The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts announces the first LINKS Commissioning Awards in Music
Winston-Salem, NC – LINKS, a commissioning project of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, supports the creation of significant new repertoire that link with professional artists outside the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) to enhance the reputation of the school as a vibrant center for artistic creativity.
In its initial year 2007-2008, UNCSA Music Faculty was invited to propose partnerships between composers and performers that would feature a newly commissioned piece of music to travel with performers around the country.
"Our vision for the LINKS project has two principal parts: that the incredible creative gifts of UNCSA faculty are realized, and that these gifts are realized in tangible new works of music that will be shared with audiences nationally," says Dr. Margaret S. Mertz, Executive Director of the Kenan Institute for the Arts. "We are thrilled with these first commissions and look forward to their realization over the coming months."
Recipients of the LINKS Commissioning Awards in Music are:
Concerto for Beat Box Flute and Orchestra
Composer: Randall Woolf
Randall Woolf composes music for orchestra, digital audio, dance, video and concert theater. He has won a number of awards including the Charles Ives Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Paul Jacobs Commission for an orchestral work from the Tanglewood Institute.
Performers: Greg Pattillo (flute), Ransom Wilson (UNCSA)
Greg Pattillo, a classically trained flutist, plays jazz flute while simultaneously producing percussion sounds from his mouth and throat. He was recently profiled in the New York Times as part of a new breed of performers who have become internationally famous from YouTube.
Ransom Wilson is artist teacher of conducting in the School of Music at UNCSA. He has recorded 30 albums as both flutist and conductor, and was three times nominated for the Grammy award. Wilson is the founder and conductor of Solisti New York Orchestra, as well as the former Artistic Director of Oklahoma's OK MOZART International Festival.
Deliriade for Flute and Saxophone Quartet
Composer: Mark Engebretson (UNC Greensboro)
Mark Engebretson is Assistant Professor of Composition and Electronic Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. A 2007 recipient of a commission from Harvard University's Fromm Music Foundation, his compositions have been presented at many festivals around the country. Dr. Engebretson was formerly on the faculties of the Eastman School of Music, the University of Florida and WUNY Fredonia.
Performers: Tadeu Coelho (UNCSA) and the PRISM Saxophone Quartet
Tadeu Coelho is artist/flute professor at UNCSA. He previously taught at the University of Iowa and at the University of New Mexico, as well as being a visiting professor at the Ino Mirkovich Music Academy in Croatia. Coelho frequently appears as soloist, chamber musician, and master clinician throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.
PRISM Quartet, one of America's foremost chamber ensembles, presents the saxophone as a serious concert instrument while embracing its rich history in jazz and popular music. Taimur Sullivan, UNCSA's Artist/Professor of Saxophone, is a member of PRISM. He has also been principal saxophonist for numerous ensembles in New York City and also serves on the faculty of the Contemporary Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music.
CanAm Piano Duo
Composer: David Maslanka
David Maslanka has written nearly 30 major works for wind ensemble, among them five symphonies, nine concertos, a Mass, and a large variety of concert pieces. He studied composition at the Oberlin Conservatory and received his graduate degrees from Michigan State University.
Performers: CanAm Piano Duo (Karen Beres, UNCSA, Christopher Hahn & Lance Drege)
Karen Beres is Coordinator of Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy at UNCSA. A 2007-2008 recipient of the UNCSA Excellence in Teaching award, she remains active as a performer, adjudicator, and clinician and serves on the board of the North Carolina Music Teachers Association.
Christopher Hahn is Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Montana, where he is also the artistic director of the UM Contemporary Chamber Players. An active solo and chamber pianist, Hahn is also a member of the Royal Conservatory of Music College of Examiners.
Lance Drege is Chair of Percussion Studies and Assistant Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He has served as principal timpanist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic for the past eight years and has performed with many noted classical and mainstream artists.
String Quartet No. 4: The Infinite Sphere
Composer: Lawrence Dillon (UNCSA)
Lawrence Dillon is composer in residence at UNCSA. He has produced an extensive body of work characterized by a keen sensitivity to color and a mastery of form. Dr. Dillon has held residencies with numerous summer festivals nationally and has earned numerous awards for his work, including honors from the American Music Center and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Performers: Daedalus String Quartet
Daedalus String Quartet has won wide acclaim for their performances of contemporary music. They captured the Grand Prize of the 2001 Banff International String Quartet Competition, quickly establishing itself as among America's outstanding string quartets. Members of the quartet hold degrees from Juilliard, Curtis, the Cleveland Institute, and Harvard University.
WAVE HILL for Violin and Piano
Composer: Laura Kaminsky
Laura Kaminsky is Dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College/SUNY. Her works are frequently performed across the U.S. and abroad, including West Africa, Europe and Latin America. She is also Interim Artistic Director of the College's Performing Arts Center, and concurrently the Curator of Music Programs at New York City's renowned Symphony Space.
Performer: Kevin Lawrence (UNCSA)
Kevin Lawrence is chair of the string department at UNCSA. He studied violin at the Juilliard School where he also studied chamber music and continued his study of chamber music at the Meadowmount School in Westport, N.Y. Lawrence was appointed to the Meadowmount faculty in 1994. He was the Dean of the Killington Music Festival in Vermont from 1997 to 2004, when he founded the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont.
The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts incubates projects that sustain artists at every point in their creative development through strategic partnerships that capitalize on visionary thinking in the arts. For more information, visit www.kenanarts.org or call 336-722-0030.
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, located in Winston-Salem, N.C., was the first state-supported, residential performing arts school in the nation. Today, it is a leading conservatory of international renown, offering professional training for careers in the performing, visual, and moving image arts. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.
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