Friday, March 20
Emily Manzo & Daisy Press perform Erik Satie’s SOCRATE + Tom Chiu of Flux Quartet
ISSUE Project Room is pleased to host a special performance of Erik Satie’s masterpiece, “Socrate” based on the life and death of Socrates, featuring a libretto by Jean Cocteau, performed by soprano Daisy Press and pianist Emily Manzo.
A specialist in the field of contemporary music, Daisy Press, vocalist, was born into a performing family as the daughter of two musicians. In addition to her solo and ensemble vocal work, she also plays the violin and guitar and has appeared as an actor in an upcoming Adam Goldberg independent film. Most recently, she was praised by the New York Times for her “winning subtlety and understatement” in her rendition of George Crumb’s new folk-based song cycle “Unto the Hills” at Miller Theater with the acclaimed group So Percussion. Previously, she has sung with them the works of Steve Reich, including “Music for 18 Musicians” and “Drumming,” which she has also performed as a guest artist at Juilliard.
Additional credits include being the featured soloist for the New York premiere of Phillipe Leroux’s “Voi(rex)” at Miller Theater alongside IRCAM; “Apparition” by George Crumb at the Bang on a Can Marathon, where Ms. Press was for two years singer-in-residence; “Attila-Joszef Fragments” by Kurtag at Symphony Space; and excerpts, with the composer in attendance, for Elliott Carter’s “Of Challenge and of Love.” She has also appeared in Ireland with the Argento Ensemble in Earl Kim’s “Exercises en Route” and was hailed for her “calm naturalness” by The New York Times for her performance of early and late Webern song cycles.
Ms. Press has performed Morton Feldman’s “Three Voices” (the studio recording of which is soon to be released) and has appeared with the renowned VOX vocal ensemble. She is currently on faculty at Manhattan School of Music, where she received her Masters degree. She also holds academic degrees from Sarah Lawrence College and Oxford University, and she has studied voice in the studios of Trish McCaffrey and Hilda Harris, and North Indian ragas with Michael Harrison.
Tom Chiu of the Flux Quartet:
A noted champion of new music, experimental violinist Tom Chiu has performed over 100 premieres worldwide and has worked closely with many distinguished composers including Virko Baley, Dean Drummond, Oliver Lake and Chen Yi, among others. He avidly pursues collaborations with unconventional artists whose work he admires, including balloon virtuoso Judy Dunaway, avant choreographer Eun-Me Ahn, puppeteer Basil Twist, and guitarist-electronicist David First. He has also worked closely with Ornette Coleman, with whom he appeared at the 2000 Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival. Tom’s discography includes recordings for the Asphodel, Cambria, Koch, Mode, Sombient, and Tzadik labels. His original works as composer/improviser have been performed in numerous countries, including Mongolia and Uzbekistan. Having also composed for motion pictures, his first soundtrack for the short film Boris (written and directed by Francesca Galesi) won the top prize at the NY Expo Festival of Shorts. Holding degrees in music and chemistry from Juilliard and Yale, Tom occasionally reminisces about his childhood appearance with Tom Hanks in The Man With One Red Shoe.
”One of the most fearless and important new-music ensembles around,” (Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle) “who has a brought a new renaissance to quartet music,” (Kyle Gann, The Village Voice) the FLUX Quartet has performed to rave reviews at many music centers around the world. It has appeared at Da Camera of Houston, Miller Theater, the Walker Art Center, the Library of Congress, and Carnegie Hall’s When Morty Met John Festival. It has also recently made two rave debuts, in Ireland at the Samuel Beckett Centenary Festival, and in San Francisco with the Morrison Series, which invited the quartet back as special guests for its 50th anniversary gala concert. FLUX’s numerous radio credits include NPR’s All Things Considered, WNYC’s New Sounds and Soundcheck, and WFMU’s Stochastic Hit Parade. Its growing discography includes recordings by composers Michael Byron, Annie Gosfield, and bagpipe virtuoso Matthew Welch. Highlights of recent seasons include the debut appearances at The Kennedy Center and Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, residencies at Wesleyan College and Princeton University, and the Interpretations Series, a leading series, based in New York City, for innovative music of living performers and composers.
FLUX captivates its audiences worldwide with a vivid repertoire balanced between notable pioneers as well as visionaries of tomorrow. From “classics” by Conlon Nancarrow, Giacinto Scelsi, and Iannis Xenakis, to new works by Leroy Jenkins, Elliott Sharp, Welch, and John Zorn, FLUX brings to all of its performances a “boundless, uninhibited energy.” (New York Times) The quartet avidly seeks out collaborative relationships with genre-transcending artists such as Ornette Coleman, Joan La Barbara, Oliver Lake, balloon artist Judy Dunaway (new CD on Innova Recordings), and musical-visual artist collective, the Slave Pianos. Members from the quartet have also done significant work in dance, including frequent collaborations with Morphoses/Wheeldon Company and Shen Wei Dance Arts. Strongly dedicated to uncovering new works both by it own members as well as emerging composers, FLUX actively pursues commissions, with recent grants from the American Composers Forum, Meet-The-Composer Foundation, USArtists International, and the Aaron Copland Fund.
The spirit to explore and expand stylistic boundaries is a trademark of the FLUX Quartet. Partly as an homage to the 60’s Fluxus art movement, violinist Tom Chiu founded the FLUX Quartet in the 90’s with a quest similar to that of some of the original Fluxus artists: a search for a living art for all people with an embracing “anything-goes” spirit. To that end, FLUX has always been committed to projects of unique vision that defy aesthetic categorization. One such project is Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No. 2. Lasting more than six continuous hours, it is “a disorienting, transfixing experience that repeatedly approached and touched the sublime.” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker) The recording of this monumental work can be found on Mode Records at mode.com.