NEXTET

College of Fine Arts presents
NEXTET
The New Music Ensemble of the 21st Century
Virko Baley, music director
Featuring guest artist Moran Katz, clarinet
PROGRAM
Enzu Chang
erster Satz (2014–2015)
(b. 1981)
World Premiere
String Quartet Nouveau
Samantha Ciarlo and Tammy Hung, violin
David Chavez, viola
Lindsay Johnson, cello
Jennifer Bellor
Nightingale (2011)
(b. 1983)
Jennifer Bellor, soprano
Christina Wright-Ivanova, piano
Darrell Brown
Miniature No. 1 (2015)
(b. 1976)
World Premiere
Moran Katz, clarinet
Andrew Smith, cello
Elliott Carter
Gra (1993)
(1908–2012)
Moran Katz, clarinet
Virko Baley
From Songs Without Words
No. 7, Der Abschied (Departure) (2003)
(Music in Memory of Valentin Bibik)
(b. 1938)
Andrew Smith, cello
Alexander Shchetynsky
(b. 1960)
Timothy Hoft, piano
Farewell (2006)
(Music in Memory of V. Bibik)
Moran Katz, clarinet
Andrew Smith, cello
Timothy Hoft, piano
Charles Halka
Chuchichäschtli (2012)
(b. 1982)
Erin Vander Wyst, bass clarinet
Timothy Jones, percussion
Valentin Bibik
Prelude & Fugue No. 16 (1973–78)
(1940–2003)
Sonata No. 4, Op. 41 (1981)
Timothy Hoft, piano
Daniel Watabayashi
Unrestricted Restrictions (2015)
(b. 1991)
World Premiere
Moran Katz, clarinet
Yehezkiel Braun
Hyperbole (1978)
(1922–2014)
Moran Katz, clarinet
Virko Baley
From Partita No. 4 (2005)
III. Dance Without Words
Moran Katz, clarinet
Timothy Hoft, piano
Virko Baley
Palm of the Hand, Bk. 1 (2008–09)
1. Eumenides
2. Soliloquy
3. Serenata piccolo
4. Cento: in girum imus nocte et
consumimur igni
5. Envoi
Moran Katz, clarinet Weiwei Le, violin
Timothy Hoft, piano
Virko Baley
In Memoriam: Dr. Lon Spight (d. 2015)
(Song Without Words, There is a Solitude of
Space) (2001)
Moran Katz, clarinet
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Virko Baley, piano
7:30 PM
Dr. Arturo Rando-Grillot Recital Hall
Lee and Thomas Beam Music Center
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
MEET THE GUEST ARTIST
Clarinetist Moran Katz won all top prizes of the prestigious 2013 Ima Hogg Competition -- First Prize, Audience Prize, and
Artistic Encouragement voted on by the Houston Symphony Musicians. She has also won first and second prizes
respectively in the Freiburg (Germany) and Beijing International Clarinet Competitions. Her performance credits include
recitals for the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series in Chicago; a NY debut recital
at Merkin Concert Hall as part of the Tuesday Matinee Recital Series and a Debut at the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin
Philharmonic. Chamber music appearances at the Marlboro Music Festival, United Nations Hall (Switzerland), France's
"Les Musicales" Festival in Colmar, Les Invalides in Paris, Music in Drumcliffe (Ireland) and Homburg Musiktage
(Germany). She received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where
she was admitted with presidential distinction and a full scholarship. Ms. Katz was a member of Ensemble ACJW--The
Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the NYC
department of Education, performing chamber music at Carnegie Hall and bringing classical music to students in the NYC
public schools.
MEET THE COMPOSERS
Enzu Chang received her early musical training in piano and cello at the Jugendmusikschule and Dr. Hoch’s
Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In recent years, she has studied classical piano performance with
Eugenia Tsarov at the Crane School of Music / SUNY Potsdam, and is currently a composition student at UNLV, under
the tutelage of Virko Baley. She is the mother of a one and one-half-year-old girl whose current passions are the recorder,
glockenspiel, and ukulele.
Composer, conductor, and music educator Darrell Brown writes music that has been called "very clever and hilarious."
Recent performances include works at the Festival Internacional de Música do Pará in Belém, Brazil, the Iowa
Bandmaster's Association, and the College Band Director's National Association. He currently studies composition and
conducting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with professors Jennifer Bellor and Thomas Leslie, respectively. Prior
to attending UNLV he taught composition and conducting at Brigham Young University-Idaho.
Jennifer Bellor is a versatile composer who enjoys collaborating with classical and jazz musicians, singers, dancers, and
visual artists. Her works have been featured by Washington National Opera, Lviv Philharmonic, Seattle Women’s Jazz
Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, UNLV Jazz Ensemble, and many others in the
U.S. and abroad. She was the winner of the 2015 IAWM Judith Lang Zaimont Prize for her composition Skylark Lullaby, a
2015 American Prize Finalist for her composition Uprising, and a 2013 DownBeat Award for her Midnight Swim for big
band. Jennifer received a PhD in music composition at Eastman School of Music, a M.M. in composition at Syracuse
University, and a B.A. degree in music at Cornell University. She is Visiting Lecturer in composition at University of
Nevada, Las Vegas. Please visit www.jenniferbellor.com.
Virko Baley, composer, conductor, pianist and writer is a Distinguished Professor and Composer-in-Residence at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a Jacyk Fellow at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, and contributor to The New
Grove Dictionary of Music 2000 and The New Grove Dictionary of Opera; former music director of Nevada Symphony
Orchestra and Las Vegas Chamber Players and current director of Nextet, a new music ensemble at UNLV; co-founder of
the international Kyiv Music Fest, Ukraine; president and producer of TNC and TNC-Jazz Recordings; in 2007 he received
the Grammy® Award as recording co-producer for TNC Recordings and for his work as composer, in 2008, the
prestigious Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Charles Halka’s music has been performed in North America, Europe, and Hong Kong, including performances by the
Cabrillo Festival Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop, counter)induction, Volti, and the Mexican National Symphony
Orchestra, and at such venues as the ISCM World Music Days, Palacio de Bellas Artes, and the Coolidge Auditorium of
the Library of Congress. As a Fulbright grantee, he spent a year in Lithuania writing an opera, Julius, which premiered in
2010. He has been in residency at the MacDowell Colony and at the M.K. Sarbievijaus Cultural Center in Kražiai,
Lithuania, where he wrote a chamber opera that was performed at Fort Worth Opera’s 2015 Frontiers showcase. His most
recent dance collaboration with Houston’s Frame Dance Productions received support from the Aaron Copland Fund for
Music. Charles holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and Rice University, and is Visiting Lecturer at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Daniel Watabayashi currently holds a Bachelors in Music, Option in Composition from California State University, Long
Beach and has studied with Dr. Carolyn Bremer, Dr. Alan Shockley, Dr. Martin Herman, and film composer Perry La
Marca. He currently is attending the University of Nevada Las Vegas, working towards a Masters of Music in
Composition.
MEET THE PERFORMERS
String Quartet Nouveau performers Samantha Ciarlo, Tammy Hung, David Chavez, and Lindsay Johnson perform
together regularly at UNLV, focusing on premiering new compositions by composers.
Christina Wright-Ivanova is an Assistant Professor of Music at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and is on summer
faculty at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She has performed throughout Europe, South America, Canada,
UK, USA, and China. Fellowships at Akademie für Neue Musik (Germany), Crear Institute (Scotland), Franz-SchubertInstitut (Austria), and Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance (USA). She was formally on the faculty at the
French-American Vocal Academy (Salzburg); American Institute for Musical Studies (Graz, Austria) and Boston
University. Recordings on ARS Produktion, New World Records, and MSR Classics, with upcoming CD release on Zed
Classics in 2016. Christina earned her Doctorate at UT Austin and Masters at New England Conservatory. For more
information, please visit www.christinajwright.com.
Cellist Andrew Smith is an Associate Professor of Music at UNLV, and the Principal Cellist of the Las Vegas
Philharmonic. He is a member of Camerata Deiá, a group founded in 2001 to be the resident ensemble with The
Festival Internacional de Deiá, a summer festival in Mallorca, Spain. He was also a founding member of The Adriatic
Chamber Music Festival, a summer music program in southern Italy, where he taught and performed from 1998 until
2008. An avid chamber musician and recitalist, Smith has performed in Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Brazil,
Argentina, Peru, and Japan, as well as throughout the U.S. His solo CD of Spanish music for cello and piano is
scheduled for release on the Delos label in spring, 2016.
Timothy Hoft has given performances in concert halls in the U.S. and Europe including the Phillips Collection,
Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center, the Yamaha Piano Salon, and the Smith Center. A
graduate of the University of Michigan and the Peabody Conservatory, Hoft holds Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral
Degrees in piano performance. In 2012, Hoft joined the piano faculty at the University of Nevada- Las Vegas. Hoft is
currently exploring and performing repertoire of 20th and 21st century Ukrainian composers for a series of
forthcoming recordings for release on TNC Recordings (Troppe Note/Cambria).
Erin Vander Wyst, clarinetist, is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree in Clarinet Performance at the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas where she studies with Professor Marina Sturm. Originally from Appleton, Wisconsin, Erin
received Bachelors and Masters degrees in clarinet performance from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee under
the tutelage of Todd Levy. Since moving to Las Vegas, Erin has performed with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Peter
Nero, Joan Hess and Kirby Ward, among others. Erin also performs frequently with UNLV’s contemporary music
ensemble, Nextet. An avid Green Bay Packer fan, Erin also enjoys volunteering as a dog walker with the Nevada
SPCA animal shelter in Las Vegas.
Timothy Jones teaches History of Rock and Percussion at UNLV and has served as co-director of the LVMF,
AD&PC, ZISAMP and TAPS festivals. He performs locally, nationally and internationally as a freelance percussionist
and has performed with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Las Vegas Opera, Mary Wilson, Andrea Bocelli, Michael
Bublé, Sarah Brightman, Josh Groban, David Foster, The Killers, Buddy Greco, Natalie Merchant, Don Rickles, and
the Irish Tenors. Dr. Jones is the author of Rock ‘n’ Roll Origins and Innovators, many articles for Percussive Notes
and PercusScene, and endorses Vic Firth, Sabian, Grover Pro Percussion, and Yamaha Concert Percussion.
Described by the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin as “one of the most talented young musicians I have ever
seen”, Associate Professor of Violin Wei-Wei Le at UNLV has given recitals and concerts all over the world,
performing solo concertos with noteworthy orchestras such as the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra (London), Queensland Symphony (Australia), Bermuda Symphony Orchestra, and the
State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. As a devoted chamber musician, Le has collaborated with musicians and
quartets including Richard Stoltzman, William Preucil, Sara Chang, and Eliot Fisk, as well as the Ying Quartet and
St. Petersburg Quartet. Le also won many international competitions including the Yehudi Menuhin International
Violin Competition (England), the Kloster Schontal International Violin Competition (Germany), and the Starling
International Violin Competition (USA), among others.
Please see insert for program notes.
The next NEXTET concert will be on November 30, 2015 and will feature new music by Jennifer
Bellor, Stravinsky, and student composers Maxwell Lafontant and Britta Epling.