This week: concerts in New York (March 3 – March 9, 2014)

Orli Shaham

Pianist Orli Shaham and friends present a concert in celebration of the release of her new CD, American Grace, featuring works by Steven Mackey and John Adams.
Monday, March 3 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $20-$35
SubCulture, 45 Bleecker Street, Downstairs, New York, NY
..:: Website

An Evening of New Music by Michael Linton

French bass-baritone Edwin Crossley-Mercer makes his New York debut in the premiere of Carmina Catulli, a 17-movement song cycle on the poems of Catullus. Tenor H. Stephen Smith, who recently performed in Carmen with the Folkoperan at BAM, premieres Seven Franchetti Songs, settings of poetry by the Italian-American polymath Cody Franchetti. Both works are by composer Michael Linton. Because the poems of Catullus deal with issues of sex in a frank manner, some members of the public might find them objectionable.
Monday, March 3 at 8 PM
Tickets $35
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave, New York, NY
..:: Website

Harrison Birtwistle: 80th Birthday Celebration

The New York New Music Ensemble (NYNME) will highlight the chamber music of Grawemeyer Award-winning composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle in a concert at New York’s DiMenna Center for Classical Music. This event—an 80th birthday celebration—will feature three US premieres, as well as several other acclaimed works. Performing on the concert are NYNME members Daniel Druckman (percussion), Stephen Gosling (piano), Christopher Finckel (cello), Linda Quan (violin), and Jean Kopperud (clarinet), alongside a number of guest artists including conductor Oliver Hagen, flutist Sooyun Kim, clarinetist Benjamin Fingland, violinist Deborah Wong, violist Lois Martin, and harpist Bridget Kibbey.
Monday, March 3 at 8 PM
Tickets $20, $10 students
DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Mary Flagler Cary Hall, 450 West 37th Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Pop-Up Concerts | Ekmeles

In their Miller Theatre debut, the New York-based vocal ensemble Ekmeles brings a program of contemporary a cappella works to the stage, with a variety of permutations from solos and duets to full-ensemble sextets. Featuring an all-star cast of singers, Ekmeles (which takes its name from the Ancient Greek word describing complex musical tonalities “not appropriate for musical usage”) promises to push the boundaries of vocal performance and unleash a torrent of new and exciting sound in the process.
Tuesday, March 4 at 6 PM
Free
Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway, New York, NY
..:: Website

Bohemian Gems

George Stoffan performs music by Czech composers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Wednesday, March 5 at 7 PM
Free
Czech Center, 321 East 73rd Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Mick Rossi with Kermit Driscoll, Michael Sarin, Jamey Haddad and CJ Camerieri

The ensemble will be doing new compositions for quintet conspiring towards the collision of linear and non-linear minimalism, free jazz, rock, folk, ethnic and contemporary classical music. Featuring Kermit Driscoll (Bill Frisell), Michael Sarin (Dave Douglas), Jamey Haddad (Joe Lovano) and CJ Camerieri (Bon Iver).
Wednesday, March 5 at 7 PM
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow Street, Second Floor, New York, NY
..:: Website

Kate Liu

NY International Piano Competition Kate Liu performs music by Haydn, Hans Werner Henze, Leon Kirchner, Chopin.
Thursday, March 6 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $25-$60
SubCulture, 45 Bleecker Street, Downstairs, New York, NY
..:: Website

Charlemagne Palestine, solo organ

Palestine originally developed his organ technique in 1964 at the Unitarian Church on Central Park West, gave his first public performance in Holland in 1979, and has since played internationally on the instrument. In this concert he performs on one of New York City’s most distinctive instruments: the Aeolian-Skinner organ at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, known for its “American Classic” sound.
Thursday, March 6 at 8 PM
Tickets $25, $18 members/students
Plymouth Church, 75 Hicks Street, Brooklyn, NY
..:: Website

Ensemble LPR

Ensemble LPR and performs the U.S. Premiere of Bryce Dessner’s Lachrymae, Jonny Greenwood’s Suite from There Will Be Blood, and Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.
Friday, March 7 at 8 PM
Tickets $20-$30
(le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Vienna Reinvented | Talea Ensemble

The Talea Ensemble performs three U.S. premieres of compositions for large ensemble by Olga Neuwirth, Bernhard Gander, and Pierluigi Billone. Presented in conjunction with Carnegie Hall’s Vienna: City of Dreams Festival. Co-presented with the Austrian Cultural Forum New York.
Friday, March 7 at 8 PM
Free
Czech Center, 321 East 73rd Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

James Moore

Guitarist James Moore plays a solo set, including John Zorn’s 1978 composition Dominoes which is performed on three guitars and an array of objects, incorporating written music along with improvisational techniques from the composer’s game pieces of that era. James will also play Lainie Fefferman’s “Three Necks”, a portrait piece based upon a scrabble game between friends.
Friday, March 7 at 8:45 PM
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Music of Brian Erickson and Lester St. Louis

Brian Erickson, 23, and Lester St. Louis, 21, are two young composers actively working and collaborating in New York’s music scene, and look forward to presenting their latest works, March 8, at Spectrum NYC on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. There will be a wide range of chamber works presented, in both acoustic and electronic mediums.
Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Jessica Meyer

For Federico Garcia Lorca, duende is “a power, not a behavior”. Born out of the “cante jondo” or “deep song” of Andalusia, duende is when art reaches a heightened state of emotion and expression. It is the spirit that lives within the blue notes, in the break in a singer’s voice, or the scrape of a bow hitting the string. In her works written for viola and loop-machine, Jessica Meyer explores a wide palette of sonic colors and rhythms in search of “that mysterious power that everyone feels but no philosopher can explain.”
Saturday, March 8 at 8:45 PM
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow Street, New York, NY
..:: Website