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Photo by Barb Hauser

California-based composer-pianist Jeremy Siskind has written a major new suite for piano: Perpetual Motion Etudes for Solo Piano, combining jazz harmony and complex textures.

Highly virtuosic and athletic, the suite seamlessly combines classical and jazz aesthetics, boldly conjuring the spirits of great composers like Kapustin, Gershwin, Gismonti, Hersch, Hancock, Corea, and Mehldau.  Playful, romantic, thoughtful, and personal, these Perpetual Motion Etudes present an ambitious journey through modern piano music. 

[1] An album:

Recorded at the Yamaha Artist Salon in New York City, the album will be released on the Outside In Music label  on March 30th, 2020.

Recorded on a Yamaha CFX, a nine-foot concert grand, and funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign, the album features nine new compositions.

Physical and digital distribution for Perpetual Motion Etudes for Solo Piano is through the Outside in Music label, and is available through all major music platforms. The album was engineered by Aaron Ross, and mastered by Joe Patrych.

[2] An accompanying book of sheet music:

Self published by Siskind and edited by concert pianist Spencer Myer, the book is now available for sale in both hard copy and PDF versions at jeremysiskind.com.

Each piece is presented in a through-composed version designed for classical pianists plus additional instructions for each piece intended for improvisors.

 

[3] A concert tour from MARCH 15 – April 9:
Siskind with Angelin Chang

Siskind will debut Perpetual Motion Etudes in the US.

From March 19th onward, he will be joined by, and performing with, GRAMMY®-winning pianist Angelin Chang.



※ Orange County: March 15, 2020, 5 pm,
Wilshire Auditorium
315 E Wilshire Ave, Fullerton, CA

※ Cleveland: March 19, 2020, 7:30 pm,
Drinko Recital Hall, Cleveland State University
2001 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH

※ Fort Wayne: March 20, 2020,
Sweetwater Performance Theater
5501 US-30, Fort Wayne, IN

※ Kalamazoo: March 21, 2020,
Kalamazoo College
200 Academy Street, Kalamazoo, MI

※ Chicago: March 22, 2020, 7:00 pm,
PianoForte Chicago
1335 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL — Free admission

※ New York: March 25, 2020, 7:00 pm,
Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall
154 W 57th St., New York, NY — Tickets are $35 online via Carnegie Hall

※ Philadelphia: March 27, 2020, 7:30 pm,
@exuberance
1220 N Mascher St., Philadelphia, PA

※ Natick: March 28, 2020, 7:30 pm,
Falcetti Pianos
579 Worcester St., Natick, MA

※ Los Angeles: April 9, 2020, 9:00 pm,
Blue Whale
123 Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka St. #301, Los Angeles, CA — $25 admission

See a full list of performance and teaching dates here.

Siskind says, “I’m a bit obsessed with finding the most orchestral, diverse, and innovative ways to use the piano. Each piece represents a journey into the outer limits of the possibilities of the piano.” He goes on to define ‘perpetual motion’ as having “the pianist’s left hand and right hand work in tandem to fill in any space left by the other – the ceaseless music fits together like gears in an infernal clock.” The impetus for the music came by way of combating anxiety, and to compose through concentration and flow; to be present, expressive, and fluid through the piano.  “Although these pieces can’t eliminate [self-negativity], they effectively ‘force’ the issue because they’re written in perpetual motion. There are no rests or breaks between the two hands, which fit together precisely, like the blocks in a well-played game of Tetris or like two dancers dancing intricate steps in a tight space.” 

For more about Jeremy Siskind, please visit jeremysiskind.com

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GRAMMY AWARD WINNER, 2019- Songs of Orpheus
61st Annual Grammy Awards

“Superlative music-making… European stylishness combined with American can-do entrepreneurialism”
–The Daily Telegraph, London

“At long last, Apollo’s Fire has descended on Chicago. This was as exciting as Baroque music gets.”
–Chicago Classical Review (review of Apollo’s Fire’s Chicago debut concert, 2016)

GRAMMY® Award winners Apollo’s Fire and Jeannette Sorrell launch a new semi-annual residency in the Chicago area, beginning with Sorrell’s groundbreaking program, O Jerusalem! – Crossroads of Three Faiths at Northwestern University’s Galvin Recital Hall in Evanston, Illinois, on Thursday, March 12, 2020, 7:30pm. Tickets are $10-60, with discounts for students, seniors, and subscribers of Music of the Baroque and Newberry Consort. Tickets by phone: 1.800.314.2535.

The week before, Apollo’s Fire and Sorrell will bring the same program to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on March 7, 2020 as guests on the Museum’s series for the fifth time.

Premiered last year to sold-out crowds in Cleveland, O Jerusalem! is Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell’s evocation of ancient Jerusalem through the music and poetry of the Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian quarters of the Old City. Selections from Monteverdi’s great Vespers of 1610 echo with Arabic love songs and rapturous singing of Jewish cantors. Stunning projected images designed by Camilla Tassi use 17th-century paintings to bring the Old City to life in visual splendor.  At a time of ever-increasing tensions in the Middle East, 25 unique artists from Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds come together to join in celebration of brotherhood and sisterhood. The sounds of oud, theorbo, medieval harp, vielle, qanoon, strings, wooden flutes, and exotic percussion join with human voices in a celebration of love and shared humanity.

Featured performers are Jeannette Sorrell, direction and harpsichord; Amanda Powell, soprano; Jeffrey Strauss and Sorab Wadia, baritones; Zafer Tawil, oud and qanun; Daphna Mor, winds.

 

Additional videos, photos and program details for “O Jerusalem!” may be found at the Apollo’s Fire website.

With 26 commercial CDs, five European tours to date, and over 3.5 million views of its Youtube videos, Apollo’s Fire is the internationally renowned period-instrument orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio.  Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire have built in Cleveland one of the nation’s three largest audiences for baroque music – along with Boston and San Francisco. Apollo’s Fire is not only hailed as “the USA’s hottest baroque band” (Classical Music Magazine, UK), but is also the USA’s busiest touring baroque orchestra.  The ensemble has played at such venues as Carnegie Hall; the BBC Proms; the Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Aspen Festivals; the Royal Theatre of Madrid; the National Concert Hall of Ireland (Dublin); the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Library of Congress, and many others.

A CHICAGO LOVE-AFFAIR

The March 12 performance at Northwestern University marks the launch of a new semi-annual residency by Apollo’s Fire in the Chicago area.  Apollo’s Fire plans to play twice a year in the Windy City, through a combination of partnerships with Chicago-based institutions.  In 2020, Apollo’s Fire performs at Northwestern University and the Ravinia Festival.  Apollo’s Fire will return to Ravinia for the third time on July 7 to perform J.S. Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos.  The ensemble plans additional Chicago-area concerts in November 2020 and March 2021.

“O Jerusalem!” was conceived as a sequel to Sephardic Journey, Sorrell’s previous Jewish program which the Chicago Tribune named as one of its “Best 10 Classical Albums of the Year,” calling it “an absorbing collection of early music, beautifully performed” (2016).  Apollo’s Fire made its long-awaited Chicago debut in 2016 on the University of Chicago Presents series, followed by a sold-out debut at the Ravinia Festival in 2017 and a return to Ravinia in 2018.

Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell explained that a regular Chicago residency has been a strategic goal of Apollo’s Fire ever since the 2016 debut. “At the end of our Chicago debut concert at the University of Chicago, we were mobbed by enthusiastic patrons who told us they had been waiting for years to hear the group live, and that we must return twice a year. So we spent a couple of years figuring out how to make that work, and how to do it in the right way,” Sorrell said. “We discussed it with Chicago-based colleagues such as Karen Fishman (former Executive Director of Music of the Baroque, now retired).  We wanted to do this in a way that can be beneficial to all of our excellent early music colleagues in Chicago, including Newberry, Haymarket, and Music of the Baroque.  We picked a month when none of these groups are performing, in order to launch this residency in a collegial way. Our goal is to build audiences for early music – as we have done in Cleveland – and to do so for the benefit ALL early music ensembles.”

Apollo’s Fire Public Relations Manager Angela Mortellaro said that Apollo’s Fire is collaborating with Music of the Baroque and Newberry on marketing.  “Newberry and MOB are kindly helping to promote this concert for us, and we are helping promote some of their concerts.” In addition, Apollo’s Fire is offering ticket discounts to MOB and Newberry subscribers.

REVIEWS FROM THE PREMIERE OF “O JERUSALEM!” – Cleveland, 2018

“A voyage of faith for the 21st century… The entire evening was delivered with urgency, polish, and flair. An ensemble at the peak of their powers.”
–Seen & Heard International

“Captivating… a ravishing musical landscape. A high level of artistry and passionate music-making…
gorgeous and stylish. Sorrell should be proud of this enjoyable and unity-striving evening in a time when human divisions are stoked to achieve dangerous ends.”
–Cleveland Classic

For more information on Apollo’s Fire and Jeannette Sorrell, please visit apollosfire.org and jeannettesorrell.com.

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Pianist Inna Faliks, who has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, at such venues as Weill Hall in New York City, and The National Performing Arts Center in Beijing, has just released a new Double CD of music – Polonaise-Fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist– on Delos Records.

The thirteen works on this recording span 289 years in their dates of composition, and run the gamut from Bach and Mozart to Gershwin and Elliott Carter. The musical tracks appearing on the CD are interspersed with writings by the pianist chronicling her upbringing in Odessa, Ukraine; her musical and romantic awakenings; and her subsequent immigration to the US as a Jewish refugee.

The unique story of an immigrant, narrated on this recording by actress Rebecca Mozo, is a timely topic that needs to be heard in the current turbulent political climate.

The album has been released in physical and digital format and is available at delosmusic.com as well as on Amazon, iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify and more.

The thirteen musical tracks featured are unified by their brevity. Representing a huge variety of styles, they are carefully curated to be emotionally and texturally illustrative of events unfolding in the life experience of the protagonist, pianist Inna Faliks.

Works are:

✻Rodion Shchedrin: Basso Ostinato
✻J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp Minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1
✻Jan Freidlin: Ballade in Black and White* – *composed for Inna Faliks in 2011
✻W.A. Mozart: Fantasia in D Minor, K 397
✻Chopin-Liszt: The Maiden’s Wish
✻Paganini-Liszt: La Campanella
✻Frédéric Chopin: Polonaise-fantaisie, Op. 61
✻George Gershwin: Prelude 1 in B-flat Major
✻Gershwin: Prelude 2 in C-sharp Minor
✻Gershwin: Prelude 3 in E-flat Minor
✻Elliott Carter: Retrouvailles
✻P. I. Tchaikovsky: Nocturne in C-sharp Minor
✻Harrison Birtwistle: Oockooing Bird and “Living with Music…”

More about Inna Faliks

The “adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks has established herself as one of the most exciting, committed, communicative and poetic artists of her generation. Click here for a biography.

On August 31, 2017, 6 PM, Inna Faliks will be performing “Four-Hand Mahler” – an arrangement of Mahler’s 6th Symphony – with fellow pianist Daniel Schlosberg at Ravinia Festival. This will be her debut performance at Ravinia. 200 Ravinia Park Rd, Highland Park, IL 60035. Tickets are $10, and can be purchased here.