"Moving Forward" including a work commissioned by RCMG
DATE: January 29 2006, 3 PM
SITE: NC Museum of Art Map
2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh
TICKETS: $10 General Public; $8 NCMA Members & Students
INFORMATION & TICKET SALES
- NCMA Box Office (919) 715-5923
- Raleigh Chamber Music Guild (919) 821-2030
PROGRAM
The Ciompi Quartet has a distinguished past stretching back to its founding in 1965 by the renowned Italian violinist Giorgio Ciompi. The group currently travels widely to destinations throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia, while it continues to play a leading role in the cultural life of its home state of North Carolina.
Performances by the Ciompi Quartet are known for their intelligence and musical sophistication, and for a unified sound that leaves room for the players' individual voices. With a rare maturity and insight born of its considerable experience on the concert stage, the Ciompi Quartet projects the heart and soul of the music, in a repertoire that ranges from well-known masterpieces to works by today's most communicative composers.
Recent tours have taken the Ciompi Quartet as far afield as China, Germany, Italy, and Albania. In the US they have appeared from coast to coast. During the summer the Quartet has been engaged at Monadnock Music in New Hampshire, North Carolina's Eastern Music Festival, and the Highlands Chamber Music Festival. The Ciompi members excel as communicators and are a frequent choice for residencies, in settings that range from Dartmouth and St. Lawrence Universities, to inner city and rural schools.
In the past two years alone musical collaborations have included the distinguished talents of pianist Menahem Pressler, cellist Ronald Leonard, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, soprano Susan Narucki, and jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. The latter three performed world premieres with the Ciompi Quartet, reflecting the Quartet's commitment to creative programming, which often mixes the old and the brand new in exciting ways. The Quartet's extensive record of commissions includes many strong works that it continues to play on tour. A recent commission from composer Paul Schoenfield yielded a major new work for quartet; Scott Lindroth's song cycle on text by the poet Rumi, written for the Ciompi and Ms. Narucki, is an exciting addition to the repertoire for quartet and voice; two works by the versatile young Mark Kuss have brought together the Ciompi Quartet with well-known jazz artists Marsalis and Freelon.
2004 saw the release of the Quartet's latest CDs: of 20th century music for quartet and voice, featuring Ms. Narucki and tenor Steven Tharp; and a recording of the quartets of Paul Schoenfield including the popular "Tales of Chelm." Numerous other discs by the Ciompi Quartet are on the CRI, Arabesque, Albany, Gasparo, and Sheffield Lab labels, with music from Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, up through the present. Members of the Ciompi Quartet are: Eric Pritchard and Hsiao-mei Ku, violins, Jonathan Bagg, viola, and Fred Raimi, cello.
Benjamin Woods, professor of music at Francis Marion University, has given numerous solo piano concerts across the country, including Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress, and Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City where he made his début in 1985. As pianist, he has presented many faculty recitals at Francis Marion University, chamber music and solo concerts at numerous other colleges and universities, and performances at community concert series and festivals. He has performed as guest soloist with the Florence Symphony Orchestra, Florence SC, in concertos of Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dohnanyi and Gershwin. He has performed the Beethoven Choral Fantasy with the Florence Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra. He has performed Beethoven concertos nos. 3, 4, and 5 with conductor John Paul and members of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Jackson Mississippi. With the South Carolina Philharmonic, he has performed the Mozart Piano Concerto no. 23. He was selected one of twelve national finalists in the U.S. Information Agency's Artistic Ambassador Competition, and one of ten finalists in the Beethoven International Piano Competition.
Besides performing in the Woods Family Ensemble with his wife Sherry Woods, violist, and their children Christopher Woods, violinist, and Adrienne Woods, cellist, he has collaborated in recital with the Firenze String Quartet, and with artists Sue Butler Mills, soprano, Roland LeRoy Skinner, bassoonist, and, William Mills, pianist. He has also given concerts with Kathleen Vandekieft, Metropolitan Opera soprano finalist, Harold Jones, concert flutist, and Steve Maxym, principal bassoonist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Benjamin Woods has conducted concerts of the Francis Marion College Chorus, the Florence Choral Society, and the Florence Masterworks Choir and Orchestra. Having served as Music Director/Conductor of the Florence Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 2002, he recently retired from this post to devote all his energies to piano performance. Besides great symphonic literature, he has conducted the Florence Symphony in concertos and vocal works with artists such as Robert Jesselson and Kenneth Law, cellists, David Kim, violinist, Kathleen Vandekieft and Sue Orr, sopranos, Michael Best, tenor, Walter Hautzig, Raymond Dudley, Dana Dixon, and Michael Kim, pianists, and the Eroica Trio.
Presently a professor of music at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, Benjamin Woods has recently received the distinction of being named one of Francis Marion University's Board of Trustees' Research Scholars. This designation recognizes his outstanding scholarly achievements in music performance, and the promise of continued scholarly activity in the future. He earned the BS degree in performance and education as a scholarship student from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. As a Graduate Fellowship recipient, he received the Master of Music degree in performance from Midwestern University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, studying with Raymond Dudley, Artist-in-Residence. His other teachers and coaches include such outstanding musicians as Melissa Bayard and Verlie Mitchell.
Artist Website: www.ciompi.org
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