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LUNART CHAMBER MUSIC COLLECTIVE
presents
IN HER VOICE
featuring GRAMMY Award-winning soprano Sarah Brailey
THU, FEB 27 at 7 pm
LunART Chamber Music Collective presents “In Her Voice” featuring GRAMMY Award-winning soprano Sarah Brailey in a program of chamber works with string quartet. Embarking on March as Women’s History Month, the concert will spotlight renowned living women composers, each a distinct voice with a story to tell, who are currently shaping 21st century music history.
A meet-and-greet reception with the artists will follow the performance. All are invited for light refreshments and conversation with Sarah, violinists Kangwon Lee Kim and Dawn Dongeun Wohn, violist Marie Pauls, and cellist Lindsey Crabb.
Vocal text lays a thematic foundation for this program, one of light and transformation. In The Light Blurred by the Stars, composer Eliza Brown has created musical vignettes from five poems by Susan Stewart, touching on themes of human survival and renewal. Danae Xanthe Vlasse’s (France, Greece) Nocturne pour Caline is a moment of ethereal suspension, an homage to the composer’s beloved feline companion. In By and By, Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw draws listeners into an intimate space, transporting us from timeless folk hymns to lush, reckless abandon instrumentals.
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SHOW DETAILS
When/Where:
Thursday, February 27
Doors at 6:30 PM / Concert at 7 PM
@
Arts + Literature Laboratory
(111 S. Livingston St, Madison)
Admission:
$15-$30
Audiences will get a sneak preview of what’s to come for LunART’s upcoming summer festival with Shuo, a string quartet by 2025 Composer-in-Residence Chen Yi. The Chinese word for “initiate,” ”shuo” also refers to the beginning of a new moon cycle. Dr. Chen, a Guggenheim fellow and former violinist with Peking Opera, seamlessly blends Chinese and Western musical language into a voice all her own.
Featured Artists
Sarah Brailey
GRAMMY Award-winning soprano Sarah Brailey enjoys a versatile career that defies categorization. Praised by The New York Times for her “radiant, liquid tone,” and by Opera UK for “a sound of remarkable purity,” she is a prolific vocalist, cellist, recording artist, and Educator.
Sarah’s numerous career highlights include performing Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with the Mark Morris Dance Group, serenading the Mona Lisa with John Zorn’s Madrigals at the Louvre in Paris, and recording the role of The Soul on the world premiere album of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison, for which she received the 2020 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Other notable recent and upcoming projects include the role of the Angel in Handel’s La Resurrezione with Haymarket Opera; Julia Wolfe’s Her Story with the Lorelei Ensemble and the Boston, Chicago, Nashville, National, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras; and David Lang’s Song of Songs at the Barbican Centre.
Sarah is a member of Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to non-profit organizations. Through Beyond Artists, she supports the Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and the Animal Welfare Institute. Sarah is the Director of Vocal Studies at the University of Chicago, the Artistic Director of the Handel Aria Competition, and serves on the voice faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Sarah’s numerous career highlights include performing Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with the Mark Morris Dance Group, serenading the Mona Lisa with John Zorn’s Madrigals at the Louvre in Paris, and recording the role of The Soul on the world premiere album of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison, for which she received the 2020 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Other notable recent and upcoming projects include the role of the Angel in Handel’s La Resurrezione with Haymarket Opera; Julia Wolfe’s Her Story with the Lorelei Ensemble and the Boston, Chicago, Nashville, National, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras; and David Lang’s Song of Songs at the Barbican Centre.
Sarah is a member of Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to non-profit organizations. Through Beyond Artists, she supports the Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and the Animal Welfare Institute. Sarah is the Director of Vocal Studies at the University of Chicago, the Artistic Director of the Handel Aria Competition, and serves on the voice faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dawn Dongeun Wohn
Praised as having "a joyful sense of freedom, and a pure, unencumbered tone" by BBC Music Magazine, Korean-American violinist Dawn Dongeun Wohn has performed in concert halls in North and South America, Asia, and Europe, including Carnegie Weill Hall, Lincoln Center, and the National Theater in Taiwan. As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras such as the Korean Broadcasting Symphony and the Aspen Conducting Orchestra and has toured internationally as a chamber musician.
Her debut album Perspectives, featuring diverse works by female composers was featured by the New York Times, Spotify, Apple Music and was chosen as one of WQXR’s best albums of the year. Her recent release, Unbounded by Delos Music explores music by American women. Both albums have been featured on radio programs all over the world and have been noted for its “enlightened advocacy” (Gramophone), “elegant and impassioned playing” (Fanfare), and “warm, crystal-clear tone” (Whole note).
Dawn was one of the last students of the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay, and pursued further studies at The Juilliard School, Yale University and Stony Brook University. Currently, she teaches at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music and is the Artistic Director of the newly founded Coppia Concert Series.
Her debut album Perspectives, featuring diverse works by female composers was featured by the New York Times, Spotify, Apple Music and was chosen as one of WQXR’s best albums of the year. Her recent release, Unbounded by Delos Music explores music by American women. Both albums have been featured on radio programs all over the world and have been noted for its “enlightened advocacy” (Gramophone), “elegant and impassioned playing” (Fanfare), and “warm, crystal-clear tone” (Whole note).
Dawn was one of the last students of the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay, and pursued further studies at The Juilliard School, Yale University and Stony Brook University. Currently, she teaches at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music and is the Artistic Director of the newly founded Coppia Concert Series.
Kangwon Lee Kim
Dr. Kangwon Lee Kim, Madison Bach Musicians concertmaster and Assistant Artistic Director, is a versatile violinist with repertoire ranging from 17th to 21st-century using both baroque and modern violins.
She has performed throughout the US as well as in Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Norway, and Czech Republic and collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler and Laurence Lesser. Ms. Kim has recorded for the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and CRI labels, and the live recordings of her recitals have been heard on NPR, WFLN in Philadelphia, and Wisconsin Public Radio.
As a baroque violinist, Ms. Kim has performed with numerous early music ensembles and given lectures throughout the US. Ms. Kim was Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Biola University in CA and has also taught at Ripon College and Lawrence University Conservatory in WI. Ms. Kim serves as music director of Love in Music, a nonprofit organization that reaches out to the underserved communities in the LA area and enjoys working with the music teachers who give free lessons to the young students. During the summer, she teaches at Credo summer chamber music festival at Oberlin College and is the chair of MBM’s Summer Chamber Music Workshop.
She has performed throughout the US as well as in Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Norway, and Czech Republic and collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler and Laurence Lesser. Ms. Kim has recorded for the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and CRI labels, and the live recordings of her recitals have been heard on NPR, WFLN in Philadelphia, and Wisconsin Public Radio.
As a baroque violinist, Ms. Kim has performed with numerous early music ensembles and given lectures throughout the US. Ms. Kim was Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Biola University in CA and has also taught at Ripon College and Lawrence University Conservatory in WI. Ms. Kim serves as music director of Love in Music, a nonprofit organization that reaches out to the underserved communities in the LA area and enjoys working with the music teachers who give free lessons to the young students. During the summer, she teaches at Credo summer chamber music festival at Oberlin College and is the chair of MBM’s Summer Chamber Music Workshop.
Marie Pauls
Marie Pauls (viola) is a versatile freelance musician, residing in Madison, WI. She earned both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received a full scholarship to study with Professor Sally Chisholm. Marie is an active chamber musician, and an artistic director of Oakwood Chamber Players. She has been a featured performer with LunART Festival, since it began in 2017, and is an active member of LunART Chamber Music Collective, a group which champions works by women composers through performance tours and recordings. As LunART's Education Manager, she has piloted several youth arts programs, engaging students and families both local and abroad, and directs Composers Hub, a professional development program for women composers. A seasoned orchestral musician, she performs with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and has held principal viola positions in the Illinois Valley and Beloit-Janesville Symphony Orchestras. Beyond the classical realm, she performs with the acoustic rock group Evan Riley Band, with whom she has recorded three original albums. Marie finds joy and energy in the making and sharing of music and the arts in community with others. She is a proud mother of two creative kids.
Lindsey Crabb
Lindsey Crabb is a member of the Willy Street Chamber Players and the Madison Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with other Madison area groups such as Clocks in Motion, the Pro Arte Quartet, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and Theatre LILA. In addition to performing, she is an active educator, maintaining a private studio of students of all ages and levels. Lindsey holds degrees from Lawrence University and the Eastman School of Music, and she received her doctoral degree in cello performance at UW-Madison with Uri Vardi where she was a member of the Hunt Quartet.
Featured Composers
Eliza Brown
Eliza Brown's music is motivated by sound and its potential for meaning; engagement with the broader arts and humanities; fundamental questions about the nature of human existence, social relationships, and responsibilities; and sensory experience. Their compositions have been performed by leading interpreters of new music, including Ensemble Dal Niente, Spektral Quartet, ensemble recherche, International Contemporary Ensemble, Network for New Music, Ensemble SurPlus, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and Wild Rumpus New Music Collective; heard on stages throughout the USA and in Mexico, Colombia, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Canada, and the UAE; and recorded on multiple labels.
Eliza’s work is frequently intertextual, opening dialogues with existing pieces of music, historical styles, and other cultural artifacts. It is also frequently interdisciplinary, with a particular focus on music-theater and opera. Recent projects include The Body of the State (2017), a music-theater work about the life of Juana of Castile written in collaboration with six women who were at the time of writing incarcerated at Indiana Women's Prison. Commissioned and premiered by Ensemble Dal Niente, this work incorporates the instrumentalists into its staging as a representation of the oppressive, hierarchical family and society that shaped Juana's life. Prospect and Refuge (2015), for four female voices, explores how public spaces shape social experience and was created in collaboration with architect Hannah Marzynski, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and stage director Emmi Hilger. The piece is to be re-staged at each performance site, with reference to the social history of that space.
Eliza’s artistic interests give rise to questions about the interpretation and meaning of music that drive their scholarship. Their dissertation, A Narratological Analysis of ‘Pnima…ins innere’ by Chaya Czernowin, used methods drawn from the interdisciplinary field of narratology (the study of narrative) to examine how Czernowin’s opera tells its story by means of music alone, as singers in Pnima sing phonemes and wordless vocal sounds.
Eliza is a dedicated teacher who enjoys helping students develop as creators and engage complex ideas with rigor and enthusiasm. They are currently Associate Professor of Music at DePauw University, where they teach composition and music theory. Eliza has enjoyed a long-term affiliation with the Walden School Young Musicians Program, where they have spent many summers in many roles, including faculty and Academic Dean. Eliza holds a B.Mus. summa cum laude in composition from the University of Michigan and a D.M.A. in composition from Northwestern University.
Eliza’s work is frequently intertextual, opening dialogues with existing pieces of music, historical styles, and other cultural artifacts. It is also frequently interdisciplinary, with a particular focus on music-theater and opera. Recent projects include The Body of the State (2017), a music-theater work about the life of Juana of Castile written in collaboration with six women who were at the time of writing incarcerated at Indiana Women's Prison. Commissioned and premiered by Ensemble Dal Niente, this work incorporates the instrumentalists into its staging as a representation of the oppressive, hierarchical family and society that shaped Juana's life. Prospect and Refuge (2015), for four female voices, explores how public spaces shape social experience and was created in collaboration with architect Hannah Marzynski, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and stage director Emmi Hilger. The piece is to be re-staged at each performance site, with reference to the social history of that space.
Eliza’s artistic interests give rise to questions about the interpretation and meaning of music that drive their scholarship. Their dissertation, A Narratological Analysis of ‘Pnima…ins innere’ by Chaya Czernowin, used methods drawn from the interdisciplinary field of narratology (the study of narrative) to examine how Czernowin’s opera tells its story by means of music alone, as singers in Pnima sing phonemes and wordless vocal sounds.
Eliza is a dedicated teacher who enjoys helping students develop as creators and engage complex ideas with rigor and enthusiasm. They are currently Associate Professor of Music at DePauw University, where they teach composition and music theory. Eliza has enjoyed a long-term affiliation with the Walden School Young Musicians Program, where they have spent many summers in many roles, including faculty and Academic Dean. Eliza holds a B.Mus. summa cum laude in composition from the University of Michigan and a D.M.A. in composition from Northwestern University.
Danae Xanthe Vlasse
GRAMMY®-winner Danaë Xanthe Vlasse is a half-French, half-Greek composer living in Los Angeles since 2005. Her music encompasses art song, chamber music, and works for solo piano, along with orchestral and choral pieces. She has released 6 albums of her original music and collaborated on many more. Her most recent album - MYTHOLOGIES II - was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. MYTHOLOGIES II is GRAMMY®-nominated for Best Classical Compendium.
Mrs. Vlasse’s music has been recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and performed by influential award-winning pianists, such as GRAMMY®-winning pianist Nadia Shpachenko, Robert Thies, and Mina Perry. Champions of her music include GRAMMY®-winning sopranos Hila Plitmann and Sangeeta Kuar, GRAMMY®-winning flutist Wouter Kellerman, GRAMMY®-nominated cellist Éru Matsumoto, Long Beach Symphony principal cellist Cecilia Tsan, Los Angeles Opera cellists John Walz, and Charles Tyler, Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist Mischa Lefkowitz, GRAMMY®-winning violinist Lili Haydn and genre-bending sensation, Caroline Campbell. Mrs. Vlasse enjoys writing choral works, and was the 2019 Composer in Residence for the Sterling Ensemble choir.
David Wilcox, the director and choreographer of the Long Beach Ballet, along with ballerina Aitana Jordan, and figure-skater Madeline Stammen (of "Cirque Du Soleil") have also incorporated Danaë's music into their work.
When asked what inspires her music, Danaë is quick to respond:
“My need to create is so profound that I would keep writing even if no one ever heard a note of my music, but my creative goals are very precise in what I hope to bring to listeners; Beauty, Truth, & Elevation!”
Mrs. Vlasse’s music has been recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and performed by influential award-winning pianists, such as GRAMMY®-winning pianist Nadia Shpachenko, Robert Thies, and Mina Perry. Champions of her music include GRAMMY®-winning sopranos Hila Plitmann and Sangeeta Kuar, GRAMMY®-winning flutist Wouter Kellerman, GRAMMY®-nominated cellist Éru Matsumoto, Long Beach Symphony principal cellist Cecilia Tsan, Los Angeles Opera cellists John Walz, and Charles Tyler, Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist Mischa Lefkowitz, GRAMMY®-winning violinist Lili Haydn and genre-bending sensation, Caroline Campbell. Mrs. Vlasse enjoys writing choral works, and was the 2019 Composer in Residence for the Sterling Ensemble choir.
David Wilcox, the director and choreographer of the Long Beach Ballet, along with ballerina Aitana Jordan, and figure-skater Madeline Stammen (of "Cirque Du Soleil") have also incorporated Danaë's music into their work.
When asked what inspires her music, Danaë is quick to respond:
“My need to create is so profound that I would keep writing even if no one ever heard a note of my music, but my creative goals are very precise in what I hope to bring to listeners; Beauty, Truth, & Elevation!”
Caroline Shaw
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Shaw is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, an honorary doctorate from Yale, four Grammys, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has written and produced for iconic artists and ensembles across the musical spectrum, including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Tiler Peck, Nas, Kanye West, the LA Phil, the NY Phil, and others. Recent tv/film/stage scoring projects include “Leonardo Da Vinci” (Ken Burns/PBS), “Julie Keeps Quiet (Leonardo Van Dijl), “Fleishman is in Trouble” (FX/Hulu), “The Sky Is Everywhere” (Josephine Decker/A24), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), “The Crucible” (Lyndsey Turner/National Theatre), “Partita” (Justin Peck/NYC Ballet), “Moby Dick” (Wu Tsang), and “LIFE” (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust). Current touring projects include shows with Sō Percussion, Ringdown, Attacca Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, Graveyards & Gardens, Gabriel Kahane, and Kamus Quartet. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary.
Dr. Chen Yi
As a prolific composer who blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries, Dr. Chen Yi is a recipient of the prestigious Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001. She is the Cravens/Millsap/Missouri Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory since 1998. She has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2005, and the American Academy of Arts & Letters in 2019.
Born in China, Ms. Chen has received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Central Conservatory in Beijing, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University in the City of New York. Her composition teachers included Prof. Wu Zu-qiang, Prof. Chou Wen-chung, and Prof. Mario Davidovsky. She has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Women’s Philharmonic, Chanticleer, and Aptos Creative Arts Center (93-96) supported by Meet The Composer, and on the composition faculty at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (96-98).
Fellowships and commissioning awards were received from Guggenheim Foundation (96), American Academy of Arts and Letters (96, 01), Fromm Foundation at Harvard University (94, 23), Koussevitzky Music Foundation at the Library of Congress (97), and National Endowment for the Arts (94). Honors include the first prizes from the Chinese National Composition Competition (85, 12), the Lili Boulanger Award (93), the NYU Sorel Medal Award (96), the CalArts/Alpert Award (97), the UT Eddie Medora King Composition Prize (99), the ASCAP Concert Music Award (01), the Elise Stoeger Prize (02) from Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Friendship Ambassador Award from Edgar Snow Fund (02), finalist of the Pulitzer Prize (06), the UMKC Kauffman Award in Artistry/Scholarship and Faculty Service (06, 12, 19), the Lifetime Achievement Award for Choral Music from the World Youth & Children Choral Artists Association (22), the Outstanding Alumni Award from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music (23) and the UMKC Chancellor’s Award for Career Contributions to the University (23). Honorary Doctorates are from Lawrence University (02), Baldwin-Wallace College (08), University of Portland (09), The New School University (10), and the University of Hartford (16). She has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor in major conservatories in China since 2006.
Her music is published by Theodore Presser Company, performed worldwide, and recorded on Bis, New Albion, CRI, Teldec (w/ Grammy Award for Colors of Love), New World (w/ NPR Top 10 Classical Music Album Award for Sound of the Five), Albany, Naxos, BMOP/sound, Delos, Angel, Nimbus, Bridge, Cala, Avant, Atma, Hugo, Koch International Classics, Centaur, Eroica, Capstone, Quartz, Oehms, Etcetera, Navona, Cedille, Innova, XAS, XUAR, Usk, Cavalli, AMP, Mark, Con Brio, Tonar, Equilibrium, Paradisum, Soundbrush, Profil, OUR, Solfa, Luminescence, Cavi-Music, Chanticleer Records, Decca Classics, and China Record Co. among others.
Born in China, Ms. Chen has received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Central Conservatory in Beijing, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University in the City of New York. Her composition teachers included Prof. Wu Zu-qiang, Prof. Chou Wen-chung, and Prof. Mario Davidovsky. She has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Women’s Philharmonic, Chanticleer, and Aptos Creative Arts Center (93-96) supported by Meet The Composer, and on the composition faculty at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (96-98).
Fellowships and commissioning awards were received from Guggenheim Foundation (96), American Academy of Arts and Letters (96, 01), Fromm Foundation at Harvard University (94, 23), Koussevitzky Music Foundation at the Library of Congress (97), and National Endowment for the Arts (94). Honors include the first prizes from the Chinese National Composition Competition (85, 12), the Lili Boulanger Award (93), the NYU Sorel Medal Award (96), the CalArts/Alpert Award (97), the UT Eddie Medora King Composition Prize (99), the ASCAP Concert Music Award (01), the Elise Stoeger Prize (02) from Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Friendship Ambassador Award from Edgar Snow Fund (02), finalist of the Pulitzer Prize (06), the UMKC Kauffman Award in Artistry/Scholarship and Faculty Service (06, 12, 19), the Lifetime Achievement Award for Choral Music from the World Youth & Children Choral Artists Association (22), the Outstanding Alumni Award from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music (23) and the UMKC Chancellor’s Award for Career Contributions to the University (23). Honorary Doctorates are from Lawrence University (02), Baldwin-Wallace College (08), University of Portland (09), The New School University (10), and the University of Hartford (16). She has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor in major conservatories in China since 2006.
Her music is published by Theodore Presser Company, performed worldwide, and recorded on Bis, New Albion, CRI, Teldec (w/ Grammy Award for Colors of Love), New World (w/ NPR Top 10 Classical Music Album Award for Sound of the Five), Albany, Naxos, BMOP/sound, Delos, Angel, Nimbus, Bridge, Cala, Avant, Atma, Hugo, Koch International Classics, Centaur, Eroica, Capstone, Quartz, Oehms, Etcetera, Navona, Cedille, Innova, XAS, XUAR, Usk, Cavalli, AMP, Mark, Con Brio, Tonar, Equilibrium, Paradisum, Soundbrush, Profil, OUR, Solfa, Luminescence, Cavi-Music, Chanticleer Records, Decca Classics, and China Record Co. among others.
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