Description
The 2019 Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival presents Paul Chihara's Amatsu Kaze (for mezzo-soprano and five instruments). The program also features the Grammy-nominated pianist Nadia Shpachenko performing short works by Hannah Lash, Louis Spratlan, Harold Meltzer, Amy Beth Kirsten, James Matheson, Jack Van Zandt, and Victoria Bond.
Meaning "winds of heaven", Amatsu Kaze by Japanese-American composer Paul Chihara is based on seven Haiku that deal with love, death and separation. The instrumentation was inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's classic work Pierrot Lunaire, and as such the songs are intended to be presented and enjoyed as a cabaret. The text is sung in Japanese by mezzo-soprano Sophie Maekawa who is joined in this performance by The Horszowski Trio with flutist Elizabeth Mann, and clarinetist Alan Kay.
The concert also features the Grammy-nominated pianist Nadia Shpachenko performing a set of pieces for piano and/or toy piano by Hannah Lash, Amy Beth Kirsten, Harold Meltzer, and others. Each of these short works were inspired by great architecture and significant locations, including the Copland House in Cortlandt Manor, NY, and Frank Gehry’s IAC Building in Manhattan, among others. All of these works works were commissioned by and dedicated to Ms. Shpachenko.
Theatre
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
Expected Run Time is 120 minutes
