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November 2, 2007
Binghamton Philharmonic Launches Free Series Exploring New Classical Music
Series Hosted By Composer-in-Residence Carlos
Sanchez-Gutierrez.
First Program Features Pianist Cristina Valdes.
On Sunday, November 18, 2007, at 3:00 p.m. in the
Phelps Mansion Museum (191 Court Street, Binghamton) the
Binghamton Philharmonic launches a new series of free chamber music
concerts exploring the diverse world of contemporary classical music. The
series, called South of the Border: Explorations, will
be hosted by the Binghamton Philharmonic's composer-in-residence Carlos
Sánchez-Gutiérrez. Mr. Sanchez-Gutierrez is creating a new work
for piano, marimba and orchestra to be premiered by the Binghamton Philharmonic
in April 2008. The Explorations series will provide Greater Binghamton
audiences with an opportunity to hear more of his music in the context of other
modern and contemporary composers from around the world. For the November
18 program, pianist Cristina Valdés will play music by John Adams
(China Gates), Mario Lavista (Simurg),
Oliver Knussen (Prayer Bell Sketch), Tan Dun
(Eight Memories in Watercolor), Carlos
Sánchez-Gutiérrez (Mano a Mano), Toru Takemitsu
(Rain Tree Sketch II) and Olivier Messiaen
(Canteyodjaya).
Cristina Valdés
Committed to both contemporary and standard repertoire, Cristina Valdés
is known for presenting innovative concerts with repertoire ranging from Bach to
Xenakis. She has performed across four continents and in a multitude of
venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall and the Kennedy Center.
Her passionate interest in new music has led to a variety of collaborations with
many composers including performing side by side with Joan Tower and Terry
Riley, recording the works of Ezra Laderman and Ned Rorem, and premiering works
by Evan Ziporyn, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and Oliver Schneller among others.
Her festival performances include the Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva in
Mexico City, the Brisbane Arts Festival, the Festival of Contemporary Music in
El Salvador, Theater de Welt in Stuttgart, the New Music in Miami Festival, the
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and the Singapore Arts Festival.
An avid chamber musician, Cristina has toured extensively with the Bang On a Can
"All Stars" and has performed with the Mabou Mines Theater Company, the Parsons
Dance Company, Musicians Accord, and the Princeton Composers Ensemble. From
1998-2001, Cristina was a member of the award-winning chamber music group
Antares, which commissioned, premiered, and recorded the works of contemporary
composers in addition to performing piano trios and quartets from the standard
repertoire. As a collaborative pianist, she has toured the US with
Canadian Brass trumpet player Joe Burgstaller and has performed throughout
Mexico with flutist Asako Arai of the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet.
Cristina received her BM from the New England Conservatory of Music and later
continued her studies at SUNY Stony Brook where she earned an MM and DMA, was a
member of the Stony Brook Graduate Piano Trio, and performed Ravel's Concerto
for the Left Hand under Gustav Meier. Her teachers have included Glibert Kalish,
Steve Drury, John Perry, and Claude Helffer. She has been the recipient of
numerous prizes and awards including an Arts International Grant, the Thayer
Award for the Arts, the W. Burghardt Turner Fellowship, first prize in the Ruth
Slenczynska Solo Piano Competition, the Silver Medal in the Osaka Chamber Music
Festa, and an Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music grant. Most recently,
Cristina was named a 2007 Jack Straw Productions Resident Artist.
Currently, Cristina resides in Seattle where she is the founder and director of
the S.L.A.M. Festival.
The remaining South of the Border: Explorations
concerts are as follows:
Sunday, January 13, 2008, 3:00 pm
First Presbyterian Church, Binghamton
Special Guest: novo4tet
Music by Silvestre Revueltas, Alberto Ginastera, Mario Lavista and Carlos
Sánchez-Gutiérrez.
Sunday, March 2, 2008, 3:00 pm
Binghamton University
Special Guest: Makoto Nakura, marimba
Music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez, Akemi Naito, Pierre
Jalbert, J.S. Bach and Kenji Bunch.
Co-sponsored by the Binghamton University Music Department
Sunday, March 16, 2008, 3:00 pm
Binghamton University
Special Guest: International Contemporary Ensemble
Music by Carolyn O'Brien, Edgar Guzman and Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez.
Co-sponsored by the Binghamton University Music Department
Admission to all of the Explorations concerts is free and seating is
by general admission. Call 607-723-3931. Advance
reservations are not necessary.
The South of the Border: Explorations
series is made possible by a grant from The New York State Music Fund,
established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy
Advisors. This performance is also made possible with public funds from
the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
General Operating Support is provided to the Binghamton Philharmonic by a grant
from the United Cultural Fund, a program of the Broome
County Arts Council.
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