[silence] S.E.M. Ensemble at the Noguchi Museum

[PK SEM]

October 3, 2006    
 
S.E.M. ENSEMBLE AT THE NOGUCHI MUSEUM
PERFORMING SPHERES & ATTRACTION
ON A TEXT BY R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER
 BY PETR KOTIK

 

 
 
WHEN:                 Sunday, October 8, 3 pm
               
WHERE:               Noguchi Museum, 9-01 33rd Road (at Vernon Boulevard),
Long Island City   
            
PERFORMERS:   The S.E.M. Ensemble
                              Petr Kotik, Director
                              Gayla Morgan, Soprano
                              Bruce Rameker, Countertenor/Baritone
 
PROGRAM:           
                              Petr Kotik          Spheres & Attraction
(1981/2005)

 
ADMISSION:      Free



The Czech born Composer, conductor, and flutist Petr Kotik (born 1942) is
the founder and director of S.E.M. Ensemble. Kotik has received numerous
composition grants and commissions including from the National Endowment for
the Arts and the West German Radio in Cologne. In 1998 he was given the
composition award from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. In
2004 Kotik was a resident composer in Berlin under the sponsorship of
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). His most recent major
composition, the 40 min. Variations for 3 Orchestras (totaling 86 musicians)
was premiered, to critical acclaim, at the Ostrava Days 2005 Festival last
August by the Janacek Philharmonic.

Spheres & Attraction for 2 voices, strings and percussion is based on the
1980 commencement speech R. Buckminster Fuller gave at the State University
of New York at Buffalo.
Kotik states: 
³I attended the ceremony and the speech impressed me very much. Fuller gave
me permission to transcribe it and use it in any way I saw fit. In 1981, I
composed a piece entitled Commencement for two solo voices a capella, using
the entire text. Last summer, when I looked at the score after a hiatus of
almost 25 years, I decided to compose a new piece based on this material. In
Spheres & Attraction, I rewrote the Commencement vocal part and added
strings and percussion.²
   
Gayla Morgan, soprano, began her colorful music career as a classical
violinist, followed quickly by western/folk singing and fiddling ("The
Trailriders"), big band tunes ("The Cosmo Valente Swing Orch."), and musical
theater (NYC: Dreamhouse., Justine's Red; Regional: Grapes of Wrath). She
has premiered contemporary art songs in NYC (Eleanor Cory; Mark Grant and
Ilse Gilbert) and appeared on the 2005 Sound of New Music Series at St.
Marks-in- the-Bowery. She has appeared onstage with Peter Schickele ("PDQ
Bach"); has soloed with NY Virtuoso Singers, Amor Artis, and the Hunter
College Choir; and was one of the 6 members of The Western Wind Vocal
Ensemble for 5 years.  Her solo recordings include Perchance to Dream (music
of Joseph Marcello), Have A Funky Holiday (Mercury Orchestra Christmas CD),
and pictures (original music). Several of her vocal arrangements are
featured on Western Wind's Christmas CD, Holiday Light.

Bruce Rameker, who performs as both a baritone and a countertenor, has
appeared at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Town Hall, the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam, and the Spoleto Festival in a diverse repertoire that includes
ancient music, operetta, oratorio and tango.  A specialist in Baroque opera
and oratorio, Mr. Rameker has sung with the Skylight Opera Theatre, Chicago
Opera Theater, New York City Opera, Anchorage Opera, Sacred Music in a
Sacred Space, Waverly Consort, Voices of Ascension, and New York Ensemble
for Early Music.  Recordings include Just Another Hour with the Trillium
Ensemble featuring music of Richard Pearson Thomas, and One Body, a piece
written for him by John Kennedy featuring both baritone and countertenor
ranges.  Born in Wisconsin, he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of
Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The S.E.M. Ensemble is dedicated to the performance and advancement of new
music, with a focus on works that can best be described as post-Cagean.
Since its inception in 1970, SEM has collaborated with composers who also
often perform with the group. They have included, among others, Earle Brown,
Cage, Lucier, Feldman, Pauline Oliveros, Roscoe Mitchell, and a score of
other younger composers. In 1992, the ensemble expanded into The Orchestra
of the S.E.M. Ensemble with a debut concert in Carnegie Hall, ³Tribute to
John Cage,² premiering the complete Atlas Eclipticalis with an 86-piece
orchestra, Kotik conducting, and Tudor at the piano. Since then, the SEM
Orchestra has toured Europe five times and performed in Japan. SEM holds a
yearly series of concerts in New York at the Paula Cooper Gallery and other
venues such as Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center,
Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Tonic and the World Financial
Center. 
 
For more information on:
S.E.M. Ensemble: www.semEnsemble.org
Spiegeltent: www.noguchi.org
 
################
 
This performance is supported by the Noguchi Museum, the New York State
Music Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The
Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Phaedrus Foundation, and private
donations. Special thanks to the Brooklyn Borough President, Marty
Markowitz, for his support.


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