 |
Stephen Drury, the Callithumpian Consort’s artistic director, helped to curate Avant Gardner. (Erik Jacobs for The Boston Globe/File 2007) |
Classical Notes
New approach at Gardner museum
Hosts Callithumpian Consort in three upcoming concerts
Giving a local cast to its support of contemporary music, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is hosting the Callithumpian Consort, one of Boston’s most intrepid and accomplished new music ensembles, in a three-concert series. The series, dubbed Avant Gardner, is the creation of the Gardner’s music director, Scott Nickrenz, who is about to begin his 20th year of programming concerts at the museum. The three programs were jointly curated by Nickrenz and Stephen Drury, the Callithumpian’s artistic director, and will be presented on Thursday evenings.
Nickrenz, a longtime acquaintance and admirer of Drury’s, said in a statement from the museum that Drury’s “musical taste, his flair for the bizarre, and his willingness to take chances’’ make him a natural for launching Avant Gardner.
In a sense, the three concerts replace the highly successful series of Composer Portraits that the Gardner has imported from New York’s Miller Theatre over the past several seasons, though the Portrait series may return as part of an expanded array of concert offerings, according to Brittany Duncan, a museum spokesperson.
The first Avant Gardner program, “New Japan,’’ presents a selection of Japanese music from the last quarter of the 20th century, including works by Toru Takemitsu, Toshio Hosokawa, and Jo Kondo. Kondo - who last year was the featured composer of New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, also under Drury’s leadership - will be on hand for the Sept. 17 concert.
The Jan. 21 concert, titled “Hot Butterknife Knight,’’ features works by three young composers with Boston ties: Adam Roberts, Nicholas Vines, and Lei Liang. (A Callithumpian recording of two pieces by Liang was released last month on Mode Records.) The evening will include a collaborative work by all three composers.
The final offering in the series, on March 18, is centered on Christian Wolff, a titan of experimental music. The Callithumpians will premiere his “Songs From Brecht: The Exception and the Rule.’’ Also on the bill are pieces by Ives, Henry Cowell, and Cornelius Cardew.
Though Avant Gardner is the main locus of new music at the Gardner, 20th-century fare is sprinkled liberally throughout its fall season. The museum’s first concert (Sept. 13) - featuring flutist Paula Robison, cellist Yeesun Kim, and pianist Bruce Brubaker - includes George Crumb’s “Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale).’’ The Borromeo String Quartet will play the six Bartok quartets on successive Sundays (Oct. 11 and 18), and a Musicians From Marlboro concert includes works by Saariaho, Takemitsu, and Messiaen (Nov. 8). Modernist hearts should also be cheered by a special New Year’s Eve performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s trailblazing melodrama “Pierrot Lunaire.’’
www.gardnermuseum.org
Handel at the movies
The Goethe Institut-Boston and the Coolidge Corner Theatre are presenting screenings of two Handel operas in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death. A 2003 production of “Rodelinda’’ from the Bavarian State Opera will be shown this Sunday; it features the excellent soprano Dorothea Röschmann in the title role and is conducted by Ivor Bolton. Two weeks later, a 1999 Stuttgart State Opera production of “Alcina’’ screens, with American soprano Catherine Naglestad heading the cast and Alan Hacker on the podium.www.goethe.de/ins/us/bos/enindex.htm, www.coolidge.org 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
