Carl Schimmel • String Quartet #2, Six Faces More about this piece on Schimmel's website
Claude Debussy • Ondine from Préludes Book II, Girl with the Flaxen Hair from Préludes Book I
Maurice Ravel • Alborada del gracioso, from Miroirs
Rapido! Contest Semi-Finalists • WORLD PREMIERES More about Rapido composers
Durwynne Hsieh Broken Dances
Frank Li May Include Metric Modulation
Leanna Primiani Holy Order: Shaker Dances 
Kurt Rohde • Artifacts - a rendering for speaker, small ensemble and projected images* WORLD PREMIERE

Music and images intersect in Portraits in Sound. Kurt Rohde’s new work Artifacts incorporates projected images by painter Frances McCormack and text by Sue Moon, and complements music by Carl Schimmel. His string quartet was inspired by six cubist portraits from the early 20th century, while Debussy’s Girl with the Flaxen Hair and Ondine depict contrasting characters. And in an exciting collaboration with four other chamber music groups from across the U.S., Left Coast will also present works by three western division finalists from the National Rapido! Composition Contest. Be a part of the event––at the October 1 Left Coast concert, judges will choose a winner to send to the last round of the competition in Atlanta, Georgia!

*For the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and their 20th Anniversary Season, with generous support from the Meet the Composer/New Music USA Program, the Clarence E. Heller Foundation, and the San Francisco Art Institute.

Performances of the Rapido! Contest pieces are made possible by a grant from San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music.

The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the Board of Directors wish to thank Lena Zentall for her generous sponsorship of this concert in celebration of the 20th season.

George Gershwin• Lullaby for String Quartet
Benjamin Britten• Nocturnal for Solo Guitar
Donald Erb•From Suddenly It's Evening
Arnold Schoenberg• Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) for String Sextet, Opus 4

Left Coast explores night music, which has captured the imagination of many composers. George Gershwin’s innocent Lullaby is heard alongside Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal––a set of variations on John Dowland’s song “Come, heavy sleep.” Arnold Schoenberg’s work from 1899, Verklärte Nacht, follows the dramatic narrative of a poem about a pair of young lovers, by Richard Dehmel.

The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the Board of Directors wish to thank Martin and Kathleen Cohn for their generous sponsorship of this concert in celebration of the 20th season.

Ramteen Sazegari• Lattice  WORLD PREMIERE
Toru Takemitsu • Toward the Sea
Claude Debussy • Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections on Water) from Images
Claude Debussy •  L’isle joyeuse (Island of Joy)
Eun Young Lee • Isa   WORLD PREMIERE
George Crumb • Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for Three Masked Players

George Crumb’s evocative masterpiece, Voice of the Whale, explores the ocean, nature, and time; Left Coast has commissioned emerging composer Eun Young Lee to write a companion piece to the Crumb. Water-themed selections from Debussy’s Images complement Toru Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea, an overtly political and philosophical piece Takemitsu wrote as a contribution to Greenpeace, protesting the hunting of endangered whales. The composer viewed the sea as a "spiritual domain" and cited Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick:

"Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries...and he will infallibly lead you to water...Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded together."

These performances are made possible in part by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the Board of Directors also wish to thank an anonymous donor for their generous sponsorship of this concert in celebration of the 20th season.

Ryan Carter • too many arguments in line 17 for String Quartet 2012 LCCE Composition Contest Winner  WEST COAST PREMIERE 
Robert Schumann • Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Opus 105
Eric Zivian Florestan and Eusebius for Violin and Piano WORLD PREMIERE
Johannes Brahms • Intermezzo Opus 118 No. 2 in A Major
Clara Schumann • Romances for Oboe and Piano, Opus 22
Olli Kortekangas • Aveux, Hommages à Schumann for Oboe and String Quartet US PREMIERE 

Left Coast pays tribute to Robert Schumann, presenting his Violin Sonata alongside Clara Schumann’s Romances for Oboe and Piano and a tribute to Schumann by Finnish composer Olli Kortekangas. Kortekangas' tribute is a meditation on Schumann’s work Aveux. Completing the program is the winner of Left Coast’s 2012 composition contest, Ryan Carter’s too many arguments in line 17; Carter’s work has been praised by the New York Times as "imaginative...like, say, a Martian dance party.”

These performances are made possible in part by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the Board of Directors also wish to thank Henry and Judith Presler for their generous sponsorship of this concert in celebration of the 20th season.

Kurt Rohde •…maestoso…misterioso… WORLD PREMIERE
Matt Schumaker • New Work for Two Cellos and Bass WORLD PREMIERE
Frédéric Chopin • Introduction and Polonaise Brillante for Cello and Piano, Opus 3
Johann Sebastian Bach • Chorales for Violin, Viola, and Two Cellos
Anton Arensky • String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor for Violin, Viola, and Two Cellos, Opus 35

Left Coast celebrates our fantastic cellists Tanya Tomkins and Leighton Fong in Arensky’s lush string quartet with unusual instrumentation––two cellos replace the customary pair of violins. Bach Chorales arranged by Kurt Rohde have a similarly deep hued instrumenation. We are thrilled to premiere Kurt Rohde’s …maestoso…misterioso… for Violin and Viola with electronics. The piece will be performed by Anna Presler and Kurt Rohde. We premiere a work for two cellos, bass and electronics by local composer Matt Schumaker. Topping off the program is a brilliant and romantic work for cello and piano by Chopin.

These performances are made possible in part by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the Board of Directors also wish to thank Judith Flynn for her generous sponsorship of this concert in celebration of the 20th season.

DAVIS Music Building  • Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 12pm noon concert 
Music by UC Davis Student Composers

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble will work with graduate and undergraduate composers from the UC Davis Department of Music, and perform Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and Laurie San Martin’s companion piece, Objets Trouvés.

The Crowden Center for Music in the Community presents Left Coast in performances of works by talented young composers enrolled in the renowned John Adams Young Composers Program. Over the course of the semester the students are working with LCCE musicians to develop and revise companion works to George Crumb’s Voice of the Whale. Come hear the musical voices of tomorrow!

LCCE plays music by young composers from Oakland School for the Arts.