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Event
Borromeo Quartet premiere Mohammed Fairouz
PLEASE NOTE VENUE CHANGE:
at Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral, 113 Remsen St, Brooklyn
The Named Angels, Vocal and Chamber Music by Mohammed Fairouz
This special evening, devoted to the music of highly acclaimed young composer Mohammed Fairouz, features the New York Premiere of The Named Angels by the Borromeo String Quartet. His latest string quartet, it is based of the mythology of angels in Arabic folklore. Also on the program are Lamentation and Satire and Chorale Fantasy played by the Borromeo Quartet.
The Cygnus Ensemble will also perform Fairouz's Three Fragments From Ibn Khafajah with soprano Elizabeth Farnum. This song cycle sets fragments from the love poetry of the Arab Andalucian poet. Rounding off the program are performances of piano works and songs with pianists Taka Kigawa, Blair McMillen and Kathleen Supové.
Mohammed Fairouz, born in 1985, is one of the most frequently performed, commissioned, and recorded composers of his generation. Hailed by The New York Times as "an important new artistic voice" and by BBC News as "one of the most talented composers of his generation," Fairouz melds Middle-Eastern modes and Western structures to deeply expressive effect. His large-scale works, including four symphonies and an opera, engage major geopolitical and philosophical themes with persuasive craft and a marked seriousness of purpose. His solo and chamber music attains an "intoxicating intimacy," according to New York's WQXR.
A truly cosmopolitan voice, Fairouz had a transatlantic upbringing. By his early teens, the Arab-American composer had traveled across five continents, immersing himself in the musical life of his surroundings. Prominent advocates of his instrumental music include the Borromeo and Lydian String Quartets, the Imani Winds, The Knights Chamber Orchestra, Metropolis Ensemble, violinists Rachel Barton Pine and James Buswell, clarinetist David Krakauer, and conductors Gunther Schuller, Fawzi Haimor, and Yoon Jae Lee. He has been recognized as an "expert in vocal writing" by the New Yorker magazine and as a "post-millennial Schubert" by Gramophone Magazine. Among the eminent singers that have promoted his wealth of vocal music are Kate Lindsey, Sasha Cooke, Lucy Shelton, D'Anna Fortunato, David Kravitz and Randall Scarlata.
Commissions have come from the Borromeo Quartet, Imani Winds, New York Festival of Song, Da Capo Chamber Players, New Juilliard Ensemble, Cantus Vocal Ensemble, Cygnus Ensemble, Counter)induction, Alea III, Musicians for Harmony, and many others. Recordings of his music are available on the Naxos, Bridge, Dorian Sono Luminus, Cedille, Albany, GM/Living Archive, and GPR labels. Mohammed Fairouz is the subject of a documentary by BBC World Service TV, has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered and BBC/PRI's The World, and has been profiled in Symphony, Strings, New Music Box, and the Houston Chronicle, among others.
His principal teachers in composition have included György Ligeti, Gunther Schuller, and Richard Danielpour, with studies at the Curtis Institute and New England Conservatory. His works are published by Peermusic Classical. He lives in New York City.
Considered "Simply the best there is" by the Boston Globe, the critically acclaimed Borromeo String Quartet is one of the most sought after string quartets in the world. Audiences and critics alike champion their revealing explorations of Beethoven, Bartok, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, and Golijov, and their affinity for making even the most challenging contemporary repertoire approachable and enlightening has become a hallmark. They perform at the world's most illustrious concert halls and music festivals, and continue long-standing residencies at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum ("one of the defining experiences of civilization in Boston" Boston Globe), the Tenri Cultural Institute ("one of New York's best kept secrets" N.Y. Sun), Dai-Ichi Semei Hall in Tokyo, and the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music, where it has been the official Quartet-in-Residence for seventeen years.
In April 2007 the Borromeo Quartet was honored in New York with a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and in 2006 the Aaron Copland House honored the Borromeo's commitment to performing contemporary music by creating the Borromeo Quartet Award, an annual initiative that will premiere the work of important young composers to audiences internationally. In 2003 they made classical music history with its pioneering record label, The Living Archive, making it is possible to order on-demand DVDs and CDs of many of its concerts around the world, a feat only previously attempted in rock music. The series allows listeners the chance to explore in greater depth the music they have just heard in concert, as well as explore new and rarely performed works. The Borromeo has enjoyed collaborations with composers John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti, Gunther Schuller, Osvaldo Golijov, Steve Mackey, John Harbison, Leon Kirchner, Jennifer Higdon, Mohammed Fairouz, Derek Bermel, Lior Navok, and Lera Auerbach, among others. In 2000 they completed two seasons as a member of Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society Two and served as Ensemble-in-Residence for the 98-99 season of National Public Radio's Performance Today. Awards include Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award in 2001, Chamber Music America's Cleveland Quartet Award in 1998 and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1991, as well as top prizes at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France in 1990.
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LocationOur Lady of Lebanon Cathedral (View)
113 Remsen Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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