New American Music for Cello

Friday, February 9, 2018 - 8:00pm to Saturday, February 10, 2018 - 7:55pm
Columbia Global Center | Paris, Reid Hall, 4 rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris     map
Mariel Roberts at the Lucerne Festival in 2015

Cellist Mariel Roberts of the acclaimed Mivos Quartet will perform a program of recent works, including three by Columbia composers George Lewis, Alex Mincek, and Eric Wubbels. Composer-pianist Eric Wubbels will accompany Roberts in his mesmerizingly virtuosic "Gretchen am Spinnrade."

Program: 

George Lewis, “Spinner” for solo cello (commissioned by Mariel Roberts) 

Eric Wubbels, “Gretchen am Spinnrade” for cello and piano (with Eric Wubbels, piano)

Alex Mincek, “Flutter” for solo cello

David Brynjar Franzson, “The Cartography of Time” for cello and electronics

Read about Roberts' album Cartography, which includes three of the works on the program.

This concert is free of charge and open to the public; registration on the Reid Hall website.

Biographies:

“Trailblazing” cellist Mariel Roberts (Feast of Music) is widely recognized as a deeply dedicated interpreter of contemporary music. Recent performances have garnered praise for her “technical flair and exquisite sensitivity” (American Composers Forum), as well as her ability to “couple youthful vision with startling maturity”. (InDigest Magazine). Roberts' work emphasizes expanding the technical and expressive possibilities of her instrument through close relationships with innovative performers and composers of her generation. Her passion for collaboration and experimentation has led her to premiere hundreds of new works by both emerging and established artists. Roberts has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across four continents, most notably as a member of the Mivos String Quartet, as well as Wet Ink Ensemble and Ensemble Signal. She performs regularly on major stages for new music such as the Lincoln Center Festival (NYC), Wien Modern (Austria), Lucerne Festiva l(Switzerland), Cervantino Festival (Mexico), Klang Festival (Denmark), Shanghai New Music Week (China), Darmstadt Internationalen Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Germany), and Aldeburgh Music Festival (UK). Roberts has been featured as a chamber musician on recordings for Innova, Albany Records, New World Records, New Amsterdam, Carrier Records, New Focus, and Urtext Records. (Photo @ Stefan Deuber)

Eric Wubbels (b.1980) is a composer, pianist, and Executive Director of the Wet Ink Ensemble, a New York collective devoted to creating, promoting, and organizing adventurous contemporary music.

Wubbels's music has been performed throughout Europe, Asia and the U.S., by groups such as the Wet Ink Ensemble, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, ICE, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Linea, Talea Ensemble, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and the Mivos Quartet, and featured on festivals including the Zurich Tage für Neue Musik (2013), Metz Festival (2014), and MATA Festival (2012).

He has received commissioning grants from Chamber Music America's Classical Commissioning Program, ISSUE Project Room, the Jerome Foundation, New Music USA, and Yvar Mikhashoff Trust, and has been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony and Civitella Ranieri Center (Italy).

As a performer, he has given U.S. and world premieres of works by major figures such as Peter Ablinger, Richard Barrett, Michael Finnissy, Beat Furrer, George Lewis, and Mathias Spahlinger. He has recorded for hat[NOW]art, Spektral, Albany Records, Carrier, and Quiet Design.

He holds a D.M.A. and M.A. in composition from Columbia University, and a B.A. from Amherst College, and has held teaching positions at Amherst College (2009-11) and Oberlin Conservatory (2012-13). His principal teachers include Lewis Spratlan, Tristan Murail, and Fred Lerdahl.

Columbia Sounds series Sponsors: Columbia Global Centers | Paris; Department of Music, Columbia University; Columbia University Club of France; Columbia Undergraduate Programs in Paris; and the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music at Columbia University.

View Alex Mincek's Flutter as performed by Mariel Roberts.

Flutter, Alex Mincek