American Violinist Sarah Plum Releases Collection Of World-premiere Recordings By Acclaimed Composer Sidney Corbett -Protege Of Gyorgy Ligeti - Titled "Absconditus"
New CD from Blue Griffin featuring American violinist Sarah Plum pays tribute to long collaboration between acclaimed composer Sidney Corbett and Plum, and features pianist Timothy Lovelace, mezzo-soprano Patricia Green and cellist Jonathan Ruck.
- (1888PressRelease) September 07, 2011 - Distinguished American violinist Sarah Plum is joined by her long-time duo partner pianist Timothy Lovelace, as well as esteemed colleagues mezzo-soprano Patricia Green and cellist Jonathan Ruck, on a new CD release from the Blue Griffin label featuring music by composer Sidney Corbett titled ABSCONDITUS.
The new release unveils world-premiere recordings of works by Corbett that span a seventeen-year period, and pays tribute to a long and close collaboration between the composer and violinist. The title work - ABSCONDITUS - was written by Corbett for Plum, specifically for this recording project and as a further testament to their work together.
Currently Professor of Composition at the University of the Performing Arts in Mannheim, Germany, the American-born, Yale-educated composer - student of György Ligeti - enjoys an international reputation as one of the leading voices of today's contemporary music scene. Critically-acclaimed for a unique language that "captivates the listener with its' almost transparent texture, with utmost expression of color and sensitivity" (Rheinische Post), Corbett's music has been described as being "in a strange way ascetic yet at the same time sensual [combining] constructive logic with atmospheric magic" (New Journal of Music).
Violinist Sarah Plum's notable performing career began upon her winning the International Stulberg Competition, and has earned her a reputation as a modern music specialist. Having performed at a myriad of festivals such as the as the Luzern Festival, Archipel, Ars Musica, and the Festival d'Automne Paris, Plum has often been called upon as an orchestral musician, performing with the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra (WDR) Cologne, the North German Radio Orchestra (NDR), Saarlaendischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic, among others. Presently, Plum is on the faculty at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
ABSCONDITUS was recorded at Blue Griffin's Studio The Ballroom and engineered by Sergei Kvitko for the Blue Griffin recording label. The CD is available for purchase at bluegriffin.com, sarahplumviolinist.com and will be available on iTunes and other online, as well as physical retailers on October 15th.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
SARAH PLUM, VIOLINIST
Sarah Plum has dedicated her career to the proposition that a musician should be actively engaged with the music of our own time as well as that of the past. She also strongly believes that teaching young musicians how to play enriches her own playing and is central to her musical life.
Sarah Plum began her performing career by winning the first prize at the International Stulberg Competition in 1984. Subsequently she has appeared on stages in the US and abroad as a soloist and chamber musician as well as in contemporary music ensembles and top orchestras.
Soon after receiving her DMA she moved to Europe, where she played in the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra (WDR) Cologne as well as the North German Radio Orchestra (NDR) and Saarlaendischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra. Her orchestral performances also included principal and concertmaster positions in the London Philharmonic, Saarlaendisches Staatstheater and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. Since returning to the US she joined the faculty at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and is quickly becoming one of the leading pedagogues of her generation.
As a modern music specialist, Sarah has performed at festivals such as Archipel, Ars Musica, the Luzern Festival and the Festival d'Automne Paris and with groups such as the Ensemble Moderne, Musik Fabrik Nord Rhein Westfalen, Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam and Ensemble Contrechamps. She has toured and recorded extensively and premiered numerous pieces by composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Salvatore Sciarrino, Emmanuel Nunes, and Toshio Hosakawa.
Sarah has been heard in numerous TV and radio broadcasts on the WDR, NDR, Deutsche Welle, BBC and Iowa Public Radio. She has recorded on the Bridge, BMG, Albany, Arte Nova and Capriccio labels.
Sarah is a graduate of the Juilliard School where she received a BM and MM and SUNY Stony Brook where she received a DMA. Her major teachers were Joyce Robbins, Szymon Goldberg, Dorothy Delay, David Cerone and Lyman Bodman.
In August 2011 Sarah will perform the opening concert for the "Ankunft Neue Musik" series at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Timed to coincide with the release of her new CD, Sarah will perform music by Sidney Corbett alongside works by Christopher Adler, Mari Takano, Laurie Schwartz, Richard Einhorn, Ben Fuhrman and Lisa Bielawa. She will also perform some of these pieces on a recital shared with the ensemble KAUM at the Berlin Theaterkapelle. In November Sarah has a recital tour with pianist Kate Boyd of Iowa, Kansas and Indiana. Additionally in the 2011-12 season she will perform Vivaldi's Four Seasons on a tour of the Midwestern states with the Drake University String Ensemble. June of 2011 brought Sarah to Osceola, WI to perform the American premiere of Corbett's violin concerto "Yaël" at Chamber Music Midwest under the baton of Akira Mori. The live recording of this collaborative performance is part of a long-term recording project that will culminate in a concert CD. Sarah's recording projects include a two CD set of the complete works of Bartok for violin alone and violin and piano with her longtime collaborator Timothy Lovelace to be released on the Bluegriffin Label.
SIDNEY CORBETT, COMPOSER
Sidney Corbett was born in Chicago in 1960. He studied music and philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and continued his study of composition at Yale University, where he earned his doctorate in 1989. From 1985 to 1988 Corbett studied at the Hamburg Academy of the Arts with György Ligeti. He continues to live and work in Germany.
Sidney Corbett's output includes works for the stage, orchestral compositions, instrumental chamber music and a large amount of vocal music. His works have earned him numerous national and International awards and prizes and have been performed and broadcast worldwide.
A particular emphasis in his recent work has been music theatre. His chamber opera, "X UND Y" premiered at the Eclat Festival in Stuttgart in 2002, "Paradiso" for speaker and string quartet was also premiered in 2002 in Basel, the large scale opera NOACH had a successful run in the 2001/2002 season at the Bremen Opera and his third opera, KEINE STILLE AUSSER DER DES WINDES premiered at Bremen's Concordia Theatre in January of 2007. His most recent opera, UBU, will premiere at the opera house in Gelsenkirchen in April 2012.
Literary and philosophical subjects inspire and inform many of Corbett's works. "Yael", for solo violin and orchestra, draws upon the writings of Edmond Jabès and his Symphony No. 3, "Breathing the Water", commissioned by the Staatskapelle Berlin employs texts by the Iraqi poet Amal AlJubouri and the late American poet Denise Levertov. "Rasch", commissioned by the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf employs texts by Roland Barthes. Corbett has also received commissions from the Berlin Philharmonic, MusikFabrik, West German Radio, Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart among many others. He is currently at work on a piece commissioned by the Siemens Foundation for Ensemble Aventure. CDs featuring Corbett's music have been released on the CRI, Mode, Zeitklang, Ambitus, BIS, Cybele and Kreuzberg labels. Sidney Corbett is currently Professor of Composition at the University of the Performing Arts in Mannheim and resides with his wife and three children in Berlin, Germany.
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