Free “New Music Salon at Short North Stage” Concert Series Debuts October 23 at Garden Theater

The Johnstone Fund for New Music will launch “New Music Salon at Short North Stage,” a free contemporary classical music series, on Wednesday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Garden Theater. The hour-long performance is the first of three concerts crafted under the artistic direction of the nonprofit recital series Sunday at Central.

For the October 23 opening performance, violinist David Niwa (Artistic Director, Sunday at Central); violinist Olev Viro (Columbus Symphony); violist Ken Matsuda (Columbus Symphony); violist Belinda Reuning Burge (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra); cellist Luis Biava (Columbus Symphony); and cellist Michael Carrera (Professor of Cello, Ohio University) will perform Arnold Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night (Verklärte Nacht, 1899). This Late Romantic, impressionistic piece was inspired by Richard Dehmel’s poem of the same name. The musicians also will perform Pulitzer-Prize-winning American composer Charles Wurionen’s String Sextet (1989). Written nearly a century after Transfigured Night, String Sextet exudes cutting edge harmonies and relentless rhythms.

This inaugural concert coincides with Short North Stage’s production of the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine Pulitzer-Prize-winning musical Sunday in the Park with George, which is based on Georges Seurat’s painting “Sunday on the Island of the Grande Jatte.” Both Transfigured Night and “Sunday on the Island of the Grande Jatte” were completed at the end of the 19th century as romanticism in the arts gave way to the modern era. Sunday in the Park with George (1984) and String Sextet (1989) were written at about the same time, and both composers are connected to Schoenberg through the serial composer Milton Babbitt, with whom Sondheim studied and whose music influenced Wuorinen.

David Niwa and Ken Matsuda

“We’re excited about this collaboration between Sunday at Central, which features some of the finest classical musicians in Ohio, and Short North Stage, which has brought high-quality musical theater to a lively urban neighborhood in Columbus,” said Zoe Johnstone, co-founder of the Johnstone Fund for New Music. “As we look into the uncertainty of a new century, these two great 20th century works for string sextet show how connected we are to the past.”

This program is recommended for ages 9 and older. The Garden Theater is located at 1187 North High Street. Parking is available at a lot just south of the theater and at nearby meters. Free street parking is available after 6:00 p.m. on weekdays on the south side of Fifth Avenue west of High Street around the corner from the theater.

The series continues in 2014 with concerts on February 19 and June 4. Both performances are free and take place at the Garden Theater from 7:30-8:30 p.m.

“The Garden Theater was built in 1920 specifically for live music performance,” said Short North Stage board president Peter Yockel. “These concerts help bring the theater back to its original purpose.”

More information about New Music can be found at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/art_music and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/contemporary_classical_music.

About The Johnstone Fund for New Music
Columbus community leaders Jack and Zoe Johnstone founded the Johnstone Fund for New Music in 2008. It supports the continuing growth and vitality of new music and aims to position Central Ohio as a powerful incubator of this inventive art form. In addition to offering grants to commission the creation and performance of new works, the Fund inspires collaboration between composers and musicians.

About Sunday at Central
Sunday at Central is a nonprofit chamber music recital series that was founded in 1994. It offers intimate, personalized traditional chamber music concerts with internationally recognized professional musicians. David Niwa (Assistant Concertmaster, The Columbus Symphony) is the organization’s Artistic Director. Its 2012-2013 recital series is funded in part by grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Ohio Arts Council.

About Short North Stage
Short North Stage is a professional regional theater company that resides at the historic Garden Theater in the Short North Arts District. Dedicated to presenting first class productions with an emphasis on musicals, it offers everything from small cabaret acts to full-scale theatrical productions.

Contact Alexandra Kelley Fox: alex@alexandra477.com
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