Dietrich Henschel and ensemble unitedberlin release CD X-mas Contemporary
- On November 28, 2019
- By alzand@rice.edu
- In News, Reviews/Press
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Dietrich Henschel and ensemble unitedberlin, under the direction of conductor Vladimir Jurowski have released a double CD entitled X-Mas Contemporary, featuring the premiere recordings of twelve holiday-inspired works.
What does Christmas mean to you?
Baritone Dietrich Henschel asked twelve composers from different countries and cultures to create a work for voice and ensemble and to use musical means to describe what they associate with Christmas. It was up to them whether religion or tradition played a role. Even criticism and satire were possible. As expected, the answers are all very different.
X-MAS CONTEMPORARY – The Christmas Carol of the 21st Century
12 composers write 12 Christmas songs of the 21st century.
Works by
Karim Al Zand
Detlev Glanert
Manfred Trojahn
Jose-Maria Sanchez-Verdu
Vanessa Lann
Arno Waschk
Olga Rayeva
Jamie Man
Michèle Reverdy
Annette Schlünz
Jobst Liebrecht
Matan Porat
The CD release will coincide with concert performances in Berlin, Rotterdam and Dusseldorf in December, 2019. The CD is available on iTunes. The CD has earned several positive reviews already.
Opera in the Heights Announces 2019–2020 season, including premiere of The Leader
- On May 07, 2019
- By alzand@rice.edu
- In News, Reviews/Press
- 0
Opera in the Heights has just announced its 2019–2020 line-up, which will include a collaboration with Musiqa in February 2020. As part of a new initiative, their New Works Festival will feature a double-bill of chamber opera premières on February 23rd and 29th: Anthony Brandt’s Kassandra and Karim Al-Zand’s The Leader, both conducted by OH artistic director Eiki Isomura. The libretto of The Leader is drawn from a short one-act play by French-Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco. The work is a comic opera, an absurdist political satire about authoritarianism, groupthink and the cult of personality.
Houston Youth Symphony performs Ring the Bells at Break of Day
- On May 07, 2019
- By alzand@rice.edu
- In News
- 0
Michael Webster, conductor of the Houston Youth Symphony and Karim Al-Zand
The award-winning Houston Youth Symphony, under the direction of Michael Webster, concluded its 2018/19 season with its Spring Concert, featuring the finest young musicians from the region performing in four ensembles. The May 5th concert concluded with the most advanced orchestra in a program that included Karim Al-Zand’s Ring the Bells at Break of Day and Ravel’s La Valse. The concert also featured presentations of 2018/19 Concerto Competition winners Kevin Chan, performing a movement from Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Johnny To, performing Rossini’s Introduction, Theme and Variations for clarinet and orchestra.
Houston Chamber Choir performs A Measure in Trance
- On April 16, 2019
- By alzand@rice.edu
- In Musiqa, News, Reviews/Press
- 0
Brian Cook, Karim Al-Zand
Six Bagatelles premiered at Musiqa’s Traces of Blue
- On January 13, 2019
- By alzand@rice.edu
- In Musiqa, News
- 0
A new piano trio, Six Bagatelles, received its premiere on Musiqa’s January 12th concert “Traces of Blue,” dedicated to music and visual art. Six Bagatelles is dedicated to the memory of Ed Shoemake, former board chair for Musiqa, and is inspired by the work of American artist Robert Motherwell (1915-1991). Performers Natalie Lin (violin), Wesley Ducote (piano) and Barrett Sills (cello) presented the premiere alongside works of Hartke, Loiacano, Gosfield, and a live, on-stage painting by artist Geraldina Interiano Wise. Each short bagatelle is inspired by a single iconic print by Motherwell (below), the images projected during the performance. A preview of the concert appeared in the Houston Chronicle. 
1. Mezzotint in Indigo
2. Yellow Chord
3. Gauloises Bleues
4. Orange Lyric
5. Three Forms on Red
6. Black Elegy Returning Black (Nocturne)
