Les Noces & Ballet Mécanique

About the Program

Giulia Lorusso
Entróuvert
Composed 2017
Duration 13 minutes

"The piano is my instrument: the first I ever knew, the one with which I devoted myself to music," writes Lorusso. "I have an intimate, physical relationship with it: I know its incredible sound power, the resonance with such rich harmonies, which, by sympathy, reaches all the strings. All things considered, the repertoire that history has tirelessly built for it comes only second - and it remains invariably attached, almost subordinate, to this primary, instinctive familiarity with the instrument, as well as to a listening open to all music, beyond stylistic, geographical or temporal boundaries. It is this intimacy with the piano that has shaped the contours of the writing of Entr'ouvert: I composed as if feeling, shaping under my fingers, in the hollow of my palms, the material of a certain piano repertoire as well as influences that do not necessarily belong to the music of written tradition. "

The work imagines a new instrument built from the piano, now augmented with electronic possibilities. The piano is transformed into a resonant space to create a blended instrument, a traditional piano and an augmented piano where the electronics come from within; a piano that grows. 

George Antheil
Ballet méchanique
Born July 8, 1900, Trenton, NJ
Died February 12, 1959,, New York, NY
Composed 1923-24
Premiered June 19, 1926 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France
Duration 18 minutes

Igor Stravinsky
Les noces
Born June 17, 1882, Lomonosov, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died April 6, 1971, New York, NY
Composed 1914-1919; 1922-1923
Premiered 13 June 13, 1923, Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, France
Duration 24 minutes

“My Ballet mécanique is the new FOURTH DIMENSION of music. In my Ballet mécanique, I offer you, for the first time, music hard and beautiful as a diamond...it is the first piece IN THE WORLD to be conceived in one piece without interruption, like a solid shaft of steel...” These are among the statements made by the 25-year-old American composer George Antheil in an 1925 interview with the magazine De Stijl, about his newest musical endeavor—one that would follow the self-proclaimed “Bad Boy of Music,” like an unwanted odor his entire career. As he wrote in his memoir (entitled Bad Boy of Music), “If the public still thinks of me at all, it probably thinks of me as the composer of this damned Ballet mécanique...it is frankly my nightmare...” But, before it would turn from vision to nightmare, a 22 year-old Antheil would move from New Jersey to Berlin, where he met Igor Stravinsky. A year later, Antheil and his wife moved to Paris, the epicenter of artistic life in the 1920s, and arrived on June 13, 1923, just in time to see the premiere of Stravinsky’s Les noces (The Wedding) that very evening. The next day, Anteil was invited by Stravinsky to join him at the great piano warehouse of the Pleyel company—a location where Chopin would famously practice, and the home of groundbreaking player-piano technology, then known as a pianola. As Antheil recounted 

...Stravinsky himself played Les noces, this time on an electric pianola. I liked the second version even better than the one which we had heard last night; it was more precise, colder, harder, more typical of that which I myself wanted out of music during this period in my life. “It is wonderful!” I cried.” 

In his autobiography, Antheil asserted that Stravinksy developed the idea of mechanical pianos from his 1922 conversations with the American (a claim that is impossible to verify). If, however, we use the sheer number of mechanical pianos as a metric, Antheil was, in fact, the composer more committed to the technology. Ballet méchanique would originally call for 16 pianolas, all controlled by the 17th keyboard. That is, in addition to the 2 regular pianos, 2 xylophones, 7 electric bells, 3 propellers (of different pitches), 4 bass drums, a tam-tam, and a siren. It was, of course, impossible to synchronize so many mechanical pianos, and accommodations had to be made to incorporate fewer machines and more human beings. The work received its first public performance on June 19, 1926 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées to a sold out crowd which included the who’s-who of Paris: Diaghilev, Serge Koussevitzky, James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound, who, during a quiet moment in the premiere, yelled out “vous êtes tous des imbéciles” (“you are all idiots!”). The evening rivaled the chaos of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, premiere, with Sylvia Beach (famous American owner of the bookstore Shakespeare and Company, and Antheil’s landlady) citing it as one of the biggest events of the 1920s. 

In 1914, a year after the premiere of Rite of Spring, and well before Stravinsky would have heard of George Antheil, the Russian set out on another collaboration with Diaghalev’s famed Ballet Russes. This time, he sought to depict Russia’s ritualistic and folkloric wedding traditions, traveling to both Russia and Ukraine to collect published poems and lyrics he might use for the project. What culminated was a series of four vignettes which told the story of a wedding: The Blessing of the Bride, The Blessing of the Bridegroom, The Bride’s Departure from Her Parent’s House, and The Wedding Feast. Les noces holds a unique place in the composer’s catalog as the work which took the most time to develop. Partly due to the outbreak of the first World War, and partly due to Stravinsky’s constant adapting of the score. Over the course of eight years, he went through 5 separate iterations of the score, until finally landing on it’s ultimate arrangement: the “perfectly homogeneous, perfectly impersonal, and perfectly mechanical” sound of four pianos and four percussionists, in which, crucially, only struck instruments are heard alongside the chorus and four vocal soloists. Stravinksy reminisced in 1962: "When I first played The Wedding to Diaghilev … he wept and said it was the most beautiful and most purely Russian creation of our [ballet company]. I think he did love The Wedding more than any other work of mine. That is why it is dedicated to him."
 

– Mark Bilyeu

Back To Program ^

About the Artists

Jeanne Hourez

Since her debut as soloist at age 12, Jeanne Hourez has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the Orchestre Symphonique de Cannes, the Orchestre Symphonique Azuréen and the Orchestre Philharmonique des Musiciens de Montréal. Awards have included three Gold Prizes at the London Young Musician Competition (2021, United Kingdom), the 5th Prize of Harmonium OnlinePlus International Music Competition (2020, Armenia), Grand Prize and the Public Prize at the International Piano Competition Alain Marinaro (2015, France), Winner of the OPMEM Concerto Competition (2013, Canada), 1st Grand Prize of Aix-en-Provence National Competition (2009, France).  A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and the University of Montreal, Jeanne Hourez did her doctoral studies at the Butler School under the tutelage of Anton Nel. An equally passionate about new music, Jeanne has collaborated with young composers for several years. In 2022 she founded SoundMap Ensemble, an Austin Base ensemble dedicated to new music. Since this season, Ms. Hourez is assistant professor of piano at Southwestern University in Georgetown. 

Gabriel Araújo

Interested in the possible dialogues between popular and concert music, Gabriel works on questions of intertextuality and metaphors as creative forces, such as the musical modeling of poetic images evoked in a popular song. He is especially motivated by ideals of reconstruction and recomposition, deformation and juxtaposition of these materials inspired by other creations and works with instrumental and electronic medias. He studied composition with Paulo Guicheney at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), and obtained his master's degree from the CNSM de Lyon (France), where he studied with Michele Tadini and attended the classes of Martin Matalon and François Roux. He was mentored by composers such as Yan Robinn, João Pedro Oliveira, Panayiotis Kokoras, David Bird, Javier Torres Maldonado, Bryan Holmes, Rodrigo Lima, Gabriela Lena Frank among others. He currently pursuits a D.M.A. in composition at The University of Texas at Austin under the guidance of Januibe Tejera. He received the Funarte Prize in Composition from the Brazilian Ministry of Culture at the Biennial of Contemporary Brazilian Music

Colette Valentine

Pianist Colette Valentine has performed in important New York City and Washington, DC venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, the Library of Congress, and the Corcoran Gallery; and internationally in Paris, Zurich, Florence, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, and Hong Kong. She has collaborated in chamber concerts with the New York Philharmonic Winds, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the Washington Chamber Society, the Left Bank Concert Society, the Grand Teton Music Festival Players, and the Miró Quartet, among others. Valentine has served as assisting pianist for numerous National and International events, and has recorded for the Naxos, Albany, fontec, Antara, Well-Tempered, and CRI labels. In the fall of 2008, she joined the faculty of the newly created collaborative piano Division at The University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music, and was named director of collaborative piano in 2017.   
 

Alexandre Maynegre-Torra

Alex Maynegre-Torra has a versatile career as collaborative pianist, orchestral pianist, solo performer and music editor. Maynegre-Torra has enjoyed his work as a collaborative pianist at the Butler School of Music, playing with faculty, guest performers and students since 2010. He has also held positions at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and at the Hartt School of music in Hartford, CT. Maynegre-Torra is a prize-winner in several competitions in his native Catalonia (Spain) and the United States, and has appeared in concert with cellists Lynn Harrell and Bion Tsang, violinist Joseph Silverstein, the Emerson String Quartet, saxophonist Stephen Page, trombonist James Markey and tubist Demondrae Thurman, among others. As the principal keyboard of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, he has performed as soloist on Concerto No. 11 in D Major by Haydn, and Capriccio for piano and orchestra by Stravinsky. He also appeared alongside pianist Jeffrey Biegel to perform Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns.

Leah Crocetto

Described by the New York Times as possessing an “agile coloratura technique and a feeling for the Italianate style... with warmth, full penetrating sound and tenderness,” soprano Leah Crocetto continues to astonish audiences with her moving portrayals of opera’s greatest heroines. The 2022/23 season begins with her San Diego Symphony debut in Verdi’s breathtaking Requiem under the baton of Rafael Payare. She also returns to the Sydney Opera House for Opera Australia’s Aida and debuts the fiendish role of Odabella in Attila at Teatro Petruzelli. In recital, she will appear at the Butler School of Music in Austin, Texas, where she is currently on faculty as a lecturer in vocal arts. Hook ‘em Horns! Leah Crocetto also tours with her newly founded trio Momenti, featuring bass-baritone Christian Pursell and pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg, for their first concerts in San Francisco, Napa, and her native Adrian, Michigan. Aiming to create unique and empowering music, performing genre-less, yet extensive, rich, and innovative repertoire, they released their first EP on February 10, 2023.   

Page Stephens

Stephens is a mezzo soprano, voice teacher and arts administrator based in Austin, TX with a soft spot for new music. Stephens has performed operas, chamber music, and art song written for her by composers like Matthew Lyons, Thomas B. Yee, Dana Lyn, Adrienne Inglis, Russell Podgorsek, Alex Heppelmann, Keenan Boswell, Steven Serpa, Franklin Piland, Akshaya Avril Tucker, Robbie LaBanca and Adeliia Faizullina. Page recently recorded Mark Kilstofte’s The White Album with pianist Chuck Dillard, after giving the New York premiere of the song cycle with Copland House, the Austin premiere with the UT New Music Ensemble, and the Pacific Northwest premiere with Dillard. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when live performances were still few and far between, she became a founding member of the new music collective Less Than <10, which streamed concerts of new and reimagined canonic works regularly. Additionally, she helped found a new all-female vocal quintet called VAMP; the quintet gave its premiere performance in Fast Forward Austin’s streamed performance in December, 2020.

Evan K. Brown

Evan K. Brown, a Texas native, is an emerging heroic tenor celebrated for his “unfailingly vigorous” voice. Known for his commanding presence and passionate interpretations, he has captivated audiences in a variety of roles, including Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Rodolfo in La Bohème, and Hermann in The Queen of Spades. His recent engagements have showcased his versatility and depth, from performing Spoletta and covering Cavaradossi in Tosca with Charlottesville Opera to taking on the role of Arvide in Guys and Dolls. Evan’s portrayals of Hoffmann and Hermann both received significant acclaim, solidifying his reputation as a tenor of remarkable emotional intensity. His talent has been recognized with several awards, including winning the 2018 SMU Concerto Competition and being named Audience Favorite in the 2023 McCammon Voice Competition. His rising career continues to captivate audiences and critics alike, establishing him as a prominent figure in the heroic tenor repertoire. Looking ahead, Evan is set to join the Glimmerglass Festival, where he will cover Canio in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci. 

 Mikhail Smigelski

Hailed as “phenomenal” (The Harvard Crimson), “impressively epic” (schwäbische.de), and praised for his “wine-dark bass” (The Boston Globe), bass-baritone Mikhail Smigelski enjoys a versatile career spanning various genres, including opera, oratorio, early music, musical theatre, and contemporary music. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Mikhail has performed on some of the world's most prestigious stages, including Carnegie Hall, the Saint Petersburg and Moscow Philharmonias, Berliner Philharmonie, and Kölner Philharmonie. He has also collaborated with renowned European and American opera companies, such as Saint Petersburg Chamber Opera, Theater Aachen, Theater Solingen, Theater Leverkusen, Miami Lyric Opera, The Cleveland Opera, Opera in the Heights, among others. Smigelski’s performance portfolio features over 30 roles in classical and contemporary operas as well as other stage works. A passionate advocate for contemporary classical music, he has participated in numerous festivals, including New York’s Ferus Festival and the Cohen New Works Festival, and has premiered works with ensembles such as the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, Density 512, and Rhapsode Guild.

Patti Wolf

Since being chosen at age nineteen as the youngest competitor of the 1985 Van Cliburn Competition, Patti Wolf has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has collaborated in recital with many of the world’s most distinguished musical artists, such as cellist Lynn Harrell, pianist Jon Kimura Parker, flutist Carol Wincenc, violinist Ilya Kaler, concertmasters Glenn Dicterow, Andrés Cárdenas, David Halen and Nina Bodnar, soprano Erin Wall, Chicago Symphony principal horn Dale Clevenger, and renowned German horn soloist and recording artist Hermann Baumann.In 2017, Ms. Wolf joined the faculty at The University of Texas, Austin Butler School of Music, where she is assistant professor of practice in collaborative piano. She performs regularly with faculty members and has been a guest recently with the Austin Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Lyrica Baroque in New Orleans, and HeightsArts in Cleveland, Oh, performing with musicians of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Andrew Brownell

Andrew Brownell is a laureate of several major international competitions, having won 2nd Prize at the 2006 Leeds Competition, 2nd Prize ex aequo at the 2002 International J. S. Bach Competition (Leipzig), and 1st Prize at the 2005 J.N. Hummel Competition (Bratislava).  Mr. Brownell’s performances have aired on BBC radio and television, Classic FM (UK), NPR, CBC, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, and RBB KulturRadio.  His teachers have included Nancy Weems and Horacio Gutiérrez at the University of Houston, John Perry at the University of Southern California, and Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music in London.  An enthusiastic collaborative artist, Andrew Brownell has performed with principals of orchestras such as the Philharmonia, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and Vienna Philharmonic.  He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 2010.

Rick Rowley

Rick Rowley leads a diverse musical life. He gives concerts with many of the world’s finest instrumentalists and singers and his solo, concerto and collaborative performances have taken him throughout the United States, to Europe and Latin America. Mr. Rowley has made several recordings of solo piano repertoire, chamber music and art songs. His second CD with flutist, Marianne Gedigian, was one of the first recordings issued on the UT Longhorn label. He has recorded piano music of Chopin, Liszt, Granados, Mompou and American composers David Guion, Richard Cumming, Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber. His recordings with sopranos Cheryl Parrish and Mela Dailey also feature music of American composers. He has begun making video performances as part of a series of concerts in partnership with Professor Emeritus Darlene Wiley of the Butler School voice faculty. Mr. Rowley coaches singers and works with collaborative pianists, has taught classes in German, French and American art song, singing and acting for musical theater and a history of musical theater on Broadway. He has appeared three times as soloist with the UTSO and is heard frequently on broadcasts of live performances from the Butler School.

Thomas Burritt
Director, Percussion Ensemble

Thomas Burritt received degrees from Ithaca College School of Music, Kent State University, and Northwestern University. Active in the creation and performance of new music, Burritt has built a reputation as a percussion soloist and a concert marimbist. He has performed regularly at the Leigh Howard Stevens International Marimba Seminar and was a featured faculty performer at the 2007 and 2009 Zeltsman Marimba Festival. In April 2004 Burritt performed at Carnegie Hall as member of the Hammers and Sticks Ensemble. Later the same year the ensemble released a CD on the Innova label featuring works by Steven Mackey, Zhou Long, Alvin Singleton, Alex Shapiro, Joseph Harchanko and Belinda Reynolds. As Percussion Soloist Burritt has performed percussion concertos by Steve Mackey, Joseph Schwantner, Michael Dougherty, David Maslanka John Mackey, and James MacMillan. He has recorded for guitarist Eric Johnson and recording artist David Byrne, and has two solo recordings: All Times Identical—New American Music for Marimba, and Groundlines. In 2009, Burritt was nominated for a Grammy for his performances on Conspirare in Concert. In 2012, Burritt was cited as one of “The most influential Music Professors on Twitter.” 

Ivan Trevino 
Director, Percussion Ensemble

Ivan Trevino is a Mexican-American composer, percussionist, teacher, and arts advocate. Celebrated as one of the most influential composer-percussionists of the 21st century, Ivan’s music has been performed on five continents in over 25 countries. His music distinctly threads indie-pop sounds with a contemporary classical aesthetic, and his body of work spans storytelling, singing marimba players, cello rockers, and an ever-present social consciousness. His newly commissioned works include music for The Juilliard School, The Eastman Wind Ensemble, and Grammy-winning quartet, Third Coast Percussion. Ivan serves as Assistant Professor of Practice at the Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin, where he joyfully teaches a studio of undergraduate and graduate percussion majors. 

J.D. Burnett
Director, UT Choirs

Dr. J.D. Burnett enjoys a varied career as a conductor, singer, and teacher. In the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas, he serves as director of choral activities, conducts the UT Concert Chorale, and teaches courses in graduate choral conducting and literature. Additionally, he is the founding Artistic Director of Kinnara, the premier professional chamber choir in Atlanta, Georgia. In March 2021, he was named artistic director of Orpheus Chamber Singers in Dallas, and assumed the role on January 1, 2022. Formerly, he was associate professor of music and associate director of choral activities at the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music. He has served as assistant director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, conductor of the New Jersey Youth Chorus Young Men’s Ensemble, associate conductor of the Masterwork Chorus of New Jersey, and acting director of choral activities at Montclair State University.

Januibe Tejera
Director, EEMS

French-Brazilian artist Januibe Tejera has been named assistant professor of composition and director of the Electronic Music Studio. His work connects contemporary music with oral music traditions, new technology, and theatrical elements, all with an eye toward music as a multi-sensory experience. Tejera has received commissions from Ensemble intercontemporain, the Siemens Foundation, IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), Ensemble PHACE, Ensemble TM+, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Additionally, his productions have appeared at major European festivals such as Musica Festival Strasbourg, Festival Présences, Festival ManiFeste, Festival Ensems, Darmstadt Festival, and Milano Musica. Tejera holds advanced degrees from the Conservatoire de Paris and from IRCAM. He has been an artist-fellow with Casa de Velázquez (Madrid), Fundación Ibermúsica, Fondation Salabert, and the Sacatar Foundation.

Back To Program ^

Musicians

Concert Chorale

Rehearsal Pianist
Seth Zamora

Piano Technician

Andrew Edwards

Back To Program ^

Upcoming Events

Wind Ensemble
20th Anniversary Performance of Circus Maximus
by John Corigliano
Saturday, January 25, 7:30 p.m.
The Long Center for the Performing Arts

Tickets

EEMS
Mechanical Dreams
Friday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Rectial Hall

La Traviata
Butler Opera Center
October 18, 20, 25 & 27
McCullough Theatre

Concert Chorale
Sunday, November 3, 4:00 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

Percussion Ensemble
Tuesday, November 5, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

New Music Ensemble
Featuring Hila Plitmann, soprano
Wednesday, November 20, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

Back To Program ^