Composer Stephen Goss in Residence at the Lamont School of Music, September 30–October 5, 2006
THE START of the Fall season marks a weeklong residency in Denver for the Welsh-born composer Stephen Goss. The residency includes seminars, masterclasses and three concerts, starting with Michael Partington's concert for the Denver Classical Guitar Society on September 30. Partington's varied program includes the first performance of Goss's Sonata for guitar, which he commissioned and is taking on tour in the coming months. Two more concerts at Denver University's Lamont School of Music will showcase the range of Goss's music, including several north-American premieres. The concerts will mix Lamont faculty and students and guest artists, including guitarists Ricardo Iznaola and Jonathan Leathwood, who have known and worked with Goss for over fifteen years.
Hailed by Classical Guitar magazine as 'one of the top composer/performer/scholars on the scene today,' Stephen Goss is now internationally known not just for his innovative and arresting music for guitar—he is a master of the instrument—but equally for his chamber and multi-media music. Born in 1964, Goss writes communicative and accessible music that draws freely on a number of styles and genres. Sometimes allusions to the music that inspires him are disguised—perhaps only a rhythm or harmony is retained—sometimes they dazzle the ear with unexpected juxtapositions. Typical is Frozen Music for guitar and string trio, which will receive its first US performance from Ricardo Iznaola and friends during the week. Each movement is named after a famous or personally significant location: for example, the Yehudi Menuhin concert hall in England (where Frozen Music received its premiere) or Highbury Park (home of Stephen’s soccer team, Arsenal, until 2006). Allusions to canonical masters such as Mozart and Schubert in one movement give way to riffs from electric guitarist Pat Metheny in the next.
Other works to be performed at Lamont include an ideal insomnia for piano, performed by virtuoso pianist and Lamont faculty Heidi Brende, Park of Idols for guitar and cello, Under Milk Wood Songs for voice and guitar (with texts by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas), Oxen of the Sun (a solo for ten-string and six-string guitars together, played by Jonathan Leathwood) and several more.
Schedule
Saturday, September 30, 2006 · 7.30 pm
Concert: Michael Partington, guitar (Denver Classical Guitar Society)
South Broadway Christian Church, 23 Lincoln St [at Lincoln and Ellsworth], Denver, CO
Program includes world premiere of Stephen Goss's Sonata for guitar
TICKETS at the door are $15 · Info: 303 797 7348 or 303 940 7097
Monday, October 2, 2006
Seminar: Students in the composition department at the Lamont School of Music, Denver University
2–4 pm, room 222
Tuesday, October 3, 2006 · 12–2 pm
Seminar: Jonathan Leathwood's Understanding Music class with freshman students in the Honors program.
Stephen Goss will discuss his approach to composition and his recent collaboration with Jonathan Leathwood on a work for ten- and six-string guitars
Honors Seminar Room (Room 1), Basement, Mary Reid Building, 2199 S. University Blvd, Denver, CO 80208
Auditors are welcome · Info: 303 830 7649
Tuesday, October 3, 2006 · 3–5 pm
Masterclass: Students of the guitar department at the Lamont School of Music, Denver University
Hamilton Recital Hall, Newman Performing Arts Center, 2344 E. Iliff Avenue, Denver, CO 80210
FREE ADMISSION · Info: 303 871 6412
Wednesday, October 4, 2006 · 12 noon
Concert: Faculty, students and guest artists at the Lamont School of Music, Denver University
Hamilton Recital Hall, Newman Performing Arts Center, 2344 E. Iliff Avenue, Denver, CO 80210
Program details will be posted here as they become available
FREE ADMISSION · Info: 303 871 6412
Thursday, October 5, 2006 · 7.30 pm
Concert: Faculty, students and guest artists at the Lamont School of Music, Denver University
Hamilton Recital Hall, Newman Performing Arts Center, 2344 E. Iliff Avenue, Denver, CO 80210
Program details will be posted here as they become available
FREE ADMISSION · Info: 303 871 6412
Stephen Goss
Michael Partington
Ricardo Iznaola
Heidi Brende
Jonathan Leathwood