CHARLES CURTIS & ALECK KARIS Play Morton Feldman March 21, 2008

Non-Event presents

Charles Curtis and Aleck Karis
performing Morton Feldman’s “Patterns in a Chromatic Field”

Williams Hall at the New England Conservatory
30 Gainsborough Street
Boston, MA
8:30 pm, FREE

About the artists:

Cellist CHARLES CURTIS studied at Juilliard under Harvey Shapiro and Leonard Rose. Since the early eighties he has pursued a dual path, working in the worlds of experimental rock and sound art while continuing as a highly respected performer of the traditional cello repertoire. In 1983 he was a founding member of the ground-breaking poetry-rock group King Missile, and he appeared in the downtown New York rock scene with groups such as You Suck, Dogbowl, Borbetomagus and Bongwater, on record and in live shows. In 1985 he was awarded the Gregor Piatigorsky Prize of the New York Cello Society, and was appointed to the faculty of Princeton University. In 1987 he began a long and fruitful relationship with La Monte Young, becoming director of the Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble and giving premieres of Young’s work throughout the world. He also established an ongoing practice of experimentation with sound, electronics and improvisation, originally with composer/performer Michael J. Schumacher as Dual, and later leading his own groups combining experimental rock with spoken texts and sine wave environments. From 1989 until 2000 he was first solo cellist of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Hamburg, and he has appeared as soloist with major conductors and orchestras worldwide. Currently, Curtis is Professor of Contemporary Music Performance at the University of California, San Diego.

For over twenty years ALECK KARIS has been one of the leading pianists in the New York contemporary music scene. Particularly associated with the music of Elliott Carter, Mario Davidovsky, and John Cage, he has championed their works all over the world. Among his numerous solo piano discs on Bridge Records are acclaimed recordings of Stravinsky, Schumann, Carter and John Cage. Recently, Karis performed Birtwistle’s marathon solo work Harrison’s Clocks in London and New York, Feldman’s “Patterns in a Chromatic Field” in New York, and appeared at the Venice Biennale. At home with both contemporary and classical works, Karis has performed concertos from Mozart to Birtwistle with New York’s Y Chamber Symphony, St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony and the Erie Symphony. He has been featured at leading international festivals including Bath, Geneva, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Miami, New York Philharmonic’s Horizons Festival, Caramoor, and the Warsaw Autumn Festival. He is the pianist with Speculum Musicae. Awarded a solo recitalists’ fellowship by the NEA, Karis has been honored with two Fromm Foundation grants “in recognition of his commitment to the music of our time.”

This concert is supported in part by a grant from the LEF Foundation.

Official Website: http://www.nonevent.org/upcoming/charles_curtis_alex_karis_play/