Heidi Grant Murphy and St. Lawrence Quartet Perform World Premiere
January 17, 2007
Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and pianist Kevin Murphy join the St. Lawrence String Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31, in Schwab Auditorium to perform the world premiere of Songs from the Diaspora, a Roberto Sierra composition co-commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State. The seven-song cycle concerns the forced migration of Jews from Spain in the late 15th century.
The concert program also includes Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor and Ernest Chausson's Chanson Perpétuelle for all six musicians.
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $26 for an adult, $10 for a University Park student and $19 for a person 18 and younger. For tickets and information, visit www.cpa.psu.edu or phone (814) 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium and Bryce Jordan Center, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; Penn State Tickets Downtown, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and HUB-Robeson Center, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. resuming Jan. 16. University Park Allocation Committee makes Penn State student prices possible.
"The expulsion of these Spaniards, who for centuries made important contributions to the arts and the sciences, who were an integral part of the fabric of the Spanish culture, was not only a tragic event for countless people who had to leave the land they called home, but also a great loss for Spain," Sierra writes. "This politically and religiously motivated expulsion forced the Jews to leave their Sepharad (the term they used for the Iberian Peninsula) and wander to find new places to live. With them they brought their language (Ladino), their music and their poetry."
The Music Accord, a national consortium of presenters of which the Center for the Performing Arts is a member, commissioned the Sierra composition.
The St. Lawrence, formed in Toronto in 1989, "[makes] a convincing case for being the top quartet of the post-Emerson generation," asserts a reviewer for MusicalAmerica.com. A New York Times critic lauds the ensemble‚s "rare gift for combining interpretive spontaneity and fierce musical commitment."
First violinist Geoff Nuttall and violist Lesley Robertson are founding members of the quartet. Cellist Christopher Costanza is in his fourth year with the ensemble, while second violinist Scott St. John joined in September.
In 2003, the American Academy of Arts and Letters gave the Puerto Rican-born Sierra, a professor at Cornell University, its Academy Award in Music. "Roberto Sierra writes brilliant music, mixing fresh and personal melodic lines with sparkling harmonies and striking rhythms," the award states.
Last February Heidi Grant Murphy performed along with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., at the world premiere of Sierra's Missa Latina. A Washington Times critic called it "the most significant symphonic premiere in the District since the late Benjamin Britten's stunning War Requiem was first performed in the late 1960s. Mr. Sierra's new work is, quite simply, shockingly brilliant."
"Of the enchanting singing of Murphy, little is left to be said," writes a Columbus Dispatch critic. "Her voice seems to soar effortlessly into the stratosphere, ever sure of its destination and never anything but gloriously pure and beautiful."
Pianist and vocal coach Kevin Murphy frequently accompanies his wife, Heidi Grant Murphy, in concerts and on recordings. He has collaborated with Placido Domingo, Frederica von Stade, Renee Fleming and Cecilia Bartoli. He also performs solo recitals.
Sanders Window Fashions sponsors the performance. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring pianist Kevin Murphy, is offered in Schwab Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379