KITKA AND ENSEMBLE ALCATRAZ PREMIERE EARTH VERSE
BY OAKLAND COMPOSER ROY WHELDEN ON OCTOBER 13.
KITKA Women's Vocal Ensemble and the internationally acclaimed early music group Ensemble Alcatraz present a collaborative concert program featuring traditional and early music from Eastern Europe and the world premiere of Earth Verse, a new work composed especially for KITKA and Ensemble Alcatraz by Oakland composer Roy Whelden. The concert will take place on Sunday, October 13, 2002 at 8:00 PM at the Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. Tickets, priced from $15-$20 are available from www.kitka.org, or by calling 510-444-0323.
KITKA
KITKA, which means ‘bouquet’ in Bulgarian and Macedonian, began as a grassroots group of amateur singers from diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds who shared a passion for the stunning dissonances, assymetric rhythms, intricate ornamentation, lush harmonies and resonant strength Eastern European women's vocal music. Since its informal beginnings, the group has evolved into a refined professional ensemble earning international renown for its artistry, versatility, and mastery of the demanding techniques of Balkan and Slavic vocal styling. Through a busy itinerary of live and broadcast performances, recordings, educational programs, master artist residencies, commissioning programs, and adventuresome collaborations, KITKA has exposed millions to the haunting beauty of their unique repertoire. KITKA just returned from a tour of Bulgaria, where they shared the stage of the Bulgarian National Palace of Culture with the world-renowned Bulgarian Women's Choir, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares.The singers of KITKA are Leslie Bonnett, Shira Cion, Catherine Rose Crowther, Juliana Graffagna, Janet Kutulas, Ann Moorhead, and Lily Storm.
ENSEMBLE ALCATRAZ
Ensemble Alcatraz has been presenting innovative performances of medieval and Renaissance music from Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy since 1984. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the group has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Their two recordings, Visions and Miracles and Danse Royale on the Elektra/Nonesuch label have brought them world-wide acclaim. Ensemble Alcatraz's members (Cheryl Ann Fulton, harps; Shira Kammen, vielle, rebec, and fiddles; Kit Higginson, recorders and psaltery; and Peter Maund, percussion) are all internationally recognized specialists in early music who combine scholarship with imagination, virtuosity and musicality. The musicians of Ensemble Alcatraz regularly perform with such groups as the Boston Camerata, Chanticleer, Hesperion XXI, Ensemble PAN, Medieval Strings, Philharmonia Baroque, Quarternaria, Angelorum, Skyedance, Magnificat, American Bach Soloists, The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Sequentia, and others. Alcatraz is an early Iberian word for ‘Pelican’ a medieval religious symbol.COLLABORATORS IN CONCERT AND ON RECORD SINCE 1990
KITKA and Ensemble Alcatraz first collaborated in 1990 in a performance of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, music from the court of Alfonso X ‘el Sabio’, King of Castille and Leon from 1230 to 1282. That same year they performed together in Thomas Binkley's innovative reconstruction of the medieval pageant Carmina Burana, produced by Cal Performances at the first Berkeley Early Music Festival and Exposition. Members of Ensemble Alcatraz have since become frequent guest artists at KITKA concerts and on KITKA's recordings. In 2000, KITKA and Ensemble Alcatraz performed and recorded the 13th century Galician song cycle Cantigas de Amigo (Dorian records – 2000). KITKA's recordings The Vine (2002), Nectar (1999) and Voices on the Eastern Wind (1993) were produced by Ensemble Alcatraz's Kit Higginson.
COMPOSER ROY WHELDEN
Like most musicians before the twentieth century, Roy Whelden balances mutually supportive careers in performance and composition. He is also an accomplished mathematician. As a performer on the viola da gamba and vielle, he has played and recorded with such ensembles as Sequentia (Koln), Ensemble Alcatraz, and Musica Pacifica. Mr. Whelden received a Doctorate of Music at the Indiana University School of Music, where he studied with the legendary Thomas Binkley. He has recorded his compositions on the New Albion label (Galax and Like A Passing River), and has arranged and composed countless old and new works for American Baroque, of which he is a founding member.
Earth Verse, was commissioned by KITKA as part of KITKA's New Folksongs Commissionining Project, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The text is drawn from Mountains and Rivers without End, a poem by California poet Gary Snyder. Whelden comments, ‘The first time I heard Kitka was in 1990. At that time they performed several 13th century polyphonic conducti–Latin songs in two and three parts in more or less note-against-note style. I was impressed with their purity of sound and their rhythmic flexibility. Only much later did I hear them do Bulgarian songs. This may account for the fact that Earth Verse is a bit more polyphonic in style than their accustomed repertoire.’
KITKA'S NEW CD, THE VINE
This concert is part of a series of Fall 2002 concerts celebrating the release of KITKA's long-awaited new CD, The Vine. The Vine features nineteen songs from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Georgia, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Co-produced by Kit Higginson with Grammy-nominee Linda Tillery, The Vine was recorded with state-of-the-art technology by Leslie Ann Jones of Skywalker Studios. The album's title track, Shen Khar Venakhi (You are a vineyard, just blossoming), is a 12th century hymn to the divine feminine from the Republic of Georgia, and one of KITKA's most-requested musical offerings. KITKA's liner notes read ‘The Vine, to us represents the abundance, richness, and vitality of Eastern European women's vocal music. These songs of enduring beauty have survived over centuries, winding their way across continents to find resonance in our hearts. The themes are timeless—a child being lulled to sleep, a mother's grief over the loss of her son in battle, young lovers' secret meetings, a vineyard newly in bloom. Most of the selections showcase KITKA's signature lush ‘open-voiced’ full-ensemble sound, which has been described by The Boston Globe as both ‘earthy and ethereal.’ The Vine also features some stunning solo and small ensemble work that allows listeners to hear the unique individual voices that comprise KITKA. Members of Ensemble Alcatraz accompany KITKA on six tracks of The Vine. The Vine and other recordings by KITKA can be purchased on-line by visiting www.kitka.org, or by calling 510-444-0323.
CONCERT TICKETS
Tickets for KITKA's concert with Ensemble Alcatraz range from $15-$20. Tickets are available on-line at http://www.kitka.org, or by telephone at (510) 444-0323.
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CALENDAR EDITORS
Please list under MUSIC: Classical/Choral, World/Folk
KITKA and ENSEMBLE ALCATRAZ
Performing traditional, early, and new music from Eastern Europe and beyond, including the world premiere performance of EARTH VERSE by Roy Whelden.
Sunday, October 13, 2002
8:00 PM
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church
1330 Lakeshore Ave.
Oakland, CA
TICKETS: $18 advance / $20 door / $15 seniors and students
RESERVATIONS AND INFORMATION: www.kitka.org or (510) 444-0323
PHOTO EDITORS: A wide variety of photos of KITKA, Ensemble Alcatraz, and Roy Whelden are downloadable in high-resolution jpeg format from http://www.kitka.org/pressThese concerts are supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Oakland Department of Craft and Cultural Arts, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
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