October 27, 2004

Composer Rands highlight of
Festival of New American Music

• Full Schedule
• Nation’s top modern musicians perform in Festival of New American Music

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Bernard Rands will be a star among stars during the 12-day Festival of New American Music at California State University, Sacramento Nov. 3 to 14.

Bernard Rands

Rands’ Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic, won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for music. His large orchestral suite Le Tambourine won the 1986 Kennedy Center Freidheim Award, and he continues to be commissioned by major orchestras, festivals and organizations.

Rands will help launch the 27th Festival of New American Music at Sacramento State at its gala opening concert at 8 p.m., Nov. 3 in the Music Recital Hall in Capistrano Hall. He will be joined by stellar artists including guitarist Eliot Fisk, and the groups Earplay and the Sun Quartet. The event will be simulcast on Capital Public Radio’s KXPR 90.9 FM.

Festival appearances by Rands continue with a composer’s forum at 3 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 4 in Capistrano Hall 205. Rands will present the festival’s keynote address “Music Now and Then” at noon, Friday, Nov. 5 in the Music Recital Hall in Capistrano Hall and that evening the Boston Modern Orchestra Project will perform “The Music of Bernard Rands” at 8 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall. Other Rands compositions will be heard throughout the festival.

The Festival of New American Music is one of the nation’s longest-running annual events dedicated to contemporary music. Visiting, local and Sacramento State new music artists and composers will take the stage during the festival in venues ranging from the University’s Music Recital Hall to downtown Sacramento’s Westminster Presbyterian Church. Other offerings include lectures, classes and presentations at area community colleges and schools. All festival events are free and open to the public.

A complete festival schedule is available at www.csus.edu/events. For more information, call the Sacramento State music department at (916) 278-5155. Media assistance is available from public affairs at (916) 278-6156.

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