Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 17, 2006|Volume 35, Number 11|Two-Week Issue

Martin Bresnick

Colleagues to pay tribute
to Bresnick in Carnegie Hall

Robert Carl, a writer for the classical music magazine Fanfare, said of Yale composer Martin Bresnick: "[He] isn't just one of the best composers of his generation; he's one of the best we have right now of any age or style."

To celebrate the acclaimed composer's 60th birthday (and 30 years of teaching at Yale), his colleagues and students at the School of Music will perform some of his compositions in a concert on Saturday, Dec. 9, at Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall, corner of 57th St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan.

Titled "The Essential Martin Bresnick," the event will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15-$25 and can be purchased online at www.carnegiehall.org. The concert is presented by the School of Music.

Bresnick, who was recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, will be one of the conductors at the concert.

Bresnick has been a mentor to a generation of composers, including Bang on a Can founders Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe and David Lang. His honors include the Rome Prize, the Berlin Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, three National Endowment for the Arts Composer Grants and the first Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Born in New York City, Bresnick was educated at the High School of Music and Art and earned a B.A. from the University of Hartford and master's and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. He also studied at the Akademie für Musik in Vienna, Austria. His teachers have included György Ligeti, John Chowning and Gottfried von Einem.

Presently professor of composition and coordinator of the composition department at Yale, Bresnick has taught at colleges and universities around the world. His compositions have been performed by symphony orchestras and at numerous music festivals around the globe.

Performers for the retrospective tribute to Bresnick include members of the Yale Cellos, the Yale Camerata, clarinetist David Shifrin, violist Jesse Levine, pianist Lisa Moore, percussionist Robert Van Sice and members of the Yale Philharmonia. In addition to Bresnick, the featured conductors are Marguerite Brooks, Shinik Hahm and Ransom Wilson.

The program for the all-Bresnick program features "B.'s Garlands," for eight cellos, "Three Choral Songs," "*** Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano," "Grace -- Concerto for 2 Marimbas and Chamber Orchestra," "For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise" and "My Twentieth Century."

To accompany the concert, an all-Bresnick CD/DVD featuring newly recorded performances of the composer's music is being released on the Cantaloupe record label. Performers on the CD/DVD include Lisa Moore, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the Flux String Quartet and the Jupiter Trio.

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Campus Notes