Songs of then and now

Project Title: Songs of Then and Now
Recipient Organization: San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
Lead Artist: Andrew Imbrie
Genre and Date Awarded: Performing Arts, May 1995
Premiered: October 4, 1998, Cal Performances, University of California, Berkeley

Composer Andrew Imbrie collaborated with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and the San Francisco Girls Chorus to create Songs of Then and Now, a new work based on poems by William Shakespeare, e.e. cummings, and Robert Louis Stevenson. The finished piece consists of eight songs with a total duration of about 25 minutes

Imbrie wrote, “The title of this group of songs can have two meanings: one that draws attention to the variety of texts used, from Shakespeare to the twentieth century, the other referring to the ages of the singers, who have just crossed the threshold, and are now young adults. ‘Then’ refers to vivid memories of recent childhood; ‘now’ suggests a wide-open world of discovery.” The poems he chose ranged from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Land of Nod,” set in a nursery, to Shakespeare’s “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind,” which, Imbrie notes, “gives us pause in its description of newly discovered human frailty.”

Songs of Then and Now was premiered in 1998 as part of Cal Performances annual season. It was performed by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players under the direction of Nicole Paiement, and by members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus’s Chorissima ensemble, under the direction of Sharon Paul. It was revived in 2001 at a concert celebrating Imbrie’s 80th birthday. The piece also is featured on a 2002 CD release, “Andrew Imbrie: Spring Fever, Chicago Bells, Songs for Then and Now,” from Albany Records.

The original idea behind this project was to create a piece of serious classical music for young audiences. It began as conversations between composer John Adams and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and soon included the San Francisco Girls Chorus. When Adams chose to withdraw, Imbrie was equally committed to the piece’s vision, and to the process of developing it collaboratively with the musicians through open rehearsals in community settings. He wrote that the project had “…caused me to wonder how I might best compose a work which would be both singable by teen-agers, and at the same time true to a musical idiom that has evolved over many years, and which would also appeal to these young people….” Prior to its premiere, Songs of Then and Now was performed as a work in progress at the San Francisco Community Music Center and in front of 230 middle and high school students at Zellerbach Hall on the University of California, Berkeley campus.

The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players is a national leader among ensembles devoted to contemporary chamber music. The group has received the prestigious national ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music eight times. It has performed more that 1,000 new works, including 164 United States and world premieres and has brought 50 new pieces into the repertoire through commissioning efforts. In addition to an active performance schedule, which includes a yearly subscription series at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the ensemble has recorded eight albums of its own and contributed recordings to eight others.

The San Francisco Girls Chorus has pioneered girls’ choral music as an art form in the United States since 1978. Nurturing the musical potential of 325 singers through a music education and performance program of six choirs, the Chorus is composed of girls ages seven through 18, who represent 160 schools in 47 Bay Area cities and towns. Members of Chorissima, the Chorus’s concert and touring ensemble were featured in the premiere of “Songs and Then and Now.” Chorissima is known for its innovative and unusual repertoire, including works from the 16th Century to commissions of American music.

LEAD ARTIST

Andrew Imbrie was born in New York in 1921 and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. He began piano lessons at the age of four, studying in the 1930s with the celebrated pianist and composer Leo Ornstein, who inspired Imbrie seriously to pursue composition. At 16, Imbrie began studying composition with Roger Sessions—studies which continued throughout his undergraduate years at Princeton, were interrupted by World War II (Imbrie served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps), then resumed at the University of California, Berkeley, where Imbrie received his M.A. in 1947.

After a residence at the American Academy in Rome, Imbrie returned to Berkeley as a faculty member, and taught until his retirement in 1991. Since then, he has held visiting professorships at distinguished universities around the country. He has composed in various media, including five string quartets and other chamber music, three symphonies, choral works, several concertos, and the opera Angle of Repose, which was performed by the San Francisco Opera in 1976.

Imbrie’s music has been recorded by such ensembles as the Emerson, Julliard, and Pro Arte Quartets, the London Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony. He has received numerous honors and awards, including membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

OTHER COLLABORATING ARTISTS

Dr. Nicole Paiement (conductor)

Nicole Paiement made her California debut in 1988 with the University of California, Santa Cruz Orchestra, and quickly established her reputation as a dynamic and inspiring conductor, guest conducting with the Santa Cruz County Symphony, New Music Works, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the Santa Cruz Chamber Players. Under her baton, the UCSC Orchestra and Chamber Singers have expanded their concert series and attracted a large and varied audience. Paiement is also artistic director of Ensemble Parallèle, a professional ensemble dedicated to premiere performances and recordings of works from all musical periods. With Ensemble Parallèle, Paiement has recorded Lou Harrison’s opera Rapunzel, and a CD of music by Germaine Tailleferre, among others.

Nicole Paiement also has been active as a conductor in Eastern Canada and is the artistic director of the Ensemble Vocale de l’Université de Montréal. For two years, she was the artistic director of L’Orchestre des Jeunes de Sherbrooke. Guest conducting engagements in that area have included concerts with the Ottawa and Laval symphony orchestras. Prior to her work in Montreal, Paiement was director of Octagon, a touring ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary music.

Dr. Sharon J. Paul (conductor)

At the time of this project, Dr. Sharon J. Paul was artistic director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and conductor of Chroissima and Virtuose, the organization’s concert and touring ensembles.

Following a year as interim artistic director, Dr. Paul officially took charge in March 1993. Under her leadership, the Chorus premiered major works by American composers and represented the United States at the 1994 World Conference of the International Society for Music Education, the 1996 Spoleto Festival in Italy, and the 1997 Taipei-San Francisco Sister City Celebration in Taiwan.

The keynote speaker at the 1998 U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Arts Conference, she has been a consultant to Singapore’s Ministry of Education in the area of choral music education and has served on the Music Grants and Policy Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C. Dr. Paul appears frequently as adjudicator, clinician, and honor choir director throughout California.

Prior to her appointment as artistic director, Dr. Paul was director of choral activities at California State University, Chico, since 1984. During her tenure, she was honored with Outstanding Teacher and Professional Promise awards.

Biographical notes excerpted from Stagebill, October 1998