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INTERWOVEN Ensemble: Ami Concert Series Vol. 2
October 8, 2022 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm EDT
$30
CRS presents the second of three concerts of AMI, a new series of chamber concerts by the international ensemble INTERWOVEN in the award-winning White Room at CRS. The concert will take place on Saturday, October 8 at 7:30 pm and will feature gamin (piri/saenghwang) with Alex Fortes (violin), Keiko Tokunaga (violin), and Ana Kim (cello), performing compositions by Ki Young Kim and Theodore Wiprud as well as New York premieres by William Cooper and gamin.
The Korean piri and saenghwang are small instruments capable of producing surprisingly loud, earthy, and otherworldly sounds. The Korean concept of pitch is quite variable – any note can be a gesture with rising or falling attack, middle, and release. This program pairs two compositions by Korean composers with two by composers from the West, each of whom was inspired to bring together the differing sounds and conventions of Korean woodwinds and western strings in distinctly different and thrilling ways, expanding the possibilities of each.
Tickets are $30 and are available online through eventbrite.com and at the door for cash only, if not sold out. Seating is limited and includes floor seating on blankets. All patrons must show proof of vaccination at the door in order to be admitted, no exceptions. In addition, masks must be worn throughout.
Founded by Grammy-winner Keiko Tokunaga, INTERWOVEN is a chamber ensemble whose mission is to bring together the sounds from different places and time. The ensemble name derives from the idea that music making is like creating a tapestry, woven together with threads that represent and celebrate diverse origins, traditions and materials.
Ami means “to knit” in Japanese and “friend” in many Romance languages. By bringing together musicians from different cultural backgrounds to play western and non-western music, traditional and contemporary, side by side, INTERWOVEN likewise hopes to introduce patrons of different backgrounds to the wonders and commonalities to be found in unfamiliar traditions, to inspire new friendships, and to strengthen our cross-cultural connections.
Deep listening forms the foundation of the practice and programming of CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing). Free from distractions such as food and drink service, we share these opportunities to listen deeply with you, that we may let go of what we know or think, and simply experience.
The first concert in the series will take place on September 24 and will feature Yoko Reikano Kimura (koto) performing works by Grammy and Oscar winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and others. The third concert will occur on October 29 and will feature Andy Lin (erhu/viola), performing Chen Yi‘s Fiddle Suite for String Quartet and other compositions.
TICKET LINK:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/interwoven-ensemble-ami-concert-series-vol-2-tickets-404303722317
COVID POLICY:
Proof of full vaccination is required to enter, no exceptions. Masks must be worn throughout. Seating is limited and includes seating on the floor. Please do not come if you are symptomatic. Ask for a refund instead or donate your ticket.
VENUE LOCATION:
The White Room at CRS
123 4th Ave FL3
New York, NY 10003
212-677-8621
DIRECTIONS:
CRS is located on the 3rd floor of a walk-up building above Think Coffee, between 12th & 13th streets, one block east of The Strand Bookstore. There is no elevator or wheelchair access.
NEAREST SUBWAY STATIONS:
4/5/6, N/R/Q, L trains to 14th St / Union Square
ABOUT THE MUSICIANS
A native of San Diego, New York-based violinist ALEX FORTES is recognized for his versatility and warmth. Recent performances have included concerts in France,
Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Indonesia, as well as throughout North America. His playing is featured on A Far Cry’s 2014 Grammy-nominated album, Dreams and Prayers, as well as on Law of Mosaics, which The New Yorker’s Alex Ross hailed as one of the top ten albums of 2014. He can also be heard on a forthcoming album with the Henschel Quartett and pianist Donald Berman featuring the music of Chris Theofanidis.
Fortes holds a strong interest in finding new contexts in which to experience familiar music. His arrangements of Schubert lieder and chamber music were hailed by the Boston Globe as “uniformly resourceful and complementary…smart, subtle.” In May 2016, A Far Cry premiered his arrangement with Sarah Darling of Bach’s Goldberg Variations in collaboration with pianist Simone Dinnerstein.
A strong advocate for the importance of social and civic engagement, Alex spent a year working as an administrator and playing for the Longwood Symphony, an orchestra associated with Boston’s medical community that uses its performances to raise funds and awareness for medical nonprofits. In May 2010, he was chosen by former U.S. Senator and New School President Bob Kerrey to be the student speaker at the New School’s commencement ceremony, where he spoke about the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation and civic engagement for fostering innovation and strong communities.
Alex has participated in educational residencies in both English and Spanish related to entrepreneurship, music performance and education, at colleges and public schools throughout the United States. He holds music degrees from Mannes College and a B.A. in Government from Harvard College.
Indiana-native ANA KIM is a versatile cellist based in New York, who performs on modern and historical instruments with various ensembles throughout the United States, Europe, and South Korea. She performs with ensembles including the Sebastians, American Classical Orchestra, and Boston Baroque.
Ana has participated in festivals such as Yellow Barn, Verbier Academy, Music@ Menlo, and International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove. She has received a Doctorate at the University of Southern California and has studied Historical Performance at Juilliard.
Her teachers include János Starker, Ralph Kirshbaum, Laurence Lesser, and Phoebe Carrai. With a keen interest in education, Ana has participated in outreach residencies with Kneisel Hall Festival in Maine and Listen Closely in New York, and the American Classical Orchestra’s Classical Music for Kids. She had taught at Pacific Union College and public schools in Napa Valley. She is currently teaching at the Browning School in New York City.
GAMIN is a Korean-born multi-instrumentalist who specializes in traditional Korean wind instruments. She tours the world performing traditional Korean music and engages in numerous cross-disciplinary collaborations. She is a designated Yisuja, official holder of South Korea’s Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 46.
From 2000 to 2010, gamin was the principal piri player at the National Gugak Orchestra in Seoul. She has received several cultural exchange program grants and collaborated in cross-cultural new music works with world-acclaimed musicians. She was a featured artist at the Silkroad concert in Seoul (2018), performing on stage with the founder, Yo-Yo Ma.
Her album “Nong” was released by Innova Records. Her Carnegie Hall solo début, accompanied by Nangye Gugak Orchestra, was postponed due to the pandemic. Recently, she was awarded the prestigious two-year Jerome Hill Foundation Artist Fellowship.
Winner of the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Chamber Music/ Small Ensemble Performance, violinist KEIKO TOKUNAGA spends most of her days touring and performing globally as a soloist and chamber musician. Keiko has performed, toured and recorded extensively with the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet from 2005 to 2019, and has been praised by the Strings Magazine for possessing a sound “with probing quality that is supple and airborne” and for her “pure, pellucid bow strokes”. She has soloed with various orchestras including the Spanish National Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya and Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Orchestra.
In 2021, Keiko founded an online concert series, Jukebox Concerts, in order to provide artistic outlets for musicians who lost their engagements due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The performances were made available not only to the subscribers, but also to residents of nursing homes, hospitals and assisted living facilities across the country. Later in the year, she created INTERWOVEN, a multi-cultural ensemble whose mission is to eliminate discrimination against the AAAPI (Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community by integrating the musical traditions of the East and West.
While Keiko played the Attacca Quartet, the ensemble won numerous prestigious awards including the GRAMMY Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance, First Prize of the 7th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2011; the Third Prize and the Australian Broadcast Corporation Classic FM Listener’s Choice Award of the 6th Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in 2011. The Attacca Quartet served as the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at The Juilliard School from 2011 till 2013, and as artist-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the 2014-15 season.
When she is not on the road, Keiko enjoys her career as an educator. She is currently on faculty at Fordham University. In the past, she taught at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division; the Hunter College of New York; New York University; the Port Townsend Chamber Music Festival; and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute.
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS
KI YOUNG KIM is an international, genre-bending composer whose work defies categorization. Since becoming a recipient of the Asian Cultural Council Grant in 1995, he has broadened his music career in Japan and New York while collaborating with dancers, theater directors, and visual artists. A classically-trained composer and scholar of Korean avant-garde theater, Kim has received multiple commissions from the National Gugak Center, Korea’s premier traditional music center. He is also the founder of CMB 567, an organization examining intra-Asian relations through contemporary art and music.
Kim’s collaborators include pioneering artists like Shin-Ja Hong, Asoon Ahn, Gloria McLean, Whitewave, String Noise, and Chang-Jin Lee. His compositions have premiered at La MaMa, Dance Theater Workshop, Tenri Gallery, and other venues. He is currently based in New York, where he directs Quiet Revolution, a multidisciplinary performance combining Western and Korean instruments in ritualistic meditation. In 2019, he became a composer-in-residence at Brandeis University.
THEODORE WIPRUD is a composer, educator, and arts leader. He is widely known for having served as Vice President, Education, at the New York Philharmonic from 2004-2018, and as host of the iconic Young People’s Concerts.
At the same time, he has produced a steady stream of works including a Sinfonietta (2016), premiered by the South Dakota Symphony; a Violin Concerto (Katrina), composed for Ittai Shapira, and released with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic on Champs Hill Records; a one-act opera, My Last Duchess, with libretto by Tom Dulack based on poetry by Robert Browning; a song cycle, For Allegra, on a variety of American poets; and a number of pieces based on gugak, Korean traditional music, and including gugak instruments like p’iri, gayageum, and haegeum.
Many of Wiprud’s works explore spiritual experience, like the orchestral Hosannas of the Second Heaven and Grail; his two string quartets; and a number of choral pieces. Other works respond to American literature, including American Journal, based on Robert Hayden’s poem, and A Georgia Song, a setting of Maya Angelou.
Wiprud graduated cum laude in biochemistry at Harvard and earned a master’s in theory and composition at Boston University, where he worked with David Del Tredici. He also studied with Robin Holloway at Cambridge University, and with Jacob Druckman and Bernard Rands at Aspen.
Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle for his richly soaring vocal lines, WILLIAM DAVID COOPER is the composer of three operas and music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, Baroque instruments, chorus, film, and dance. His operas have been performed by Fort Worth Opera, West Edge Opera, andthe National Opera Association, among others. His music has also been performed by Augustin Hadelich, Liza Stepanova, The New York Virtuoso Singers, C4, Antico Moderno, Splinter Reeds, the Lysander Trio, ECCE Ensemble, the Calder Quartet, the Slee Sinfonietta, and the Juilliard Orchestra. An alumnus of UC Davis and the Juilliard School, Cooper serves on the faculty of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and as organist and choir master at St. James Episcopal Church in New London, CT.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
CRS (CENTER FOR REMEMBERING & SHARING) is a spiritual healing and art center founded in 2004 by the writer/lecturer/spiritual counselor Yasuko Kasaki and artist Christopher Pelham. Our mission is guided by A Course in Miracles (ACIM). ACIM says that recognizing that you and your brother are actually one is the only way to experience peace. The mission of CRS is to promote the awareness that limitless creativity lives within each of us. We train minds to recognize the light in themselves and others and provide them opportunities to share their inner vision through the healing and creative arts. Since its founding CRS has provided numerous residencies and performance and exhibition opportunities to artists from all over the world. Currently, CRS is a multi-year sponsor of M³ (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians), a platform created to empower, elevate, normalize and give visibility to women, non-binary musicians and those of other historically underrepresented gender identities in intersection with race, sexuality, or ability across generations in the US and worldwide, through a radical model of mentorship and musical collaborative commissions.