Contemporary chamber group Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) proudly announces the second program in “Ensemble for These (Summer) Times,” E4TT’s summertime listening series. These free biweekly, topical online concerts of relevant new music from the group’s performance archives are paired with an interview with a creative artist who has collaborated with E4TT. Program #2 of the series, entitled “Giving Voice to the Voiceless,” will be released on July 28 and will feature several Polish composers.
From the very start of the group, when they focused on “bringing new, nearly new, forbidden, and forgotten music to light,” a major part of E4TT’s mission has been to give voice to unheard/under-represented creators. Program #2 is a 40-minute virtual snapshot of a few of the works by women, exiled, oppressed, LGBT, and POC creators that E4TT has performed over the past decade. These include Homage to Paderewski (1941) for solo piano by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) and “Hi-Lili, Hi-lo” Bronisław Kaper (1902-1983) for soprano and piano, from the film Lili (1953), which E4TT performed at the 2019 Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles, as well as Oberek (from 1er Recueil, 1918-1928) for solo piano by Polish composer Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986).
The “Giving Voice to the Voiceless” program also includes: A Map of Laughter (2014) for solo piano by Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980); Prelude #3 (2002) for solo piano by Elena Ruehr (b. 1963); Last Cigarette for cello and piano from Noir Vignettes (2014) by Stacy Garrop (b. 1969); By a Departing Light (1997) for soprano and piano by Libby Larsen (b. 1950); The Witch of Harlem (1937) for violin and piano by Audrey Call (1905-2001), Jede Stunde ohne Dich (before 1974) for soprano and piano by Hans Winterberg (1901-1991); Grotesque Passacaglia (1935) for solo piano by Vítĕzslava Kaprálová (1915-1940); Eu durmo comigo (2015) by Carlos Dos Santos (b. 1990); and Demeter Mourning” from Mother Love (2019) for soprano, violin, and piano by Brennan Stokes (b. 1996); and Allerseelen (2012) for soprano and piano and Mein blaues Klavier (2015) for soprano, cello, and piano by E4TT composer and co-founder David Garner (b. 1954), to poetry by women.
Program #2 will be broadcast at youtu.be/-M6X-DdD2Ho on July 28 and will be available until August 11, when E4TT will post its next program. Program notes and booklet can be found on the group’s website, at www.E4TT.org/summer2.html. The paired interview for this program will be with Chelsea Hollow, who also has been active in this same arena of music.
[Sources: press release]