by Nicholas Stevens
In a series of letters around the turn of the 20th century, playwright Anton Chekhov advised colleagues on a key dramatic principle of his: if one directs the audience’s attention toward a loaded gun on the stage in Act I, then the weapon should fire by the end of the play. A performance by Ars Futura last week recalled this rule. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The Boulez Legacy will continue on Wednesday, October 26 at 8:00 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music with a faculty recital featuring the new music ensemble Ars Futura. The program, titled “Boulez the Modernist II,” will feature works by Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Mario Davidovsky, György Ligeti, and Olivier Messiaen.
“I’m honored to be a part of this series, and I learned a lot about Boulez when choosing this repertoire, pianist Shuai Wang said during a recent conference call that included flutist Madeline Lucas Tolliver. “I remember hearing a concert Boulez conducted with The Cleveland Orchestra when I first came to CIM to study — it was amazing,” Wang said. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“I believe I am approaching a new way of expression,” composer Arnold Schoenberg wrote in his diary on March 12, 1912. The work Schoenberg is referring to is none other than his pioneering Pierrot Lunaire.
On Wednesday March 2 at 8:00 pm in CIM’s Mixon Hall, and Monday March 7 at 7:30 in Lorain County Community College’s Cirigliano Studio Theatre, the Cleveland-based new music ensemble Ars Futura will present Schoenberg’s melodrama. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
On Ars Futura’s upcoming program, one of the pieces, entitled Broccoli September, received its premiere last month, but Shuai Wang said she didn’t go — composer Jeremy Allen told her she wasn’t allowed. “The piece specifically instructs the performers not to talk or meet or practice together for it. So when we play it on the 23rd, it will be the first time for all of us. I love the concept of it because it’s all about trust. Our trusting Jeremy, his trusting us, our trusting each other as performers, and trusting the audience as listeners.”
On Monday, March 23 at 7:30 pm at the BOP STOP, Ars Futura will continue the 2015 edition of NEOSonicFest with a program of works by Lou Harrison, Olivier Messiaen, Robert Paterson, Jeremy Allen, Keith Fitch, and Mario Davidovsky. Ars Futura pianist and director Shuai Wang, who played with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony for last year’s NEOSonicFest, talked with us by phone, telling us first about the group’s program for Monday.
“I first thought about the repertoire considering the space we’ll be in: the BOP STOP,” she said. “I’ve been there many times, back when it was a jazz club. The ambience is so cool, so relaxed, so cozy. In some ways I picked the program to balance with the space.” [Read more…]