Empyrean Ensemble
Sam Nichols, director • Matilda Hofman, resident conductor
featuring Nicholas Tolle, cimbalom (artist-in-residence)
Nicholas Tolle has made it his mission to get the cimbalom (the
Hungarian hammered dulcimer) in front of as many living
composers as possible. He joins UC Davis’s professional
contemporary music ensemble, the Empyrean Ensemble, for
this concert at the end of his week-long residency. The
concert features works for the cimbalom by classical
composers of different regions and centuries: Hungarian
composer György Kurtág’s 1961 “Tre Pezzi” and the more recent
2015 “Etudes” by Korean-American composer Juri Seo. The
cimbalom is also featured in “Five Animated Shorts” by Steven
Mackey, a composer and alumnus (B.A. music ‘78) of UC Davis who
won a GRAMMY award in 2012.
Program
Juri Seo: Etudes for Solo Cimbalom
Gerard Grisey: Prologue for Solo Viola
Zachary James Watkins: New Work
— Intermission —
György Kurtág: Tre Pezzi, op. 38
Kurtág: Tre Altri Pezzi, op. 38a
Steven Mackey (B.A. music ‘78): Five Animated Shorts
