Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Library Of Congress Music Division Explores Musical Metamorphoses And American Creativity Through A Variety Of Musical Experiences

"My plea for modern music is not that we should like it, nor necessarily that we should even understand it, but that we should exhibit it as a significant human document." -- Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge

"Western classical music is changing radically from its European roots as a result of the convergences of other traditions and genres. New ways of composing and listening arise, forms and genres morph into shifting shapes. Over the next few seasons Concerts from the Library of Congress, in performances and other presentations, will explore various aspects of musical transformation in an increasingly global society changes."

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The Library of Congress Concert Series this season is exploring American creativity in three ways: in its overall, eclectic American celebratory programming; in its series of three concerts exploring 'American' choral music, a series which opened last night with Chanticleer performing works of Robert Kyr, Ezequiel Viñao, Carlos Sánchez Gutiérrez, Arthur Jarvinen, Steven Stucky, and Paul Schoenfeld; and in its three American Creativity Portrait Concerts, featuring music of Jonathan Larson, Elliott Schwartz, and Daniel Bernard Roumain. There are also several American jazz performances on the calendar and a Seeger Family Tribute, as well as an evening by 'spoken word performance artist' Marac Bamuthi Joseph.

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The next concert in the American Creativity Portrait Concerts is on Friday, November 3rd, at 8:00 pm, and will feature a concert of the chamber music of American composer Elliott Schwartz [and works of Schubert and Ravel] in the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Before the concert there will be a discussion with the composer about his music (6:15, Whitall Pavillion). The evening is curated by Stephen Soderberg, Senior Specialist for Contemporary Music, Music Division, Library of Congress.

The concert features The Cassatt Quartet, Peter Sheppard Skaerved, violin & Aaron Shorr, piano, in the following program:

Schwartz
Bellagio Variations for String Quartet (1980)
Tapestry for Piano Trio (1996)
Memorial in Two Parts for Violin & Piano (1988)
(McKim Commission)

Schubert
Fantasy in C Major, D. 934, for Violin and Piano

Ravel
String Quartet in F Major














American composer Elliott Schwartz's chamber music will be featured at the Library of Congress. He is one of a few dozen American composers -- from both South and North America -- whose musical creativity is being celebrated at the Library of Congress this transformational season.

Photo credit: Schirmer.com With thanks.

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