| 2012-2013
Season
Chanting the Light
Terry Riley Composer Portrait
New York City
Saturday, December 15, 2012 @ 7:30 PM
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
Philadelphia
Sunday, December 16, 2012 @ 7:00 PM
Philadelphia Art Alliance
251 South 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
TICKETS FOR NYC AND PHILLY
Tickets $20 general admission, $15 students/seniors (with
ID) at door only. No advance sales or reservations
PROGRAM
Chanting the Light of Foresight (1987)
Tread on the Trail (1964)
Mandala Miniatures (select movements,1999)
The PRISM Quartet presents a program of music for saxophones
by Terry Riley, who launched the Minimalist movement with
his revolutionary 1964 composition IN C. Deeply
influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, Riley’s
own music has in turn influenced artists across genres,
from composers Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams
to rock groups like The Who, Soft Machine, and Tangerine
Dream.
Inspired by the rhythms of Gaelic culture, Chanting
the Light of Foresight is based on the Taín
Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), an eighth-century
Irish story cycle that chronicles a giant cattle raid, the
invasion of Ulster by the armies of Queen Medb of Connaught,
seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cuailnge. Tread
on the Trail, originally written for tenor saxophone
legend Sonny Rollins in the mid-1960’s, derives its
title from the way in which the performers follow each other
quasi-canonically around five separate mixed-metered melodic
lines, comprising a minimalist raga of sorts. Mandala
Miniatures is a collection of short pieces composed
while Riley was on a European tour that included a visit
to the Hapsburg Palace where, according to the composer,
“I was greatly moved walking through these rooms where
[Haydn] had made his enormous contributions and I felt some
kind of transmission about the whole era and its meaning.”
Cage: Beyond Silence
John Cage Composer Portrait
Curated by Dustin Hurt, Director of Bowerbird.
The Philadelphia performance is part of the festival Cage:
Beyond Silence, presented by Bowerbird in conjunction with
the Philadelphia Museum.
New York City
Saturday, January 19, 2013 @ 7:30 PM
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
TICKETS: Tickets $20 general admission,
$15 students/seniors (with ID) at door only. No advance
sales or reservations
Philadelphia
Sunday, January 20, 2013 @ 2 PM
Van Pelt Auditorium
Philadelphia Museum of Art
2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway (at 26th Street)
Philadelphia, PA 19130
TICKETS: The event is FREE but
requires a ticket. Free tickets can be obtained at the museum's
visitor services the day of the show. If you wish to visit
the Dancing Around the Bride exhibition you must purchase
admission to the museum. Info: (215) 763-8100, www.philamuseum.org
PROGRAM
Freeman Etudes #4, #8, and #16 for solo violin (1977-80)
Sonata for Two Voices (1933)
Music for Nine (1984-87)
Four5 for saxophone quartet (1991)
Thirteen (1992)
The PRISM Quartet and the Curtis Institute of Music’s
20/21 Ensemble join forces for a program of late-career
music by the iconic John Cage on the centennial of his birth.
The Philadelphia program is part of “Cage: Beyond
Silence,” a major festival produced by Bowerbird in
conjunction with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The program
will be previewed in New York City at the Tenri Cultural
Institute.
Dustin Hurt, Bowerbird’s Director and the curator
of “Cage: Beyond Silence,” writes, “In
2012, the year of the Cage Centenary, and now twenty years
after his death, we are still grasping to understand the
enormity of Cage’s contributions. His infamous ‘silent
piece’, 4'33", composed at the near start of
his career, still dominates discussion, at times overshadowing
the subsequent forty years of artistic output. But Cage’s
tireless artistic exploration and innovation—which
also grew to include visual arts and writing—produced
one of history’s most unique and nuanced musical voices.
We invite you to engage with Cage’s work, welcoming
its complexity, unpredictability, and unexpected beauty.”
Ice Cream
Time
Nick Didkovsky Composer Portrait
Philadelphia
Friday, May 17, 2013 @ 5:00 PM
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art After 5 Series
2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130
TICKETS: Free with museum admission: Adults: $20, Seniors:
$18, Students: $14, Youth (13–18): $14, Children (12
& under): Free, Members: Free. Info: (215) 763-8100,
www.philamuseum.org
New York City
Sunday evening, May 19, 2013
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(917) 267-0363
roulette@roulette.org
Check back for the exact starting time and ticket information.
The Philadelphia performance is presented by the Philadelphia
Museum of Art and the PRISM Quartet. The New York performance
is presented by Roulette, Harvestworks, and the PRISM Quartet.
PROGRAM
The PRISM Quartet, composer/guitarist Nick Didkovsky, and
sonic alchemist Thomas Dimuzio perform Ice Cream Time,
an evening-length work by Didkovsky that uses electric guitar,
an onslaught of saxophones, and real-time computer processing
to explore the boundaries between human- and software-generated
music. Didkovsky is best known for his work with Doctor
Nerve, Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, and Bang On A Can, and
for developing his own computer music language.
D ave Lewis’s www.allmusic.com review describes it
best: “Ice Cream Time begins with a kid’s voice
singing ‘It’s Ice Cream Time! It’s Ice
Cream Time!’ It is taken from old, burned-out audio
and sounds like one of the kids in The Little Rascals, except
that his use of the word ‘funky’ suggests a
recording of more recent vintage. This gives way to a slurry
of drunken saxes and palpitating guitar that gradually peps
up into a mix that is funky indeed, alternatively loose
and complex, zany, and Zappa-esque. The work has the feel
of a long theme park ride with a number of separate attractions.
There are parts of it that are mysterious, atmospheric,
and even a little menacing.”
2011-2012 Season
PRISM Quartet and
Music from China
World Premieres
Music for Saxophones, Traditional Chinese Instruments, and
Percussion by
Bright Sheng, Fang Man, Huang Ruo, and Lei Liang
The PRISM Quartet and the ensemble
Music From China reunite after their groundbreaking 2009-10
tour and CD release (Antiphony, innova records), hailed
by Chamber Music magazine for “shattering expectations”
and “pioneering achievements of the highest order.”
This time around, PRISM and MFC present world premiere performances
of four new works for saxophones, traditional Chinese instruments
(erhu, sheng, pipa, yanqin), and percussion by celebrated
Chinese-born American composers in a program exploring the
dynamic relationship between Eastern and Western, contemporary
and ancient cultures.
Bright Sheng The Singing Gobi Desert
Fang Man Dream of a Hundred Flowers
Huang Ruo The Three Tenses
Lei Liang Messages of White
New York City
Thursday, February 2, 2012
5:00 p.m. composer discussion; 5:30 p.m. concert
Chatham Square Library
33 East Broadway (near Catherine St.)
New York, NY 10002
Free admission. No advance reservations.
Information: 212-941-8733
Friday, February 3, 2012 @ 8:00 p.m.
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
Tickets: 212-247-7800; www.carnegiehall.org
$20 general admission; $10 students/seniors (with ID)
Philadelphia
Saturday, February 4, 2012
6:15 p.m. composer discussion, 7 p.m. concert
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
2125 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tickets at door only. No advance sales or reservations.
$20 general admission; $15 students/seniors (with ID)
The Curtis
Project
PRISM makes history as the first saxophone
quartet to conduct a residency at the Curtis Institute of
Music, renowned as one of the world’s finest conservatories.
The residency culminates in PRISM concerts in Philadelphia
and New York City featuring compositions by two Curtis faculty
members: “Short Stories” by Pulitzer Prize-winner
Jennifer Higdon and the world premiere of a new work by
Independence Foundation fellow David Ludwig. The program
also includes premieres of works by Mohammed Fairouz, Katerina
Kramarchuk, Thomas Oltarzewski, Allegra Gabriella Smith,
Daniel Temkin, and Timothy Woos, extraordinary student artists
from Curtis’ composition department.
Philadelphia
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 @ 8 p.m.
Curtis Institute of Music
Field Concert Hall
1726 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Free Admission. No advance reservations.
Information: www.curtis.edu,
215-893-5252
New York City
Thursday, May 10, 2012 @ 8 p.m.
Christ & St. Stephen's Church
120 West 69th Street
New York, New York 10023
Tickets at door only. No advance sales or reservations.
$20 general admission; $15 students/seniors (with ID)
Multiple
Minimal
Born in the early 1960s in the underground scene in San
Francisco and New York, minimalism and its offshoots (post-minimalism,
totalism) have become wildly popular forms of new classical
music. The PRISM Quartet performs music by two of its originators
and long-time champions, Terry Riley and Philip Glass, along
with composers deeply influenced by their work, including
John Adams, Michael Torke, and Samuel Phillips-Corwin, winner
of the 2011 PRISM Quartet/Walden School Commissioning Award.
Terry Riley Mandela Miniatures
Philip Glass Saxophone Quartet
John Adams Fearful Symmetries (excerpt, Arr. McAllister)
Michael Torke July
Samuel Phillips-Corwin New work (world premiere)
New York City
Thursday, May 31, 2012 @ 7:30 p.m.
Symphony Space
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th Street
New York, NY 10025
Tickets: www.symphonyspace.org,
212.864.5400
$21 general admission, $15 students/seniors (with ID)
Philadelphia
Saturday, June 2, 2012 @ 7:00 p.m.
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
2125 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tickets at door only. No advance sales or reservations.
$20 general admission; $15 students/seniors (with ID)
2010-2011
Season
Xenakis and Beyond
New music from three generations of Greek composers
Philadelphia
Saturday, March 19, 2011
@ 7:30 PM
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
2125 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tickets $20 general admission,
$15 students/seniors (with ID) at door only.
No advance sales or reservations
New York City
Sunday, March 20, 2011 @ 8:00 PM
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
Tickets $20 general admission,
$15 students/seniors (with ID) at door only.
No advance sales or reservations
PRISM celebrates Iannis Xenakis and his influence over three
generations of Greek composers, with stunning works by Stratis
Minakakis, Georgia Spiropoulos, Michael Adamis, Giorgos
Koumendakis, and Xenakis himself.
PROGRAM
Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001) - Xas (1987)
Stratis Minakakis (b. 1979) - Alismono ke Cherome
(Based on a traditional song from Epirus, Greece) (2011)
WORLD PREMIERE
Stratis Minakakis - TA ENTOS (2006)
Stratis Minakakis - CHROIES BETA (2007)
Georgia Spiropoulos (b. 1965) - Práxis 4 Saxes
(2004/05)
Michael Adamis (b. 1929) - Eyynon (1988)
Giorgos Koumendakis (b. 1959) - Typewriter Tune
(2006)
AMERICAN PREMIERE
CD Release Concert
DEDICATION
Philadelphia
Saturday, May 28, 2011 @ 7:00 PM
World Cafe Live (upstairs)
3025 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215-222-1400
philly.worldcafelive.com
Tickets: $20 general admission, $15 students/seniors (with
ID)
New York City
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 @ 10:00 PM
The Stone
16 Avenue C (at East 2nd Street)
Tickets: $20 general admission,
$15 students/seniors (with ID) at door only.
No advance sales or reservations
thestonenyc.com
PRISM performs a program of stunning music from their new
innova CD, DEDICATION, featuring 23 short works composed
in 2004 in celebration of the Quartet’s 20th anniversary.
Music by Tim Berne, William Bolcom, Zack Browning, Robert
Capanna, Donnacha Dennehy, Dennis DeSantis, Nick Didkovsky,
Jason Eckardt, Roshanne Etezady, Reneé Favand-See,
Perry Goldstein, Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Matthew
Levy, Keith Moore, Greg Osby, Frank J. Oteri, James Primosch,
Tim Ries, Adam Silverman, Ken Ueno, Gregory Wanamaker, and
Chen Yi.
World Premieres
Bielawa, Goldstein, Haxo, Levy, Rakowski
New York City
Friday, June 3, 2011 @7:30 PM
Symphony Space
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th Street
New York, NY 10025
Ticket and information: www.symphonyspace.org,
212.864.5400
Tickets: $21 general admission, $15 students/seniors (with
ID)
Philadelphia
Saturday, June 4, 2011 @ 7:30 PM
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
2125 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tickets $20 general admission, $15 students/seniors (with
ID) at door only. No advance sales or reservations
The PRISM Quartet unveils freshly minted
works by David Rakowski, Lisa Bielawa, Perry Goldstein,
Matthew Levy, and Cara Haxo, the winner of the PRISM/Walden
School Young Composer Commissioning Award.
Program:
Double Duet - Lisa Bielawa
Filaments of Yesterday - Perry Goldstein
The Giving Tree - Cara Haxo
Lyric - Matthew Levy
Compass - David Rakowski
2009-2010
25th ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Saturday, November 14, 2009
2009 Festival of New American
Music
Sacramento State University
Sacramento, CA
more
information
Friday, January 22, 2010, 8pm
PRISM with Boston Modern Orchestra
Project
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory
PRISM and BMOP (Gil Rose, conductor) team up for a performance
of Wayne Peterson's "And The Winds Shall Blow"
for Saxophone Quartet, Winds, and Percussion.
tickets
and information
Friday, January 29, 2010, show at 5:45
PM
25th Anniversary CD Release
Concert
Art After Five
Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Tickets free with museum admission:
$16 adults; $14 seniors; $12 students; free for members
and children 12 and under
Information: (215) 684-7506 or artafter5@philamuseum.org
http://www.philamuseum.org/artafter5/
see concert description below
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Doors open at 6:30 PM, show at 7:30 PM
25th Anniversary CD Release
Concert
Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, New York City
Information and ticketing: 212.505.FISH (3474), lepoissonrouge.com
$15, two item minimum
Since 2008, the PRISM Quartet has released no fewer than
five recordings, encompassing an astonishing range of musical
styles, from Middle Eastern laments to progressive rock
to Highland bagpipes to Chinese folk music. To celebrate
the group’s 25th anniversary, PRISM performs a CD
release concert featuring music from each of the five albums,
including compositions by Steven Mackey, Roshanne Etezady,
Jacob TV, Lei Liang, and William Albright. You've never
heard saxophones quite like this!
Friday, June 4, 2010, 7:30pm
DAVE, The Premiere
Symphony Space
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th Street
New York, NY 10025
Ticket and information: www.symphonyspace.org,
212.864.5400
see concert description below
Saturday, June 5, 2010, 8pm
DAVE, The Premiere
Saturday, June 5, 2010, 8:00 pm
Settlement Music School, Mary Louise Curtis Branch
416 Queen Street
Philadelphia PA 19147
Map
Information: 215.438.5282
$20 general admission; $15 students/seniors, at door only
(no reservations required)
PRISM presents new music by guys named Dave, including world
premieres by David Biedenbender, David Laganella, David
Little, David Ludwig, and the New York/Philadelphia premiere
of "Revolutionary Etudes" by Pulitzer Prize winner
David Lang. The concert also features the world premiere
of a freshly minted work by “Davey” Rainero-de
Haan, winner of the 2010 PRISM/Walden School Student Commissioning
Award.
2008-2009 Season
Friday, November 21, 2008, 8:00pm
The Artistry of PRISM
Presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway
$16.50; $8 students | Box Office: 215- 569-8080 www.philadelphiachambermusic.org
PRISM offers an eclectic program of music new and old, including
the world premiere of “Memo 6b” by the Pulitzer
Prize-winner Bernard Rands, the Philadelphia premiere of
“Squeeze” by Augusta Read Thomas, and works
by James Primosch, Martin Bresnick, Gesualdo, Bach, Scarlatti,
Gershwin, and Cole Porter.
Saturday, November 22, 2008, 7:30pm
Memo to Self
Symphony Space
95th Street & Broadway
New York City
Box office: 212-864-5400
Tickets: $21; $16 students/seniors | www.symphonyspace.org
PRISM offers an eclectic program of music new and old, including
the world premiere of “Memo 6b” by the Pulitzer
Prize-winner Bernard Rands, the Philadelphia premiere of
“Squeeze” by Augusta Read Thomas, and works
by Kati Agocs and Zack Browning.
January 16-18, 2009
University of North Carolina
School of the Arts
Residency and recital (Recital on 1/17/09)
Winston-Salem, NC
More information, email Taimur
Sullivan
January 24, 2009
Franklin & Marshall College
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Friday, February 27, 2009 8:00pm
A New World of Sound
PRISM Quartet/Music From China
Settlement Music School
416 Queen Street
Philadelphia, PA
$20 general; $15 students/seniors, at door only
Information: 215-438-5282
United by their passion for fresh soundscapes, PRISM and
Music From China come together for a program of new works
for saxophone quartet and traditional Chinese instruments
with world premieres by Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Ming-Hsiu Yen,
and Wang Guowei.
Saturday, February 28, 2009, 8:00pm
A New World of Sound
PRISM Quartet/Music From China
Merkin Concert Hall
129 West 67th Street
New York City
$20 general; $10 students/seniors | www.musicfromchina.org
212-941-8733
United by their passion for fresh soundscapes, PRISM and
Music From China come together for a program of new works
for saxophone quartet and traditional Chinese instruments
with world premieres by Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Ming-Hsiu Yen,
and Wang Guowei.
Sunday, March 1, 2009, 2:00 pm
A New World of Sound
PRISM Quartet/Music From China
Freer Gallery of Art/Sackler Gallery
Smithsonian Museum
Washington, D.C.
tickets
and information
United by their passion for fresh soundscapes, PRISM and
Music From China come together for a program of new works
for saxophone quartet and traditional Chinese instruments
with world premieres by Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Ming-Hsiu Yen,
and Wang Guowei.
March 29, 2009
Central Michigan University
Recital and masterclass
Mt. Pleasant, MI
Saturday, May 16, 2009, 8:00 pm
Saxophones and Voices
PRISM Quartet/Cantori New York
Church of the Holy Trinity
316 East 88th Street
New York
Tickets online at www.cantorinewyork.com
or at door
$25 general; $20 seniors/$5 students
Cantori New York joins forces with PRISM in a riveting evening
of international music for chorus and saxophone quartet,
including world premieres by Efstratios Minakakis (Greece)
and Kristin Kuster (U.S.), as well as works by Hugi Guðmundsson
(Iceland), Giya Kancheli (Georgia), and Bernd Franke (Germany).
Sunday, May 17, 2009, 8:00 pm
Saxophones and Voices
PRISM Quartet/Cantori New York
Settlement Music School
416 Queen Street
Philadelphia, PA
$20 general; $15 students/seniors, at door only
Information: 215-438-5282
Cantori New York joins forces with PRISM in a riveting evening
of international music for chorus and saxophone quartet,
including world premieres by Efstratios Minakakis (Greece)
and Kristin Kuster (U.S.), as well as works by Hugi Guðmundsson
(Iceland), Giya Kancheli (Georgia), and Bernd Franke (Germany).
2007-2008
Season
Thursday, September 27, 2007, 7:30pm
World Premieres
At the vanguard of modern music for over 20 year, PRISM
unveils a crop of brand new sax quartets by Guggenheim fellow
Martin Bresnick, Rome Prize winner Rand Steiger, and Villa
Medicis Hors-les-Murs awardee Georgia Spiropoulos. The program
also features the world premiere of a new work by Victoria
Cheah, winner of PRISM’s Walden School Award, and
a U.S. premiere by Greek composer Stratis Minakakis.
Symphony Space
95th Street & Broadway (map)
New York, NY
212-864-5400
more
information
Saturday, September 29, 2007
World Premieres
see description from 9/27
Single Reed Summit
SUNY-Potsdam
Potsdam, NY
more information
Sunday,
September 30, 2007, 8pm
World Premieres
see description from 9/27
PNC Bank/Presser Recital Hall
Settlement Music School
416 Queen Street (map)
Philadelphia, PA
For reservations, call (215) 438-5282
Friday, February 15, 2008, 7:30pm
The Red Saxophone
PRISM will transport you to Russia with a rare program featuring
Alexander Glazunov’s dazzling Saxophone Quartet, Op.
109 and recent works by Elena Firsova, Dmitri Smirnov, and
Edison Denisov, electrifying composers from the Moscow Conservatory.
Symphony Space
95th Street & Broadway (map)
New York, NY
212-864-5400
more
information
Saturday, February 16, 2008, 8:00pm
The Red Saxophone
see description from 2/15
PNC Bank/Presser Recital Hall
Settlement Music School
416 Queen Street (map)
Philadelphia, PA
For reservations, call (215) 438-5282
Friday, April 25, 2008, 7:30pm
Low Blow: Music for Four Baritone
Saxophones
Low Blow: Music for Four Baritone Saxophones
The PRISM Quartet sheds their standard instrumentation in
a
ground-shaking evening of music for four baritone saxophones.
Sign up now to hear daring works by Martin Bresnick, Michael
Gordon, Olga
Neuwirth, and world premieres by Roshanne Etezady and PRISM's
own Matthew Levy. They're like regular saxophones, just
bigger!
Symphony Space
95th Street & Broadway (map)
New York, NY
212-864-5400
more
information
Saturday, April 26, 2008, 7:30pm
Low Blow: Music for Four Baritone
Saxophones
see description from 4/25
Low Blow is presented under the auspices of Heartworks,
a major group exhibition and auction of more than 40 artists
from NY, LA, London, and Philadelphia benefiting the Mazonni
Center, Pennsylvania's first and oldest HIV/AIDS service
organization.
ICE BOX Project Space
1400 N. American Street Philadelphia
Purchase tickets at www.inliquid.com/heartworks
or by calling 215-563-0663.
$35 for ages 18-30 and artists
$75 per individual
$125 per couple
PRISM patrons: purchase tickets with code "PRISM-257"
to be entitled to $35 tickets.
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