‘America: Then and Now’ May 16 At Randolph’s Chandler Music Hall

In further celebration of its centennial year, the Chandler Center for the Arts will present the ensemble Music from Copland House, with a program entitled "America: Then and Now," Friday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph.

A trio comprised of pianist Michael Boriskin, violinist Curtis Macomber, and cellist Wilhelmina Smith, will take the audience on a celebratory journey across the American musical landscape from the time that the Chandler cornerstone was put in place, through to the end of the 20^th century. This vibrant program harkens back to the era of ragtime, Victorian parlors, camp meetings, and the horse-and-buggy days, with music by turn-of-the-last-century American masters Scott Joplin, Charles Ives, and Amy Beach. It also returns to the present with works by the eclectic award-winner Paul Schoenfield, and Vermont-raised Pierre Jalbert, one of today’s most honored young composers.

Music from Copland House (MCH) is the internationally-acclaimed resident ensemble at Aaron Copland’s landmark, longtime New York home, now restored as a unique creative center for American music. Since its triumphant New York debut as the Opening Night of Merkin Hall’s 1999-2000 season, Music from Copland House has come to occupy a special place on the U.S. musical scene as perhaps this country’s only wide-ranging American repertory ensemble, journeying through 150 years of our rich musical legacy.

Hailed by The New York Times for performances of "exuberance, excitement, and bright sunshine," MCH has been engaged by Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, the Caramoor International, Cape Cod, and Bard Music Festivals, and other leading American concert presenters. MCH collaborated in 2006 with National Public Radio and the European Broadcasting Union on a special concert aired in over 20 countries. The ensemble has commissioned works by Richard Danielpour, Chen Yi, Tamar Muskal, and Sebastian Currier (whose Copland House work, Static, won the prestigious 2007 Grawemeyer Award). Following its much-praised debut recording for Arabesque, the first complete cycle of Copland’s chamber music, MCH now records for Koch International, including much-praised discs of music by Currier and John Musto. Inspired by Copland’s peerless, lifelong advocacy of American composers, MCH also offers children’s programs, master classes, lectures, residencies, and workshops, and other educational and community outreach activities.

Pianist and Copland House Artistic and Executive Director Michael Boriskin has performed in over 30 countries. He appears with leading international orchestras and in major concert halls, and his innovative broadcast series, Centuryview was heard for three seasons on NPR. He has also appeared several times at Chandler with the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival.

Cellist Wilhelmina Smith made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra and was a prizewinner in the Leonard Rose International Cello Competition. She has appeared in concert halls around the world and is artistic director of the Salt Bay Chamberfest in Maine, which she founded, and Florida’s Pensacola Chamber Music Festival, and is a member of The Mannes Trio.

Violinist Curtis Macomber was first violinist of the award-winning New World String Quartet from 1982-93, during most of which time the quartet served as Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University. A member of Speculum Musicae and DaCapo Chamber Players, and a founder of the Apollo Trio, he is a member of the chamber music faculty of The Juilliard School and the violin faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.

Reserved seat tickets are available through the Chandler box office at 728-6464 from 3-6 p.m. or at tickets@chandler-arts.org. Chandler Music Hall is wheelchair accessible.

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