American Creations: Network for New Music At PAFA

Network for New Music reunites with PAFA to present a blockbuster concert of new chamber music commissions by 3 generations of composers: Luke Carlson, Paul Lansky, and Oliver Schneller; also, a Philadelphia premiere by Carolyn Chen. The performance takes place in PAFA’s spectacular Historic Landmark Building, where you’ll be surrounded by the art and architecture that inspired the music.

Ticket price includes the ability to visit the museum galleries starting at 2PM; a guide to the artworks that generated the compositions will be available. 

There will also be a special performance of new art-inspired works by 7th Graders from Friends Select School beginning at 2:30PM.

Composers & Program Information

Luke Carlson: Woodcuts, for chamber ensemble, composed in direct response to three powerful woodcuts by Rockwell Kent: Dynamos, Foundry, and Two Locomotives.

Paul Lansky: Harmonic Gallery, for chamber ensemble, was not created in conjunction with a specific work of art at PAFA, but is “a musical analog of a museum exhibition in which paintings, sometimes created hundreds of years apart, are shown in close proximity.” (Paul Lansky)

Oliver Schneller: If You Build It, for flutes, double bass, percussion and electronics, is composed in response to a dynamic group of four paintings in the rotunda of PAFA, including a work by contemporary artist William Villalongo, after which the new composition is named.

Philadelphia Premiere | Carolyn Chen: Great Birnam Wood, an open-form piece for marbles and drumset that continues Network’s art/music theme, requiring the performer to respond to a series of whimsical graphic figures on paper.

Featured Musicians

The outstanding Network for New Music musicians include:

Jan Krzywicki - conductor    
Eric Derr - percussion
Christopher Deviney - percussion
Mary Javian - double bass
John Koen - cello
Hirono Oka - violin
Erica Peel - flute
Burchard Tang - viola