Julia Werntz: Someone Who Loves You Throws Me At You

Julia Werntz

The music of Boston-based composer Julia Werntz has been described as "meticulously crafted" and "pristine and unweighted by earthly reality" in NewMusicBox, and "attractive and intriguing" in 21st Century Music. Her works have been performed at concert series, festivals and venues throughout Europe and the United States, such as the Muziekgebouw Kleine Zaal in Amsterdam, the Hamburg Klangwerktage, the Tage für Neue Musik at the Darmstadt Akademie für Tonkunst, Unerhörte Music and the BKA Theater in Berlin, the UK Microfests 3 and 4, the Stockholm New Music Festival, the Week of Contemporary Music, Bucharest, the Here/Now Festival in Sofia, New York's Vision Festival, the New Music Gathering in Bowling Green, Pittsburgh's Music on the Edge, and in Boston on the Enchanted Circle, Extension Works, BMOP Club Concert, Boston Microtonal Society and various other series. Her work has been commissioned and/or performed by groups such as Ludovico Ensemble, Ensemble SCALA, Ecce Ensemble, loadbang, Alia Musica, Kamratön Ensemble, Ensemble New Babylon, Firebird Ensemble, Prana Duo, DuoKaya, Patchtax, Peridot Duo, Auros Group for New Music, and NotaRiotous Ensemble, among others. In Pittsburgh in June 2022, Kamratön Ensemble and Quince Ensemble staged an outstanding premiere performance of her opera The Strange Child (libretto by Kim Adrian, based on a tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann), with guest artists baritone Eugene Perry and tenor Robert Frankenberry in lead roles.

Through her music, her writings, and her teaching, Werntz has become recognized as a leading voice in the field of microtonal music. Her 2014 manual on microtonal ear training and composition, Steps to the Sea: Ear Training and Composing in a Minute Equal Temperament, sells steadily to composers, performers, and theorists (FrogPeak Music, available on Amazon). Her articles on microtonal and other contemporary music have appeared in Perspectives of New Music, NewMusicBox, New World Records, and other publications. Werntz is currently Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music, where she teaches traditional ear training and music theory courses and her unique Microtonal Ear Training and Composition course. From 2007 until stepping down in late 2022, she also taught highly popular practice and analysis courses in microtonal music at the New England Conservatory of Music. From the mid-1990s until 2018 she was Artistic Director of the Boston Microtonal Society and co-founded and co-directed its chamber ensemble, NotaRiotous.

Gabriela Diaz

Georgia native Gabriela Diaz began her musical training at the age of five, studying piano with her mother, and the next year, violin with her father. As a childhood cancer survivor, Gabriela is committed to sup- porting cancer research and treatment in her capacity as a musician. In 2004, Gabriela was a recipient of a grant from the Albert Schweitzer Foundation, an award that enabled Gabriela to create and direct the Boston Hope Ensemble. This program is now part of Winsor Music. A firm believer in the healing properties of music, Gabriela and her colleagues have performed in cancer units in Boston hospitals and presented benefit concerts for cancer research organizations in numerous venues throughout the United States.

A fierce champion of contemporary music, Gabriela has been fortunate to work closely with many significant composers on their own compositions, namely Pierre Boulez, Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Lucier, Unsuk Chin, Joan Tower, Roger Reynolds, Chaya Czernowin, Steve Reich, Tania León, Brian Ferneyhough, and Helmut Lachenmann. In 2012 Gabriela joined the violin faculty of Wellesley College. Gabriela is co-artistic director of the much beloved Boston-based chamber music and outreach organization Winsor Music. Please visit winsormusic.org for more information!

Gabriela’s recording of Lou Harrison’s Suite for Violin and American Gamelan was highlighted in the New York Times Article “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Classical Music.” Critics have acclaimed Ga- briela as “a young violin master,” and “one of Boston’s most valuable players.” Lloyd Schwartz of the Boston Phoenix noted, “...Gabriela Diaz in a bewitching performance of Pierre Boulez’s 1991 Anthèmes. The come-hither meow of Diaz’s upward slides and her sustained pianis- simo fade-out were miracles of color, texture, and feeling.” Others have remarked on her “indefatigably expressive” playing, “polished technique,” and “vivid and elegant playing.” Gabriela can be heard on New World, Centaur, BMOPSound, Mode, Naxos, and Tzadik records. Gabriela plays on a Vuillaume violin generously on loan from Mark Ptashne and a viola made by her father, Manuel Diaz. Gabriela is proud to be a core member of the team that created Boston Hope Music, bringing music to patients and frontline medical workers during the pandemic. More info can be found at bostonhopemusic.org

David Russell

Hailed as "superb," “incisive," and "sonorous and panoramic” (Boston Globe), David Russell maintains a vigorous schedule both as soloist and as collaborator in the U.S. and Europe. He was appointed to the teaching faculty of Wellesley College in 2005 and currently serves as Lecturer and Director of Chamber Music. He has served as Principal cello of the orchestras of Odyssey Opera and Opera Boston since 2010 and performs regularly with many ensembles based in New England such as Cantata Singers and Ensemble, the Worcester Chamber Music Society and Emmanuel Music. A strong advocate of new music, Russell has performed and recorded with contemporary ensembles such as Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Firebird Ensemble, Ludovico Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, Music on the Edge, Dinosaur Annex, Collage, the Fromm Players at Harvard, and entelechron. Recent projects include recordings of cello concertos by Chen Yi and Lukas Foss, recordings of solo and chamber works by Lee Hyla, Eric Moe, Tamar Diesendruck, Donald Crockett, Andrew Rindfleisch and Roger Zahab as well as premieres of music by David Lang, Barbara White, Marti Epstein, Daron Hagen, José-Luis Hurtado, Robert Carl, Gilda Lyons,and Jorge Martin. Russell has also recently premiered works for cello and orchestra by Laurie San Martin and Samuel Nichols, as well as works for solo cello by Tamar Diesendruck, Andrew Rindfleisch, and John Mallia. Russell has recorded for the Tzadik, Albany, BMOPSound, CRI, Centaur and New World Records labels.

John McDonald

Described as "the New England master of the short piece," John McDonald is a composer who tries to play the piano and a pianist who tries to compose. He is currently Professor of Music at Tufts University, where he teaches composition, theory, and performance. Before arriving at Tufts in 1990, he taught at Boston University, the Longy School of Music, M.I.T., and the Rivers Conservatory. McDonald's research interests include composition and new music pedagogy; intermedia collaboration involving composing and performing; solo and chamber music composition, performance and recording; writing new music for young and non-professional performers; music applications for visual art and science; and advocating for new and overlooked composers. He was the Music Teachers National Association Composer of the Year in 2007 and served as the Valentine Visiting Professor of Music at Amherst College in 2016-2017. His book, Stirring Up the Music: The Life, Works, and Influence of Composer T(homas) J(efferson) Anderson, is forthcoming from Borik Press. McDonald's most recent recordings include At All Device (Bridge Records 9528; a collection of McDonald piano works with soloist David Holzman; 2020), PanSync (Arsis Audio; works by Su Lian Tan and McDonald; 2022), and States of Play (Bridge 9564; works by Robert Carl and McDonald; 2022).

Stephanie Lamprea

Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, recitalist, curator, and improviser, specializing in contemporary classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, she uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character... like an icepick through the skull” (Jason Eckardt). She has been praised by Opera News for "her iconoclasm and fearless commitment to new sounds" and for her "impressive display of extended vocal techniques, in the honorable tradition of such forward-looking artists as Bethany Beardslee, Cathy Berberian and Joan La Barbara." Her work has been described as “mercurial'' by I Care If You Listen and that she “sings so expressively and slowly with ever louder and higher-pitched voice, that the inclined listener [has] shivers down their back and tension flows into the last row." (Halberstadt.de) Stephanie has received awards from the Concert Artist Guild, St. Botolph Club Foundation, the John Cage Orgel Stiftung, the Puffin Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Stephanie has performed as a soloist at Roulette Intermedium, Constellation Chicago, Sound Scotland, National Sawdust, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Casa da Música. She has collaborated with several leading new music ensembles and bands including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wavefield Ensemble, So Percussion, Red Note Ensemble, Talujon, Guerilla Opera, and Post Coal Prom Queen. In 2022, Stephanie released her debut solo album, Quaking Aspen, on New Focus Recordings. Featuring new works for voice and electronics by Jason Eckardt, Wang Lu, Kurt Rohde, Hannah Selin, George N. Gianopoulos, and James May, the album was hailed by PopMatters.com as "a bold artistic statement that’s exciting and innovative... a magical, intense, and deeply satisfying journey." A passionate educator and speaker, Stephanie has taught and performed in residency for universities across the United States and Europe including the University of California at Davis, Temple University, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. She has presented her artistic research for the Wildflower Composers (USA), the European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (London), and the 2021 Shared Narratives Conference (Scotland), and she was a featured TEDx Speaker for TEDxWaltham: Going Places. Stephanie received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she worked with Maitland Peters and Lucy Shelton. She has received additional vocal training from Dr. Julian Kwok and coaching from soprano Sarah Maria Sun. Stephanie is a candidate for the Doctor of Performing Arts degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, under the supervision of composer/zoo-musicologist Dr. Emily Doolittle and co-supervised by Dr. Laura Gonzalez and Jean Sangster.

Kevin Price

Massachusetts native, clarinetist, and bass clarinetist Kevin Price is an advocate of new compositions, interdisciplinary collaborations, and the art of improvisation. Kevin has collaborated with a variety of Boston-based ensembles, such as Sound Icon, Odyssey Opera, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Currently, he is the founding member of the violin and clarinet duo, Box Not Found. He has performed with a number of world-renowned ensembles, including the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra as principal clarinetist and bass clarinetist under the artistic direction of Matthias Pintscher and the late Pierre Boulez, as well as the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group under the late Oliver Knussen.

Anna Griffis

Equally at home on modern and historical instruments, violist/violinist Anna Griffis has performed in Mexico, Turkey, Austria, Slovenia, Czechia, Taiwan, and throughout North America. She is a member of the New Bedford Symphony (principal) and the Albany Symphony and performs regularly with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Emmanuel Music, Blue Heron, Les Bostonades, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Boston Lyric Opera. She co-founded Chicago-based Trio Speranza, prize winners at the Early Music America competition, and performs with and is Executive Director of the Boston-based new music group Ludovico Ensemble. Anna studied at Lawrence University, The Hartt School of Music, Tanglewood Music Center, and Boston University. She teaches and coaches chamber music at The New School of Music (Cambridge) and Tufts University, and is an affiliate artist at MIT. Anna oversees public relations for the Tufts Music Department and is a freelance graphic designer specializing in programs and publications. Originally from Annapolis, MD, Anna now lives in the great neighborhood of Lower Allston with her bassoonist husband and their cat, Pig.

Ludovico Ensemble

The Ludovico Ensemble is a Boston-based chamber ensemble specializing in modern music. Founded in 2002 by percussionist Nicholas Tolle, the group is known for its carefully curated programs focusing on specific and often unusual instrumentations. From 2007-2014, the group held the position of Ensemble-In-Residence at the Boston Conservatory. In 2010, the group released its first album featuring chamber music by the late Dana Brayton, former composition teacher at the Boston Conservatory. The Boston Globe hailed Ludovico's recording of Marti Epstein's Hypnagogia as one of the best classical albums of 2015, and Alex Ross of The New Yorker called it a new release of interest. In 2016 the group released its third album featuring the music of Composer—In—Residence Mischa Salkind-Pearl. The group consists of many of the best freelancers and new music specialists in Boston, and its instrumentation varies wildly from concert to concert as the repertoire demands. The group's name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fictional medical treatment featured in the Anthony Burgess novel and Stanley Kubrick movie "A Clockwork Orange," in which the protagonist is subjected to a classical conditioning regimen that induces nausea at the sight of violent or exploitative acts, but also, inadvertently, to the music of Beethoven.

Jeffrey Means

Jeffrey Means is an American conductor and percussionist with a special interest in modern and contemporary music. His wide-ranging career has included engagements across North America and Europe, collaborating with many of today's leading composers and ensembles. He is artist director of the Boston-based group, Sound Icon, which has given premieres of numerous major works of the American and European Avant-Garde. After studying with Pierre Boulez in 2009-2011, he has maintained a close relationship with Boulez's music. Means is professor of conducting at Berklee College of Music and is an active recording engineer.

Rose Hegele

Canadian soprano Rose Hegele facilitates artistically rigorous performance experiences that explore the extremes of human vocal and artistic expression in 20th and 21st century art music. Working across disciplines including experimental theatre, silent film, chamber music, improvisation and choral singing, Ms. Hegele is passionate about curating performance experiences that foster creative musical practice, innovative collaborations, and service to the larger community. Highlights include performing the world premiere of Andy Vores’s Chrononhotonthologos with Guerilla Opera and leading ensemble performances in Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and music by Kian Khalilian at Clark University as an Artist-in-Residence. She has also performed at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, Jordan Hall, The Castro Theatre, Carnegie Hall, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Katherine Growdon

Boston-based mezzo-soprano Katherine Growdon enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, ensemble singer, and educator. Hailed for performances of "incisive authority" (New York Times) and "heart-rending emotion" (San Francisco Classical Voice), her voice has been described by the Boston Globe as "rich, rippling" and "full of dusky colors and pathos." She has made solo appearances in concert with the Handel and Haydn Society, Lorelei Ensemble, Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music, Mark Morris Dance Group, Boston Pops, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Northwest Bach Festival, American Bach Soloists and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Notable operatic credits include Myrtle Wilson in the Boston premiere of Harbison's The Great Gatsby, Dido and the Sorceress in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and St. Catherine in Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bOcher with Odyssey Opera. She is featured on the Boston Modern Orchestra Project recording of Kati Agocs' Vessel (BMOP).