2009 Festival of New American Music

Below are highlights of this year's festival; for a listing of all events, visit the Schedule page. Parking is free after 7pm for evening concerts in the parking structure next to Capistrano Hall. For all other events, a limited number of courtesy permits will be available in the lobby one hour prior to event start times. Daily permits are also available from the machine on the 5th floor of the parking structure adjacent to Capistrano Hall, or from the information booths on campus, for $6.

This year's festival will run from November 5-15. Kicking off the festival will be a keynote address by composer David Rakowski (pictured at left) on Thursday, November 5 at 12:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. Rakowski, an alum of the New England Conservatory, Princeton, and Tanglewood, has received a large number of awards and fellowships, including the Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Rome Prize, and he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music (for pieces commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the US Marine Band). Hehas taught at Stanford, Columbia, and at Brandeis University, and has his music published by C.F. Peters.

The Festival Gala Performance, at 8:00pm on November 5, will feature some of Rakowski's compositions and performances by Marilyn Nonken, piano; the Meridian Arts Ensemble; Michelle Ko, flute; and E. Michael Richards, clarinet.

The Meridian Arts Ensemble, an ensemble from New York consisting of a brass quintet with percussion, will be performing at 8:00pm on Friday, November 6 in the Music Recital Hall. Founded in 1987, the group has nine commercial CD releases, over fifty premieres, and performances on four continents and in forty-nine states. Now a faculty ensemble at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, the ensemble began its career looking away from academic music and toward the American vernacular. Meridian’s arrangements of the music of Frank Zappa brought critical and popular acclaim, interviews on NPR’s Weekend Edition, and performances in concert halls and rock clubs. Commissions from Milton Babbitt, Elliott Sharp, Mark Applebaum, Nick Didkovsky, David Sanford, The Common Sense Composers’ Collective, Stephen Barber, Kirk Nurock and othershave created a balanced and broad ranging repertoire for brass and percussion that peers into every corner of today’s musical experience.

The Empyrean Ensemble, recently celebrating their 20 year anniverary, are artists-in-residence at UC Davis, and will be performing on Sunday, November 8 at 8:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. Founded by composer Ross Bauer, and now comprised of seven core professioinal musicians, the Empyrean Ensemble is directed by Kurt Rohde, Laurie San Martin, and Mika Pelo, and has premiered approximately 200 works and performed throughout California, including appearances at many prominent music festivals and concert series.

New York based Pianist Marilyn Nonken will be presenting a solo recital on Monday, November 9 at 8:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. Nonken's performances have been presented at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Museum, IRCAM, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well as at conservatories and universities around the world. She has recorded for New World Records, Mode, Lovely Music, Albany, Metier, Divine Art, Innova, CRI, BMOP Sound, New Focus, Tzadik, and Neos. A student of David Burge at the Eastman School, Marilyn Nonken received a Ph.D. degree in musicology from Columbia University. Her writings on music have been published in Tempo, Perspectives of New Music, Contemporary Music Review, Agni, Current Musicology, Tempo, Ecological Psychology, and the Journal of the Institute for Studies in American Music. Currently Director of Piano Studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School, Marilyn Nonken is a Steinway Artist.

The ETHEL String Quartet will be performing on Friday, November 13 at 8:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. ETHEL plays with amplification and integrates improvisation into its performances. Its members include Cornelius "Neil" Dufallo, violin; Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello; and Mary Rowell, violin, all of whom are Juilliard graduates. Members of the group have performed or recorded with Bang on a Can, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York Chamber Symphony, CONTINUUM, Sheryl Crow, Roger Daltrey, and Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project. The group has been the string quartet in residence with the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project (NACAP), and in 2008 launched a 10-stop, 10-month long worldwide TruckStop™ performance/residency tour in honor of its 10th anniversary season. ETHEL has performed over 300 shows in ten different countries as a favorite at countless festivals and venues around the globe.

The PRISM Quartet, a saxophone ensemble, will be performing on Saturday, November 14 at 8:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. Founded in 1984, the ensemble has twice been awarded the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music and has been chosen by Musical America as "Outstanding Young Artists." PRISM has premiered over 100 works, many by internationally celebrated American composers, including William Albright, Chen Yi, Lee Hyla, Libby Larson, Greg Osby, and Jennifer Higdon. Since 1994, PRISM has maintained a comprehensive residency program in Philadelphia, presenting over 175 outreach performances. Members of PRISM are Matthew Levy, Timothy McAllister, Zach Shemon, and Taimur Sullivan.

The Festival of New American Music will close on Sunday, November 15, with a performance featuring Sacramento State's award winning jazz and vocal jazz ensembles, performing with guest vocalist Nancy King and guests pianist Steve Christofferson, at 8:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. Christofferson has played piano at nightclubs and jazz festivals around the world with Nancy King, toured Europe with the Alan Jones Sextet, and performed in China with Mia Nicholson. Nancy and Steve have been performing together since 1978, and have been on the faculties of the Stanford University Jazz Workshop, Bud Shank’s Centrum Jazz Workshop and Jazz Camp West, and performed at festivals in France, the U.S., Israel and Canada.

To see more concerts during this year's Festival of New American Music, visit the schedule page. There is no admission charge for Festival events. Parking for evening concerts is free after 7pm in the parking structure adjacent to Capistrano Hall. For daytime events, a limited number of courtesy permits will be available in the lobby of the music building one hour prior to event start times. Daily permits may also be purchased for $6 at the information booth on campus or from the machine on the fifth floor of the parking structure. For driving directions or more information, click here.

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