UCSB Ensemble for Contemporary Music (ECM)

Directed by Jeremy Haladyna, the UCSB Ensemble for Contemporary Music will present staples of the contemporary music repertoire as well as new works by UCSB faculty and students on Wednesday, November 28, 2018 at 5:30 pm in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. John Adams’ “Hallelujah Junction” is the centerpiece for manifold transatlantic criss-crossing presented by UCSB’s ECM—Music’s contemporary repertory ensemble. Duo pianists Pinshu Yu and Jared Eben “get down” in this rollicking minimalist effort for “down home” duetting pianos.

American radical pioneer Leo Ornstein, longest-lived U.S. composer, is represented by the Saxophone Ballad offered by Brian Leal…and Vincent Persichetti and Alan Blank round out matters stateside, as Nick Mazuk offers the former’s trombone “Parable” and Soha Sadeghinejad the latter’s “Music for Solo Viola II.”

From abroad come gems from England and France. Evan Losoya first takes the lead in the Oboe Quartet of the U.K.’s Alan Rawsthorne, assisted by string trio members Matt Owensby, Soha Sadeghinejad, and Joshua Kauk. Oboist Lexie Callaway-Cole next regales with a rare opportunity to hear Britten’s complete “Six Metamorphoses after Ovid,” a set of expert portrayals of well-known figures in Greek mythology. Hiroko Sugawara tackles the iconic “L’Abîme des Oiseaux” for clarinet alone by Messiaen, while graduate composer M.D. Owensby offers the timbrally unique viola solo by Tristan Murail: “C’est un jardin secret…ma soeur, ma fiancée, une source scellée, une fontaine close.”

Finally there’s a compact trombone sonata by a Danish master, the prolific symphonist Vagn Holmboe. Trombonist Paul Wu does the honors to director Haladyna’s accompaniment.

General ($10)
Non-UCSB students with ID ($5)
UCSB students with ID (FREE)*
Children under 12 (FREE)*

Tickets are available at http://www.music.ucsb.edu/news/purchase-tickets or (805) 893-2064

*Youth and UCSB student tickets may be reserved in advance by contacting the ticket office.