Versipel New Music

presents:

Mike McCurdy (percussion) and Christa Van Alstine (clarinet)



Marigny Opera House – October 9, 2014 at 8pm

We’re kicking off our inaugural season with a concert featuring two dynamic New York City performers, Mike McCurdy (percussion) Christa Van Alstine (clarinet) in an innovative concert featuring works by living composers from Louisiana and New York. Van Alstine and McCurdy will perform a dazzling array of new works for clarinet/bass clarinet and percussion that re-envisions the possibilities of this unique instrumental combination. The program will feature the world premiere of works by Louisiana-based composers Kari Besharse and Philip Schuessler, as well as pieces by UNO professor and Rome Prize-winning composer Yotam Haber, New York based composers Max Duykers, Tristan Perich and Pulitzer prize-winning composer David Lang. Locally-based musicians Katalin Lukacs (piano) Philip von Maltzahn (cello) and Travis Henthorn (percussion) will join McCurdy and Van Alstine on Yotam Haber’s Stendhal Syndrome (Louisiana premiere) and David Lang’s Stick Figure.

Concert Program

The Glitter on the Undersurface (2014) by Kari Besharse (World Premiere)

fireflies were making decodable signals on behalf on stranded spirits, or that a bat was writing a legible tale of torture in the bruised and branded sky (2014) by Philip Schuessler (World Premiere)

Stendhal Syndrome (2008) by Yotam Haber (Southeastern U.S. Premiere)

Momentary Expanse (2008) by Tristan Perich (Louisiana Premiere)

Theia (2014) by Max Duykers (Louisiana Premiere)

Stick Figure (2001) by David Lang

TICKETS:

Tickets: Online: $15 adults/$7.50 seniors & students http://www.marignyoperahouse.org/

At the door (cash only): $20 adults/$10 seniors and students

Marigny Opera House

725 St Ferdinand Street

New Orleans, LA 70117

(504) 948-9998

Read on for more info about the visiting performers and composers featured on this show!

About visiting artists Mike McCurdy and Christa Van Alstine:

Recognized by the New York Times as “animated…. careful and diligent,” Christa Van Alstine, clarinetist, lives in New York City and is dedicated to new music repertoire. She is the clarinetist with Red Light New Music, bass clarinetist with Hotel Elefant and performs frequently with contemporary ensembles Talea, Wet Ink, Novus NY (Trinity Wall St.), Mantra Percussion, Iktus, Argento, Ascolta (Germany), Toca Loca (Toronto), skogensemble (Sweden). Christa has performed and premiered works at festivals including Darmstadt (Germany), Impuls (Austria), soundXis (Canada), avantX (Canada), Moving Sounds (New YorkCity) and the 12 Nights (Miami).

A founding member of Mantra Percussion, Michael McCurdy also performs with The Knells, Hi Red Center, Susan Marshall & Company, The Yehudim, and as a soloist and clinician at music festivals and universities throughout North America.

He is a champion of new music -commissioning, premiering and recording music written by living composers. Many of these works blend music with dance, with text and theatre, and with electronics or interactive computer.

In addition to performance, Michael manages Red Poppy Music — publishing, promoting and managing the works of Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, the co-founders of Bang on a Can.