Oberlin Ensembles Celebrate Composer Joan Tower's Music in Finney Chapel and at Aki Festival of New Music in Cleveland By Yvonne Gay
			October 3, 2003—Joan Tower has been hailed as one of this generation's most dynamic and colorful composers. Her bold and energetic music, with its striking imagery and novel structural forms, has been performed by numerous major orchestras here and abroad and has won large and enthusiastic audiences. Her 1987 work Silver Ladders, written for the St. Louis Symphony, won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1990. The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Oberlin Percussion Group will celebrate Tower's work at an Oberlin concert, as well a concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art's biennial Aki Festival of New Music. The festival has won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)/Chamber Music America Adventurous Programming Award three times. (The word aki means autumn in Japanese.) The first concert, in Finney Chapel Friday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m., is free and open to the public. The second concert, part of the Aki Festival, occurs Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2:30 p.m. in the Cleveland Museum of Art's Gartner Auditorium. For this concert, Oberlin's ensembles will be joined by the Cavani String Quartet, which includes violist Kirsten Docter '92. Tower will present a preconcert conversation one hour before this performance. Both concerts will feature In Memory, DNA, Black Topaz, Concerto for Flute, and Petroushkates. The Finney Chapel program also includes Mirror with(out) Reflection, a string sextet by Associate Professor of Composition Lewis Nielson. The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble returns to the Aki Festival Saturday, Nov. 1, for New Music from Finland; the concert, featuring Teacher of Flute Kathleen Chastain, will be at 2 p.m. in Gartner Auditorium. A Nov. 15 concert, A John Cage Music Circus, will feature both the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Oberlin Percussion Group; this event will take place between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. at various locations throughout the museum. Assistant Professor of Composition Jeffrey Mumford also is headed to Cleveland for the Aki Festival; his work is included in a concert of works by Ohio Arts Council fellows at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, at the Heights Art Gallery. Tower -- who is in residence at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music through Oct. 5 -- has influenced a number of Conservatory students over the years, says composition Professsor Randolph Coleman. During this, her third visit, she spoke with students and faculty members Oct. 2. Those she has mentored include the members of eighth blackbird, the all-Obie, internationally acclaimed ensemble that returns to campus for a Dec. 12 concert, as well as for an Artist Recital Series performance next April. The group's latest CD, Thirteen Ways (Cedille Records), opens with an arrangement of Petroushkates by percussionist Allen Otte '72. "Joan was one of the first composers we ever met," says Lisa Kaplan '96, eighth blackbird's pianist. "She guided us through the world of contemporary music and helped us make a name for ourselves. I remember we played Noon Dance for her. She never really liked that piece, but after we finished, she was crying. She thanked us for helping her to like it. She's a very special person and has always been a very supportive mentor to the group." "She' hot!" agrees Karel Paukert, codirector of the Aki Festival. "She has consistently produced interesting pieces. It takes a special talent to inspire so many fine performances." Several other Oberlin connections to the Aki Festival exist. The festival's other codirector is Paul Cox '92, who along with Paukert, curates the museum's music series. In addition, the Pacifica Quartet, which includes violinists Simin Ganatra and Sibbi Bernhardsson, both '95, will tackle the complete string quartets of Elliott Carter at 7 p.m. Nov. 12. The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble performs under the baton of Associate Professor of Conducting Timothy Weiss. Professor of Percussion Michael Rosen leads the Oberlin Percussion Group. For more information about the Aki Festival, visit www.clevelandart.org/aki
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