The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s (LCCE) 2015—2016 season continues with Broken Consorts, a concert exploring an early English Baroque tradition that combines contrasting instruments and voices. The first concert will be held on Sunday, December 6 at 7pm, at 142 Throckmorton Theatre, located in downtown Mill Valley. The program is repeated on Monday, December 7 at 8pm, at the Dennis Gallagher Arts Pavilion, 66 Page Street in San Francisco. Tickets are sold in advance for $30 general admission and $15 for patrons under age 35; and at the door for $35 general admission and $17.50 for patrons under age 35. For advance tickets and details, call 415/617-5223 or visit www.leftcoastensemble.org.
In early English Baroque music terminology, broken consorts refers to ensembles featuring instruments from more than one family. For this program, Left Coast puts a modern twist on this tradition by presenting unlikely combinations of instruments that let each voice be heard distinctly. Music includes Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VII (for oboe and tuner), George Crumb’s dramatic Ghosts of Alhambra (for baritone, guitar and percussion), and Rossini’s alluring duo (for cello and double bass, unobscured by higher instruments). Guest performers Daniel Cilli (baritone) and Loren Mach (percussion)––both of whom performed in LCCE’s recent opera production––are welcomed back for these concerts.
To further explore the broken consort theme, awarding-winning composer and guitarist Richard Chowenhill has created new arrangements of ancient songs (for baritone, oboe, cello, and guitar) and is composing a new companion piece (for English horn and double bass) that will receive its world premiere.
“Perhaps it is the process of exploration that I find so compelling,” Chowenhill explains in regard to taking on the task of composing a new piece for this program. “When it is time to work on a new piece, I typically begin by making decisions regarding the overall identity of the piece, often based on whichever musical or instrumental properties I am currently intrigued by, as well as any programmatic or pre-compositional ideas that have been suggested.” For Broken Consorts, Chowenhill has selected to feature the English horn and double bass to explore this theme of unlikely combinations of instruments. “This is not such a common duo, but certainly an intriguing one,” said Nick Benavides, LCCE managing director. Left Coast is known for commissioning and presenting new works. The Ensemble has commissioned and premiered more than one hundred new pieces in just over twenty years. Left Coast musicians are passionate about new music and thrilled to be taking on the challenge of this piece. Chowenhill’s new composition will be performed by LCCE’s Andrea Plesnarski (English horn) and Michel Taddei (double bass).
Advance Tickets: $30 General Admission / $15 Under Age 35
At The Door: $35 General Admission / $17.50 Under Age 35
www.leftcoastensemble.org
About Composer Richard Chowenhill
Richard Chowenhill is an award-winning composer and guitarist. His music has been performed across North America by the Lydian String Quartet, the Talujon Percussion Ensemble, the Beat City Percussion Ensemble, the Wellesley Composers Conference Orchestra, Music From China, members of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, members of the UC Davis Early Music Ensemble, the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble, and numerous other soloists and ensembles. Originally from California, Richard has performed as a guitar player in numerous California-based bands and chamber ensembles. Currently he performs with the Boston-based experimental group Ehnahre, and will appear on the group’s forthcoming record. Drawing influence from his experiences performing in rock and metal bands, chamber ensembles, orchestras, jazz groups, an early music ensemble, several theatre productions, and a Hindustani vocal ensemble, his compositions frequently reflect his diverse musical background. Richard is currently the resident composer and associate artistic director with the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble and is pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition and theory at Brandeis University.
About the Guest Performers
Daniel Cilli (baritone)
Described as “magnificent” by the Boston Globe, baritone Daniel Cilli has garnered praise for his “cultivated, sonorous vocalism” and “strong, beautiful, impeccably produced voice” (Opera News). The San Francisco Chronicle hailed the “robust baritone” as “vivid and charismatic”. He holds vocal performance degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and Stetson University, and has studied Lieder at the Franz Schubert Institute of Baden bei Wien, Austria.
Mr. Cilli’s recent operatic appearances include the title role in Don Giovanni at West Bay Opera, Bobby in Mahagonny Songspiel and Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos with West Edge Opera, and Papageno in a semi-staged production of Die Zauberflöte with the Baltimore Symphony under Marin Alsop. Other recent concert appearances include performances with Utah Symphony, San Juan Symphony, South Valley Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood Music Festival.
Cilli performed the role of cellist in Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s premiere opera production of Kurt Rohde’s Death With Interruptions.
Loren Mach (percussion) is a graduate of the Oberlin and Cincinnati Conservatories of Music, he has premiered countless solo, chamber, and orchestral works. Mach is a member of ADORNO, ECO Ensemble, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Worn Chamber Ensemble, and co-founder of Rootstock Percussion. He often performs with the San Francisco Symphony, many of the areas regional symphony and opera orchestras, or in the orchestral pit of hit Broadway shows like Wicked. But Mach prefers making new music in more intimate settings with groups like San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Empyrean Ensemble, Earplay, and sfSound Group. In recent summers he has performed at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and was guest artist with Dawn Upshaw and eighth blackbird at the Ojai Music Festival.
Mach was the featured percussionist in Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s premiere opera production of Kurt Rohde’s Death With Interruptions.
About Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
Left Coast Chamber Ensemble is a versatile group of twelve musicians that performs in different combinations, presenting chamber music new and old. It is the mission of Left Coast Chamber Ensemble to forge connections through stirring presentations of chamber music across the Bay Area. The Ensemble strives to make connections between composer and performer, performer and audience, audience and music, and between music of all eras by staging a spectrum of imaginative programs that enchant and delight the listener, and give diverse audiences multiple entry points for engaging with the music.
