Miranda Cuckson
Magical Dialogues
In the open air of PS21’s fields, Miranda Cuckson (a “fearless, visionary and tremendously talented artist” — Sequenza21) plays an intimate concert of contemporary pieces for solo violin that are in otherworldly dialogue with music of the past: Salvatore Sciarrino’s Six Caprices conjure the spellbinding world of 19th century violinist Niccolo Paganini, and Reiko Füting’s “passage: time (copy)” transforms music of the German Baroque into a whirling, modern fever dream.
The performance is free, and will take place in James Casebere’s Solo Pavilion for Two or Three. No registration required.
GROUNDTONE is PS21’s new, three-day weekend of immersive concerts and adventurous music.
A sonic exploration of PS21’s untamed natural landscape, the festival invites listeners to experience dazzling performances and site-specific creations by visionary, genre-defying artists in settings across our grounds.
Part of Upstate Art Weekend, each day will include free performances, workshops, open rehearsals, and community music making open to all. Highlights include Lina Lapelytė’s immersive installation Study of Slope and ticketed concerts each evening.
Miranda Cuckson is a “fearless, visionary and tremendously talented artist” (Sequenza21), an internationally acclaimed soloist and collaborator on the violin and viola, whose repertoire extends from early classics to 21st-century experimental pieces. She has been a featured artist at the Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall, Teatro Colón, the Cleveland Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the 92nd St Y, and elsewhere.
Miranda recorded her first album, of the Ponce and Korngold concertos with the Czech National Symphony, in 2001. She has since released ten highly praised albums, including Nono’s La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura for violin and electronics, a New York Times Best Recording of 2012; the Bartók, Lutoslawski, and Schnittke sonatas; and her live performance of the Ligeti Violin Concerto with the UC Davis Orchestra. She has recorded Ross Lee Finney, Donald Martino, and Ralph Shapey, the Roger Sessions solo Sonata, duos by Elliott Carter and Jason Eckardt; the wreckage of flowers by Michael Hersch; Melting the Darkness, solo microtonal and electro-acoustic pieces; and violin music by a who’s who of composers.
A member of AMOC*, Miranda engages with the full gamut of musical expression. She has appeared at numerous festivals, including National Sawdust’s multimedia Ferus Festival, Ojai, Bard, Marlboro, Portland, Music Mountain, West Cork, Grafenegg, Wien Modern, and others; performed the Stravinsky Duo Concertant with the State Ballet of Georgia, the Barber Violin Concerto with the New York City Ballet, Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with NYCB soloists for the Balanchine centennial, and collaborated with the New York Choreographic Institute and New Chamber Ballet.
Miranda holds BM, MM, and DMA degrees from the Juilliard School. She teaches violin and chamber music at the Mannes School of Music and has led workshops and master classes at Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, UC San Diego, UC Davis, the Peabody Institute, Brown University, Williams College, Rice University, and other leading conservatories and universities.
