FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Patrick Bibb, The Cliburn, pbibb@cliburn.org, 817.738.6536
"Composer Derek Bermel may not be a household name yet, but if
there is any justice in the music world, he soon will be."
- Chicago Tribune
"Bermel's music is intricate, witty, clear-spoken, tender and
extraordinarily beautiful."
- San Francisco Chronicle
Fort Worth, Texas, September 18, 2012-Cliburn at the
Modern will open its 2012-2013 season with
Grammy®-nominated composer and clarinetist Derek
Bermel on Saturday, October 13, 2012, at
2:00 p.m. at the Modern Art Museum of Fort
Worth with performance and discussion moderated by
Shields-Collins Bray.
Derek Bermel has been hailed by colleagues, critics, and audiences
across the globe for his creativity and theatricality as a composer
of chamber, symphonic, dance, theater, and pop works, and his
versatility and virtuosity as a clarinetist, conductor, and jazz
and rock musician. His hands-on experience with music of cultures
around the world has become part of the fabric and force of his
compositional language.
PROGRAM
Turning (1995)
Shields-Collins Bray, piano
Twin Trio (2005)
Jan Crisanti, flute
Andrew Crisanti, clarinet
Shields-Collins Bray, piano
SchiZm (1994)
Stewart Williams, oboe
Shields-Collins Bray, piano
Thracian Sketches (2003)
Derek Bermel, clarinet
TICKETS AND INFORMATION
General admission seating is $25, and $10 for students with valid
ID beginning one hour before the performance. Tickets are available
by calling the Performing Arts Fort Worth Box Office at
817.212.4280 or online at Cliburn.org
For group sales information, please call 817.738.6536 or email
groupsales@cliburn.org.
ABOUT DEREK BERMEL
Described by the Toronto Star as an "eclectic with wide open
ears," Grammy®-nominated composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel has
been widely acclaimed for his creativity, theatricality, and
virtuosity. Bermel's works draw from a rich variety of musical
genres, including classical, jazz, pop, rock, blues, folk, and
gospel. Hands-on experience with music of cultures around the world
has become part of the fabric and force of his compositional
language.
Currently serving as artist-in-residence at the Institute for
Advanced Study, composer-in-residence with the Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra, and creative adviser to the American Composers Orchestra
(ACO) at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Bermel has received commissions from
the Pittsburgh, National, St. Louis, New Jersey, Albany, and
Pacific Symphonies, Los Angeles and Westchester Philharmonics, New
York Youth Symphony, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, WNYC
Radio, eighth blackbird, the Guarneri String Quartet, Music from
China, violinist Midori, electric guitarist Wiek Hijmans, cellist
Fred Sherry, and pianists Christopher Taylor and Andy Russo, among
others. His many awards include the Alpert Award in the Arts, Rome
Prize, Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships, Trailblazer Award from
the American Music Center, Academy Award from the American Academy
of Arts and Letters, Paul Boylan Award from the University of
Michigan, Quinto Maganini Award, Harvey Gaul Prize, Lily Boulanger
Award, Brian Israel Prize, commissions from the Koussevitzky and
Fromm Foundations, Meet the Composer, and Cary Trust, and
residencies at Yaddo, Tanglewood, Aspen, Banff, Bellagio, Copland
House, Sacatar, and Civitella Ranieri.
Last season's highlights include the Pittsburgh Symphony's
premiere of The Good Life for chorus and orchestra; Golden Motors,
a music-theatre collaboration with librettist/lyricist Wendy S.
Walters; and a return to Carnegie Hall for two premieres: a
Koussevitzky Commission for ACO conducted by Maestro Dennis Russell
Davies, and as soloist in the world premiere of Fang Man's clarinet
concerto. The recent CD of his orchestral works on BMOP/Sound was
nominated for a 2010 Grammy, and a new CD of his large ensemble
works was released in 2010 by Alarm Will Sound.
Mr. Bermel has collaborated with artists in a wide variety of
genres, including playwright Will Eno, filmmaker Kevin Jerome
Everson, installation artist Shimon Attie, landscape architect Andy
Cao, choreographer Sheron Wray, performance artist Kim Jones,
composer/sound designer David Reid, poets Wendy S. Walters, Mark
Halliday and Naomi Shihab Nye, and Albert Bermel. As an educator,
he founded the groundbreaking Making Score program for young
composers at the New York Youth Symphony and regularly leads
masterclasses at universities, conservatories, and concert venues
worldwide.
Mr. Bermel holds B.A. and D.M.A. degrees from Yale University and
the University of Michigan. His main composition teachers were
William Albright, Louis Andriessen, William Bolcom, Henri
Dutilleux, André Hajdu, and Michael Tenzer, and he studied clarinet
with Ben Armato and Keith Wilson. He also studied ethnomusicology
and orchestration in Jerusalem with André Hajdu, later traveling to
Bulgaria to study Thracian folk style with Nikola Iliev, to Brazil
to learn caxixi with Julio Góes, and to Ghana to study Lobi
xylophone with Ngmen Baaru. His music is published by Peermusic
(North/South America & Asia) and Faber Music (Europe &
Australia).
www.derekbermel.com
ABOUT THE CLIBURN
The Cliburn disseminates classical music worldwide and nurtures
and launches young artists' careers through the quadrennial Van Cliburn
International Piano Competition and ensuing three-year
international concert tours of its medalists as well as
award-winning documentaries, radio broadcasts, and a live webcast
that extends outreach to listeners across the globe. The
Fourteenth Cliburn Competition will take place May 24-June 9, 2013,
at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas.
For audiences in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, the Cliburn
promotes great music and world-class artists through the annual Cliburn
Concerts series, Musical
Awakenings® education programs, and the International
Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs™.
For more information on the Cliburn visit Cliburn.org.
Official Sponsors of the Cliburn are:
Amon G. Carter Foundation
Ann L. & Carol Green Rhodes Charitable Trust, Bank of America,
Trustee
Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County
BNSF Railway Foundation
Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust, Bank of America,
Trustee
ExxonMobil
Sid W. Richardson Foundation
The Burnett Foundation
XTO Energy Inc.
Exclusive Print Media Sponsor:
Star-Telegram
Exclusive Radio Station:
WRR 101.1 FM
Official Airline:
American Airlines
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