New Music Works unleashes its second concert of the season with a spirited festival of the music of international Santa Cruz-based composer Jon Scoville. We expect the over-the-top from NMW, ditto for Tandy Beal & Company’s long-time music director. But Scovilleana is a blatantly intergalactic multi-media extravaganza. The program includes dance, silent film, chamber music, magic, jazz piano, and embracing it all is Scoville’s incredible jazz-inflected world music. Rare and exciting is the chance to savor surrealist Man Ray’s silent film: Les Mysteres Chateau du dè. Scoville’s accompanying score will be performed by the NMW Ensemble conducted by Michael McGushin. Visual shock and awe will be provided by magician Calvin Kai Ku, hoop performer Natasha Kaluza, dancer Micha Scott, former Cirque performer Nathan Tsuji, and guest Artistic Director Tandy Beal. All of these kinesthetic treats will be performed to music by Scoville. For this program legendary jazz pianist Art Lande will create some on the spot improvisations to Scoville tunes.
Also on the all-Scoville program is Mr. Miró’s Saxophone, a seven-movement suite surrounding the mystical genius of painter Joan Miró, commissioned by New Music Works and performed by the MANA Saxophone Quartet. Never a dull moment. Generously sponsored by Larry and Shelly Pearson, this is one show you can’t miss. Scovilleana happens onFebruary 14, 7 p.m., at the UCSC Music Center Recital Hall. The perfect Valentine’s date! newmusicworks.org
Bravo Ensemble Monterey
Last week’s program by this polished chamber ensemble focused on an intriguing cluster of rarely heard works for four and five instruments. Some concerts set the bar high. Ensemble Monterey leaped right over it every bar in sight last week. The artistry of these musicians, who blazed through an unexpected suite of quartets and quintets, was astonishing. All curated to reflect the desire of the players to enjoy—and push—themselves to the hilt.
Breathing as one, the musicians began with Oboe Quartet op 61 by the English composer Malcolm Arnold (known to me only as the Oscar-winning composer for Bridge on the River Kwai). Modernist jazz themes showcased the effortless chops of oboe maestro Peter Lemberg. The second piece, a Quintet, op.16 by Ruth Gipps broke little new ground but did provide an Adagio movement gorgeously dispatched by Violist Miriam Oddie and a chance for maestra Erica Horn’s clarinet to embroider Lemberg’s silken oboe. In the embracing Messiah Lutheran Church I was able to watch each player carefully. The intimate scale of chamber performance allows for close study of the signature sound and possibilities of each instrument.
Then things got very interesting. A Quartettino by Hungarian savant Rezső Kókai showered the hall with edgy runs, improbable textures and the colors created by clarinet, David Dally’s dazzling violin, viola and the masterful cello of Kristin Garbeff. Bits of Bartok, Strauss and Berg wove through the zesty composition. Incredible excitement for those who like to venture beyond Mozart and Brahms. And finally, a mega-dazzle of instrumentation lit up the Prokofiev Quintet in G minor, op. 39 that pushed every player with descriptive and playful profusion of sonic ideas from the great musical storyteller. It all revolved around the central thunder of Christine Craddock’s epic work on the bass. A hell of a concert and I can’t wait for their next one on March 8th with the voice of Lori Schulman added to the virtuoso instruments.
A Few More Shorts. You can still catch the final two weekends of 8Tens@ at Santa Cruz Actors Theatre, running through February 15 followed by the Best of the Rest staged readings. Out of this year’s 300 submissions, Actors Theatre could only bring 16 plays to full production. So, there will be a bonus—the Best of the Rest staged readings of eight more short plays, February 27 through March 8th. Check these out, see what you think.santacruzactorstheatre.org/tickets
Santa Cruz Baroque Festival Scores Lost Bach
One of the preeminent interpreters of German Baroque Jörg Reddin returns to Santa Cruz with two newly discovered and authenticated Bach masterpieces, BWV 1178 and 1179. The Santa Cruz Baroque Festival Concert II will showcase Reddin’s virtuosity as a singer in a candlelight setting featuring a sonic blitz of Baroque vocal works by Handel, Bach, Mozart and other Baroque masters. Saturday, February 21, 7 p.m. at Calvary Episcopal Church, 532 Center St scbaroque.org
