilities presented by its unique instrumentation (flute, violin, cello, and percussion). Since its formation in 2007, Cadillac Moon Ensemble has commissioned and premiered over eighty works, in the process cultivating close relationships and ongoing collaborations with many of New York City’s most talented emerging composers.
The “commission-crazed” (Time Out NY) Cadillac Moon Ensemble is one of New York’s most visible new music groups, performing not just in traditional venues such as Roulette and the DiMenna Center, but in non-traditional spaces such as the High Line as well as in collaborations with dance, theater, and cabaret artists. The group strives to present a cross-section of contemporary music styles, tying together both uptown and downtown aesthetics with the creative use of thematic programming. Recent commissions have included works by Timothy Andres, Caleb Burhans, Shawn Allison, Nicholas Deyoe, Rick Burkhardt, Osnat Netzer, and Alex Weiser.
Cadillac Moon Ensemble’s first full CD, Atlas, released on the New Dynamic Records label in September 2012, was hailed as “an auspicious collection of new compositions by contemporary composers that combines the fun and wit of rock and film music with the intensity and challenging sonics that have come to define the best of the New York indie classical scene.” (Lucid Culture). CME was also featured on the critically acclaimed release of Zack Browning’s “Secret Pulse” on Innova Records in 2012. The group has also been featured on John Shaefer’s New Soundsprogram on WNYC, Jackson Parodi’s Classical Lunch program on WVUM, the University of Rhode Island’s WRIU Music for Internets, and WQXR.
In its mission to work closely with composers throughout the creative process, Cadillac Moon Ensemble works frequently with student composers. Their university work has included a residency at Indiana University Southeast, a workshop performance with Queens College composers, an appearance on NYU’s Interactive Arts Series, and collaborations with Rutgers University graduate composers. Their upcoming season will include several university performances, as well as an increased effort to illuminate the collaborative process between composers and performers through open rehearsals and live-streamed workshops. Planned commissions include works by Matt Marks, Alex Temple, Melody Loveless, Viet Cuong, and Jacob Cooper.
CME has recently been awarded funding by the Amphion Foundation, Eric Stokes Music Fund, the Met Life Creative Connections Grant, and the American Composers Forum’s Encore Program. Cadillac Moon Ensemble has performed on Kathleen Supové’s Music With a View series, Ear Heart Music, the Lark Society Chamber Series of Portland, ME, the Trinity Church Wall Street Concerts at One, the Vox Novus Composer’s Voice series, and at numerous non-traditional venues. The quartet has also collaborated with Ethos Percussion Group, TRANSIT, Sospiro Winds, Circles and Lines Composers’ Collective, Random Access Music, KDNY Dance, and Iktus Percussion. www.cadillacmoonensemble.com