The Fall 2009 concert series at Columbia University’s Italian Academy for Advanced Studies will present three recitals by leading proponents of contemporary music.
November 4, Miranda Cuckson, violin and viola
With Blair McMillen, piano
Francesco Maria Veracini: Sonata No. 11 in E Major
Franco Donatoni: Ciglio III
Stefano Gervasoni: Tornasole
Busoni: Sonata No. 1, Op. 29
Sought after as a soloist and chamber musician in a wide range of repertoire, violinist/violist Miranda Cuckson has appeared internationally as soloist with many orchestras, including her 2008 debut with the Jerusalem Symphony conducted by Leon Botstein. Her CD recording with the Czech National Symphony of concertos by Korngold and Ponce was released by Centaur Records to much praise. She subsequently made three recital CDs of twentieth-century American music for Centaur: lauded disks of music by Ralph Shapey, Donald Martino, and Ross Lee Finney, for which she was awarded grants from the Copland and Ditson Funds. Her upcoming recording projects include another Copland-funded CD of Shapey's violin music, and the solo violin works of Michael Hersch for Vanguard Classics. Ms. Cuckson made her recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall as winner of the Presser Music Award. She has performed at such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Library of Congress, Zankel Hall, Miller Theatre, 92nd Street Y, Phillips Collection, Guggenheim Museum, Bargemusic, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Marlboro, Bridgehampton, Bodensee, Salon des Arts Sofia, and Lincoln Center festivals. A passionate champion of new music, she is involved in groups including the Argento Chamber Ensemble, counter(induction, ACME, and Sequitur, and she has worked with composers such as Henri Dutilleux, Elliott Carter, John Adams, Salvatore Sciarrino, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Mario Davidovsky. Her upcoming events include the world premiere of a work for violin and ensemble by Jeffrey Mumford, and a Composers Portrait concert at Miller Theatre of Shapey's music, for which she will be artistic director. Following her recent performance of Elliott Carter’s Duo for violin and piano at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the McKim Fund commissioned composer Harold Meltzer to write her a sonata, to be premiered at the Library for the 50th anniversary of Fritz Kreisler's death. Ms. Cuckson studied at The Juilliard School, where her teachers included Robert Mann, Dorothy DeLay, and Felix Galimir, and she recently received her doctorate. She teaches at Mannes The New School for Music.