Alones Together: Concert coming up Wednesday, Feb. 5!

Alones Together: An Evening of Music for Unaccompanied Solo Instruments

Cellist Caroline Stinson and saxophonist Javier Oviedo will be featured in a concert of music by Jon Liechty and poetry by Andrew Kreider, on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 at 7:00 PM at the Bloomingdale School, 323 West 108^th Street in New York City. The program will include Strength and Beauty, a set of pieces for unaccompanied cello, the world premiere of Sonata No. 1 for tenor saxophone, and works for piano solo performed by the composer. The concert is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Donations will be gratefully accepted.

Strength and Beauty was inspired by the portraits of Li Ming Shun, whose art focuses on the Asian male nude. Its four movements are both lyrical and uncompromising, reflecting some of the many contradictory emotions the body can evoke.

The frank melodies of Sonata No. 1 defy easy classification; even those that seem simple at first prove to have unexpected twists and turns.

Poetry by Andrew Kreider is the inspiration for the piano pieces that will round out the evening, and the variety in the music matches the wealth of expression in the words. From the Azerbaijani-influenced “Keepsakes” to the mad dash of “What Won't Wait”, Kreider's verbal adroitness pairs well with Liechty's lush harmonic imagination.

Praised for her vibrant lyricism, fresh interpretations and expressive performances, cellist Caroline Stinson’s solo invitations include the Museum of Modern Art's Summergarden Series, Poisson Rouge and Bargemusic in New York; Cité de la Musique Strasbourg and the Lucerne Festival in Europe, and the Centennial Centre and Winspear Halls in Canada. As a soloist she has performed with the Banff Festival and Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestras, the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, and the Interlochen World Youth and Syracuse Symphonies. A champion of contemporary music, Ms. Stinson has commissioned concerti from Steven Bryant (Cornell Wind Ensemble) and Andrew Waggoner (Syracuse Symphony), works for cello with electronics from Canadian composer Patrick Carrabre, in addition to chamber music with the Lark Quartet and her new music and improvisation group, Open End Ensemble. Performance highlights include Elliott Carter's "Triple Duo" with conductor Pierre Boulez in New York and Europe, the premiere of Paul Moravec's Piano Quintet with Jeremy Denk and the Lark Quartet in New York, and performing Esa-Pekka Salonen's "YTA III" for solo cello at the composer’s recommendation at Scandinavia House in New York in 2011. Caroline's début CD, Lines, was released in 2011 on Albany Records, and she has over a dozen other chamber music recordings to her credit on labels from Bridge to Naxos. Her teachers were Alan Harris (Cleveland), Maria Kliegel (Germany), Joel Krosnick (Juilliard) and Tanya Prochazka. Caroline is co-Artistic Director of the Weekend of Chamber Music in NY State and teaches cello and chamber music at The Juilliard School in New York City in the Pre-College Division and as Assistant Faculty for Joel Krosnick.

One of the brightest soloists of the classical saxophone world, Javier Oviedo is acclaimed for his lustrous tone, sensitive musicianship, and formidable technique. He debuted at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York City last June performing a newly commissioned work for saxophone and orchestra to thunderous ovation.

As a soloist Javier Oviedo has appeared with orchestras in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Texas. He has also appeared with the Orchestre Lamoureux and L’orchestre à cordes d’Ariége in France. In spring 2011 Oviedo appeared with the National Orchestra of the Republic of Moldova and later that year with the State Philharmonic of Oryol in the Russian Federation. This performance was hailed by the local press as “a triumph of a concert.”

An accomplished chamber musician, Oviedo has performed in recital on many of New York’s most prestigious stages such as at Carnegie Hall and The United Nations. He was a founding member of the Elision Saxophone Quartet in his native-born Texas. The quartet will celebrate its 25th season in 2014. Oviedo was also a founding member of The F.R.E.D. Chamber Players which explored new or under-performed chamber music, theater pieces, plays, dance, and art from centuries old and new.

In 2008 Oviedo recorded his debut recording, The Classical Saxophone A French Love Story, which featured original music for saxophone and orchestra from around the early 20th-Century. The American Record Guide said of the disc,

“The music is rich, lush, and colorful, and one is tempted to praise repeatedly Oviedo’s gorgeous sound, which fits these pieces perfectly.” -American Record Guide

The disc was recorded in Paris with Orchestra Pasdeloup under the direction of Jean-Pierre Schmitt and released on the MSR Classics label.

Jon Liechty's compositions have been performed in New York’s Weill Hall, at An Die Musik Live! in Baltimore, at the Midwest Composer's Symposium in Oberlin, Ohio, at the Indiana Contemporary Music Festival in Terre Haute, Indiana, at the Sound in the Land festival in Waterloo, Ontario, and at the Escuela Nacional de Música in Mexico City. He is the recipient of grants from Meet the Composer, and from the Honors Division of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in music composition from the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, where his teachers included Donald Erb and Claude Baker.

Liechty has appeared as a pianist at An Die Musik Live! in Baltimore, at Symphony Space in New York City, at the SummerKeys festival in Maine, at the Lotus World Music and Dance Festival in Indiana, at the American Composers Alliance festival in New York City, and on Azerbaijani National Television. He gave the world premiere performance of Andrew Nishikawa's Piano Concerto No. 1, written especially for him, at the Boston Conservatory. He is the Associate Music Director at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.