Welsh Composer - Karl Jenkins To Play New York!!!

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Karl Jenkins: The United Kingdom's Most Popular Living Composer To Have Three Premieres At Avery Fiher Hall On Monday, January 19, 2009, 8 PM

Concert to be Presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York - Purchase tickets HERE

(DCINY) Will Feature World Premiere Performance of Jenkins’ Violin Concerto, Sarikiz; US Premieres of His Te Deum and Stabat Mater; Jonathan Griffith and Karl Jenkins, Conductors

Karl Jenkins was voted the United Kingdom’s most popular living composer for the past five years by listeners on BBC Classical Radio One, and entered Classic FM’s “Hall of Fame” at number eight, the highest position ever for a living composer. Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) is proud to present two US premiere performances of new works by Mr. Jenkins, as well as the world premiere performance of his violin concerto, Sarikiz. This evening of choral and orchestral works will take place on January 19, 2009, 8 PM, at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, and will feature the Distinguished Concerts Orchestra International and the Distinguished Concerts Singers International.

Sarikiz will showcase the talent of the Kazakh violinist for whom the piece was written, Marat Bisengaliev. Mr. Bisengaliev has performed in over thirty-five countries, and was the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s “Instrumentalist of the Year” award in 2007. Featured in the US premiere performance of Stabat Mater will be mezzo-soprano Charlotte Daw Paulsen, whose recent appearance in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle was called “dramatic in the best sense and utterly gripping” by the New York Times. Ms. Paulsen’s Western classical singing will be juxtaposed with the Middle Eastern-based vocals of Belinda Sykes, who will also demonstrate her virtuosity on the “mey”, an indigenous Middle Eastern reed instrument. Mr. Jenkins himself will be conducting, marking his Lincoln Center debut.

The opening piece of the evening, and the first of the US debuts, will be Te Deum, commissioned by Liverpool’s Welsh Choral. The text is based on an early Christian hymn of praise and thanksgiving. Jenkins’ setting of Te Deum was reviewed as “a joyous, theatrical piece of music…which alternates between dynamic, brassy flourishes and the lush rise and fall of massed voices” by the Liverpool Echo in 2008. At the baton will be DCINY Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Jonathan Griffith.

Sarikiz was commissioned by Kazakh philanthropist Sapar Iskakov. It is dedicated to his ancestor, Tlep Aspantaiuly, composer and master of the kobyz, a Middle Eastern relative of the violin. Throughout, Jenkins makes references to native folk themes, and employs two traditional percussion instruments, the dabel [hand drum] and the kepshek [tambourine].

The second half of the evening will consist of Stabat Mater. The 13th-century poem, a meditation on the sorrows of Jesus’ mother Mary during his crucifixion, has been used as a theme by composers from Vivaldi to Verdi. Mr. Jenkins’ 21st-century interpretation of the verse includes six texts not from the original poem, including a section of the Epic of Gilgamesh as well as a poem by 13th-century mystic poet Jalal al-Din Rumi.

In Jenkins’ words, “The Epic of Gilgamesh…is the world’s oldest written story. It is from the ancient Babylonian civilization, which means, of course, that it comes from what is now Iraq, so it has real resonance for our current time. Rumi…had an intense relationship with a spiritual mentor called Shams al-Din Tabrizi, whose apparent murder turned [him] into a poet and mystic who sought consolation in the Divine.”

Karl Jenkins has received numerous critical accolades and extensive academic honors, and has achieved wide-scale popular appeal as well.

He is a recipient of the Order of the British Empire for his “services to music”, and his innovative work with the jazz ensemble Nucleus won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1970. The album on which he initially appeared as part of the seminal progressive rock group Soft Machine, entitled Six, won the Melody Maker “British Jazz Album of the Year” award. He has twice won industry prizes in the advertising field, and his work Palladio has become iconic for the De Beers diamond company. He is both a Fellow and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, where a room has been named in his honor. Additionally, he has been bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate in music from the University of Leicester, and a Chancellor’s Medal from the University of Glamorgan.

Date & Concert Programme

Karl Jenkins at Avery Fisher Hall
Monday, January 19, 2009, 8:00 PM

Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
Te Deum (US premiere performance)

Sarikiz, violin concerto (world premiere performance)

Stabat Mater (US premiere performance)

Karl Jenkins Conducts "Palladio"