Auros Group to celebrate work of acclaimed composer Eric Chasalow with Nov. 19 concert

Released on October 12, 2005
Contact: David E. Nathan 781-736-4203 or dnathan1@brandeis.edu

Happy birthday, Eric Chasalow!

In honor of Chasalow’s 50th birthday, the acclaimed Auros Group for New Music will celebrate the music of the world-renowned composer and Brandeis University faculty member with a concert at 8 p.m. on Nov. 19 at the Slosberg Music Center.

The concert will feature music from different periods in Chasalow’s career, and will mark the world premiere of a new flute chamber concerto commissioned by The Serge Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation. Chasalow has also been honored by the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Fromm Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Chasalow, a professor of composition at Brandeis and director of the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (BEAMS), is a recognized leader in the field of electro-acoustic music, known best for his works that combine live soloist with electronic sounds.

“Eric Chasalow is one of the few composers now writing whose work challenges our conceptions of what music is,” said composer and conductor Scott Wheeler, co-artistic director of Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble. “His music seems to bend time in uncanny ways, incorporating electronics, jazz, rock, and the spoken word in ways that extend and transform the modernist tradition. Impressive though the music is, it has a light touch, often humorous and often tender. His is a unique voice; I return again and again to this wonderful music.”

Chasalow works to be performed during the Nov. 19 tribute concert include Crossing Boundaries (2000) for four-channel electronic sound; In a Manner of Speaking (2000) for bass clarinet and electronic sound; Due (Cinta)mani (2002) for piano and electronic sound; Yes, I Really Did (1998) for piano trio; Suspicious Motives (1999) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and electronic sound; The Fury of Rainstorms (1992) for electronic sound; and Pass it On (1995) and Triptych (1984) for soprano and piano.

Chasalow’s music has been embraced by performers throughout the world, with recent performances from Boston to Berlin and San Francisco to Seoul.

A member of the Brandeis faculty since 1990, Chasalow produces the biennial BEAMS Electronic Music Marathon as part of the Boston CyberArts Festival. Since 1996, he has directed The Video Archive of Electroacoustic Music, an oral history project chronicling the pioneer electronic music composers and engineers from 1950 to the present.

A product of the famed Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, Chasalow studied composition with Mario Davidovsky and flute with Harvey Solberger.

Since its creation in 1992, the award-winning Auros Group has become one of New England’s premier contemporary ensembles. Auros conveys fiery enthusiasm and passionate devotion to the music of today’s composers, and has developed a large and enthusiastic following.

Led by conductor Michael Adelson, Auros features some of the area’s finest musicians, including flutist Susan Gall, soprano Janna Baty, violinist Jason Horowitz, clarinetist William Kirkley, cellist Jennifer Lucht, and percussionist Robert Schulz. Guest pianist Don Berman will also perform at the Chasalow tribute concert.

For more information about Chasalow or the Auros Group, visit ericchasalow.com or auros.com.

Tickets are $20 ($10 for the Brandeis community and senior citizens) and are available by calling 781-736-3400.

Links

Eric Chasalow website

submitted by David Nathan

Auros Group for New Music

submitted by David Nathan