SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA
LIVE FROM SPOLETO 2024: CHAMBER MUSIC
For the first time ever, this ground-breaking compilation presents in ultra high-fidelity sound a selection of extraordinary live music performances from the nation’s premier arts festival. These unprecedented recordings from Spoleto Festival 2024 allow the listener to immerse, whenever they wish, in the transcendence of these world-class musicians spinning magic at the renowned Dock Street Theatre.
This triple album, with a selection of 49 incredible live recordings from the Spoleto Festival 2024 chamber series, is available as a 3-CD box set and as a digital download.
LIVE FROM SPOLETO 2024:
CHAMBER MUSIC
Spoleto Festival USA
SINGLES:
Henry Purcell - Three Parts Upon a Ground
William Grant Still - Mother and Child
Gabriella Smith - Carrot Revolution
Andy Akiho - 21
TRIPLE ALBUM: Live from Spoleto 2024: Chamber Music
Spoleto Festival USA
SINGLE: Henry Purcell - Three Parts Upon a Ground
Owen Dalby, Violin | Alexi Kenney, Violin | Livia Sohn, Violin | Paul Wiancko, Cello | Pedja Mužijević, Harpsichord
SINGLE: William Grant Still - Mother and Child
Sterling Elliott, Cello | Pedja Mužijević, Piano
SINGLE: Andy Akiho - 21
Paul Wiancko, Cello | Ian Rosenbaum, Percussion
SINGLE: Gabriella Smith - Carrot Revolution
Owen Dalby, Violin | Alexi Kenney, Violin | Ayane Kozasa, Viola | Paul Wiancko, Cello
SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA CHAMBER SERIES
The renowned Chamber Music Series is a cornerstone of Spoleto Festival USA and is led by composer and cellist Paul Wiancko, the Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Director of Chamber Music. Founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, Spoleto Festival USA is internationally recognized as America’s premier performing arts festival. For 17 days and nights each spring, Spoleto Festival USA fills Charleston’s historic theaters, churches, and outdoor spaces with performances in opera; theater; dance; and chamber, symphonic, choral, and jazz music.
For more information, visit spoletousa.org or follow the Festival online @spoletofestivalusa.
Leveraging the best of technology, these extraordinary recordings seek not just to record sound, but to immortalize the Spoleto experience, offering the listener the transcendence of being enveloped in the “Dock Street Sound”.
Paul Wiancko, Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Director of Chamber Music,
A renowned cellist and composer,. Wiancko became a member of the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet in 2023. He is also a founding member of the viola and cello duo Ayane & Paul, as well as the distinctive quartet, Owls. From 2009 to 2011, he was cellist of the Harlem Quartet, with whom he performed and taught extensively on a global scale. A prolific and sought-after composer, Wiancko has written works performed by the St. Lawrence, Kronos, Aizuri, Parker, Calder, and Attacca Quartets, and numerous other prestigious ensembles.
Wiancko’s appointment marks the first time in the Festival’s history that the standing director is both a performer and composer.
The Dock Street Theater is famous not only for being the “First American Theater” (operating in the same location since 1809) but also for its rich, full-bodied acoustics. Feeling it vibrate with music of the best performing artists and composers in the world today, one cannot but feel afterwards that life has been enriched - and perhaps even that the world is a better place
Album Information
TITLE: LIVE FROM SPOLETO 2024
ARTISTS: Spoleto Festival USA, featuring the 2024 Chamber Artists
COMPOSERS: Andy Akiho, Johann Sebastian Bach, Christopher Cerrone, Shawn Conley, Viet Cuong, Jonathan Dove, Reena Esmail, Salina Fisher, Lou Harrison, Isabella Leonarda, Mark O’Connor, Clara Schumann, Valentin Silvestrov, Gabriella Smith, William Grant Still, Henry Purcell, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Michi Wiancko
SUMMARY: For the first time ever, this ground-breaking compilation presents in ultra high-fidelity sound a selection of extraordinary live music performances from the nation’s premier arts festival. These unprecedented recordings from Spoleto Festival 2024 allow the listener to immerse, whenever they wish, in the transcendence of these world-class musicians spinning magic at the renowned Dock Street Theatre.
The renowned Chamber Music Series is a cornerstone of Spoleto Festival USA and is led by composer and cellist Paul Wiancko, the Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Director of Chamber Music. Founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, Spoleto Festival USA is internationally recognized as America’s premier performing arts festival. For 17 days and nights each spring, Spoleto Festival USA fills Charleston’s historic theaters, churches, and outdoor spaces with performances in opera; theater; dance; and chamber, symphonic, choral, and jazz music.
For more information, visit spoletousa.org or follow the Festival online @spoletofestivalusa.
CREDITS: Producer: Paul Wiancko | Executive Producer: Michael Hostetler｜Recording Engineer: Andreas K. Meyer | Post production at Swan Studios, NYC: Ben Hadley, Shane Carroll, Andreas K. Meyer | Stereo & Dolby Atmos Mixing and Mastering: Andreas K. Meyer | Creative Director for Phenotypic Recordings: Stephen Prutsman
SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA: Mena Mark Hanna - General Director and CEO | Liz Keller-Tripp - Chief Artistic Producer | Geoff Yost - Director of Marketing and Communications | Paul Wiancko - Charles E. & Andrea L. Volpe Director of Chamber Music. spoletousa.org | @spoletofestivalusa
PHENOTYPIC RECORDINGS: Michael Hostetler - Founder | Stephen Prutsman - Creative Director | Mary Paz Cubero Navarro & Aryahi Naomi Onaga - Project Manager
MUSIC WITH A MISSION: Phenotypic Recordings will donate its streaming proceeds from this album to Spoleto Festival USA
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3-Disc set with 49 tracks
DISC 1:
1. THREE PARTS UPON A GROUND 5:33
HENRY PURCELL (1659–1695)
Owen Dalby, Violin | Alexi Kenney, Violin | Livia Sohn, Violin
Paul Wiancko, Cello | Pedja Mužijević, Harpsichord
2. MATA-AU 7:41
SALINA FISHER (b. 1993)
Alexi Kenney, Violin | Ayane Kozasa, Viola | Paul Wiancko, Cello
3. CARROT REVOLUTION 10:54
GABRIELLA SMITH (b. 1991)
Owen Dalby, Violin | Alexi Kenney, Violin | Ayane Kozasa, Viola | Paul Wiancko, Cello
4-7. SUITE FOR CLARINET, VIOLIN, AND PIANO, OP. 157B 12:00
DARIUS MILHAUD (1892–1974)
I. Ouverture
II. Divertissement
III. Jeu
IV. Introduction et final
Grant Houston, Violin | Todd Palmer, Clarinet | Inon Barnatan, Piano
8-18. IN DAMASCUS 33:10
JONATHAN DOVE (b. 1959)
I. A little while ago
II. And what if you weep alone I
II. Two days ago IV.
Here and now in Damascus
V. The many faces of Damascus
VI. (Instrumental: Frenzied)
VII. Soon, we will be free
VIII. I don’t think any nation in existence
IX. On all my travels
X. My heart is a black lump of coal
XI. My country, please wait a little longer
Karim Sulayman, Tenor | Benjamin Beilman, Violin | Alexi Kenney, Violin | Masumi Per Rostad, Viola | Paul Wiancko, Cello
19. LULLABY 3:19
VALENTIN SILVESTROV (b. 1937)
Pedja Mužijević, Piano
____________
DISC 2:
1. 21 10:18
ANDY AKIHO (b. 1979)
Paul Wiancko, Cello | Ian Rosenbaum, Percussion
2. JHULA JHULE FOR CLARINET AND PIANO 9:50
REENA ESMAIL (b. 1983)
Todd Palmer, Clarinet | Amy Yang, Piano
3. SONATA DUODECIMA 8:11
ISABELLA LEONARDA (1620–1704)
Alexi Kenney, Violin | Raman Ramakrishnan, Cello | Pedja Mužijević, Harpsichord
4. MOTHER AND CHILD 7:40
WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895–1978)
Sterling Elliott, Cello | Pedja Mužijević, Piano
5-9. VARIED TRIO 16:03
LOU HARRISON (1917–2003)
I. Gending
II. Bowl Bells
III. Elegy
IV. Rondeau: In Honor Of Fragonard
V. Dance
Benjamin Beilman, Violin | Pedja Mužijević, Piano | Ian Rosenbaum, Percussion
10. YANN’S FLIGHT 6:11
SHAWN CONLEY (b. 1983)
Gabriela Díaz, Violin | Grant Houston, Violin | Ayane Kozasa, Viola;
Paul Wiancko, Cello | Lizzie Burns, Double Bass
11-12. WALTZ & ROMANCE FOR PIANO SIX HANDS 5:45
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943)
I. Romance
II. Waltz
Inon Barnatan, Piano | Pedja Mužijević, Piano | Amy Yang, Piano
____________
DISC 3
1. BLUE BOURRÉE 3:24
MICHI WIANCKO (b. 1976)
Gabriela Díaz, Violin | Grant Houston, Violin | Ayane Kozasa, Viola
Paul Wiancko, Cello | Lizzie Burns, Double Bass
2-4. HARPSICHORD CONCERTO NO. 5, BWV 1056 9:36
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)
I. Allegro moderato
II. Largo
III. Presto
Gabriela Díaz, Violin | Grant Houston, Violin | Ayane Kozasa, Viola
Paul Wiancko, Cello | Lizzie Burns, Double Bass | Pedja Mužijević, Harpsichord
5-12. THIS IS IT (WORLD PREMIERE) 19:36
REENA ESMAIL (b. 1983)
I. billow|recede
II. push|pull
III. cascade|linger
IV. warp|weft
V. leap|soar
VI. expand|connect
VII. thrust|roll
VIII. yearn|release
Gabriela Díaz, Violin | Geneva Lewis, Violin | Ayane Kozasa, Viola | Paul Wiancko, Cello
13. NEXT WEEK’S TREES 8:22
VIET CUONG (b. 1990)
Paul Wiancko, Cello | Ian Rosenbaum, Percussion
14. QUARTET FOR VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO, & DOUBLE BASS: MVT. I 7:56
MARK O’CONNOR (b. 1961)
Geneva Lewis, Violin | Ayane Kozasa, Viola | Sterling Elliott, Cello | Lizzie Burns, Double Bass
15-17. THREE LIEDER, OP. 12 8:40
CLARA SCHUMANN (1819–1896)
No. 11, Warum wilst du And’re fragen
No. 2, Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen
No. 4, Liebst du um Schönheit
Sarah Shafer, Soprano | Inon Barnatan, Piano
18. DOUBLE HAPPINESS 14:28
CHRISTOPHER CERRONE (b. 1984)
Amy Yang, Piano | Ian Rosenbaum, Percussion
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Pulling off 33 performances in 17 days requires artists who thrive under pressure and can play virtually any music they get their hands on. Having said that, when I listen to these live recordings, I hear more than just incredible music–I hear a roomful of people rooting for humanity. I hear the past and the future talking like old friends. I hear artists living moment to moment, following their instincts, taking risks, expressing vulnerability, and pouring themselves into every note in order to embody the perspectives and truths of each composer. I hear that commitment reflected back toward the stage by an audience of impassioned music-lovers. There is simply nothing like the thrill of a live performance, and those captured here are a testament to the singular, adrenaline-driven upward spiral of art, community, and virtuosity that is Chamber Music at Spoleto.
Paul Wiancko
Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Director of Chamber Music
In 2024, Spoleto Festival USA and Phenotypic Recordings launched an ambitious project to create ultra high-fidelity recordings of live performances from the chamber music series of the annual Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, the premier arts festival in the country.
In hearing the final masters of these recordings, we believe we have created something magnificent. Each track is a portal that draws you into the multidimensional universe of a live performance, where you are viscerally immersed into the gamut of rhythms, harmonies, dissonance, feeling, energy, excitement, pathos, humanity, transcendence — of the musicians, the audience and that moment.
Our hope is that these recordings honor past generations, enrich ongoing musical dialogue, and provide nourishment for future generations, as well as push the boundaries of human relationship with music.
Michael Hostetler
Executive Producer, Founder & CEO Phenotypic Recordings, Board Member, Spoleto Festival USA
“…when I listen to these live recordings, I hear more than just incredible music–I hear a roomful of people rooting for humanity…There is simply nothing like the thrill of a live performance, and those captured here are a testament to the singular, adrenaline-driven upward spiral of art, community, and virtuosity that is Chamber Music at Spoleto.”
Paul Wiancko, Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Director of Chamber Music, Spoleto Festival USA
"Our hope is that these recordings honor past generations, enrich ongoing musical dialogue, and provide nourishment for future generations, as well as push the boundaries of human relationship with music.
Mike Hostetler, Founder, Phenotypic Recordings
MUSIC WITH A MISSION
Phenotypic Recordings will donate its streaming proceeds from this album to Spoleto Festival USA
As the nation’s preeminent performing arts festival, Spoleto produces and presents work of the highest artistic caliber to diverse and adventurous audiences. Through innovation, education, and a commitment to community, Spoleto harnesses the power of the arts to foster a culture of belonging and deepen and engage the public appreciation for the arts in building a better world. Spoleto unites audiences from around the globe, and creates public value for the world.
https://spoletousa.org
