Benjamin Lees' Bi-Coastal World Premieres - April 24 Chamber Music
Premiere in Los Angeles and April 25 Choral Premiere in New York

The music of Benjamin Lees will be heard in two upcoming World Premiere
performances in Los Angels and New York:

On Saturday, April 24 at 8 PM, Pacific Serenades, one of the Los Angeles
area's leading chamber ensembles, will present the world premiere of Benjamin Lees' new work, 'Tapestry' for flute, clarinet, cello and pi
ano, commissioned by the organization, at the third program of its 18th s
eason at the Brentwood home of John and Barbara McLoughlin. Two other per
formances will follow - Sunday, April 25, 4 p.m., at the Neighborhood Chu
rch in Pasadena, and Tuesday, April 27, 8 p.m., at the UCLA Faculty Cente
r in Westwood.


'For years we have wanted to commission a work from Benjamin Lees,' s
aid Pacific Serenades founder and Artistic Director Mark Carlson. 'Now
we will celebrate his 80th birthday and our 18th anniversary together wit
h his beautiful 'Tapestry' for flute, clarinet, cello and piano, prov
ing it pays to wait.'

'Tapestry' will also be performed in the 2004-2005 season by its othe
r joint commissioners, the Ameerican Chamber Ensemble of New York, the Co
ntemporary Chamber Players of Slat Lake City and the Mallarme Chamber Pla
yers of Durham, North Carolina.


On Sunday, April 25 at 4 PM, the renowned Young People's Chorus of New Yo
rk, under the direction of their founder and Music Director Francisco J.
Nunez, will give the World Premiere performance of Benjamin Lees' '
The Nervous Family' at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West
 64th Street (at Central Park West) as part of its fourth annual Transien
t Glory concert.

The April 24 Pacific Serenades concert will also feature Brahms' Sonata
 in F major, Op. 99, for cello and piano; Griffes' Poem for flute and p
iano; and Beethoven's Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11, for clarinet, cello
 and piano complete the program.  The concert, 'Blue Waves, Snowy Peaks
,' features four renowned Los Angeles musicians: flutist, Mark Carlson
(founder/artistic director of Pacific Serenades), clarinetist Gary Gray,
cellist David Speltz and pianist Ayke Agus. Visit Pacific Serenades onlin
e at http://www.pacser.org.

Single tickets are $28 for the Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Cente
r concerts and $45 for the private home concerts, which include a post-co
ncert reception. Student tickets are available (with valid I.D.) at the a
t the Neighborhood Church and UCLA concerts for $5. All concerts are open
 to the public. For tickets, directions to concert venues and general inf
ormation. call (213) 534-3434.



The April 25 Young People's Chorus of New York concert will also featur
e music by Richard Rodney Bennett, Tod Machover, Bright Sheng, Judith Wei
r, Ivan Marinov, Samuel Adler, Jim Papoulis Francisco Nunez and Morton Go
uld. Visit their website at http://www.ypc.org/.


Tickets for Transient Glory are $25 ($12.50 for students and seniors) and
 are available by calling 212-415-5500, at the box office of the 92nd Str
eet Y (92nd Street and Lexington Avenue), or on the day of the concert at
 the Society for Ethical Culture (Two West 64th St.).

Benjamin Lees' Symphony No. 5, "Kalmar Nyckel" was nominated for a 2003 G
rammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition by the National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences. He was the first recipient of a Fromm Founda
tion award for his String Quartet No. 1 and Sonata for Two Pianos. He has
 also received two Guggenheim Fellowship, a Copley Foundation Award, a Fu
lbright Fellowship, the Sir Arnold Bax Society (London) Medal and a UNESC
O Award (London) for String Quartet No. 2. In 1967, he was an Official Gu
est of the Union of Soviet Composers. He is published by Boosey & Hawkes.


His works have been commissioned, performed and recorded by, among others
, the Tokyo Quartet, Aurora Quartet, Sea Cliff Chamber Players, New York
Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, NBC
 Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Hou
ston Symphony, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Ballet,
American Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Louisville Orc
hestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Portland (OR) Symphon
y.

You can find much more information about Benjamin Lees at his website -
 http://home.dc.rr.com/bglees/. You can also read the Winter 2004 edition
 of his newsletter Perspective at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/jan04
/BL_nws_011904.htm.

For more information about the music of Benjamin Lees, please contact Jef
frey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 - tel and fax.

-30-


Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
316 Pacific St.
Massapequa Park, NY 11762 USA
Tel/Fax: 516-797-9166
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.jamesarts.com