Music ensemble HELIX! to perform in concert with guest artists Duo Alterno
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - Mason Gross School of the Arts and the Department of Music will present two modern music concerts in April. HELIX!, the Rutgers ensemble under the direction of Paul Hoffman, will appear on Sunday, April 3 at 2:00 p.m. in Nicholas Music Center. The ensemble will be joined by Duo Alterno, who will also have their own concert on Tuesday, April 5 at 8:00 p.m. in Nicholas Music Center. Both concerts are free and no tickets are required.
The Duo Alterno appearances are made possible through funding from Mason Gross Presents, a year-round series hosting top guest-artists “in action" with Mason Gross students. The ensemble, comprised of Tizziana Scandaletti, soprano, and Riccardo Picacentini, composer/pianist is touring in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture in New York.
Nicholas Music Center is located in the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center at 85 George Street on the Douglass College campus of Rutgers University. For directions or further information, call 732/932-7511.
About HELIX!
HELIX! New Music Ensemble of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey was founded in 1990 by its director, Paul Hoffmann, and is devoted to the presentation of all classical styles of twentieth-century music, with an emphasis on music composed since 1950. The instrumentation of the group is currently flute (doubling piccolo and alto flute), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), violin, cello, piano, and percussion. The players, chosen for their outstanding performance abilities and dedication to contemporary music, are given teaching assistantships and fellowships to be in this group.
Since its inception HELIX! has premiered many compositions written for the group by Rutgers and other composers and has performed numerous pieces written by major composers of our time. It has performed in such places as Lincoln Center in New York City, the Noyes Museum in New Jersey, and various colleges along the east coast.
About Paul Hoffman
Paul Hoffman studied with Cecile Genhart, Brooks Smith, and Leon Fleisher at the Eastman School of Music and The Peabody Conservatory. He is a specialist in 20th-century music and has recorded for Capstone, Orion, CRI, Northeastern, Composers Guild of New Jersey, Contemporary Record Society, O.O. Discs, Spectrum, and Vienna Modern Masters labels, and numerous foreign radio stations. At Rutgers he teaches piano and chamber music and directs HELIX!, the contemporary music ensemble at Rutgers, which he founded in 1990. Hoffmann also performs with Tom Goldstein, percussionist, as the Hoffmann/Goldstein Duo.
About Duo Alterno
The DUO ALTERNO was born in Turin (Italy). Through concerts and master classes they seek to promote the vocal-piano repertoire from the early twentieth century to living composers, with particular attention to Italian music. Many composers (including Giacomo Manzoni and Ennio Morricone) have written pieces for soprano Tiziana Scandaletti and for composer-pianist Riccardo Piacentini, both of whom are professors in Italian Conservatories (Vocal chamber music and Composition), graduating with top marks in History of Music as well as in their respective fields of performance.
The DUO made its debut in February 1997 at the Vancouver Festival of Italian Contemporary Music, where they were invited to hold concerts and master classes at Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia and Vancouver Academy of Music. Since then they have undertaken regular foreign tours: Finland in 1998 (Sibelius Akatemia in Helsinki), Uzbekistan (Tashkent Festival of contemporary music, the first Italian artists to be invited), Argentina (San Martìn Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires); in 1999 they returned to Uzbekistan and visited four Scandinavian countries (Festival of Sound Memories in Stockholm, Cinemateket in Oslo, Cable Factory in Helsinki); in 2000 in the USA (Ethical Society of Philadelphia, Levine School of Washington, Rutgers State University); in 2001 in France (Festival Musique italienne du XXme siècle in Strasburg, Festival Transphotographique of Lille, Centre Noroit in Arras), Kazakhstan (Almaty State Conservatory), Great Britain (Festival Roussel in London), south-east Asia (Gedung Kesenian Theater in Jakarta, Chongdong Theater and Joong Ang University in Seoul, Jubilee Hall in Singapore), in 2002 in Belgium (Flanders Festival), Norway, China (Bejing Central Conservatory of Music), Singapore; in 2003 again in USA and Canada (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver); as well as dozens of performances in Italy, from Musica Aperta of Bergamo to Accademia Perosi in Biella, Spazio Musica in Cagliari, Spazio Novecento in Cremona, I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, Nuovi Spazi Musicali in Rome, Trieste Prima, Settembre Musica in Turin and master classes at the universities of Bologna, Padua, Turin, and Trento.
The DUO has made recordings for Curci (first recording of Giacomo Manzoni’s “Du Dunkelheit," dedicated to the Duo Alterno, Milan 1998), and for Nuova Era label (two CDs with first-ever recordings of works by Giorgio Federico Ghedini, Turin 2000 and 2001, and two monographic CDs dedicated to Alfredo Casella, Turin 2002, and Franco Alfano, Turin 2003). They have taken part in broadcasts on national radio stations, including Radio Italian Switzerland, Uzbek National Radio and Kazak National Television.
About Mason Gross Presents
Mason Gross Presents is a year-round event series produced by special funding from the Mason Gross School of the Arts and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The series combines the educational and community outreach missions of the conservatory through special performances in theater, music, and dance, along with visual arts exhibitions and other arts programming that enhance the educational experience of students while also bringing quality programs to the community. Participants in these events have included, but are not limited to: Andrea Quinn, F. Murray Abraham, David Parsons, Martin Puryear,and many others.
About the Department of Music
The Department of Music at the Mason Gross School has a faculty of 36 full-time and 36 part-time members. There are approximately 460 students enrolled in its seven degree programs: Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Music, Master of Arts, Artist Diploma, Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of Musical Arts. All of the music degree programs have as their common aim the development of well-educated professional musicians who have a deep historical and theoretical understanding of all aspects of music. The diversity of faculty specializations within the school provides a breadth of expertise rarely encountered in other programs.
About Mason Gross School of the Arts
Founded in 1976, Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and is home to the departments of dance, music, theater arts, and visual arts. Its faculty and alumni rosters include arts professionals recognized nationally and internationally. The school’s enrollment of 625 undergraduates across four departments and 250 graduate students across three departments, combined with a faculty of 140, assures students the opportunity to work closely with accomplished artists within their fields.
About Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
A comprehensive research institution with more than 50,000 students on three main campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, Rutgers comprises one of the major state university systems in the nation. Chartered in 1766 in New Brunswick as Queen’s College, Rutgers is the eighth oldest institution of higher learning in the nation and now comprises 29 degree-granting divisions, including 16 offering graduate programs of study.
Public Information
For more information about any Mason Gross event, visit our website at www.masongross.rutgers.edu or call the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center at 732/932-7511. Tickets are available by calling or visiting the PAC. Nicholas Music Center is in the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center, 85 George Street (at Route 18), on the Douglass College campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Programs and times subject to change. Special assistance available for persons with disabilities. Visual and listening assistance available upon advance request.
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