HEAR NOW CELEBRATES THE 2021 FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSIC
BY CONTEMPORARY LOS ANGELES COMPOSERS
10TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL – 2021
– The Virtues of the Virtual –
Featuring 27 New and Recent Compositions
HEAR NOW 2021 FESTIVAL of New Music by Contemporary Los Angeles Composers, in collaboration with People Inside Electronics. Will showcase fabulous chamber music, mind-boggling electroacoustic music, performed by some of Los Angeles’ finest musicians, including the resident ensembles: The Lyris Quartet, Brightwork newmusic, and HEX vocal ensemble. September 23 – 26, and October 1-3. The seven, 50-minute programs will be broadcast over YouTubePremiere at 7:00 pm PST each evening.
Hugh Levick commented, “We are very excited about how these recordings look and sound, and we are looking forward to being able to share them with you. Since June the fabulous videographer, Louis Ng, has been recording HEAR NOW 2021. We’re thrilled to present this year’s HEAR NOW commission by Nina Shekhar entitled “Bye-Bye Baby” for string quartet. Each program is about 50-minutes and each piece is preceded by a 1–2-minute introduction by the composer. Written program notes and musicians’ credits will be part of the YouTube newly recorded presentation.
“The twenty-seven compositions in HEAR NOW 2021 have been generated by the inner need of the artists, and in this moment when fear, calculation and uncertainty are pervasive this music will be experienced for what it is—audible luminosity!
“The online concerts will be free because we refuse to have a paywall standing between the music and our audience. We want as many people as possible to experience this music.”
Thursday, September 23 Concert
Thomas Kotcheff – wgah’nagl fhtagn
Theodore Haber – For the sake of Forgetting
Alexander E. Miller – Finding Breath
Hitomi Oba – Fifteenth (LA premiere)
Friday, September 24 Concert
John Williams – Conversations
Arash Majd – Metamorphose
Gernot Wolfgang – Every Second Counts (world premiere)
Brandon J. Rolle – impulse (LA premiere)
Saturday, September 25 Concert
Benjamin Webster – Liguria
Nicholas Deyoe – NCTRN 3
Vera Ivanova – Electrostatic Whale
Leanna Primiani – Holy Order: Shaker Dances
Sunday, September 26 Concert
Joseph Pereira – Michelangelo Fragments
Abigail Johnson – Acoustic Letter Generator
John Eagle – canal(s) (WC premiere)
Nina Shekhar – rockabye-bye (HEAR NOW commission) (world premiere)
Friday, October 1 Concert
William Kraft – Encounters III
Niloufar Shiri – Sarab
JP Merz – Sestina (after Pound) (WC premiere)
Timothy Peterson – Talk It Out (WC premiere)
Saturday, October 2 Concert
Jack Van Zandt – El Oro de los Tigres (US premiere)
Hugh Levick – Prayer (world premiere)
Jane Meenaghan – Somatic
Moni Jasmine Guo – Fallen Skin, Flying Wings
Sunday, October 3 Concert
Peter Knell – Three California Landscapes (String Quartet No. 2)
Sarah Gibson – Intertwine (LA premiere)
David Harris – Ring of Bone
HEAR NOW Music Festival promotes the breadth and diversity of concert music being written by composers living in and associated with the LA area by presenting concerts and informative activities of high artistic quality to the general public. HEAR NOW strives to achieve equity and inclusiveness by reaching out in an Open Call to all composers in the area.
Staff:
Hugh Levick, Artistic Director
Peter Knell, Associate Artistic Director
Joseph Pereira, Associate Artistic Director
Vicki Ray, Associate Artistic Director
Heidi Lesemann, General Manager
Dallas Howard, Assistant Director
Timothy Loo and Aron Kallay, Musicians Contractors
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Honorary Artistic Director of Hear Now.
Jen Wang and Isaac Schankler are co-Artistic Directors of People Inside Electronics
HEAR NOW is supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, The Amphion Foundation, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture, the State of California Small Business Association Covid Relief Grant and individual contributions.
In response to Covid-19 our 2020 festival was canceled. Please enjoy our 2020 E-Festival featuring pieces from the last 10 years!
Canceled 2020 Festival Program:
April 23rd — UCLA Orchestra Concert — 8:00PM — Free Concert
Featuring UCLA Philharmonia with Neal Stulberg conducting & Nathalie Bonin, violin
UCLA – Schoenberg Hall, 445 Charles E. Young Dr. E. Los Angeles
CATCHPHRASE — Ian Dicke (WC Premiere)
INCLUSION — Hugh Levick (World Premiere)
BRIEF INTERMISSION
“FIRE” from The Great Circle — Jeff Beal
TAKHT — Saad Haddad (WC Premiere)
BRIEF INTERMISSION
UNLEASH — Mark Weiser (World Premiere)
ANDRONICUS – for violin and orch. — Jairo Duarte-Lopez (World Premiere)
April 24th – Electroacoustic Concert – 8:00PM
IN COLLABORATION WITH PEOPLE INSIDE ELECTRONICS (P.I.E.)
Featuring BRIGHTWORK newmusic
Throop Unitarian Universalist Church, Throop Hall
300 S. Los Robles Ave, Pasadena
SESTINA (AFTER POUND) — violin and electronics — JP Merz (WC Premiere)
ELECTROSTATIC WHALE — bass clarinet and electronic — Vera Ivanova
CANALS — clarinet, violin, cello, piano — John Eagle (WC Premiere)
FINDING BREATH — violin, piano and electronics — Alexander E. Miller
INTERMISSION
RING OF BONE — vocal sextet — David Harris (WC Premiere)
IMPULSE – viola and electronics — viola and electronic — Brandon Rolle (LA Premiere)
SOMATIC — string quartet and electronics — Jane Meenaghan
April 30th — Chamber Concert 1 — 8:00PM — Free Concert
Cal State LA – MUSIC HALL
5151 State University Dr., Los Angeles
UN RIO — violin & contralto —Peter Knell
HOLY ORDER SHAKER DANCES — oboe, violin, cello, piano — Leanna Primiani
FIFTEENTH — soprano & string quartet —Hitomi Oba (LA Premiere)
ORBIT E — flute, clarinet, cello, piano —Russell Steinberg (WC premiere)
SARAB – string quartet —Niloufar Shiri
SONG OF HAFEZ — soprano, piano, flute, violin, viola, cello — David Lefkowitz
SOGNARE VIGNETTE — clarinet, cello, piano — Nicole Brady
METAMORPHOSE — flute, bass clarinet, vibraphone, cello, piano — Arash Majd
May 1st — Chamber Concert 2 — 8:00PM — Free Concert
Los Angeles City College — Herb and Lani Alpert Recital Hall
855 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles
LIGURIA — string quartet — Benjamin Webster (WC Premiere)
FOR THE SAKE OF FORGETTING — piano, glockenspiel, violin, cello Theodore Haber
OBSIDIAN — piano, string quintet —Sakari D. Vanderveer
ZENSPIEL — solo soprano, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, piano — Vicki Ray
FALLEN SKIN, FLYING WINGS — clarinet, violin, cello — Moni Jasmine Guo (World Premiere)
WGAH’ NAGL FHTAGN — 4 hands piano & toy piano — Thomas Kotcheff
May 2nd – Chamber Concert 3 – 8:00PM
FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF VENICE
815 Venice Blvd., Venice
CHACONNE PART 1 — flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion — John Kennedy
EL ORO DE LOS TIGRES —soprano, A clarinet, harp, cello — Jack Van Zandt (US Premiere)
CONVERSATIONS — solo piano — John Williams
HEAR NOW COMMISSION — string quartet — Nina Shekhar (World Premiere)
ACOUSTIC LETTER GENERATOR — trumpet, cello — Abigail Johnson
while twigs make minor adjustments —soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano — Kevin Zhang (LA Premiere)
e il naufragar m e dolce in questo mare — violin, viola, percussion, piano — Sean Heim
May 3rd — Chamber Music — 5:00PM
FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF VENICE
815 Venice Blvd., Venice
ENCOUNTERS III — trumpet, percussion — William Kraft
MUSAS MEXICANAS — piano, string quartet — Juan Pablo Contreras
DUO — soprano, double bass — Sarah Gibson (LA Premiere)
EVERY SECOND COUNTS — bassoon, cello, piano — Gernot Wolfgang (World premiere)
NCTRN 3 — amplified piccolo — Nicholas Deyoe
TALK IT OUT — alto sax, piano, drum kit — Timothy Peterson (WC Premiere)
