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Press Contact: Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano Performance: New England Conservatory School for Continuing Education will present a six-evening concert series of new music as part of the Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano Performance (known by its acronym SICPP and pronounced, as always, "sick puppy"). This annual concert series, which has become known as Boston's most concentrated, extensive, and adventurous new music event, will feature international performers of new music as well as local champions of dissonance. Special guests will include pianist Ursula Oppens and composer-in-residence Christian Wolff. Also, for the first time on one Boston stage, the Callithumpian Consort presents Peter Maxwell Davies masterpiece 8 Songs for a Mad King along with its sister piece Miss Donnithorne's Maggot. Concerts will take place at New England Conservatory, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Mass. every evening from Monday, June 21 to Saturday, June 26 at 8PM. All concerts are free and open to the public. For further information, please contact Stephen Drury at 617-497-0823, or go to www.sicpp.org on the web. Complete concert listings can be found at: http://www.sicpp.org/SICPP/SICPP2004concerts.html Monday, June 21 - Williams Hall Tuesday, June 22 - Williams Hall Wednesday, June 23 - Williams Hall Thursday, June 24 - Jordan Hall Friday, June 25 - Brown Hall Saturday, June 26 - Williams Hall SICPP 2004 - PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Stephen Drury is the director of the Institute and is on the piano faculty of New England Conservatory. Known for his adventurous programming which includes everything from Charles Ives and John Cage to John Zorn and Lee Hyla as well as modern European masters like Stockhausen and Berio, his recordings on Mode, Tzadik, and Catalyst are widely available. Ursula Oppens has won equal renown as a persuasive interpreter of classical repertoire and a tireless champion of contemporary music, having commissioned and premiered new works by Elliott Carter, Tania Leon, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, Frederic Rzewski, and Charles Wuorinen. She has recorded music by John Adams, Elliott Carter, Julius Hemphill and Conlon Nancarrow, receiving Grammy nominations for her recording of Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated and for "American Piano Music of Our Time," and has recorded for Angel, Audivis, Bridge, CBS Masterworks, CRI, Koch, and Nonesuch. Oppens is Professor of Music at Northwestern University. Composer Christian Wolff came to prominence in the 1950s as an
associate of John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and David Tudor, later
working with Cornelius Cardew and Frederic Rzewski. His work has explored
minimalism, indeterminacy, open form and works connected with political
issues, allowing performers flexibility and ranges of freedom during performance,
fostering a spirit of liberating interdependence, and drawing material
from traditions of popular political music. Wolff's music has been performed
throughout the world. A number of pieces have been choreographed by Merce
Cunningham. He has recordings on Columbia-Odyssey, Vox, Time-Mainstream,
Wergo, Centaur, EMI CRI, Opus One, Hat Hut, Mode, and Koch International. The Callithumpian Consort is dedicated to the proposition that music is an experience. Founded by pianist and conductor Stephen Drury sometime in the1990's, they are an ensemble producing concerts of contemporary music at the highest standard. Their repertoire encompasses a huge stylistic spectrum, from the classics of the last 100 years to works of the avant-garde and experimental jazz and rock. Active commissioning and recording of new works is crucial to their mission. The CC has worked with composers John Cage, Lee Hyla, John Zorn, Michael Finnissy, Franco Donatoni, Lukas Foss, Christian Wolff and many others. Recordings are available on Tzadik and Mode records. Led by Bhob Rainey, the BSC is a formidable ensemble, 8 musicians traveling with a theremin, double bass, cello, a host of homemade electronics, guitar, saxophone, trumpet, and seriously twisted ideas. Few improvising ensembles of this size have created such consistently compelling works, due to the unique rehearsal techniques employed by the ensemble, to their sharp, dedicated musical sensibilities, and to many of the long-term musical relationships that have existed within the group. The BSC has been a mainstay at New England Conservatory's SICPP festival for the past three years.
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