The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME) will present three evenings of ambitious, diverse, and provocative new music, including two world premieres, during performances in Oberlin, Cleveland, and New York. The ensemble is directed by Strickland Gardner Professor of Music Timothy Weiss.

The CME commissioned one of the premieres, Trespass, by New York composer Jason Eckardt.  The piece is dedicated to pianist Marilyn Nonken, who has been called a “determined protector of important music” by the New York Times; she will perform the work at all three concerts. Eckardt and Nonken will be in residence at Oberlin for a week of intensive rehearsals and master classes.

The Oberlin concert, which is free and open to the public, takes place at 8 p.m. April 21 in Warner Concert Hall. The Cleveland concert, also free and open to the public, will be at 8 p.m. April 23 in Drinko Recital Hall, on the campus of Cleveland State University. The tour concludes in New York, with an 8 p.m. concert April 30 in Merkin Concert Hall.

The second world premiere on the program, St. Francis Preaches to the Birds, is by Professor of Composition Lewis Nielson. In his program notes for the work, Nielson writes that while he does not intend any kind of direct correlation with the legend of St. Francis and his sermons to the birds, the saint’s interaction with avian life can provide, by way of analogy, some approaches to the workings of the piece, as well as some ways of listening to it. At its heart, he says, the piece seeks to explore the elegant statement of the late Herbert Brün: “Try as one might, one cannot forever postpone the moment of communication.” Nielson’s work is dedicated to violinist J Freivogel ’06, who appears on the program as soloist.

Other works being performed are ChamberSymphony Opus 2, by English powerhouse Thomas Adès; Kammerkonzert, Alban Berg’s double concerto for violin and piano; and Apparitions, by Professor of Composition and Music Theory Randolph Coleman, composed in 2003 and revised in 2006.

Oberlin’s triennial commissioning program was instituted in 2002, and its first work was The Soadie Waste, a piano quintet by James Dillon. Future plans call for a 2009 commission by British composer Rebecca Saunders.

“These commissions not only have been a way for us to make a real contribution to contemporary music, but they also have given our student performers the kind of challenges they will have to meet in their professional careers. The commissions bring out the best in us, and the Dillon and Eckardt works are certainly major contributions to new music,” says Weiss.

Selecting Eckardt as the next composer to commission was an easy decision, Weiss says. “Jason Eckardt is one of America’s most interesting and significant young composers, and he is well known at Oberlin. The result was everything we could hope for, both as a challenge for our players and in the design of the piece itself.”

“In Trespass, Eckardt takes an unusual approach to arranging his material, beginning with a textural density best described as climactic,” says Nielson. “The opening tension never returns, but the excitement created by its unconventionality remains as the piece gives way to a highly contrasting, lyrical exploration of piano and ensemble sonority. Trespass is challenging for all the performers—for the pianist especially—but the virtuosity it demands never overshadows the complex and luscious manipulation of register and color.”

Composer Eckardt and pianist Nonken have been dynamic presences in New York’s new-music scene for more than 10 years. In 1993, while students at Columbia, they co-founded Ensemble 21, now one of the leading ensembles dedicated to contemporary music. Eckardt has received commissions from Carnegie Hall and percussionist Evelyn Glennie, among others, and he has been featured on the Miller Theatre’s Composer Portraits series. He recently released Out of Chaos, a CD of his chamber music performed by Ensemble 21 on the Mode label.

Nonken, recognized as “one of the greatest interpreters of new music” by the American Record Guide and as “a pianist from music’s leading edge” by the New York Times, has toured with the complete piano music of Boulez, Murail, and Schönberg. Her performance of Kammerkonzert with the CME will be the first time she has played the work.

The CME won awards for adventurous programming by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and the American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL) in 2002; the group is considered one of the premiere new music ensembles in higher education in the United States. The CME performs music of all styles and genres,with a repertoire that is as broad as the entirety of contemporary music. In addition to giving first performances of new works by prominent composers, the CME has also premiered works by student, faculty, and alumni composers.

Many famous and respected new music performers have been guest soloists with the CME, including Stephen Drury, Jennifer Koh, Steven Schick, and Ursula Oppens. In May 2005, under the baton of Weiss, the CME performed two concerts of works by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, who was in residence at Oberlin. Oberlin has long been an undergraduate haven for many nationally acclaimed composers, chamber musicians, and ensembles, and several rising young performers of new music began their careers as members of the CME, including members of eighth blackbird and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

In November, 2005, the CME sold out the 680-seat Miller Theatre with an all-Ligeti concert that featured violinist Jennifer Koh '97, pictured here with Timothy Weiss, conductor and director of the CME. "The young Oberlin performers played not only with precision but zeal," wrote Bradley Bambarger in the Newark Star-Ledger. The current tour marks the fourth time the CME has performed in New York in two years.