MICHIGAN CHAMBER PLAYERS - A SEASON TO CREATE

September 2008

Elizabeth Goolian

The Michigan Chamber Players, a group comprised of faculty at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, announce another exciting new season, starting on September 14 with a concert dedicated to works by U-M faculty. This year, two new composers join the faculty: Paul Schoenfield and Kristin Kuster.

Kristin Kuster, who worked with composer William Bolcom when she earned her DMA at Michigan, is being hailed as “a wonderfully gifted composer reaching deep for meaning and expressive breadth.” Her work has been commissioned by the prestigious American Composers Orchestra, her “lush and visceral” Myrrha for voices and orchestra premiering at Carnegie Hall. Kuster draws inspiration, she says, from architectural space, the weather, and mythology. The Michigan Chamber Players will perform her Ando: Light Against Shade for small chamber ensemble.

Also new to the composition faculty is Paul Schoenfield. He began his career as a concert pianist, having studied with Rudolf Serkin, before shifting to composing. A native of Detroit, Mr. Schoenfield divides his time between the U.S. and Israel, where he has a studio. His influences are eclectic, drawing on everything from Bela Bartok, whose complete piano works he has recorded, American vernacular and popular music, and Israeli folk tunes. One of his violin concerti, for example, was inspired by tunes he heard children singing in the kindergarten under his studio in Israel. All influences are assimilated into Schoenfield’s own distinctive language. The MCP will perform one of his most famous works, Café Music, for violin, cello, and piano.

Also on the bill that night are works by U-M faculty composers Erik Santos, Bright Sheng, and Michael Daugherty.