The House Blend Concerts are brewed with the audience in mind and feature celebrated soloists and groups. The concerts are chosen by Grammy nominated pianist and innovative programmer Alan Feinberg.
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644 – 1704) Passacaglia (1676)
Stefan Wolpe The Man from Midian (1942)
Conlon Nancarrow Study #7 transcribed for two pianos by Thomas Adès (1998)
Johann Sebastian Bach Actus Tragicus transcribed for piano by György Kurtág (1708)
The pianists, Steinway artists Steven Beck and Susan Grace of the duo “Quattro mani” and violinist Siwoo Kim.
The PS21 House Blend Series continues with an eclectic, eccentric, provocative, and poignant set of rarely performed miniatures ranging from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, performed on two Grand Steinway pianos at the Pavilion Theater. Chosen by Grammy-nominated pianist Alan Feinberg, the aim of House Blend is to give a “caffeine jolt,” a much-needed spiritual and aesthetic stimulant. Beginning with Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s seminal Passacaglia (1674), an early Baroque evocation of a “guardian angel,” to American iconoclast Conlon Nancarrow’s finger-crushing player-piano-tech etudes, our ears, to use Charles Ives’s expression, “will be stretched.” Returning to the spiritual, György Kurtág’s amazing transcription of Bach’s Actus Tragicus is an achingly tender sublimation of our human fate.
Juxtaposing styles and periods, reimagining old favorites, and brewing up musical experiences to intrigue and expand beyond the status quo are all part of the mission of the PS21 House Blend Concerts.
Steven Beck has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and at a who’s who array of festivals and venues at Aspen, Lincoln Center, and elsewhere. His affiliations with the Da Capo Chamber Players, the new music ensemble Future In Reverse (FIRE), Knights of the Many-Sided Table, the Talea Ensemble, and Quattro Mani, a piano duo specializing in contemporary music, testify to the inexhaustible breadth of his tastes and talents. Alan Kozinn in the New York Times praised his playing of contemporary music as “eloquent and persuasive.”
Grammy nominated pianist and Steinway Artist, Susan Grace has performed collaborative music, solo and chamber recitals, duos and concertos and has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Asia. She is also a member of Quattro Mani, an internationally acclaimed two-piano ensemble with NY pianist Steven Beck. “I’m not stuck to one thing,” Grace has said. She is associate chair, artist-in-residence and senior lecturer in music at Colorado College and music director of the renowned Colorado College Summer Music Festival.
Siwoo Kim is an “incisive” and “compelling” (Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times) violinist who plays with “stylistic sensitivity and generous tonal nuance” (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune). Siwoo performs as soloist and chamber musician, and he is the co-founding artistic director of VIVO Music Festival in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Siwoo made his Carnegie Hall concerto debut in Stern Auditorium with the Juilliard Orchestra. He has since performed with orchestras around the world including the Staatsorchester Brandenburgisches Frankfurt, Columbus Symphony, Gangneung Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic, Orchestre Royal de Chambre, Seongnam Philharmonic, Springfield Symphony, and Tulsa Symphony in venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall and Lotte Concert Hall. As a chamber musician, Siwoo formed the “whip-smart” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker) Quartet Senza Misura, which performed at the Phillips Collection, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Seoul Arts Center and more during their three years together. Siwoo graduated from the Juilliard School and was named the recipient of the 2012 King Award for Young Artists. Visit his website: http://www.siwookim.com/
House Blend Concert I, July 5, 2021
Ralph Shapey Evocation No. 1 for Violin, with Percussion and Piano (3rd movement) (1959)
Billy Jim Layton Five Studies for Violin and Piano (2010)
Franco Donatoni Mari (1992)
David Sanford 22 Part 1 for Cello and Piano (1995)
Giya Kancheli Nach dem Weinen (Having Wept) (1994)
With Miranda Cuckson, Matt Haimovitz, Geoffrey Burleson, and Matthew Gold
House Blend Concert II, August 8, 2021
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644 – 1704) Passacaglia (1676)
Stefan Wolpe The Man from Midian (1942)
Conlon Nancarrow Study #7 transcribed for two pianos by Thomas Adès (1998)
Johann Sebastian Bach Actus Tragicus transcribed for piano by György Kurtág (1708)
The pianists, Steinway artists Steven Beck and Susan Grace of the duo “Quattro mani” and violinist Siwoo Kim
House Blend Concert III: August 19, 2021
Luigi Dallapicolla Tartiniana Seconda (1956)
Aaron Copland from Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson (1950)
György Ligeti Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano (1982)
With Ariadne Greif, Leelanee Sterrett, Miranda Cuckson, and Eric Huebner
House Blend Concert IV: August 26, 2021
Arvo Pärt Mozart-Adagio, for Violin, Violoncello and Piano (1992)
Paul Schoenfield Three Country Fiddle Pieces (1987)
Charmaine Lee solo (2020)
Maurice Ravel Sonata for Violin and Cello (1922)
With Emily Daggett Smith, Andrea Casarrubios, Blair McMillen, and Charmaine Lee
