Rehearsals for "A Place and a Name: Remembering the Holocaust" - November 13

Here's a peek at Dolce Suono Ensemble's rehearsal today with fabulous guest artist soprano Lucy Shelton for our concert "A Place and a Name: Remembering the Holocaust," on Sunday, November 13 at 3:00pm at Field Concert Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. Lucy sounds amazing and brings utter enthusiasm to everything she touches - we are thrilled to be working with her. There was a lot of energy in the room today!

Our friend Shulamit Ran, who serves as DSE's Composer-in-Residence and Artistic Co-Curator during the 2011-2012 season, will be flying in from Rome for rehearsals and the concert. This fall, she is Fromm Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. We're honored she'll be with us for three different projects during the season, including the premiere of her commissioned work in February in Philadelphia and New York.

Our program includes music by composers who were murdered by the Nazis - Gideon Klein, Viktor Ullmann, and Ilse Weber (who were imprisoned at the Terezin concentration camp) and the Dutch composer Leo Smit; André Previn and Tzvi Avni, who were refugees from the Nazis as children; and Shulamit Ran's O the Chimneys, her settings of poetry by Nelly Sachs for voice and ensemble.
For tickets, visit http://www.dolcesuono.com/

Here we are after rehearsing Shulamit's piece.

Left to right: Paul Demers, Yumi Kendall, Mimi Stillman, Gabriel Globus-Hoenich,

and Lucy Shelton. Pianist Charles Abramovic took this picture.

Lucy and Yumi share a funny moment during rehearsal of Viktor Ullmann's Herbst Lied for voice, violin, viola, and cello.

Left to right: Noah Geller, Burchard Tang, Yumi, Lucy

Some of the percussion parts in Ran's O the Chimneys are extremely loud, especially in a small room. DSE takes cover while Gabe strikes the chimes and Yumi practices the part where the cellist is instructed to play the vibraphone.

Left to right: Paul, Charlie, Yumi, Gabe, Lucy

New CD! "Odyssey: 11 American Premieres for Flute and Piano" - Mimi Stillman and Charles Abramovic

We are pleased to announce the release of Odyssey: 11 American Premieres for Flute and Piano, flutist Mimi Stillman and pianist Charles Abramovic's 2-CD set on Innova Recordings.

The composers are Mason Bates, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Richard Danielpour, Michael Djupstrom, Katherine Hoover, Daniel Kellogg, Gerald Levinson, David Ludwig, Andrew Rudin, David Bennett Thomas, and Zhou Tian.

Visit the Artist Page at Innova for more information and to purchase:


http://www.innova.mu/artist1.asp?skuID=469

Recording session photos

Hi All:
Here are some photos from our recording sessions for "Odyssey: 11 American Premieres for Flute and Piano," which Innova records is releasing in mid-September. Pianist Charlie Abramovic and I recorded 2 CDs of music in 4 days of sessions, so it was a very taxing marathon-like experience. I love it when performances and recordings are athletically challenging! We had several of the composers assist at the recording of their pieces. Here's a photo of composer David Ludwig, Charlie, engineer George Blood, and me after we recorded David's Sonata for Flute and Piano.

And another photo of David and me, having traded hat and jacket (recording makes us punchy):

We've been joking around since we were students together at Curtis...some things never change!

Cheers,
Mimi

Odyssey CD Preview of Boyle's Sonata-Cantilena

Hello All,

As the mid-September release date approaches for our 2 CD set, "Odyssey: 11 American Premieres for Flute and Piano" on Innova records, check out a live performance of one of the works. This is the second movement of Benjamin C.S. Boyle's Sonata-Cantilena for Flute and Piano, from the premiere performance during Dolce Suono Ensemble's Samuel Barber centennial celebrations in 2010.

Mimi Stilman, flute & Charles Abramovic, piano

New Review - Dolce Suono Trio at Laurel Hill Mansion

Dolce Suono Trio performed an all-Baroque concert at Laurel Hill Mansion in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It was tremendously received by the capacity audience. Check out this splendid review by Tom Purdom in Broad Street Review:

http://www.broadstreetreview.com/index.php/main/article/dolce_suono_at_laurel_hill/

Mimi Stillman, flute, Priscilla Lee, cello, and Charles Abramovic, harpsichord performed sonatas by J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi along with additional movements by Bach in this program entitled "Baroque Banquet."

CD Release Countdown

Dear friends,
The countdown to the release of "Odyssey: 11 American Premieres for Flute and Piano" has begun. This 2-CD recording, featuring Mimi Stillman, flute and Charles Abramovic, piano, will be released by the Innova label of the American Composers Forum in mid-September.

This comprehensive collection showcases composers with a wide range of styles, approaches, and backgrounds. They are:

Mason Bates
Benjamin C.S. Boyle
Richard Danielpour
Michael Djupstrom
Katherine Hoover
Daniel Kellogg
Gerald Levinson
David Ludwig
Andrew Rudin
David Bennett Thomas
Zhou Tian

Here is a video from the recording session of David Bennett Thomas's Whim for Solo Flute, in which he and Mimi Stillman test out the foot stomps he calls for in his piece. Mimi tries stomping with different shoes until they pick the shoe that produces the right sound.

Photos!

Dear friends,
I'll be posting some photos from our concerts, rehearsals, receptions and other events from our exciting "Mahler 100 / Schoenberg 60" project, starting now. Here are some shots from our concert at Glencairn Museum on May 15. Here, we're performing Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen," Schoenberg Ensemble version, with Eric Owens, bass-baritone. I'm playing piccolo in the first picture, meaning it's the opening of the second song.

Rehearsing Steven Stucky's "Aus der Jugendzeit" at Trinity Center for Urban Life, where the first concert took place. Steve is visible listening in the bottom left.

Eric Owens and me after rehearsal

More soon!
All best,
Mimi Stillman