"...first, people
actually found themselves 'dancing in the aisles' at a serious concert, ...(need
one ask if the audience had a good time?)"
- Star Ledger - March 22, 1993
New Jersey
Percussion Ensemble
William Paterson University
Shea Center for the Performing Arts
Thursday, March 10, 2005
12:30 PM
Admission is $3.00
WPU Students - Free Admission
In Search Of . . . (1988) -
Ron Mazurek
for Percussion Solo and Electronic Sound
April
McCloskey – Percussion
Videodance directed by – John Crawford
Satori (1996)
- Ron Mazurek
for Clarinet and Electronic Sound
Marianne
Gythfeldt - Clarinet
Videodance directed by – John Crawford
Masked Dances
(2004) - Ron Mazurek
for Vibraphone, Dancers and Electronic Sound
Peter Jarvis – Vibraphone
Dancers
Melanie Ax, Thecla Hoeberechts, Kaya Nakamura,
Ewelina Taszyniec, Jennifer Silvestre
Priscilla Brownlee - Choreographer
Rockaby (2003) - Ron
Mazurek
for Soprano and Piano
Karen Born - Cafaro – Soprano
David Weisberg – Piano
Five Pieces for Percussion Quartet (2004) - Ron
Mazurek
for Percussion Quartet with Electronic Sound
1.
Introit
2.
Waves
3.
Scat
4.
Ostinato
5.
Mantra
April
McCloskey, Justin Wolf,
Joseph Bergen, Michael Sperone
Peter Jarvis – Conductor
Panel
Ron Mazurek,
Marianne Gythfeldt, Peter Jarvis, Jeffrey Kresky, April McCloskey, David Weisberg
John Link - Moderator
Program Notes
In Search Of…
for Percussion and Electronic Tape is based on a classic in Zen literature
entitled In Search of the Missing Ox. In Buddhist literature, the ox is
likened to one’s own true nature. To search for the ox is to investigate this
true nature. The sounds of the electronic tape are juxtaposed and superimposed
with the acoustic qualities of the varied percussion. The percussion consists
of metallic, wooden, and both tuned and untuned membraphones. The shape of the
work can be likened to the fusion of ten Chinese vignettes in which each depicts
a short literary or visual work.
- Ron Mazurek
Satori,
written for Esther Lamneck, is a spiritual journey in which contrasts between
moments of rapidly agitated motion during the first section and moments of near
stasis (that is when color is everything) are exemplified in the last section.
Rationally the Universe is a Many, but mystically it is a One. Satori is the
instant between the One and Many; this is the fleeting enlightenment that Zen
calls Satori. The internal and external dialogues between the clarinet and
electronic tape allow the performer to create a duality of textures which are
playful at times while deliberately calming during the second section. In the
improvised cadenza between the two sections, Esther is able to focus upon ideas
contained in the opening section while bringing to the piece aspects of her own
extended contemporary language.
- Ron Mazurek
Masked Dances
consists of four short continuous dances as incidental music to one of W. B.
Yeats’ plays entitled Calvary. In the
performance of the story all the characters were to wear masks or have their
faces made up to resemble masks including the musicians. This seems to have
served as a ritual element in expressing the emotions of the characters in the
play. Each of the four dances incorporates electronic elements that create
rhythmic dialogues with the vibraphone. There are several brief interludes
separating each dance which then lead into varying rhythmic elements which
define each of the four dances.
- Ron Mazurek
Rockaby
is a pastoral and tender lullaby with text from a Polish folk song. A long
chant-like melodic line is accompanied at times by a repeating bell-like timbre
from the piano. The work expresses an aspect of longing and
sadness.
- Ron Mazurek
The Five
Pieces for Percussion Quartet with electronic sound were written on a
commission from the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble. The introduction to this
fiery and energetic work is an Introit of celebration in which fragments of the
electronic sound is heard against the quartet. The style changes throughout each
of the five sections but with a focus throughout on the percussive patterns
driving this work. This composition is predominately a spirited interplay
between the four participants. The rhythmically complex interaction between the
members of the ensemble throughout the work continues forward to a dramatic
climax.
- Ron Mazurek
Biographical Information
Composer Ron Mazurek is currently
teaching at Bergen Community College in New Jersey and New York University. His
compositions have been performed throughout the USA,
South America,
Japan, Korea, and Europe and are published by Seesaw Music Corporation N.Y.,
Edition Pro Nova, Germany,
and Calabrese Brothers Music, N.J. He has received numerous awards and grants
including a Fellowship in Composition from the New Jersey State Council on the
Arts. He is a founding member of both the International New Music Consortium and
the New Jersey Guild of Composers. Ron is also an accomplished performer on
electronic keyboards having performed at Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall and
major new music festivals both in the U.S.A. and Europe. His works have been
recorded on compact disk by North/South Records, Jersey Sessions recordings, Pro
Viva Records, Romeo Records, and Capstone Records.
The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble
directed by Peter Jarvis was founded in 1968 by Raymond DesRoches, who
co-directed the group with Peter Jarvis and Gary Van Dyke until 2004. The highly
acclaimed ensemble is made up of professionals and students from William
Paterson University, where it has been in residence since 1972. Because of an
ongoing commitment to the proliferation of percussion repertoire, numerous
pieces have been written for, premiered by and recorded by the ensemble. The New
Jersey Percussion Ensemble has appeared in the United States and Europe as
guests of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Group for
Contemporary Music, the Composers Guild of New Jersey, the San Francisco
Symphony, the Gaudeamus Foundation, Radio Denmark, and countless others. The
group can be heard on Nonesuch, Composer's Recording Inc., Music and Arts, Koch
International, Desoto, New World, NAXOS, the Composers Guild of New Jersey and
Capstone recording labels.
A native of
Wisconsin,
Karen Born-Cafaro received her undergraduate degree in Music Education at
William Paterson University, where she earned an award for Outstanding
Senior in Music Education, and her Masters in Vocal Performance at the
University of Southern California, where she earned The Faculty Outstanding
student award. Karen toured the West coast with the San Diego New Music
Ensemble, and performed a New York debut at Symphony Space with the New York/New
Jersey Contemporary Music Ensemble. Some of her roles in Musical Theatre include
Maria in The Sound of Music, Bianca in Kiss Me Kate, Anne in A
Little Night Music, Berthe in Pippin, Josephine in HMS Pinafore,
Yum Yum in The Mikado, and Jenny in Company. Karen continues to
perform professionally in both New Jersey
and New York.
She is also a member of NATS and has had several of her students accepted into
competitive fine arts programs like those at Boston Conservatory, New England
Conservatory, Illinois Wesleyen, and Westminster Choir College, and others have
gone on to perform professionally across the country and abroad in both Musical
Theatre and Opera. In addition to owning her private vocal studio for the past
10 years, she has taught classes at the
University of Southern California,
William Paterson University, and Columbia University, and is Co-Founder of
Gateway to the Arts, a new Performing Arts School in Boonton, New Jersey.
John Crawford is a
media artist, interactive performance director, software developer and
interaction designer. He is a leader in the emerging fields of digital
videodance and embodied interaction. He originated the “Active Space” concept to
describe his interactive performance systems that produce visuals and music in
response to movement. He is Assistant Professor of Dance and Media Arts at
University of California, Irvine, where he teaches videodance,
motion capture animation and digital arts. His work has been performed and
exhibited across North America and in Europe and Asia. As a software developer,
his credits include projects for Microsoft, Adobe and other companies.
Clarinetist Marianne Gythfeldt, a native of Norway and
Scotland, has distinguished herself in chamber music, orchestral and
contemporary music performance on the international stage. Her formative years
were split between Oslo, marching in street parades: Paris, studying
electro-acoustic music at IRCAM, and Morristown, N.J., performing in All-State
bands and orchestras. She went on to receive Masters and Bachelors degrees at
the Eastman School and SUNY at Stony Brook under the tutelage of Stanley Hasty
and Charles Neidich.
As a resident of New York City, Marianne quickly became
absorbed in its exciting musical life. She is an original member of the
Naumburg award-winning New Millennium Ensemble, and is the clarinetist of
Ensemble Sospeso, Zephyros Winds, and Absolute Ensemble. She also enjoys
performing with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s,
and as a guest artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Marianne is now considered one of the most advanced
performers of new music in the States. She is a proponent of music that
expresses originality. Ms. Gythfeldt nurtures this love affair with great new
music by seeking out and creating projects that have an unflinching commitment
to exploring new territory. One such project resulted in the premiere recordings
of three of Morton Feldman’s ensemble works on Koch Records, with Marianne as
project director and fund-raiser.
Marianne has premiered several works that were written for
her, and she is often invited to perform as a soloist on special occasions. She
marked her debut performance with the Zephyros Winds at the Mostly Mozart
Festival at Lincoln Center in a concerto performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia
Concertante. Other solo appearances include the June in Buffalo Festival,
Chamber Music Northwest and Tanglewood, where she performed the dramatic Suite
for Clarinets, Strings and Piano by Schoenberg with Peter Serkin, Ida Kavafian,
and David Schifrin.
Ms. Gythfeldt is on the faculty at William Paterson
University, the Village Community School and the Chamber Music Conference of the
East, where she teaches clarinet and chamber music. She currently lives on the
upper eastside with her husband, professor of biophysics at the College of Staten Island,
and daughter Maude.
Peter Jarvis
graduated from William Paterson University where he studied percussion with
Raymond DesRoches. As director of the highly acclaimed New Jersey Percussion
Ensemble he is active as a percussionist, conductor, educator, composer and
administrator. The New York Times remarked “Peter Jarvis conducted the 40-minute
piece without score, yet did full justice to it's rhythmic complexities; Mr.
Jarvis and his forces richly deserved the standing ovation they received.” He
has played with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Group for
Contemporary Music, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble of Piccolo Spoleto, the
Composers Guild of New Jersey Performance Ensemble, newband, New York Art
Ensemble, Composers Concordance, Friends of Music at Princeton University,
Talujon Percussion Quartet, the Hong Kong based Kung Ensemble, Cygnus Ensemble
and countless others including several orchestras and distinguished choruses
throughout New York and New Jersey. Jarvis has appeared as a soloist for
numerous New Music Festivals including the Europe/Asia Festival in Kazan Russia
and ISCM League of Composers in New York. He has performed for Radio Denmark,
PBS, Russian and Hong Kong television and
WNYC in New York. As conductor, Jarvis
has appeared with Saint Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Cygnus Festival Orchestra,
Composers Guild of New Jersey Performance Ensemble, Ensemble21, New Jersey New
Music Ensemble, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble of Piccolo Spoleto and many
others including the San Francisco Symphony’s New and Unusual Music Series with
NJPE. Jarvis has appeared in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Asia, Russia
and Europe. He can be heard on Nonesuch, CRI, Koch International, Composers
Guild of New Jersey, October Music for ECM, Capstone, NAXOS, and Gram recording
labels among others. His compositions are published by Calabrese Brothers Music,
LLC.
In addition to performing, Jarvis has been active as a
teacher, having taught percussion and chamber music at Fairleigh Dickinson
University and currently at William Paterson University, Connecticut College and
Bergen
Community College.
Lisa
Naugle, is Associate
Professor at University of California, Irvine, in the Department of Dance. She
holds a Ph.D. and MFA in dance from New York University. Lisa was a member of
the Nancy Hauser Dance Company and has performed with several dance companies in
the United States and Canada.
Her research and creative activity centers on choreography
and computer-based applications for dance such as videodance, motion capture,
telematic performance, and interactive media. In 2004, she was an invited
presenter at the Monaco Dance Forum, performed and choreographed Responsive
Circumstances: Improvisation 1 at the New Forms Festival in
Vancouver Canada, and premiered
Entangled Photons, an interactive telematic performance, at the opening
ceremony for California Institute of Telecommunications building.
David J. Weisberg holds a B.A. in music, an
M.A. in music theory composition and a Ph.D. in music theory and composition
from Rutgers University. At Rutgers, his primary studies in music composition
were with Charles Wuorinen, while he also had the opportunity to study jazz
piano with Kenny Barron. He has composed works in all genres and styles, and
his works have been performed at various concerts and festivals in the New York
area, including the June in Buffalo festival.
As a performer of both classical and jazz music, he has
toured throughout the country both as a solo artist and in ensembles such as the
New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, the Mad Coyote ensemble, the New Jersey Pops,
and in numerous theater productions with Broadway pit musicians and equity
players. His primary instrument is the piano, but he has also performed as a
vocalist, violinist, and saxophonist.
Dr. Weisberg is currently an Assistant Professor Music Theory
at William Paterson University, and serves as Director of Music Admissions. He
has given numerous lectures and master classes in theory and composition, he has
written program notes for the High Mountain Symphony, served as a judge for the
Music Educator’s Association Annual Auditions, and participated as a mentor for
the Minority Academic Careers Program. He has also taught at Rutgers
University, Kean University, and Bloomfield
College. His works will soon be found published in the catalog of Calabrese
Brothers Music, a publisher who represents composers such as Milton Babbitt,
Arthur Kreiger, Robert Moevs, and Peter Westergaard, among others. Weisberg has
moderated numerous panel discussions, and one of his most recent panel
discussions has been recorded for a documentary by Albert Maysles, famous for
his work on the Beatles (“Beatles: The First U. S. Visit”) and Vladamir Horowitz
(“Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic”), among others, including notable works
about Jimi Hendrix and the artist Christo.
Special thanks for all of the
technical support from
Al, Ted, Eric, Jon, Stephen, Dan, Stew, Todd and the rest of the crew.
In Search Of Videodance:
Director and Video Animation:
John Crawford
Choreographers and Assistant Directors:
Shantel Ehrenberg
Carrie Smaczny
Editor and Assistant Director:
Garrett Moore
Videographers:
Shantel Ehrenberg
Garrett Moore
Amanda Nora
Carrie Smaczny
Lighting:
Sara Broadhead
Choreographic Advisor:
Lisa Naugle
Dancers:
Lisa Naugle
Deidre Cavazzi
Shantel Ehrenberg
Amanda Nora
Amy Sennett
Satori Videodance:
Director and Video Animation:
John Crawford
Choreographer and Assistant Director
Amanda Nora
Editor and Assistant Director:
Garrett Moore
Videographers:
Shantel Ehrenberg
Garrett Moore
Amanda Nora
Carrie Smaczny
Lighting:
Sara Broadhead
Choreographic Advisor
Lisa Naugle
Dancers:
Shantel Ehrenberg
Felicia Flores
Daren Herbert
Nolan Kubota
Timothy McKernan
Erika Odegard
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03/09/2005 09:56:17 PM