PRESS RELEASE - May 6, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Brave New Works is presenting a program of modernist music in conjunction with the opening of the Picasso exhibit at the University of Art Museum, June 13th, 2002.

The turn of the 21st century was a time of exploration and dramatic change in art and science. Old barriers were broken down to reveal new invention and concepts, and in a sense, a new world order was made. Contemporary ensemble Brave New Works is exploring this new world order of modernism by presenting a concert in conjunction with the opening of the Picasso exhibit at the University of Art Museum. The program includes works by composers who were personally associated with Picasso or whose work relates directly to Picasso, including Schoenberg, Milhaud, Poulenc, Stravinsky, and Rorem.

In visual arts the great debate was representation versus abstraction, in music, tonality versus atonality. This program represents both views, beginning with Schoenberg, who was the creator of the twelve tone technique. Schoenberg saw his work as a continuation of what came before, a natural step in the evolution of composition in the same way that cubism grew out of previous movements such as primitivism. Milhaud and Poulenc, whose work stayed in the fringes of tonality, represent a French style that was undoubtedly influenced by the modernist painters such as Picasso. Stravinsky was connected to Picasso more directly. His Suite Italienne is a Suite from the ballet "Pulcinella" for which Picasso himself created the set-design. Finally, the most resent of the compositions, Rorem's String Quartet, takes inspiration from the master himself: Each movement in the work depicts a particular painting of Picasso.

Performers on this concert include violinists Maria Sampen and Esther Noh, violist Tim Christie, cellists Katri Ervamaa and Andrea Yun, flutist Emily Perryman, oboist Jared Hauser, clarinetist Deborah Chodacki, guitarist Matthew Ardizzone, and pianists Marilyn Shrude and Winston Choi. Brave New Works, now in its fifth season, is an Ann Arbor based ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting contemporary classical music. Their ambitious performance schedule incorporates the work of varied and challenging composers each year.

The University of Michigan Museum of Art is located at 525 South State Street in Ann Arbor. For more information, call (734) 764-0395.