LE TRAIN BLEU

Sunday April 22, 2012 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM

(le) Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., NYC (map)

We are excitrd to repeat our "prison" themed concert at (le) poisson rouge in Greenwich Village!

Jacob TV- Grab It!, for Saxophone and Boombox

'JacobTV is preoccupied with American media and world events and draws raw materials from those sources. His work possesses an explosive strength and raw energy combined with extraordinarily intricate architectural design’.

Limor Tomer, former curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York

Frederic Rzewski- Coming Together and Attica, narrated by Corey Dargel

'Minimal music is perhaps best described as slowly changing relationships. During the 1960's, process music began to bridge a gap between the highly experimental and academic electronic music and the popular music of the time. Linear additive (or subtractive) process is defined as the addition (or subtraction) of one event at a time. The event could be a note, a word, etc.'- Donna McCabe

Corey Dargel- More Last Words from Texas (World Premiere)

Five new songs setting to music the last statements of executed offenders put to death by the state of Texas., sung by Corey

Michael Gordon- Yo Shakespeare

Gordon's urban, gritty and visceral masterpiece.

We're once again collaborating with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company!   We're repeating our debut performance of Stravinsky's edgy Histoire du Soldat in New York for THREE PERFORMANCES ONLY, February 10-12.   The story of a soldier who makes a pact with the Devil, it was designed to be danced, acted and played.   This time around, we're excited to announce that the three actors telling the story will be Broadway and Hollywood's Reed Armstrong, downtown singer-songwriter star Corey Dargel, and the famed offscreen singing voice of Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Deborah Kerr, and Marilyn Monroe: Marni Nixon.  Click here for details and tickets, and we'll see you at the show!

JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT EXCITING CONCERT AT THE

GALAPAGOS ART SPACE!!!

Different Trains

© Jorge Figueiredo | Dreamstime.com

Friday, January 20, 2012 8:00 PM - REICH-DIFFERENT TRAINS/BRESNICK-DER SIGNAL

>>On this evening of "train" music, we will present Steve Reich's engrossing and moving masterpiece Different Trains

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYnAQ-lK74A

>>Also on the program: Martin Bresnick's powerful mini-opera Der Signál 

www.wesleyan.edu/azdaksgarden/puppetsweat/Signal.HTM This amazing work features 3 sopranos, 9 instruments, and stunning shadow puppets by the Puppetsweat Theater.

>>To close our program we will play youngster Judd Greenstein's fantastic Change

www.newamsterdamrecords.com/?portfolio=now-ensemble-awake

Not technically a piece about trains, it nonetheless is somehow "right" in this context!

For more info and tickets:  www.galapagosartspace.com

From November 9-20, LE TRAIN BLEU once again collaborated with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in their 2011 season at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.  The work in question was the world premiere of Mr. Lubovitch's "Crisis", set to a new score by composer Yevgeniy Sharlat.  Based loosely on several Transcendtal Etudes by Liszt, the fiendishly difficult work is scored for Violin, Flute, Tenor Saxophone, Double Bass, and Keyboard.  LE TRAIN BLEU musicians tackled it with aplomb and virtuosity.  The New York Times reported that it was "excellently played".

If you missed, it, you will have another chance to see and hear it in February.  Details to follow!

We are proud to announce that the Galapagos Art Space has made LE TRAIN BLEU a resident ensemble!  We will have four regular concerts there this season:

Saturday, November 26, 2011: 3:00 pm- JOHN LUTHER ADAMS: songbirdsongs

Composer John Luther Adams has been causing quite a stir of late. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWS8SHfXAug He had a monumental performance of his 90-minute work INUKSUIT for over 60 percussionists and piccolos at the Park Avenue Armory in March. The work was repeated outdoors for the Summer Solstice, in Mornigside Park...with 99 percussionists.   Alex Ross of The New Yorker recently called him "one of the most original musical thinkers of the new century. Adams’s major works have the appearance of being beyond style; they transcend the squabbles of contemporary classical music, the unending arguments over the relative value of Romantic and modernist languages." In Songbird Songs, he evokes the delicate sounds of nature, transporting the listener to a serene and distant forest.  We will be joined by members of the Yale Percussion Group and the sensational Wanmu Percussion Trio.

Friday, January 20, 2012 8:00 PM - REICH-DIFFERENT TRAINS/BRESNICK-DER SIGNAL

On this evening of "train" music, we will present Steve Reich's engrossing and moving masterpiece Different Trains http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYnAQ-lK74A

Also on the program: Martin Bresnick's powerful mini-opera Der Signal http://www.wesleyan.edu/azdaksgarden/puppetsweat/Signal.HTM This amazing work features 3 sopranos, 9 instruments, and stunning shadow puppets by the Puppetsweat Theater.

To close our program we will play youngster Judd Greenstein's fantastic Change https://www.newamsterdamrecords.com/#Judd_Greenstein ;. Not technically a piece about trains, it nonetheless is somehow "right" in this context!

Friday, April 20, 2012-8:00 pm- PRISON MUSIC, with COREY DARGEL

Jacob TV- Grab It!  

Dutch ‘avant pop’ composer JacobTV (Jacob Ter Veldhuis  b.1951) started as a rock musician and studied composition and electronic music at the Groningen Conservatory, where he was awarded the Composition Prize of the Netherlands in 1980. He became a full time composer and soon made a name for himself with melodious compositions, straight from the heart and with great effect. ‘I pepper my music with sugar,’ he says. Long queues at the box office of the four-day Jacob TV Festival in Rotterdam in 2001 already attested to his growing popularity. Grab It! is a rousing work  for tenor saxophone and boombox.  Our own Patrick Posey will perform this piece, a great personal favorite of his.

Corey Dargel- More Last Words From Texas   Sung by Corey Dargel

Corey Dargel (b. 1977) is a Texas-born, Brooklyn-based composer, writer, and singer whose gentle assault on pop and classical idioms creates a tension that pervades his music. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Dargel [is] one of the more original and consistently provocative artists pushing at the margins of modern classical music and adventurous pop.” The New Yorker magazine calls him “a baroquely unclassifiable” composer of “ingenious nouveau art songs.” Corey's 2011 EP, Last Words From Texas, is a poignant setting of final statements from condemned Death Row inmates in the state of Texas. We are excited to announce that he will compose More Last Words from Texas specifically for this concert!

Frederic Rzewski- Coming Together and Attica  Spoken and sung by Corey Dargel

Rzewski (pronounced zheff-skee) has become, over the past several decades, one of the leading figures in the "minimalist" school of composition.  Many of Rzewski's works are inspired by secular and socio-historical themes, show a deep political conscience and feature improvisational elements.   Coming Together (1971) is a setting of letters from Sam Melville, an inmate at Attica State Prison, at the time of the famous riots there )  We are excited to announce that Brooklyn's own award-winning video artist Adam Kendall will compose a new video for this performance!

Michael Gordon- Yo Shakespeare 

Michael Gordon's music is an outgrowth of his experience with underground rock bands in New York City and his formal training in composition at Yale where he studied with Martin Bresnick. Tuneful, rhythmic and raw, Gordon has embraced elements of dissonance, minimalism, modality and popular culture in what has been considered by some people as a bold and direct sound.  He is one of the founders of the Bang on A Can Festival.  His Yo Shakespeare is a masterpiece of hard-driving rhythms and urban textures.

Following the success of our debut concert in March with Stravinsky's Histoire du Soldat, we are proud to announce our next concert.  It will again be held at the spectacular Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, and our guest artist will be star soprano Lauren Flanigan.

World renowned flutist and conductor Ransom Wilson is returning with his all-star ensemble LE TRAIN BLEU to the Galapagos Art Space in D.U.M.B.O. Brooklyn on June 16, 2011.

Following their stunning debut in March, LE TRAIN BLEU will be joined by soprano Lauren Flanigan, fresh from her triumph in Steven Schwartz’s controversial Seance on a Wet Afternoon at New York City Opera.

Lauren Flanigan will be joined by her young colleagues Marnie Golden and Jasmine Muhammad, and the evening will feature music by composers Martin Bresnick, Lawrence Dillon, John Halle, and Randall Woolf. Appearing in every work will be the exciting ensemble, LE TRAIN BLEU, conducted by renowned flutist and conductor Ransom Wilson.

The Program:

Lawrence Dillon- Appendage, for soprano and 6 instruments

“Lawrence Dillon … writes music that is thought-provoking, sometimes funny, sometimes scary, and always interesting. Appendage is a terrific and theatrically exciting work for soprano and chamber ensemble. In it, the composer’s inability to complete a work-in-progress is treated with surreal wit … and terror.” – Fanfare

John Halle- Mortgaging the Earth, for two sopranos, nine instruments, and video projection

Halle’s powerful musical and visual setting of Lawrence Summers’ infamous and disturbing 1991 World Bank memo about toxic waste and pollution.

Martin Bresnick- My Twentieth Century, for six instruments with spoken poetry

Bresnick’s deeply affecting masterpiece of love, life, and death. “… the text is spoken by different players in the ensemble to the audience and to each other. Although it begins as though it might be some sort of minimalist piece, and proceeds in that way for a while, it develops into something completely different, nostalgic, deep, and beautiful …” – Rodney Lister, Tempo, Autumn 2006.

Randall Woolf- Hee Haw, for two sopranos, fifteen instruments, and sampler

Woolf’s riotous popular work, based on authentic square dance calls and mountain music. Exuberant, virtuosic, and genuinely funny. “Contemporary composers have long made use of electric guitars, keyboards, and other pop-music implements. But Detroit-born New Yorker Randall Woolf is one of the few to adapt tactics such as sampling and hip-hop turntablism as viable elements in a post-modern compositional vocabulary. Hee Haw…provides the perfect introduction: A prerecorded square-dance caller sets a chamber orchestra aswirl, with only a brief, heartsick-ballad interlude allowing the players to catch their breath.” – Steve Smith, Time Out/NY

Soprano Lauren Flanigan has performed all over the world with the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Glyndebourne, and New York City Opera. In the past eleven years, she has sung close to one hundred different operas, including six world premieres written for her. Her recording of R. Strauss’s Liebe der Danae was recently nominated for a GRAMMY Award, and Carnegie Hall commissioned composer Phillip Glass to write a symphony for her, Symphony No. 6, on a text by Allen Ginsberg. Flanigan has received the Betty Allen prize from New York City Opera, the Diva Award from Emmanuel Ungaro, an award from American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for her commitment to performing the works of living composers, and the Artist of the Year from the Center for Contemporary Opera. She is featured in the books Bad Behavior and The Irish Face. Flanigan was twice honored by Irish America Magazine as one of its “Top 100 Irish Americans” for her concert series Comfort Ye, which raises food and clothing New York’s homeless.

Conductor Ransom Wilson has long been recognized as one of the foremost flutists in the world, and is receiving growing praise for his orchestral conducting as well. He is the founder and conductor of Solisti New York Orchestra, as well as the former Artistic Director of Oklahoma's OK MOZART International Festival. He has been guest conductor of many prestigious ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the New York City Opera. Currently a member of the Music Staff at the Metropolitan Opera, he conducted the THE ACADEMY’s Ensemble ACJW at Lincoln Center in May, 2011.

LE TRAIN BLEU is a new ensemble formed by Ransom Wilson. The musicians are among the most exciting young players in New York, and are chosen for their brilliance as well as their expressive qualities. With this concert the ensemble continues plans to present performances of new and interesting music. The New York Times said of their recent debut performance: “Under Mr. Wilson’s baton, the Train Bleu ensemble was both incisive and joyous in execution.”

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Soprano Lauren Flanigan and LE TRAIN BLEU ensemble conducted by Ransom Wilson. At Galapagos Art Space, One Night Only-June 16, 2011 7:30 pm

Tickets: http://www.ticketweb.com

Galapagos Art Space

16 Main Street

Brooklyn, NY 11201

For press inquiries please contact Emmy Tu at Barret Vantage Artists: etu@barrettvantage.com

PRESS RELEASE

Stravinsky’s HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT at Galapagos Art Space

One Night Only-March 23, 2011 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm

Contact: Ransom Wilson, LE TRAIN BLEU ensemble, (203) 654-9898 letrainbleu.mail@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Star-studded new production of Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat at Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space

Featuring violinist Tim Fain,

Choreographer Lar Lubovitch and dancers,

Lighting Designer Jennifer Tipton,

Dramaturg A. Scott Parry, and LE TRAIN BLEU, conducted by Ransom Wilson

Igor Stravinsky’s edgy Histoire du Soldat (“The Soldier’s Tale” will be presented in a new production at the spectacular Galapagos Art Space in D.U.M.B.O. Brooklyn on March 23, 2011.

Star violinist Tim Fain, fresh from his on- and offscreen appearance in the film Black Swan, will perform the featured solo violin part. Dance legend Lar Lubovitch will choreograph the work for members of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. MacArthur Grant winner Jennifer Tipton will be the Lighting Designer, and New York City Opera stage director A. Scott Parry will serve as Dramaturg. Additionally, the performance marks the debut of a new ensemble, LE TRAIN BLEU, conducted by renowned flutist and conductor Ransom Wilson.

Histoire du Soldat is a 1918 theatrical work "to be read, played, and danced", set to music by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, based on a Russian folk tale, is by Swiss writer C.F. Ramuz and tells the story of a soldier who trades his fiddle to the devil for a book that predicts the future. The music is scored for violin, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, cornet, trombone, and percussion, and the story is told by three actors: the soldier, the devil, and a narrator. In this production, dancers will portray non-speaking roles and serve to illuminate the story. The performance will be in English.

Violinist Tim Fain has emerged as a mesmerizing new presence on the music scene. The “charismatic young violinist with a matinee idol profile, strong musical instincts, and first rate chops” (Boston Globe) was featured as the sound of Richard Gere’s violin in Bee Season, and most recently the featured musician in Black Swan. Selected as one of Symphony magazine’s “Up-and-Coming Musicians,” and a Strad Magazine “Pick of Up and Coming Musicians,” Fain captured the Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Young Concert Artists International Award and he has traveled the world as a solo violinist in orchestral and recital appearances. As The Washington Post recently raved, “Fain has everything he needs for a first-rate career.”

One of America's most versatile, popular and highly acclaimed choreographers, Lar Lubovitch has choreographed more than 100 dances for his New York-based Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, which has performed in nearly all 50 American states as well as in more than 30 foreign countries. His dances are renowned for their musicality, rhapsodic style and sophisticated formal structures; his radiant, highly technical choreography and deeply humanistic voice have been widely acclaimed. The New York Times said of his choreography: “this is dance to bask in”. This coming summer Lar Lubovitch will receive the Dance/USA Honors, the field’s highest award.

Dramaturg A. Scott Parry has garnered critical praise for his work in opera and musical theatre throughout the country. His productions have spanned an enormous range of repertoire, from West Side Story to Dido and Aeneas, from Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, La Traviata, and Lucia di Lammermoor, to La Cage aux Folles. He is currently directing Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore at the New York City Opera. Additionally, he has associations with the Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and Chautauqua Opera. As a librettist, has just completed an English language adaptation of Beaumarchais’ La Mère Coupable, which is presently being set to music.

Lighting Designer Jennifer Tipton has designed for dance, opera, and theater productions. She is particularly known for her designs for dance and is the principal lighting designer for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. In September 2008, she won a MacArthur Grant, and she has won two Tony awards and two Drama Desk awards, among other prizes. The New York Times stated: "There are perhaps a dozen lighting designers in the country who work steadily enough to support themselves by their art, and maybe half a dozen who are acclaimed and in demand. Among these is Jennifer Tipton, characterized most often for the impeccability of her taste and a certain precision and cerebral quality to her work.”

Conductor Ransom Wilson has long been recognized as one of the foremost flutists in the world, and is receiving growing praise for his orchestral conducting as well. He is the founder and conductor of Solisti New York Orchestra, as well as the former Artistic Director of Oklahoma's OK MOZART International Festival. He has been guest conductor of many prestigious ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the New York City Opera. Currently a member of the Music Staff at the Metropolitan Opera, he will conduct the THE ACADEMY’s Ensemble ACJW at Lincoln Center in May.

LE TRAIN BLEU is a new ensemble formed by Ransom Wilson. The musicians are among the most exciting young players in New York, and are chosen for their brilliance as well as their expressive qualities. The ensemble has plans to present performances of new and interesting music. This production of Histoire du Soldat is LE TRAIN BLEU’s debut performance.

Stravinsky’s HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT at Galapagos Art Space

One Night Only-March 23, 2011 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm

Tickets: http://www.ticketweb.com

Galapagos Art Space

16 Main Street

Brooklyn, NY 11201

For press inquiries please contact Emmy Tu at Barret Vantage Artists: etu@barrettvantage.com