Bridging the Gap I

Name: Bridging the Gap I
Start: 2016-12-04T15:00:00-05:00
End: 2016-12-04T16:00:00-05:00
Location: National Sawdust

Curated by Robert Sirota

Sunday, December 4th @ 4pm

Featuring composers from the Manhattan School of Music – Richard Danielpour, Yunzhuo Gan, Paolo Marchettini, and Marjorie Merryman – and Manhattan School of Music’s premiere ensemble TACTUS

Tickets

Food and drink will be available

Bridging the Gap I

Pre-concert discussion with Robert Sirota at 3:15pm

Featuring composers from the Manhattan School of Music – Richard Danielpour, Yunzhuo Gan, Paolo Marchettini, and Marjorie Merryman – and Manhattan School of Music’s premiere ensemble TACTUS

About the Series

Bridging the Gap, created by National Sawdust Curator Robert Sirota, is a series of concerts of chamber, choral, and solo compositions that explore the student/teacher and mentor/mentee relationships between generations of composers.

The series will emphasize the influences that brought about the expansion of musical styles and approaches over the past 20-30 years. How has music changed? What are the aesthetic values and sound worlds from which this new music is emerging? What are the roles of academic vs. non-academic influences? How have older composers been influenced by the work of their younger colleagues?

Each concert will be preceded by a discussion with composer mentors, mentees, and performers, led by a distinguished thought leader. The concerts themselves will include performances of works by both younger composers and the teachers who have influenced their development.

Robert Sirota

Over four decades, composer Robert Sirota has developed a distinctive voice, clearly discernible in all of his work – whether symphonic, choral, stage, or chamber music. His music has been performed by orchestras across the US and Europe, ensembles such as yMusic, Chameleon Arts, Dinosaur Annex; the Chiara, American, Ethel, and Blair String Quartets; the Peabody and Webster Trios; and at music festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn and Bowdoin.

Robert Sirota’s extensive work as a teacher and administrator has given him a unique perspective on the interactions between generations of composers. Before becoming Director of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in 1995, he served as Chairman of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University and Director of Boston University’s School of Music. From 2005-2012, he was the President of Manhattan School of Music, where he was also a member of the composition faculty.

A native New Yorker, Robert Sirota received his music education at Juilliard, Oberlin, and Harvard and divides his time between New York and Searsmont, Maine with his wife, Episcopal priest and organist Victoria Sirota. They frequently collaborate on new works, with Victoria as librettist and performer, at times also working with their children, Jonah and Nadia, both world-class violists.