Berklee Composition Faculty Concert
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Event Dates
(EST)
Berklee College of Music’s Composition Department faculty members present a concert of new works.
Program Information
Repertoire
MARTI EPSTEIN: Jihye Etudes No. 2, Hummingbirds
Yuseok Seol, piano
APOSTOLOS PARASKEVAS: Escape
Apostolos Paraskevas, guitar
ANDREW LIST: Le Pont Universel*
Stephen Porter, piano
MARGARET MCALLISTER: Meditations on a Wild Land, Six Gaiku**
Krista Buckland Reisner, violin
RYAN SULEIMAN: Etude No. 1, Radiant*
Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano
LARRY BELL: Three songs from Prism of the Lyre*
(text by Mary Collins)
5. In mind designed to search for jewels in
6. The grime of muses left in alleys bare
7. So wrong for us to dream on, like a child?
Alecia Batson, soprano
Larry Thomas Bell, piano
*premiere performances
**American premiere
Program Notes
MARTI EPSTEIN: Jihye Etudes No. 2, Hummingbirds
“Hummingbirds” was written with great love and respect for pianist Jihye Chang. The piece explores a wide approach to the geography of the piano while requiring the performer to play with extreme delicacy. The pianist’s fingers need to be light and extremely fast, just like hummingbirds. I am very grateful for pianist Yuseok Seol’s performance of this very difficult piece.
APOSTOLOS PARASKEVAS: Escape
“Escape” was written in 1995 and epitomizes material used in Apostolos Paraskevas’s first guitar concerto, Phygein Adynaton, written the same year. Composed in a narrative, evocative, and virtuosic way, the first part is based on quick motive gestures and simple melodic lines. The second part—fast and rhythmic—creates a dynamic contrast to the previous material and concludes (as a rounded binary form) with a variation of the opening mood, but darker now and totally surrendered. “Escape” was premiered by Michael Nicolella in Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington in 2001.
ANDREW LIST: Le Pont Universel*
“Le Pont Universel” is a work for solo piano commissioned by and dedicated to pianist Stephen Porter in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Cité des Arts, an artist residency located in Paris, France. This piece celebrates the core mission of the Cité des Arts: the spirit of international collaboration bringing artists together from all over the world, to work on their craft in the creative atmosphere of Paris. The music reflects the vision of the founders, M. and Mme. Brunau, to create a haven for artists where they can explore, experiment, and learn while assimilating French culture and all that Paris has to offer. The piece is celebratory in nature and is divided into three sections with a duration of 15 minutes. The music oscillates between a dramatic, virtuosic style and parts that are calm, serene, and highly lyrical.
MARGARET MCALLISTER: Meditations on a Wild Land, Six Gaiku**
This piece is a joint commission of Graham Hair, artistic director of Scottish Voices, and violinist Hector Scott. Hector and Graham requested a set of six preludes for violin inspired by the poet/photographer Alistair Young’s book The Little Book of Gaiku, which consists of haiku in Gaelic and English translations, with photographs. The book is subtitled “Meditations on a Wild Land.”
RYAN SULEIMAN: Etude No. 1, Radiant*
Commissioned by and in collaboration with artist Peter London for pianist Sakurako Kanemitsu, “Radiant” is the first of three etudes for piano, each written after one of three works by Peter, which hung on my studio wall as I composed. In these etudes, I’ve attempted to capture the vibrancy, layers, forms, movements, and colors of the pieces, to which I’ve added my own evocative titles (it should be noted that Peter prefers to leave his works untitled). The etudes also contain nods to the old keyboard composers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Working in a temporal and ephemeral medium, thinking musically has also allowed me to zoom in and out of the various features of the artworks, inspiring unusual forms. The result is a kind of music I would not have been able to write without Peter’s vibrant images. All three will be performed on February 27 at Berklee College, in a solo recital by Sakurako Kanemitsu.
LARRY BELL: Three songs from Prism of the Lyre* (text by Mary Collins)
The Prism of the Lyre is a cycle of seven songs commissioned by and dedicated to the poet Mary Collins. Collins’s poems are said to be dedicated to a musician and “any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely possible.” Tonight, Alicia Batson and I will perform the last three songs from this cycle: number five, “In mind designed to search for jewels in;” number six, “The grime of muses left in alleys bare;” and number seven, “So wrong for us to dream on, like a child?”
“Hummingbirds” was written with great love and respect for pianist Jihye Chang. The piece explores a wide approach to the geography of the piano while requiring the performer to play with extreme delicacy. The pianist’s fingers need to be light and extremely fast, just like hummingbirds. I am very grateful for pianist Yuseok Seol’s performance of this very difficult piece.
APOSTOLOS PARASKEVAS: Escape
“Escape” was written in 1995 and epitomizes material used in Apostolos Paraskevas’s first guitar concerto, Phygein Adynaton, written the same year. Composed in a narrative, evocative, and virtuosic way, the first part is based on quick motive gestures and simple melodic lines. The second part—fast and rhythmic—creates a dynamic contrast to the previous material and concludes (as a rounded binary form) with a variation of the opening mood, but darker now and totally surrendered. “Escape” was premiered by Michael Nicolella in Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington in 2001.
ANDREW LIST: Le Pont Universel*
“Le Pont Universel” is a work for solo piano commissioned by and dedicated to pianist Stephen Porter in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Cité des Arts, an artist residency located in Paris, France. This piece celebrates the core mission of the Cité des Arts: the spirit of international collaboration bringing artists together from all over the world, to work on their craft in the creative atmosphere of Paris. The music reflects the vision of the founders, M. and Mme. Brunau, to create a haven for artists where they can explore, experiment, and learn while assimilating French culture and all that Paris has to offer. The piece is celebratory in nature and is divided into three sections with a duration of 15 minutes. The music oscillates between a dramatic, virtuosic style and parts that are calm, serene, and highly lyrical.
MARGARET MCALLISTER: Meditations on a Wild Land, Six Gaiku**
This piece is a joint commission of Graham Hair, artistic director of Scottish Voices, and violinist Hector Scott. Hector and Graham requested a set of six preludes for violin inspired by the poet/photographer Alistair Young’s book The Little Book of Gaiku, which consists of haiku in Gaelic and English translations, with photographs. The book is subtitled “Meditations on a Wild Land.”
RYAN SULEIMAN: Etude No. 1, Radiant*
Commissioned by and in collaboration with artist Peter London for pianist Sakurako Kanemitsu, “Radiant” is the first of three etudes for piano, each written after one of three works by Peter, which hung on my studio wall as I composed. In these etudes, I’ve attempted to capture the vibrancy, layers, forms, movements, and colors of the pieces, to which I’ve added my own evocative titles (it should be noted that Peter prefers to leave his works untitled). The etudes also contain nods to the old keyboard composers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Working in a temporal and ephemeral medium, thinking musically has also allowed me to zoom in and out of the various features of the artworks, inspiring unusual forms. The result is a kind of music I would not have been able to write without Peter’s vibrant images. All three will be performed on February 27 at Berklee College, in a solo recital by Sakurako Kanemitsu.
LARRY BELL: Three songs from Prism of the Lyre* (text by Mary Collins)
The Prism of the Lyre is a cycle of seven songs commissioned by and dedicated to the poet Mary Collins. Collins’s poems are said to be dedicated to a musician and “any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely possible.” Tonight, Alicia Batson and I will perform the last three songs from this cycle: number five, “In mind designed to search for jewels in;” number six, “The grime of muses left in alleys bare;” and number seven, “So wrong for us to dream on, like a child?”
Texts and Translations
5.
In mine designed to search for jewels in,
we'd turn the pages of a score and find
how shaft leads to a secret place where jinn
will grant the wished-for, suave, melodic rhyme,
and sweet release of resolution, played
in dulcet tones. Striated voicing walls
the whole, a direct show of tenderness,
a kindness offered up through layers of earth.
We'd open doors and let folks guess
that wonders do proceed by such research.
At times in heat, at times at peace, we'd lay
all time's discovered tunes in precious halls.
For though the world can be so cold and dim,
music can alleviate the grim.
6.
The grime of muses left in alleys bare,
the musings of lost children's unformed brains,
the map that leads to beauty none will share,
the rains, the rains, the rains, the rains, the rains.
And after flood, oh where that olive branch,
the joy of placing foot on solid land,
the sounds that lead to sustenance and hope,
the cooing of the dove, the settled nest,
the dipping oar to keep the boat afloat?
At night, if ways be lit by will o' wisp
in flights of mind or wing, no need to blanche,
When safety is assured by outstretched hand,
A human chain of history and song
Oh childish dreamer, where do we go wrong?
7.
So wrong for us to dream on, like a child?
Yes, I could mow this plot of flowers down,
and let the garden in my mind go wild.
Let fallow fields find rest from what is grown.
Like clouds that brush the moon, the Ferris wheel
that swings me up so I can sense night-moves
would still be churning at the fair, and fan
a flame of fantasy, or two - smoke rings.
[Since you have touched me where few others can,
fruition bears so sweet a taste, it stings.]
They dissipate like furtive things that steal
into the dark, to beats from vinyl grooves.
The overture just cigarettes fresh lit,
a walk in cinders, if your love-song quit.
In mine designed to search for jewels in,
we'd turn the pages of a score and find
how shaft leads to a secret place where jinn
will grant the wished-for, suave, melodic rhyme,
and sweet release of resolution, played
in dulcet tones. Striated voicing walls
the whole, a direct show of tenderness,
a kindness offered up through layers of earth.
We'd open doors and let folks guess
that wonders do proceed by such research.
At times in heat, at times at peace, we'd lay
all time's discovered tunes in precious halls.
For though the world can be so cold and dim,
music can alleviate the grim.
6.
The grime of muses left in alleys bare,
the musings of lost children's unformed brains,
the map that leads to beauty none will share,
the rains, the rains, the rains, the rains, the rains.
And after flood, oh where that olive branch,
the joy of placing foot on solid land,
the sounds that lead to sustenance and hope,
the cooing of the dove, the settled nest,
the dipping oar to keep the boat afloat?
At night, if ways be lit by will o' wisp
in flights of mind or wing, no need to blanche,
When safety is assured by outstretched hand,
A human chain of history and song
Oh childish dreamer, where do we go wrong?
7.
So wrong for us to dream on, like a child?
Yes, I could mow this plot of flowers down,
and let the garden in my mind go wild.
Let fallow fields find rest from what is grown.
Like clouds that brush the moon, the Ferris wheel
that swings me up so I can sense night-moves
would still be churning at the fair, and fan
a flame of fantasy, or two - smoke rings.
[Since you have touched me where few others can,
fruition bears so sweet a taste, it stings.]
They dissipate like furtive things that steal
into the dark, to beats from vinyl grooves.
The overture just cigarettes fresh lit,
a walk in cinders, if your love-song quit.
About the Performers
Yuseok Seol, piano, specializes in performing contemporary classical music. He also has an expertise in accompanying for ballet. A native of South Korea, he has a doctorate in composition from Indiana University and is currently in the Contemporary Classical Music Performance graduate program at Boston Conservatory.
Stephen Porter, piano, has performed internationally as a soloist at venues that include the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama in Sweden, the Sala Villa-Lobos at the University of Rio de Janeiro, Albert Long Hall in Istanbul, LSO St. Luke’s with the Amadeus Orchestra of London, in Sarajevo as the featured soloist of the Bosnia International Music Festival, at the Malmö Academy of Music in Sweden, and at the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, Italy. He is an artist resident of the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, and since 2021 has been Artist in Residence and Research Artist at Texas A&M University Central Texas. Learn more about Porter.
Krista Buckland Reisner, violin, has performed with well-known and diverse musicians from Leonard Bernstein to John Williams, Anton Kuerti, Placido Domingo, Brian Wilson, Smokey Robinson, and Diana Krall. She has performed across North America, Europe, Russia, and New Zealand, including performances at Carnegie Hall, La Scala, and the Boston Esplanade on July 4th with the Boston Pops. Passionate about opera, she served as principal second violin of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, concertmaster of Opera Boston, performed Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the Arizona Opera, and played in the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. Learn more about Reisner.
Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano, is a colorful and creative interpreter of music, ranging from the established classical repertoire to the music of our time. She began her studies at the age of 5 in Tokyo, Japan, and has since performed as soloist and chamber pianist in Italy, Germany, and the United States. She is inspired by the subtle nuance of Rubinstein’s Chopin, the intricate sonorities of Debussy and Ravel, and the aphoristic beauty of Arvo Pärt. Learn more about Kanemitsu.
Alecia Batson, soprano, most recently performed in Odyssey Opera’s production of Dominick Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe. She rejoined the company in October for its Gershwin double bill, Of Thee I Sing and Let ‘Em Eat Cake. Previously, she made her solo debut with Odyssey Opera in Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher. Learn more about Batson.
Stephen Porter, piano, has performed internationally as a soloist at venues that include the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama in Sweden, the Sala Villa-Lobos at the University of Rio de Janeiro, Albert Long Hall in Istanbul, LSO St. Luke’s with the Amadeus Orchestra of London, in Sarajevo as the featured soloist of the Bosnia International Music Festival, at the Malmö Academy of Music in Sweden, and at the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, Italy. He is an artist resident of the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, and since 2021 has been Artist in Residence and Research Artist at Texas A&M University Central Texas. Learn more about Porter.
Krista Buckland Reisner, violin, has performed with well-known and diverse musicians from Leonard Bernstein to John Williams, Anton Kuerti, Placido Domingo, Brian Wilson, Smokey Robinson, and Diana Krall. She has performed across North America, Europe, Russia, and New Zealand, including performances at Carnegie Hall, La Scala, and the Boston Esplanade on July 4th with the Boston Pops. Passionate about opera, she served as principal second violin of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, concertmaster of Opera Boston, performed Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the Arizona Opera, and played in the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. Learn more about Reisner.
Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano, is a colorful and creative interpreter of music, ranging from the established classical repertoire to the music of our time. She began her studies at the age of 5 in Tokyo, Japan, and has since performed as soloist and chamber pianist in Italy, Germany, and the United States. She is inspired by the subtle nuance of Rubinstein’s Chopin, the intricate sonorities of Debussy and Ravel, and the aphoristic beauty of Arvo Pärt. Learn more about Kanemitsu.
Alecia Batson, soprano, most recently performed in Odyssey Opera’s production of Dominick Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe. She rejoined the company in October for its Gershwin double bill, Of Thee I Sing and Let ‘Em Eat Cake. Previously, she made her solo debut with Odyssey Opera in Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher. Learn more about Batson.
About the Composers
Marti Epstein is a Boston-based composer whose music has been performed by the San Francisco Symphony, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Frankfurt, Ensemble Modern, Trinity Wall Street, and the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. She has completed commissions for the Fromm Foundation, the Munich Biennale, the Ludovico Ensemble, Guerilla Opera, the Radius Ensemble, Tanglewood Music Center, Winsor Music, Boston Opera Collaborative, Callithumpian Consort, Hinge, loadbang, and Collage New Music. Epstein was a two-time fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center (1986 and 1988) and a three-time fellow at the MacDowell Colony (1998, 1999, 2022). Learn more about Epstein.
Apostolos Paraskevas is a classical guitarist and composer as well as an award-winning film director and producer. He has received multiple international awards for his compositions and was nominated for a Grammy Award. He is the only guitarist ever to have a major orchestral piece performed at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Lukas Foss––and the only musician who has performed there in a Grim Reaper outfit. He was the founder and served for 16 years as the artistic director of the International Guitar Congress-Festival of Corfu, Greece, and is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys). Learn more about Paraskevas.
Andrew List composes music in many different genres, including orchestral works, string quartet, vocal, choral music, opera, music for children, solo works, and a variety of chamber ensembles. Selected recent performances include: “The Emerald Necklace,” commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; “Le Pont Universel for Solo Piano,” commissioned by pianist Stephen Porter; “Beyond the Celestial Horizon,” commissioned by Concordia String Trio in celebration of their 20th anniversary season; “The Dignified Heart for Piano Trio,” commissioned by the Rivers School Conservatory; and “The Devil’s Final Challenge,” commissioned by Zodiac Trio as a companion piece to Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat. Learn more about List.
Margaret McAllister is currently an associate professor of composition at Berklee College of Music. McAllister has composed music for many different genres, including orchestral works, choral music, a variety of chamber ensembles, for electroacoustic media, solo works, film, and music for performances by children. She has received composition fellowships and residencies from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the Festival at Sandpoint, Scotia Festival of Music, Centres Acanthes, Avignon, and the June in Buffalo Festival, and her work has been commissioned by the Navigator and Fromm Foundations and others. Learn more about McAllister.
Ryan Suleiman writes music that engages with dreaming, the natural world, and the understated beauty of everyday life. His one-act chamber opera, Moon, Bride, Dogs, was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a gem” with “an aesthetic that is at once so strange and so accessible.” While his artistic interests vary, he seeks ways of conveying the simultaneity of beauty and dread that characterizes our times. Learn more about Suleiman.
Larry Thomas Bell’s music has been widely played throughout the world by a distinguished array of performers. The Juilliard String Quartet premiered Bell’s first string quartet, written when the composer was 21. Over 60 of his 190 works have been commercially recorded. As a pianist, Bell has given recitals throughout the United States, as well as in Italy, Austria, and Japan, and performed on many of his own recordings. He has been awarded the Rome Prize, fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, and the Charles Ives Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Learn more about Bell.
Apostolos Paraskevas is a classical guitarist and composer as well as an award-winning film director and producer. He has received multiple international awards for his compositions and was nominated for a Grammy Award. He is the only guitarist ever to have a major orchestral piece performed at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Lukas Foss––and the only musician who has performed there in a Grim Reaper outfit. He was the founder and served for 16 years as the artistic director of the International Guitar Congress-Festival of Corfu, Greece, and is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys). Learn more about Paraskevas.
Andrew List composes music in many different genres, including orchestral works, string quartet, vocal, choral music, opera, music for children, solo works, and a variety of chamber ensembles. Selected recent performances include: “The Emerald Necklace,” commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; “Le Pont Universel for Solo Piano,” commissioned by pianist Stephen Porter; “Beyond the Celestial Horizon,” commissioned by Concordia String Trio in celebration of their 20th anniversary season; “The Dignified Heart for Piano Trio,” commissioned by the Rivers School Conservatory; and “The Devil’s Final Challenge,” commissioned by Zodiac Trio as a companion piece to Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat. Learn more about List.
Margaret McAllister is currently an associate professor of composition at Berklee College of Music. McAllister has composed music for many different genres, including orchestral works, choral music, a variety of chamber ensembles, for electroacoustic media, solo works, film, and music for performances by children. She has received composition fellowships and residencies from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the Festival at Sandpoint, Scotia Festival of Music, Centres Acanthes, Avignon, and the June in Buffalo Festival, and her work has been commissioned by the Navigator and Fromm Foundations and others. Learn more about McAllister.
Ryan Suleiman writes music that engages with dreaming, the natural world, and the understated beauty of everyday life. His one-act chamber opera, Moon, Bride, Dogs, was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a gem” with “an aesthetic that is at once so strange and so accessible.” While his artistic interests vary, he seeks ways of conveying the simultaneity of beauty and dread that characterizes our times. Learn more about Suleiman.
Larry Thomas Bell’s music has been widely played throughout the world by a distinguished array of performers. The Juilliard String Quartet premiered Bell’s first string quartet, written when the composer was 21. Over 60 of his 190 works have been commercially recorded. As a pianist, Bell has given recitals throughout the United States, as well as in Italy, Austria, and Japan, and performed on many of his own recordings. He has been awarded the Rome Prize, fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, and the Charles Ives Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Learn more about Bell.
Concert Services Staff
Senior Manager of Concert Services – Luis Herrera
Coordinator, Concert Services – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov
Coordinator, Concert Services – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov
Special Thanks
Special thanks to Dean Rodney Alejandro, Richard Carrick, Gabriele Vanoni, Eliza Howells, Matthew Carey, and the staff and crew of Seully Hall
Boston Conservatory thanks audience members for viewing this program information online. This paperless program saved 130 sheets of paper, 14 gallons of water, and 12 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
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