New Music Ensemble

About the Program

Program notes by Mark Bilyeu except where noted

Kirsten Townander 
Bicycle Face  
Born 2001
Composed 2025
World Premiere
Duration 10 minutes

Bicycle Face derives its name from an infamous “medical condition” fabricated by doctors in the 1890s. Its origin? Victorian England. Its symptoms? Clenched jaw, pale face, aura of self-sufficiency… Its target? Women. Bicycle-riding women. Unruly, unattractive, unladylike, bicycle-riding women. Written for chamber ensemble and featuring a functioning bicycle as its percussion source, Bicycle Face is led by two “cyclists,” who take us on a metaphorical journey: discovering the joys and freedoms of cycling, facing patriarchal barriers that seek to rob them of this newfound liberation, and ultimately overcoming it all by pedaling onwards. This work intends to shed light on the serious topic of deeply-ingrained misogyny through the less-than-serious lens of a ridiculous—yet true—story. It seeks to remind us of the resilience and strength women have demonstrated time and time again throughout history, whenever faced with unfair obstacles along their path to independence and equality.

– Kristen townander

Fausto Romitelli 
Green, Yellow, Blue Born February 1, 1963, Gorizia, Italy
Died June 27, 2004
Composed 2003
Premiered March 13, 2003, L’ensemble Ictus, Georges-Elie Octors, conductor
Duation 6 minutes

"At the centre of my composing lies the idea of considering sound as a material into which one plunges in order to forge its physical and perceptive characteristics: grain, thickness, porosity, luminosity, density and elasticity,” wrote the Italian composer Fausto Romitelli. Romitelli graduated from the Conservatorio “Giuseppe Verdi” of Milan and later went on to take part in advanced courses at the Accademia Chigiana of Siena and the Scuola Civica of Milan. He then moved to Paris in 1991 where he came into contact with his two biggest influences: Hugues Dufourt and Gérard Grisey, and French spectral music.  Green, Yellow and Blue was one of the last works Romitelli crafted before his death at the age of 41, after a long battle with cancer. 
 

Michael Daugherty
Firecracker
Born 1954, Cedar Rapids, IA
Composed 1991
Premiered 1994, Oxford, United Kingdom: Festival Ensemble
Duration 14 minutes

Firecracker is a concerto for solo oboe and chamber ensemble. It is a virtuosic piece spun off from the a motive, inspired by the diabolically difficult etudes of Antonio Pasculli (1842-1924), perhaps the greatest oboe virtuoso of his day: The musical fireworks are briefly interrupted by a playful tango interlude. The stereophonic stage arrangement of the ensemble emphasizes the deliberate spacial patterning of sound employed throughout the work, which I chose to call "visual music." Firecracker celebrates the rhythmic and explosive potential of the oboe.

– Michael Daugherty
 

Bora Yoon
Casual Miracles
Born 1980, Chicago, IL
Composed 2019
Duration 12 minutes 

Korean-American composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Bora Yoon is an interdisciplinary artist who conjures audiovisual soundscapes using digital devices, voice and found objects and instruments from a variety of cultures and historical centuries—  to formulate an audiovisual storytelling through music, movement and sound. Featured on the front-page of the Wall Street Journal and in the National Endowment for the Arts podcast for her musical innovations, Yoon’s music has been presented at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Singapore Arts Festival, and around the world. She describes her 2019 work “Casual Miracles” as a “five-movement song cycle / radio play” which features a narrator alongside a chamber orchestra and recorded sounds.
 

Roque Rivas 
Quodlibet
Born 1975, Santiago, Chile
Composed 2021
Premiered February 13, 2022, ensemble L’Itinéraire, Léo Margue, conductor
Duration 17 minutes

Born in Santiago, Roque Rivas began studying the piano and guitar before being accepted to the National Conservatory of the University of Chile. In 2001, he moved to France to study electroacoustic composition and computer music at the Conservatoire national de musique et de danse (CNSMD) in Lyon, and went on to join Emmanuel Nunes’ advanced class in composition at the CNSMD, in Paris. From 2006 to 2008, he attended the composition and computer music program at IRCAM and in 2011 he participated in the “Atelier Opéra en creation” workshop at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His works are played by prestigious ensembles and performers and presented at major international festivals, while his work is published by Durand Salabert Eschig. His 2022 composition “Quodlibet” was a collaboration between the composer and the ensemble L’itinéraire, who tapped Rivas for the commission due to his “spectral thought on timbre and harmony.”  "The first contemporary music concert that I was able to attend during my first trip to Europe was by the ensemble L'Itinéraire in Paris,” wrote Rivas, “I admire the care they take in producing their timbre and their rhythmic precision. These two dimensions are fundamental to my music.”

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About the Artists

Bora Yoon

Bora Yoon is a Korean-American multi-instrumentalist, composer, vocalist, and sound artist who conjures audiovisual soundscapes using digital devices, voice. and instruments from a variety of cultures and historical centuries—to formulate an audiovisual storytelling through music, movement and sound. Featured on the front-page of the Wall-Street Journal for her use of unusual instruments and everyday found objects as music, she activates architectural spaces, acoustics, and evokes what George Lewis described as “a kind of sonic memory garden”—using voice, violin, viola, Tibetan singing bowls, synthesizers, vocoder, Bible pages, bike bells, turntable, walkie-talkies, chimes, water, sonic sundries, and live electronics. Through these interdisciplinary means and idioms, she aims to expand the listening experience to an immersive, sound-sculpted environment, to reflect time, history, and a permeability of memory. As a composer, she has been commissioned and written works for Alarm Will Sound, So Percussion, New York Polyphony, Voices of Ascension, Musica Viva, Metropolis Ensemble, Sayaka Ladies Choral of Tokyo, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Young Peopls Chorus of NYC, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
 

Kirsten Townander

Illinois-bred, Austin-based musician Kirsten Townander (b. 2001) is a composer, educator, and flautist. Her artistic work is fueled by her love of story-telling, passion for human connection, and appreciation for her multidisciplinary background, which spans the disciplines of theatre, dance, and—of course—music. Whenever possible, Kirsten seeks to bridge gaps between these often “separate” art forms and foster spaces for performers to embrace creativity in ways that are not always readily encouraged within the traditional frameworks of Western art music and academia as a whole. She hopes that those who hear and play her music are left with renewed feelings of curiosity and wonder for the world around them. Kirsten is currently pursuing a Master of Music in composition from the University of Texas at Austin, where her private instructors have included Donald Grantham and Yevgeniy Sharlat. Previously, she earned a Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education and dual Bachelor of Music in composition and flute performance from Illinois State University, where she studied composition with Roger Zare, Carl Schimmel, Roy Magnuson, and Alex Stephenson and flute with Kimberly Risinger.
 

Andrew Parker 

Dr. Andrew Parker is currently the oboe professor at the University of Texas at Austin and faculty at the Round Top Festival Institute.  In addition to his teaching, Andrew maintains a rich performing career as a soloist and chamber musician.  He has performed concerti with numerous orchestras including the Quad City Symphony, the Great Falls Symphony, the Puerto Rico Philharmonic, the University of Iowa Chamber Orchestra, and the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra.  His solo album, The Singing Oboe, was featured as CD of the week for two consecutive weeks on the Boston classical station 99.5 WCRB. His other albums, Handel: The Halle Sonatas and Portraits in Music, were released on the Equilibrium and MSR labels respectively.  Andrew has been principal oboe of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra for 10 seasons.  After receiving his bachelor’s degree at the Eastman School of Music and master’s degree at Yale University, he finished his doctoral studies at the University of Michigan.Andrew’s primary teachers have been Richard Killmer, Nancy Ambrose King, and Elaine Douvas.

Emily Warren

Emily Warren attends The University of Texas at Austin, where she is currently pursuing a doctor of musical arts degree in wind conducting. As a graduate teaching assistant, she works with the university’s athletic and concert bands, assisting with administrative duties and conducting the ensembles. Additionally, she teaches courses in conducting and wind band literature. Prior to her graduate studies, Emily lived in Massachusetts where she spent four years as a public school music educator. She is a specialist in electroacoustic repertoire for wind ensemble and has been invited to present her research internationally, most recently at the IGEB (International Society for the Promotion and Research of Wind Music) conference in Valencia, Spain. Emily holds a bachelor's degree in music education from Indiana University and a master's degree in wind conducting from the University of Kansas, where she studied under the direction of Dr. Paul Popiel. She is an active member of various professional music organizations, including CBDNA, TMEA, IGEB, and is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi.
 

Marc Sosnowchik

Dr. Marc Sosnowchik is a conductor, educator, arranger, and clinician based in Austin, Texas. His current duties as assistant director of bands at the University of Texas include conducting the New Music Ensemble and Longhorn concert bands, instructing courses in conducting and wind literature, and teaching the Longhorn Bands. Before his appointment at UT Austin, Sosnowchik served as associate director of bands at the University of South Florida, assistant director of bands at Oklahoma State University, and associate conductor of the Florida Wind Band. Sosnowchik maintains an active schedule as a clinician, conductor, and arranger. He conducts ensembles throughout the U.S., and in the summer teaches at the World Youth and Adult Wind Orchestra Projects as part of the Mid-Europe Festival in Schladming, Austria.  Sosnowchik earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Alabama, and both his master’s and doctor's degrees in conducting from The University of Texas at Austin.

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New Music Ensemble

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