Event Detail

The Edge of Silence - vocal chamber music of György Kurtág

A concert devoted to the vocal chamber music of the Hungarian master composer, György Kurtág, including Hét Dal (Seven songs for voice and cimbalom) S.K. Remembrance Noise (voice and violin), Erinnerung an einen Winterabend (voice, violin, cimbalom), Attila Jozsef Fragments (solo voice) and Scenes from a Novel (voice, violin, cimbalom and double bass. When asked about the impetus behind the program, Narucki said  "György Kurtág's music has been one of the touchstones of my life as a musician.  I was introduced to the composer's music at  the beginning of my professional career, performing the West Coast premiere of Messages of the R.V. Troussova  at the 1986 Ojai Festival.  I began a journey into a musical landscape that is overwhelmingly rich and varied.  Kurtág illuminates the texts he sets; his music is a synthesis of vocal expression and musical materials in which every gesture contributes to the whole.  It is music that is emotionally powerful, intensely personal and hauntingly beautiful - and it has fascinated me for over thirty years.  Some of the pieces on the program have been an integral part of my life as a singer; they are works that I've presented many times; in the case of some others, I return and remember.  The scores are full of messages - observations, ideas, questions - a map of the composer's profoundly fertile imagination, in which I have tried to find my bearings, again and again."

The soprano is joined by guest artists Curtis Macomber (violin), Nicholas Tolle (cimbalom) and Kathryn Schulmeister (double bass).

Biographies:

The playing of violinist Curtis Macomber was praised recently by the New York Times for its “thrilling virtuosity” and by Strad Magazine for its “panache”. He enjoys a varied and distinguished career as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher, and he has for several decades been recognized as one of this country’s foremost interpreters and proponents of new music. Mr. Macomber’s extensive discography includes the complete Brahms and Grieg Sonatas as well as hundreds of critically praised recordings of contemporary solo and chamber works. As a member of the New World String Quartet from 1982-93, he performed in virtually all the important concert series in this country, as well as touring abroad. He is the violinist of Da Capo, a founding member of the Apollo Trio and the newest member of both the Manhattan String Quartet and the Walden Chamber Players. Mr. Macomber is presently a member of the chamber music faculty of the Juilliard School, where he earned B.M., M.M., and D.M.A. degrees as a student of Joseph Fuchs. He is also on the violin faculties of the Manhattan and Mannes Schools of Music, and has taught at the Tanglewood, Taos and Yellow Barn Music Festivals.

Nicholas Tolle is one of North America's premiere cimbalom artists. In 2017 he appeared as a soloist with Steven Schick and musicians from UCSD performing Pierre Boulez' Repons and will also present the complete solo and small ensemble cimbalom works of György Kurtág at Tufts University. In August he will made his ninth visit to the Lucerne Festival to perform the works of Kurtág and Heinz Holliger. He has recently performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the New York Philharmonic, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. In 2012 he was a soloist with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal performing Pierre Boulez’ Repons, which he also performed with the composer conducting at the Lucerne Festival in 2009. He has appeared as a soloist with Collage New Music and Orchestra 2001 performing Steve Mackey’s 5 Animated Shorts, and with numerous orchestras performing Kodály’s Háry János Suite. Based in Boston, MA, locally he can be seen regularly with such groups as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Callithumpian Consort, and Sound Icon. He is also a frequent collaborator with Ensemble Signal. He is the founder and artistic director of the Ludovico Ensemble, and is the sole proprietor of Boston Percussion Rentals, New England's largest percussion rental company.

Kathryn Schulmeister is a double bassist with a wide range of musical and interdisciplinary interests. In March of 2017, Kathryn performed a 6-city tour of Switzerland and Luxembourg with the Lucerne Festival Young Artists, performing an experimental theater work incorporating dance and various styles of classical and contemporary music. With a passion for collaborating with composers to create new repertoire for the double bass, Kathryn’s performance has been described as “…turning an ostensibly ungainly instrument into a writhing white-hot crucible.” (5against4) Kathryn is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Contemporary Music Performance from the University of California, San Diego. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and completed her Master of Music degree at the McGill University in Montréal, receiving numerous scholarships and awards during her studies including the Austrian Society Scholarship, the Clara Lichtenstein Fellowship, the Graduate Excellence Award, and National Public Radio's ‘From the Top’ Scholarship.