Momenta Quartet: East Meets West May 22, 2010

On Saturday, May 22nd at 8pm the Brooklyn Conservatory New Music Collective and the Momenta Quartet (Emilie-Anne Gendron and Asmira Woodward-Page, violins; Stephanie Griffin, viola and Michael Haas, cello) present East Meets West: a program of contemporary works by Asian composers and Western composers inspired by the East. The performance will take place at The Brooklyn Conservatory Concert Hall located at 58 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn (on Lincoln Place; Q train to Seventh Avenue; 2/3 train to Grand Army Plaza.) Admission is $15; $10 for students and seniors. At 4pm the same day the Conservatory will also host Momenta’s free workshop for children (ages 8-10) on East Indian rhythms and their influence on American composers Michael Rose and Philip Glass. Registration and information: 718-622-3300; www.bcqm.org.

Three of the composers on the 8pm concert program hail from Southeast Asia, among them the leading Malaysian composer Kee Yong Chong. Chong has won major composition prizes and commissions in Malaysia, Korea, Belgium and Germany and recently received a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation to write a new work for the Momenta Quartet. This evening’s program features the American premiere of his second quartet, Silence-Cosmos (2005.) Momenta’s violinist Emilie-Anne Gendron and violist Stephanie Griffin will offer two solo works by Indonesian composers: Michael Asmara’s Three Pieces for Solo Violin (2008) and Tony Prabowo’s Commonality I (1998). Momenta’s cellist emeritus Joanne Lin will return to give her rendition of Chinese composer Ge Ganru’s Yi feng for Solo Cello. Both of featured works by Western composers on this program were influenced by the rhythms of classical Indian music: Michael Rose’s Mohini Thinks of Leaving (2007) and Philip Glass’ seminal Music in Similar Motion (1969). Momenta’s former violinist Erik Carlson will join the quartet in his own quintet arrangement of this work.
Now in its seventh year, Brooklyn Conservatory’s New Music Collective commissions and premieres new music while providing a professional performance forum for New York–based composers and performers of contemporary music. Nurturing contemporary and emerging composers is essential to the advancement of music and is an integral part of the Conservatory's artistic philosophy. Past performers in the series include David Del Tredici, Lucy Shelton, Margaret Leng Tan, and more than 100 others. The series has hosted some twenty-five world premieres by many of New York City's leading composers. www.bcqm.org

Described by Time Out New York as a “striking new-music quartet,” the Momenta Quartet has premiered over 40 works since 2004, alongside classical, Renaissance and contemporary masterworks. The Momenta Quartet’s 2009/10 season is made possible in part through the generous support of Meet the Composer’s Cary New Music Performance Fund and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. This event is sponsored in part by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) and by Meet the Composer's MetLife Creative Connections Program. www.momentaquartet.com