Events

Past Event

Three Sopranos: Lisa Bielawa

April 15, 2009
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
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Three takes on Berio’s 1966 Sequenza III, and programs of other Italian contemporary music

The Spring 2009 concert series continues with composer-vocalist Lisa Bielawa.

Bielawa takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. The New York Times describes her music as, “ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically slightly tart.” Bielawa played the violin and piano, sang, and wrote music from early childhood. She moved to New York two weeks after receiving her B.A. in Literature in 1990 from Yale University, and became an active participant in New York musical life. She began touring with the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1992, and in 1997 co-founded the MATA Festival. Bielawa's recent work, Chance Encounter, is written for migrating ensemble and soprano Susan Narucki for performance in public places.  The New York Times called the piece, “one of those performances that make downtown Downtown.” On May 22, 2009, Ms Bielawa's Concerto for Orchestra will be premiered by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. In 2008, Ms. Bielawa's Double Violin Concertoreceived its debut performances by BMOP in Boston in March and in New York as part of the MATA Festival in April. In 2007, Ms. Bielawa's music was released on CDs by the Tzadik and Albany Records labels. Bielawa's next CD, The Lay of the Love, is scheduled for release in the spring of 2009 as the inaugural disc of Premiere Commission Recordings, a new label based in New York. Bielawa has received fellowships and awards from the Alpert-Ucross Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy, the Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation, ASCAP, and the Fondation Royaumont in France. In 2007-2008, Lisa Bielawa was a Radcliffe Institute Fellow. An enthusiastic advocate for the field, Ms. Bielawa now serves on the board of the MATA Festival. In addition, she has served on the board of the American Music Center and taught composition through the New York Youth Symphony Making Score program. In addition to her work as a vocalist with the Philip Glass Ensemble, she tours and records with John Zorn and has premiered and recorded works by numerous other composer colleagues.