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UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture Launches New Music Initiative
Debut of Fresh Ink coincides with opening of major installation in Center City Building Gallery
Thursday, January 19
The UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture will launch a new music initiative, Fresh Ink, with an inaugural performance on Thursday, January 19 in the new UNC Charlotte Center City Building. Fresh Ink approaches new music as a living art influenced by the ever-changing world. Presented in an intimate and informal environment, Fresh Ink concerts erase traditional boundaries – boundaries between the audience and the performers, boundaries between “classical” and “popular” forms of music – and bring listeners inside the music-making experience. Fresh Ink focuses on the music of living composers who draw from contemporary ideas and an eclectic sound world to create works that forecast an exciting new direction for concert music.
The January 19 concert is presented in conjunction with the opening of a specially commissioned installation in the Center City Building Gallery, “Betwixt and Between,” by German artist and architect Anna von Gwinner. A gallery reception at 6 p.m. and a lecture by the artist at 7 p.m. will precede the 8:15 p.m. performance.
The inaugural Fresh Ink concert features music by Andy Akiho, Kevin Puts, and UNC Charlotte Assistant Professor of Music John Allemeier (see bios below). The professional ensemble includes violinist Jenny Topilow, clarinetist John Sadak, percussionist Scott Christian, and UNC Charlotte Assistant Professor of Cello Mira Frisch.
Fresh Ink is Charlotte’s response to the “alt-classical” movement that is gaining momentum in cities across the country. From New York to Portland, “young, inventive and often populist composers,” in the words of New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn, are creating an “alternative musical universe.”
“These young composers may hold the key to classical music’s future, and the future they create might not be what you expect,” Kozinn wrote in an article on December 9.
This debut Fresh Ink performance, and the reception and Anna von Gwinner lecture, are free and open to the public.
The second Fresh Ink concert will take place on February 7 in Robinson Hall on the UNC Charlotte campus and will feature newly commissioned works for timpani, piano, and woodwind quintet.
For more about Fresh Ink, visit www.freshinkmusic.org.
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Andy Akiho’s compositions have won many prestigious awards, including a 2010 Horatio Parker Award at the Yale School of Music, a 2009 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, and a 2008 Brian M. Israel Prize. He is currently a finalist for the eighth blackbird/American Composers Forum composition competition. A graduate of the University of South Carolina (BM, percussion performance), the Manhattan School of Music (MM, contemporary performance), and the
Yale School of Music (MM, composition), Akiho is currently a PhD candidate in composition at Princeton University. Current commissions include a chamber work for the Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird, a string quartet for ETHEL, a percussion piece for the Volta Trio, and a marimba/trumpet duet for the Times Two Duo. http://www.andyakiho.com/home.html
John Allemeier is an Assistant Professor of Music at UNC Charlotte. His music has been described as having a “sweet sense of mystery” by Fanfare and as “rapturous” by the American Record Guide. His music has been programmed in international venues such as the Frankfurter Kunstlerclub (Germany), Curmbox Projektraum fur Electronische und Neue Musik (Germany), 3rd Rencontres Musiques Nouvelles (France), Festival Internacional de Percusiones (Mexico), Russia-America: Music of the XXI Century at the Moscow Conservatory, the Seoul International Computer Music Festival (South Korea), and the Brazilian Symposium on Computer Music and in national festivals such as Piccolo Spoleto, the 5th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music in San Francisco, Spark Festival in Minneapolis, UNC CHAT Digital Arts Festival, the UNC Greensboro New Music Festival, the International Double-Reed Society National Conference, and the Denison University New Music Festival. Most recently, John Allemeier has collaborated with choreographer E.E. Balcos to compose music for dance performances by the dance company EE Motion. http://johnallemeier.com/live/
Kevin Puts’s work has been commissioned and performed by leading orchestras in the United States and abroad, including the New York Philharmonic; the Tonhalle Orchestër (Zurich); the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Atlanta, Colorado, Houston, Fort Worth, Utah, and St. Louis; the Boston Pops; and the Minnesota Orchestra and by leading chamber ensembles such as the Mirò Quartet, the Eroica Trio, eighth blackbird, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
In 2005, his cello concerto, Vision, was premiered by Yo-Yo Ma and the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, and his Percussion Concerto was premiered by Evelyn Glennie with the Pacific and Utah Symphonies. He has also written concertos for marimbist Makoto Nakura, violinist Michael Shih, clarinetist Bill Jackson, and a piano concerto commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and premiered in 2008 by pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane.
Puts received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Eastman School of Music, his Master’s Degree from Yale University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Eastman School of Music. Since 2006, he has been a member of the composition department at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. http://www.kevinputs.com/index.html
About the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture
Established in 2008, the College of Arts + Architecture represents 1200 students and nearly 100 full-time faculty members in five creative disciplines: art and art history, architecture, dance, music, and theatre. Dedicated to interdisciplinary conversation, collaboration, and innovation, the College of Arts + Architecture demonstrates UNC Charlotte’s commitment to arts and culture on campus and in the broader community. The College presents exhibitions, lectures, and nearly 100 performances each year. For more information, visit www.coaa.uncc.edu.
