Recognized among contemporary music’s most gifted interpreters, new-music pianist Joseph Kubera is hailed for the unrelenting stamina, precision, and grace of his performances. In this intimate solo piano concert, Kubera performs works by Julius Eastman, Michael Byron, “Blue” Gene Tyranny, and Stuart Saunders Smith in celebration of his forthcoming CD from New World Records.

Program

Michael Byron, Book of Horizons (2009)
Julius Eastman, Piano 2 (1986)
"Blue" Gene Tyranny, The Drifter (1994)
Stuart Saunders Smith, Fences, in Three Tragedies (1998)

Pianist Joseph Kubera has been a leading interpreter of contemporary music for the past three decades. Recent activities include a TV production of Cage’s Music of Changes for Swiss RSI Television and performances at Cage 100th birthday celebrations in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. He has been soloist at such festivals as the Warsaw Autumn, Berlin Inventionen and Prague Spring, and has worked closely with such legendary composers as John Cage, Morton Feldman, La Monte Young, and Robert Ashley. He toured widely with the Cunningham Dance Company at Cage’s invitation in the 1970s and 1980s, and he has recorded the Music of Changes and Concert for Piano and Orchestra on CD. Among the composers who have written works for him are Michael Byron, Anthony Coleman, David First, Alvin Lucier, Roscoe Mitchell, and “Blue” Gene Tyranny. Mr. Kubera has been awarded grants through the National Endowment for the Arts and the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts.

Mr. Kubera is a core member of S.E.M. Ensemble, the DownTown Ensemble and Ostravska Banda, and he has performed with a wide range of New York ensembles and orchestras ranging from Steve Reich and Musicians to the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Mr. Kubera’s playing may be heard on the Wergo, Albany, New Albion, New World, Lovely Music, O.O. Discs, Mutable Music, Cold Blue, and Opus One labels.

5/24/2013 Plays With Others, But Also on His Own, Steve Smith on Joseph Kubera in the New York Times