DATE: December 10 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
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
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.
Roger Durham Hannay, UNC professor emeritus and renowned composer, was a professor of composition in the UNC's music department for almost 30 years until he retired in 1995. During his time at the University, Hannay served as chairman of the Division of Fine Arts and was founder and director of the UNC New Music Ensemble, the Composer-Concert Series and the Electronic Music Studio.
He wrote more than 120 musical works, including 10 symphonies, five operas and numerous other chamber music pieces. An archive of his life's work has been established at the Wilson Library. Hannay was also an avid writer and in 1997 completed "My Book of Life," a collection of autobiographical essays.
His works have been performed across the country. Performances include concerts by the Houston Symphony, the N.C. Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Winston-Salem Symphony. A world-premiere performance of one of his most recent works, "Postscript to the Symphony," was given on Feb. 28 in Hill Hall by the UNC Symphony Orchestra.
Artist Website: www.ciompi.org
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