For Immediate Release: 07/2011

ComposersCollaborative inc presents
MANO-a-MANO PIANO FESTIVAL
Jed Distler, host

August 21, 22, 23 at 8:30 PM at the Cornelia Street Café, NYC

Mano-a-Mano literally means “hand to hand,” and that applies to this three-day festival’s diverse roster of piano virtuosos, all of whom channel their extraordinary techniques towards spellbinding musical ends.

Sunday August 21
As a solo recitalist and founding member of the Maybeck Trio, California-based pianist Jerome Kuderna embraces traditional repertoire and new music with boundless virtuosity and fierce commitment. He has been presented by Group for Contemporary Music, The American Society of University Composers, The New Jersey Composer’s Guild, The Los Angeles SCREAM Festival, Earplay and Cal Performances. Kuderna has premiered works by composers such as Milton Babbitt, Claudio Spies, John Selleck, Robert Helps, Ross Bauer, Daniel Brewbaker, Richard Swift, Edwin Dugger, Phillipe Manoury, Herb Bielwa, Ann Callaway and Kurt Erickson, many of whom have written especially for the pianist. Kuderna recorded Babbitt’s Phonemena for Soprano and Piano (with Lynne Webber) for the New World Records historic anthology of American Music series, and, more recently, Roger Sessions Third Piano Sonata.

A favorite soloist with the Berkeley Symphony under Kent Nagano and George Thomson, Kuderna recently performed works by Brewbaker, and Ustvolskaya, plus Elliott Carter’s monumental Piano Concerto (1964-65). Recent solo appearances include Irving Fine memorial concert at Brandeis University recital appearances and a recital celebrating the centennial the Cuban-Spanish composer, Joaquin Nin-Culmell.

Kuderna has taught at Princeton, the University of Louisville and is a faculty member at Diablo Valley College where he is engaged in raising the consciousness of undergraduates to the importance of classical music in their lives. He continues to conduct an ongoing series entitled “Dialogues with Music” on the classical and contemporary music literature which are open to the general public. Kuderna lives in Berkeley with his wife, the artist Mari Marks.

Monday August 22
William Komaiko's multi-faceted virtuosity and deep musicianship has long commanded admiration and respect among his colleagues. His music is cited for "Beautiful shifting colors - like a Calder Mobile "(Leighton Kerner, (The Village Voice) with pianists comparisons: "Ahmad Jamal, Glenn Gould, Thelonious Monk, "(John S. Wilson, The New York Times).
Komaiko's concert music has been presented by conductors and organizations including Pierre Boulez, Paul Dunkel, Christian Badea, The Ravinia Festival, as well as a recent performance of Rhapsody in Blue with an improvisation set for Minneapolis P.B.S. Television, and a premiere for The National Symphony Orchestra - where Komaiko was simultaneously composer/pianist/conductor in honor of The 25* Anniversary of The Kennedy Center. Komaiko has appeared extensively as jazz piano soloist, group leader in such New York City venues as Serious Fun at Lincoln Center, The Village Vanguard, American Ballet Theater at The Metropolitan Opera House. Komaiko was educated at The Juilliard School, where he received the George Gershwin Memorial Prize. He is a faculty member of Mannes College The New School For Music, and has taught at The Juilliard School, Princeton University (where he was a Teaching Associate of Robert Helps), and Sarah Lawrence College.

Bassist Dick Sarpola received his music degree from the New England Conservatory. His extensive recording and performing background includes collaborations with George Shearing. Mel Torme, Susannah McCorkle, Peggy Lee, Sal Nistico, Fred Hersch, the William Komaiko Group with Vernel Fournier, Barbara Cook, and the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Lenny Kravitz, Wyclef Jean, Sting, Celine Dion, Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett, Maureen McGovern and Charles Aznavour. Throughout his career he has played at numerous jazz and pop festivals around the world including Newport, JVC and Montreux.

Tuesday August 23
Jung Lin and Jed Distler play Dutch composer Simeon Ten Holt’s epic minimalist masterpiece Canto Ostinato,(1979)

In 2009, Jed Distler and Jung Lin participated in Canto Ostinato’s New York premier live on Cornelia Street for the annual Make Music New York Festival. The pianists bring back this riveting, hypnotic keyboard benchmark in a version for piano duet that showcases their finely honed ensemble work and breathtaking concentration.

Jung Lin has been acclaimed for her poetic and virtuosic pianism. A native of Taiwan, she conducted her own orchestral works at age 12, won numerous competitions in her native country, and was featured on Taiwan’s major news program “90 minutes.” At sixteen her symphonic poem, The Black Wedding was given its premiere by the Juilliard Symphony under Miguel Harth-Bedoya. While at Juilliard Ms. Lin studied composition with the renowned American composer David Diamond, and for six years, piano with the eminent pianist Martin Canin. Her concerto and recital appearances have taken her all over the world, and her recording of Nicolai Medtner’s complete Fairy Tales is scheduled for release on the Naxos label. www.junglin.com

Called “an altogether extraordinary pianist” in the Newark Star-Ledger, Jed Distler has hosted Serial Underground at the Cornelia Street Café since 2004. He has led highly acclaimed large-scale performances of Terry Riley’s “In C” on Cornelia Street and, more recently, on Governors Island. He has hosted the Q2/NY Public Radio keyboard show Hammered!, and will be composer/pianist in residence next season at Colorado College, University of Nevada/Las Vegas. And the San Francisco Conservatory, among others. His 2011 CD release Meditate with the Masters is available on the Musical Concepts label. www.meditatewiththemasters.com

All events 8:30pm at Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, NYC.
By subway -  1, 9 train to Sheridan Square, or A, C, E F, V train to West 4th Street
$10.00 music charge
one-drink minimum + food at the venue.
Cash only.
Reservations: 212-989-9319

Jed Distler is artistic director of ComposersCollaborative, inc. and a composer/pianist. In addition to curating and hosting Serial Underground, Jed also has hosted WQXR/Q2’s keyboard show Hammered!, and his new solo piano CD Meditate with the Masters will be released January 11th on the Musical Concepts label.

Serial Underground is a new music variety show, curated and hosted by CCi Artistic Director Jed Distler. Composers, writers, visual artists and performers mix and match together and with the audience as they showcase new projects in an intimate, informal setting, fueled by superb food and drink. Starting November 7th 2010, Serial Underground moves to a new day and time, every first Sunday of the month at 6:00 PM at the Cornelia Street Café.

The Cornelia Street Café opened its doors in 1977, and has garnered landmark status for its gourmet cuisine. Founding owner Robin Hirsch, a successful author and actor, has nurtured the café’s artistic reputation over the years, providing a forum for the finest in established and emerging spoken word artists, actors, poets, writers, classical and jazz musicians, composers, songwriters, and even Nobel laureates scientists.

Contact:
ComposersCollaborativeInc
210 Riverside Drive 11G
New York, NY 10025-6883
Tel: 212-663-1967
www.composerscollab.org
email

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