Cypress String Quartet Presents World Premiere of Benjamin Lees'
Quartet No. 5
New Work Presented In San Francisco, Berkeley, Burlingame And San Rafael,
California As Part Of Quartet's Third Annual Call & Response Series -
March 3 - April 28, 2002
The Cypress String Quartet has announced that it will present the World
Premiere performances of Benjamin Lees' Quartet No. 5 as part of third
annual Call & Response series, an acclaimed program designed to demonstrate
how music is an ongoing process of inspiration. These performances will
be presented as follows: Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m., Yerba Buena Center
for the Arts Forum, 701 Mission Street, San Francisco; Friday, March 8, at
7:30 p.m., Music at Kohl Mansion, 2750 Adeline Drive, Burlingame; Sunday,
April 21, at 2 p.m., Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave,
Berkeley; and Sunday, April 28, at 5 p.m., Osher Marin Jewish Community
Center, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael. Mr. Lees will deliver a
pre-concert lecture one hour before each performance.
For ticket information or other information about Call & Response 2002,
please call (415) 681-9045, visit the Cypress String Quartet website at
http://www.cypressquartet.com or email them at
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The composer has described the new work as follows: "The String Quartet
No. 5 was completed in late summer 2001 for the Cypress String Quartet.
It was commissioned by them as part of their Call and Response series and
is in four movements. The first is marked "Measured" and is the most
complex of the four. The second movement is marked "Arioso." The third
movement is the shortest of all, barely two minutes in duration. Marked
"Quick, quiet," it is like a zephyr, barely audible in manner. Movement
number four is an explosive one and is marked, appropriately, "Explosive."
Over two hundred years ago, composers including Mozart, Beethoven and
Mendelssohn began musical dialogues with one another through their string
quartets. Cypress String Quartet's Call & Response continues this dialogue
by commissioning new compositions written "in response" to the works of
master composers. This year, the San Francisco-based quartet will present
its first series featuring all twentieth century composers: Shostakovich's
String Quartet No. 11, Benjamin Britten's String Quartet No. 3, and
String Quartet No. 5 by Benjamin Lees.
Formed in 1996, the Cypress String Quartet has amassed an impressive
list of residencies, fellowships, and collaborations in six short years.
The quartet was recently nominated "Debut Artist of the Year" by National
Public Radio's "Performance Today," and has performed throughout North
America. Winner of the 1999 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, the
Quartet has also been featured in Chamber Music Magazine as a "Generation
X Ensemble to Watch." The ensemble has toured extensively, including
concerts in Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco, Boston and
Tokyo. Residencies include the Banff Centre for the Arts and Visiting
Quartet in Residence at the MERIT School of Music in Chicago. Members
of the Cypress String Quartet are Cecily Ward and Tom Stone, violins,
Ethan Filner viola, and Jennifer Kloetzel, cello. Visit their website
at http://www.cypressquartet.com.
Benjamin Lees' works have been commissioned and performed by, among others,
the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago
Symphony, NBC Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Philadelphia
Orchestra, Houston Symphony, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San
Francisco Ballet, Texas Little Symphony, the Tokyo Quartet, American
Symphony, Williams Trio, Delaware Symphony, Aurora Quartet, Pittsburgh
Symphony, Sea Cliff Chamber Players, Louisville Orchestra, Lancaster (PA)
Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Portland (OR)
Symphony.
In 1985, The Dallas Symphony Orchestra commissioned its second Lees work
in three years: the monumental Symphony No. 4 "Memorial Candles" for
soprano and violin soloists with orchestra, written to commemorate the 40th
anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. The three-movement, hour-long
work was given its premiere with soloists Zehava Gal and Pinchas Zuckerman
to widespread critical acclaim. Within a year of the premiere the work was
performed by the Atlanta, Winnipeg, and Houston symphony orchestras, as
well as the London Philharmonia and the Israel PhiIharmonic Orchestra.
Mr. Lees was the first recipient of a Fromm Foundation award for his
String Quartet No. 1 and Sonata for Two Pianos. He has also received two
Guggenheim Fellowship, a Copley Foundation Award, a Fulbright Fellowship,
the Sir Arnold Bax Society (London) Medal and a UNESCO Award (London) for
String Quartet No. 2. In 1967, he was an Official Guest of the Union of
Soviet Composers. He is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
Other upcoming performances of his music include the March 26, 2002 West
Coast premiere of Odyssey #1 & #2 in Los Angeles by pianist Susan Svrcek
as part of the Piano Spheres series, held at the Neighborhood Church of
Pasadena and the 2003 premiere of a new work for 2 pianos as a commission
from National Federation of Music Clubs. This piece will be required for
all pianists participating in the NFMC's 2003 Ellis Competition. The
organization is currently using Mr. Lees' Fantasia for Piano as part of
their 2002 competition requirements.
You can find much more information about Benjamin Lees at his website -
http://home.att.net/~bglees/. You can also read the Winter 2002 edition
of his newsletter Perspective at
http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/feb02/BL_nws_020602.htm
For more information about the music of Benjamin Lees, please contact
Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 - tel and fax.
Jeffrey James <[log in to unmask]>
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