PROGRAM:

• Pärt | Miserere
      Claire Fedoruk, soprano
      Kimberly Switzer, mezzo soprano
      Shawn Kirchner, tenor
      Michael Lichtenauer, tenor
      Scott Graff, bass
• Monk | WEAVE        West Coast Premiere
      for two voices, chamber orchestra and chorus
      Co-commission with Saint Louis Symphony
      Katie Geissinger, mezzo soprano
      Theo Bleckmann, baritone
• Monk | Night
      Alison Sniffin, soprano
      Emily Lin, soprano
      Katie Geissinger, mezzo soprano
      Adriana Manfredi, mezzo soprano
      Thomas Bogdan, tenor
      Matthew Brown, tenor
      Theo Bleckmann, baritone
      Melvir Ausente, baritone
• Monk | Selections from Songs of Ascension
      Meredith Monk
      Tom Bogdan
      Theo Bleckmann
      Katie Geissinger
      Allison Sniffin
      Kimberly Switzer

We are honored to partner with the Saint Louis Symphony in commissioning Weave for two voices chamber orchestra and chorus, a new work from Meredith Monk, premiered March 13, 2010, in St. Louis with its West Coast Premiere April 11 at Disney Hall. Proclaimed both a “magician of the voice” and “one of America’s coolest composers,” Monk is a major creative force. Her music is simple, moving and relies heavily on the vocal instrument. We look forward to welcoming her back to L.A.!

What they’re saying . . .

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 15, 2010: “Weave makes more imaginative use of the orchestra than Monk's earlier works, integrating the instruments — a small orchestra dominated by a battery of marimbas and two pianos — seamlessly into the whole. It opens with a single male voice singing a three-note pattern. A woman's voice joins him, then the chorus. There's music-box melody for piano and marimba, and a scattered conversation between instruments. It builds, then tapers, in the moment, with fascination that holds the audience suspended.”

Bill Townsend, Examiner.com: “The key work of the evening—a world premiere composition—didn’t have a title until the afternoon of the night it was performed. Its perfect name was announced from the podium by music director and conductor David Robertson. With voices used as instruments interwoven with the traditional instruments of a chamber orchestra, it is appropriate that the composer decided to call her work: Weave for Two Voices, Chamber Orchestra and Chorus.

“’I wrote it on a piece of paper and gave it to David this afternoon,’ composer Meredith Monk said immediately after the concert. ‘ I struggled with the name.’ The work, however, contains no struggle. It is organic. At once meditative, then playful, then meditative again, Weave is a feast for the soul, the ears and the eyes. Monk uses voices to make musical sounds. They don’t sing words. While not mimicking instruments, she shows the world that voices are indeed instruments of their own kind. The result is spiritually moving. . . . This piece by Monk was a collective unlike any piece you’ll ever hear.”

Paired with Monk’s work is Arvo Pärt's classic Miserere – one of his greatest and most famous works. Both these composers have a completely unique soundscape reliant on the quality of the human voice – music that is personal and timeless, introspective and meditative with incredible integrity and purity.

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Programs, artists, dates, prices and availability subject to change.

Box Office: Tickets cannot be purchased in person at the Disney Hall Box Office until 5:00 pm the evening of the performance. On the day of the concert box office staff can be reached by calling 213-972-7282 between the hours of 1PM and 3PM only. You may leave a message, and your call will be returned. Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 up until 3 pm the day of the concert.