NEW AMERICAN LANDSCAPES

The Paul Dresher Ensemble Electric Chamber Band with David Abel - violin soloist

The Ensemble's program for the 1996-97 touring season combines the classical virtuosity of renowned soloist David Abel with the Ensemble's unique hybrid instrumentation of traditional acoustic instruments with the latest in electronic music technology in a concert featuring music written by some of the most exciting and challenging composers of our time and includes premieres of commissioned works by Steve Mackey, Jay Cloidt, John Adams and Eve Beglarian and concertos for David Abel and the Ensemble by Alvin Curran and Paul Dresher. The Ensemble is dedicated to the notion that the boundaries between musical styles are as artificial and confining as the Berlin Wall and this program will challenge these boundaries with a sonic arsenal drawn from the full range of the American musical expression, from classical and electronic music, through rock and roll and jazz to the panoply of world musics which now shape our sonic environment.

In what may be a musical first, virtuoso violinist David Abel joins the Ensemble to premier concertos for violin and an electro-acoustic chamber ensemble by Alvin Curran and Artistic Director Dresher. It is a rare opportunity to have new works premiered by an artist such as David Abel, who shows no fear of the extraordinary sonic resources the Ensemble brings to the world of chamber music. Composers Mackey, Cloidt, Adams and Beglarian are among those whose use of diverse instrumental and sound sources, including electronic and sampled sound has refreshed and invigorated chamber music.