UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PRESENTS A "NEW WORKS FESTIVAL"

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 15 -- New and innovative musical works by 13 local composers will be heard, many for the first time, in a "New Works Festival" on Sat., Feb. 7 and Sun., Feb. 8. at the University of Pittsburgh's Bellefield Hall and the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall. A detailed schedule is included in this news release.

This first-of-its-kind music festival, which includes three concerts and a roundtable discussion on the state of new art music, is designed to showcase both established and emerging Pittsburgh composers. Their music will be performed by The Prism Players, a flexible ensemble of 14 freelance musicians in New York who specialize in new music, and regularly provide a forum for innovative artists and their works. Local composers whose works will be featured are: Flavio Chamis, Lou Coyner, Tamar Diesendruck, Tatiana Dutoit, Andrew Kaiser, Terese Kaptur, David Stock, Reza Vali, Barbara White, and University of Pittsburgh music faculty Anne LeBaron, Eric Moe, Roger Zahab, and Mathew Rosenblum.

"This event will create a solidarity among these composers, who are both young and old, culturally diverse, and who compose in diverse idioms," said Rosenblum, also event organizer. "It will introduce the audience to new and unusual creative works, and allow these emerging composers to hear their works played and recorded by the finest performers available."

Rosenblum's own large-scale work, Nü kuan tzu, will be among the featured pieces. Commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts and completed in 1996, its nine movements are scored for soprano, mezzo soprano and eleven instrumentalists. The "New Works Festival" is sponsored in part by Carnegie Library and is funded through the Howard Heinz Endowment, the Pittsburgh Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

"NEW WORKS FESTIVAL"

SCHEDULE

Feb. 7 Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, Schenley Drive

2 p.m. Concert featuring works by Tamar Diesendruck, Barbara White, and Roger Zahab. Panel discussion on the state of new art music, including questions from the audience, hosted by Paul Johnston of WQED-FM. Free to the public.

Feb. 7 University of Pittsburgh

8 p.m. Bellefield Hall Auditorium, 315 So. Bellefield Ave., Oakland

Concert featuring works by Flavio Chamis, Tatiana Dutoit, Terese Kaptur, David Stock, Eric Moe, and Mathew Rosenblum.

$10 general admission, $8 students/seniors

Feb. 8 University of Pittsburgh

3 p.m. Bellefield Hall Auditorium, 315 So. Bellefield Ave., Oakland

Concert featuring works by Lou Coyner, Andrew Kaiser, Anne LeBaron, and Reza Vali.

$10 general admission, $8 students/seniors

For more information on any of the above, please call 624-4125.