Please join us in Lippes Concert Hall for the return visit of conductor/composer Christian Baldini, who will lead the Slee Sinfonietta in a program honoring Hispanic Heritage Month with works by composers from throughout the Americas. The evening’s program is titled “Pan-Americana,” drawing a reference to the Pan-American Association of Composers (1928-34) and paying tribute to that organization’s inspiring efforts to bring a diverse and challenging mixture of new music composed throughout the Americas to the listening public of its day. The group’s founders were composers Edgar Varése, Carlos Chavez and Henry Cowell, major figures in American music whose music is too seldom heard in the concert hall. Alongside works by Varése and Cowell, we will perform an array of more contemporary works, largely by living composers from throughout Latin America (Mexico, Columbia, Argentina). In this way, the Slee Sinfonietta and its principal sponsor, the Center for 21^st Century Music, attempt to continue the forward-looking, even prescient, work of the Pan-American Association of Composers.

Christian Baldini is an illustrious alum of our music department and serves as Professor of Music at UC Davis. His career as both conductor and composer regularly takes him around the globe, and it is a great pleasure to welcome him back to UB for this program. An interview Christian conducted with Gabriel Bolaños, composer of Ecosystem (2015), a featured work on “Pan-Americana,” is available here. We’re also delighted to perform Nora Ponte’s work for guitar and ensemble, Amarrada al recuerdo 2 (2006), featuring another UB alum, Zane Merritt, as our soloist. Nora, too, received her PhD in composition at UB, and she holds the position of Professor of Composition at the University of Puerto Rico.

Ticket information is here. UB students with a valid student ID are entitled to a complimentary ticket.

Slee Sinfonietta PROGRAM  – “Pan-Americana”

Edgar Varése, Density 21.5 (1936, rev. 1946)

                               Nicole Murray, flute

Graciela Paraskevaídis, libres en el sonido presos en el sonido (1997)

Nora Ponte, Amarrada al recuerdo 2 for guitar and ensemble (2006)

                                Zane Merritt, guitar soloist

Christian Baldini, Folding space (2008)

— Short intermission —

Henry Cowell, Toccanta for soprano, flute, cello and piano (1938)

                                Tiffany Du Mouchelle, soprano

Gabriel Bolaños, Ecosystem (2015)

Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Páramo (1999)

Slee Sinfonietta

Nicole Murray, flute

Michael Tumiel, clarinet

Shannon Reilly, violin

Jonathan Golove, cello

Nicholas Emmanuel, piano

Eric Huebner, piano

Steve Solook, percussion

Tiffany Du Mouchelle, soprano

Zane Merritt, guitar soloist

Christian Baldini, guest conductor