Empyrean Ensemble
Sam Nichols, director • Matilda Hofman, resident conductor
Musicians Playing—
Tod Brody, flute
Sandy McPherson, clarinet
Jennifer Ellis, harp Michael Seth
Orland, piano
Chris Froh, percussion
Hrabba Atladottir, violin Ellen Ruth Rose, viola
Leighton Fong, cello
Program
Dean Kervin Boursiquot: Serving Realness WORLD
PREMIERE
Stephen Ryan Jackson: Antrum Crepitus WORLD
PREMIERE
Kory Reeder: My Mother Made Many Blankets
Amber Vistein: The Auscultation of Weathered
Breath WORLD PREMIERE
The Department of Music at UC Davis presents the Taproot
New Music Festival February 8–11, 2024, at the Ann E. Pitzer
Center at UC Davis.
Overview
The Taproot New Music Festival will take place on the campus
of the University of California, Davis, during the week of
February 5, 2024, and will culminate in performances at the end
of that week (February 8–11, 2024). Eight composers have been
chosen to participate in the festival: they’ll have new pieces
performed, and will participate in seminars and workshops
facilitated by the visiting artists and UC Davis composition
faculty. The festival will feature Splinter Reeds as a visiting
ensemble. UC Davis’s own Empyrean Ensemble will also join the
festival line-up.
Participating Composers
Dean Boursiquot
Stephen Ryan Jackson
Trey Makler
Kory Reeder
Phillip Sink
Shahrzad Talebi
Amber Vistein
Zoë Wallace
Featured Ensembles
Splinter
Reeds
Splinter Reeds is the West Coast’s first reed quintet, comprising
five innovative musicians with a shared passion for new music.
The ensemble is committed to presenting top tier performances of
today’s best contemporary composition, showcasing the vast
possibilities of the reed quintet, commissioning new works, and
collaborating with fellow musicians and artists.
Empyrean Ensemble
Sam Nichols, director
Prof. of Teaching, UC Davis Music Department
Matilda Hofman, conductor-in-residence
Continuing Lecturer, UC Davis Music Department
Ensemble-in-residence at UC Davis, the Empyrean Ensemble presents
engaging and eclectic programs, inviting audiences to experience
new musical sensations delivered with high artistry by its
extraordinary players—among the finest new music performers in
California.
Mission
The Taproot New Music Festival brings together a diverse group of
composers and performers, both local and visiting, and gives them
the chance to hear new work, and to make lasting connections. A
biennial festival at UC Davis, it features concerts and other
events, and also creates the opportunity for our students to work
alongside exceptional artists. Actively inclusive and
participatory, Taproot broadcasts a unique vision of how to
sustain a musical community.
Matilda Hofman has a varied and busy conducting schedule.
Reviewers have described her conducting as “taut and finely
controlled” and giving “a striking sense of purpose.” She is
Music Director of the Diablo Symphony Orchestra,
conductor-in-residence for the Empyrean Ensemble at UC Davis and
Artistic Director of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. Matilda
also serves as a cover conductor for the San Francisco Symphony.
Dean Kervin Boursiquot, born in 1986, is a
first-generation Haitian-American, and New York native. The
guitar, film music, and music from the twentieth century sparked
his interest in music composition. While in New York, he received
his bachelor’s degree in composition at Mannes College the New
School for Music. Notable awards include: Vox Novus
Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Parhelion Trio 2012, Peter Gross grant
2010, Mannes Orchestra Competition 2009, CRICE
(composer-in-residence Chamber-Ensemble) commission and second
place Jean Schneider Goberman Prize 2009.
