PIANO SPHERES 30TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON, LA
@pianospheres
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Deets: Thirty years ago, a group of gifted young pianists with a bent towards new music, gathered together to lick stamps. Led by the late pianist, scholar and Schoenberg associate Leonard Stein, they sat at his dining table affixing these stamps to pre-internet postcards to announce their brand-new concert series called Piano Spheres. They hoped it might last a whole season. Music patron Betty Freeman wrote the $2,500 check that was their budget for the entire year. Now, 30 years and a few generations later, these pianists - Gloria Cheng, Vicki Ray, Mark Robson, and the late Susan Svrček have become brilliant lights in the firmament of contemporary concert music in Los Angeles and are bringing the next generation of young pianists along with them.
To celebrate this landmark 30th anniversary season, Piano Spheres presents ‘30 for 30,’ a special initiative that will commission 30 composers to write new works for the piano, to be performed by Piano Spheres’ Core Artists: Nic Gerpe, Aron Kallay, Thomas Kotcheff and Vicki Ray, Emeritus Artist Mark Robson, Stein Resident Artist Andrés Jaramillo, and Emerging Artist Thomas Mellan. All ‘30 for 30’ composers were chosen by the performers and represent an impressive sampling of local, national and international talent including Thomas Meadowcroft, Donald Crockett, Paul Beaudoin, Paul Morovec, Veronika Krausas, William Alves, Thomas Flaherty and 23 others. Guest Artist Stephen Drury will present a solo recital featuring the complete piano sonatas of Charles Ives on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Also performing will be Emerita Artist Gloria Cheng with guest pianist Ralph van Raat in a program celebrating the 100th birthday of Pierre Boulez in association with CAP UCLA.
Piano Spheres dedicates its 2024/25 season to beloved core artist Sarah Gibson and will honor her memory with a special concert on July 14th, the anniversary of her tragic passing. Gibson’s duo HOCKET with pianist Thomas Kotcheff remains on sabbatical.
October 22, 2024 | Thayer Hall, Colburn School
Charles Ives at 150: World renowned guest artist Stephen Drury will celebrate the Ives sesquicentennial with a special performance of Ives’ complete sonatas for piano, including the monumental “Concord” sonata.
November 9, 2024 | at Zipper Hall, Colburn School
Spielfreude: “Spielfreude”, the joy of playing, describes the sheer physical and emotive pleasure of performing. Music by Ligeti, Glass, Cowell, Messiaen, Schoenberg, Aldo Clementi, Ginastera and three 30 for 30 composers
December 9, 2024 | at Zipper Hall, Colburn School
For Susan and Rick: Pianists Gloria Cheng, Nic Gerpe, Aron Kallay, Thomas Kotcheff, Nelson Ojeda, Vicki Ray and Mark Robson honor Piano Spheres’ founding pianist Susan Svrcek and her composer-husband Frederick Lesemann.
January 21, 2025 | at Thayer Hall, Colburn School
A Journey of Immigrants: Colombian pianist Andrés Jaramillo specializes in the music of living LatinX composers. He will explore the myriad emotions inherent in the immigrant experience through the music of his ’30 for 30’ composers.
February 18, 2025 | at Thayer Hall, Colburn School
Brook and Meadowcroft: This concert features two new large-scale works by important international composers Taylor Brook and Thomas Meadowcroft. Both are 30 for 30 composers.
March 11, 2025 | at Thayer Hall, Colburn School
Islands: Piano Spheres’ newest Core Artist Nic Gerpe will present a range of colorful and evocative pieces which explore the many aspects and connotations of islands. Music by Donnacha Dennehy, Salina Fisher and Christopher Cerrone, with ’30 for 30’ pieces by Robert Pollock, José-Luis Hurtado and Paul Moravec.
March 26, 2025 | at Thayer Hall, Colburn School
Collective Hysteria: The Three Piano Sonatas of Pierre Boulez. Emerging Artist Thomas Mellon presents the complete piano sonatas of Pierre Boulez. Premieres of 30 for 30 pieces by organist/composer Rashaan Allwood, underground death metal legend Colin Marston and Ukrainian virtuoso violinist Orest Smovzh
April 15, 2025 | at Thayer Hall, Colburn School
Love/Dream: Aron Kallay wants an update to Franz Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3. ’30 for 30’ composers Michael Frazier, Brandon Rolle, Zanaida Robles, Daniel Allas and Marek Zebrowski use Liebestraum as a point of departure, creating new work on what it means to love, to dream.
May 30, 2025 | at The Leonard Nimoy Theater
Celebrating Pierre Boulez: Pianists Gloria Cheng and Ralph van Raat pay homage to Pierre Boulez’s legacy in his centennial year with music by Boulez, Cage, Feldman, Gibson, Lindburg, Stravinsky and Zappa. Produced in association with CAP UCLA.
July 14, 2025 | at Zipper Hall
For Sarah: Piano Spheres’ Core and Emeritus Artists. Sarah Gibson was a brilliant pianist, composer and educator, and one of the brightest lights in our community. Along with pianist Thomas Kotcheff, she was half of the piano duo HOCKET, who joined Piano Spheres as a Core Artist in 2019. Join the Piano Spheres family as we honor her legacy on the anniversary of her passing.
Hint for the Average Socialite: Tickets are on sale now!
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