House of the Beehives

David Coll
Ghost Dances WORLD PREMIERE

Dusan Bogdanovic
Canticles for Two Guitars

Maurice Ravel
Sonata for Violin and Cello

Melody Eötvös
House of the Beehives

Sebastian Currier
Broken Consorts for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Cello, 2 Guitars

Melody Eötvösʼ vibrant House of the Beehives, inspired by the Italo Calvino story of the same name, is the winner of our 2016 Composition Contest. We present it alongside duos by Ravel, Bogdanovic, and David Coll, with Sebastian Currierʼs sextet, Broken Consorts; his music was heralded as "lyrical, colorful, firmly rooted in tradition, but absolutely new" by The Washington Post.

Michael Goldberg is joined by Marc Teicholz, who is is guest performing the extraordinarily beautiful guitar duo entitled Canticles by Serbian composer Dusan Bogdanovic. Canticles takes a vocal theme, like a plainchant, and creates a spiritual world where the theme is presented throughout transformed by quasi-improvised rhythmic and melodic variations that combine African and Balkan rhythmic profiles with melismatic, free- flowing lines, which are, in turn, based on the Palestrina-type of counterpoint.

Doors open an hour before concerts. Open seating. 

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"A dark story turned to music" - Joshua Kosman

About the Contemporary Composers

Melody Eötvös is an Australian composer now based in Bloomington, Indiana. Her work draws on both multi-media and traditional instrumental contexts, as well as substantial extra-musical references to a broad range of philosophical topics and late 19th Century literature. Eötvös has been the recipient of various awards including an APRA PDA (Australia 2009), the Soundstream National Composer Award (2012), and a Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commission administered by the League of American Orchestras, and the EarShot Foundation (Carnegie Hall 2015). Current commissions include an orchestral work for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Synergy Percussion + Vox (Sydney), the Chou’s composition award commission (China), and a piano and clarinet work for Guy Yehuda (USA).

 Eötvös holds Doctor of Music (2014) from Indiana University Jabobs School of Music (USA), and a Masters of Music (2008) from the Royal Academy of Music, London (UK).

David Coll is a composer of concert music, installation art, and interdisciplinary projects that engage physical presence with technology to create works of dramatic, introspective, and often playful effect. His work has been recognized through commissions, prizes, and awards from Milano Musica, NewMusicUSA, the Zellerbach Foundation, ISCM World Music Days, IRCAM, the Salvatore Martirano Foundation and Royaumont, among others. Groups that perform his works in the USA include line upon line percussion, Ogni Suono saxophone duo, ICE, and Wild Rumpus; and abroad 2e2m, RepertorioZero, and Itinéraire. Coll’s music has been featured at festivals including Gaudeamus (2005 & 2009), World Music Days, MATA, Voix Nouvelles, Tzlil Meudcan, and the New Music Gathering. It has been performed at venues including the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Éspace de Projection, the Piccolo Teatro, Roulette, the Mondavi Center, the Krannert Center, and the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ.

As an educator, Coll has lectured at institutions including MIT, Columbia College, and Washington University. He was a Visiting Professor at Hanyang University (Seoul, Korea) and this year is a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, with further education at IRCAM (Cursus and Cursus 2), the Orpheus Institute, and the University of Illinois. 

photo credit: honeycomb