{"id":101200,"date":"2024-01-09T14:02:17","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T19:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=101200"},"modified":"2024-01-09T14:02:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T19:02:17","slug":"preview-composer-sebastian-currier-talks-ongoingness-premiere-torontos-21c-music-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/01\/09\/preview-composer-sebastian-currier-talks-ongoingness-premiere-torontos-21c-music-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Composer Sebastian Currier Talks About Ongoingness \u2014 To Premiere At Toronto\u2019s 21C Music Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sebastian
Sebastian Currier (Photo: Jennifer Taylor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Composer Sebastian Currier<\/strong>\u2019s piece Ongoingness will see its world premiere in Toronto as part of the 21C Music Festival at Koerner Hall. The piece was written for the occasion for harpist Bridget Kibbey<\/strong>, who will be performing it with the Calidore String Quartet<\/strong> on January 21.<\/p>\n

Based in New York City, the American composer will be in Toronto for the piece\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n

Composer Sebastian Currier<\/h3>\n

Sebastian Currier is a native of Pennsylvania, and holds degrees from the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music. His body of work includes chamber and orchestral pieces as well as compositions for solo instruments.<\/p>\n

Sebastian\u2019s compositions have been performed by prominent ensembles all over the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the Kronos Quartet, among others.<\/p>\n

Currier has received numerous awards and recognition, including the Grawemeyer Award, Berlin Prize, Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among others.<\/p>\n

Anne-Sophie Mutter<\/strong> has become a frequent collaborator. The renowned violinist, together with cellist Daniel M\u00fcller-Schott and pianist Lambert Orkis, premiered his piece Ghost Trio at Carnegie Hall in 2018. She has commissioned and recorded several of his pieces.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s currently working on a piece for violin and digital media that\u2019s in the development stages. He\u2019ll be collaborating with Anne Sophie Mutter again for the project. \u201cIt’s been a long association,\u201d he says. Blending the violin and digital sounds is a deliberate statement on the times. \u201cIt’s meant to somehow relate to […] this strange moment we are in as human beings,\u201d he adds. In performance, the piece may be performed by a human musician using digital material. \u201cI don’t really know what it’s going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridget Kibbey, the Harp & the Concert<\/h3>\n

Bridget Kibbey<\/strong> has taken the harp, something of an outlier to the classical music world, and brought it into the spotlight. She\u2019s done that by defying conventions and crossing genres, as at ease with baroque repertoire as she is playing in jazz or global music genres. Her technique is virtuosic, and her musicianship impeccable.<\/p>\n

Also on the program for the evening is Andr\u00e9 Caplet\u2019s harp quintet, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe\u2019s classic story Masque of the Red Death. The Royal Conservatory\u2019s Executive Director of Performing Arts, Mervon Mehta<\/strong>, will join the cast to narrate Poe\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

Mehta talked about Kibbey in an earlier interview with LvT<\/a>. \u201cSomeone has called her the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp, but she is really a fascinating artist,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve never done a harp concert, per se,\u201d he added. Local harp students will get the opportunity to learn from Bridget, who will conduct master classes while she\u2019s in Toronto.<\/p>\n

Other pieces on the program include Bach\u2019s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Claude Debussy: Pr\u00e9lude from Suite Bergamasque, Faur\u00e9\u2019s Une ch\u00e2telaine en sa tour, and works by Jessie Montgomery and Isaac Alb\u00e9niz, some of them arranged by Kibbey.<\/p>\n