HOUSE BLEND I:
Conor Hanick playing works for piano by Galina Ustvolskaya.
Program:
Galina Ustvolskaya, Piano Sonatas no. 1–6
With a pre-concert talk hosted by a composer and a musicologist.
Schedule:
5 pm: pre-concert talk
5:30 pm: concert (duration — 75 min)
Anthony Tommasini, writing in The New York Times, praised the “ecstatic fervor, as well as effortless elegance” Hanick brings to both contemporary and classical works and his “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation.”
PS21 HOUSE BLEND programs are conceived for our theater with an eye toward bringing virtuosic and thoughtful musicians together in genre-defying combinations. The series opens a creative space unique to our venue, surroundings, and audiences that yields programs that can only be heard at PS21.
Enjoy all four exciting concerts for one low price with a House Blend Series Pass.
AUGUST 19, 7 pm – PS21 HOUSE BLEND II: A double bill
Skylighght, Gelsey Bell (voice) & Erin Rogers (saxophone). Plus, composer/multi-instrumentalist Patrick Higgins (guitar, drums, electronics), improvisations on five tracks from Versus, his latest record
AUGUST 20, 7 pm – PS21 HOUSE BLEND III:
Miranda Cuckson (violin) & Conor Hanick (piano)
Iannis Xenakis: Mikka S.; J.S. Bach: Sonata in D minor (BWV 1004); Charles Ives: selections from Songs (Opus 114); Aaron Copland: Sonata for Violin and Piano
AUGUST 21, 7 pm – PS21 HOUSE BLEND IV: A double bill
Bonnie Whiting performs Wang Lu‘s Stages for solo speaking/singing percussionist, with stage design by Polly Apfelbaum, and Frederic Rzewski‘s To the Earth for speaking percussionist and four flower pots (text from the Homeric Hymn to Gaia, Mother of All). Plus bass-baritone Davóne Tines singing Eastman Evensong
READ THE FULL HOUSE BLEND PRESS RELEASE
CONOR HANICK
One of the current generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music from every period, Conor Hanick is a pianist whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master” (The New York Times). He has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, been presented by the Gilmore Festival, New York Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie, De Singel, Caramoor, Cal Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Park Avenue Armory, and worked with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ludovic Morlot, Alan Gilbert, and David Robertson.
A fierce advocate of today’s music, Hanick has premiered over 200 pieces and collaborated with composers ranging from Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, and Steve Reich, to younger figures including Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, Samuel Carl Adams, and Anthony Cheung. This season Hanick presents recitals in the US and Europe, including performances with Julia Bullock, Jay Campbell, Joshua Roman, Seth Parker Woods, AMOC*, of which he is a founding member, and the Takt Trio. He will also make his San Francisco Performances debut at Herbst Theater, join Sandbox Percussion at 92NY, and return to the Aix-en-Provence Festival and the California Festival at Ojai.
Hanick is the director of Solo Piano at the Music Academy of the West and serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School, Mannes College, and the CUNY Graduate Center.
