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Nanette Shaw
What do the saxophone, the piano, the tar or long-necked lute of Central Asia, and the yangqin or Chinese hammer dulcimer have in common? They are just a few of the instruments to be featured at a unique series of concerts which will take place this April 4 - 6 at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York: "An Evening of Jazz on April 4;" "Music of Asian Immigrants, Old and New on April 5;" and "CUNY Plays CUNY" on April 6. The latter program will include the world premiere of a work by Graduate Center faculty member and alumnus Bruce Saylor, who has composed premiere works for the Pope’s visit to New York, President Clinton’s 1997 inauguration, and the Grand Central restoration dedication. The concerts are part of "Celebrating the Center," a week of conferences, concerts, readings, films, and exhibitions celebrating the new Graduate Center campus in the former B. Altman department store building. All the events are free, open to the general public, and will be held at The Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street. "An Evening of Jazz," featuring the City College Graduate Jazz Ensemble, will be held on April 4, at 7:00 p.m. in the Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall."An Evening of Jazz" will feature the music of two groups, The City College Graduate Jazz Ensemble, directed by Distinguished Professor Ron Carter and led by Saadi Zain, and QC9, directed by Professor Michael Mossman of Queens College. The City College group is a quintet and will feature compositions by Ron Carter and original arrangements by members of the ensemble. The Ensemble, composed of master’s students in music, counts classical music, Latin music, traditional jazz, and Brazilian music among its influences. The nine-member QC9 also reflects a diverse array of influences, including that of Latin music. In "Music of Asian Immigrants, Old and New," Music From China will play classical pieces dating back to China’s ancient dynasties as well as folk and traditional music from different regions of the country. Led by executive director Susan Cheng (who plays daruan or bass guitar) and artistic director Wang Guowei (who plays the erhu or two-string fiddle), Music From China is composed of six musicians playing such instruments as the xheng (zither), pipa (lute), and sheng (mouth organ), plus the aforementioned yangqin. Music From China is a nonprofit performing and presenting ensemble founded in 1984 to promote awareness of and appreciation for traditional and contemporary Chinese music. Maqom, the other group on the "Music of Asian Immigrants" program, is led by Ilyas Malayev, who plays the court music of the Bukharan Jews of Central Aisa. Malayev, who is also a poet and the former Soviet Union’s first sitar player, comes from a lineage of Bukharan court musicians. Bukhara, located in the modern republic of Uzbekistan, is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a tradition of court music, performed largely by Jews or Muslims of Jewish origin, developed in Bukhara. This music was a combination of medieval Persian music, which had been played previously in Bukhara, laced with newer musical influences coming from eastern Turkestan and northern India. Maqom maintains the tradition of this musical art form and uses such instruments as tanbur or long-necked lute, the tar or short-necked lute, and the doire or frame drum hung with metal rings. Finally, "CUNY Plays CUNY" will be a night of classical-influenced contemporary music composed and played by doctoral students and the world-renowned faculty in the music doctoral programs at the CUNY Graduate Center. In addition to Saylor’s premiere, "CUNY Plays CUNY" will feature the New York premiere of works by Wayne Alpern and the world premiere of works by Denise Broadhurst and Sami Shumays. There will also be compositions by faculty members David Del Tredici, Thea Musgrave, David Olan, and others. The programs are sponsored by The Graduate Center’s Ph.D./D.M.A. Programs in Music. The Ph.D. program is ranked 4th in the country and first in New York City and State. The program is also distinguished by the fact that it offers advanced studies in both theory (Ph.D.) and practice (D.M.A.). The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of the largest urban university in the U.S. The only consortium of its kind in the nation, it draws its faculty of more than 1,600 members mainly from the CUNY senior colleges and cultural and scientific institutions throughout New York City. Established in 1961, the CUNY Graduate Center has grown to an enrollment of nearly 4,000 students in 31 doctoral programs and seven master's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The Graduate Center also houses 24 research centers and institutes and administers the CUNY Baccalaureate Program. According to a recent National Research Council report, more than a third of The Graduate Center’s rated programs rank among the nation's top 20 at public and private institutions, nearly a quarter are among the top ten when compared to publicly supported institutions alone, and more than half are among the top five programs at publicly supported institutions in the northeast. Further information on The Graduate Center's programs and activities can be found on its Web site at: www.gc.cuny.edu. |