Momenta Quartet
Described by Time Out New York as a “an outstanding ensemble prone to innovation and exploration,” the Momenta Quartet has premiered over fifty works in the past seven years and has collaborated with over 70 living composers, among them over 50 Americans.
Since 2004, Momenta has given 93 concerts, among them 55 in New York City at such venues as Roulette; The Stone; Issue Project Room; Tonic; BargeMusic; Symphony Space; Americas Society; Asia Society; and the Austrian Cultural Forum. The quartet is celebrated for its innovative programming, juxtaposing contemporary works from widely divergent aesthetics with music from the classical canon.
This past season Momenta presented the first classical contemporary concert at Museum of Chinese in America in collaboration with the League ISCM featuring world premieres by Jason Kao Hwang and leading Malaysian composer Kee Yong Chong, for whom Momenta received a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation. Chong travelled from Malaysia for this event.
In the spirit of international collaboration, this was the first season in which Momenta organized and fundraised to bring a guest artist from overseas. The quartet proudly presented leading Indonesian vocalist Nyak Ina Raseuki (aka Ubiet) in concerts at Haverford College, Cornell University and at WMP Concert Hall (NYC).
After over 70 rehearsal hours, Momenta gave the world premiere of the first half of Brazilian American composer Arthur Kampela’s extremely complex 1998 quartet in February 2010. Another fifty rehearsal hours later, Momenta premiered its second half on February 11, 2011 at Williams College, and gave three subsequent performances at Symphony Space, Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens and as part of the inaugural concert at Hi Art! Gallery in New York City.
Highlights of Momenta’s past seasons include the quartet’s first children’s workshop at the Brooklyn Conservatory in May 2010; international appearances at the 2008 ¡Vamos! Festival for Latin American Arts (UK); the National Museum of Singapore and Jakarta’s Taman Ismail Marzuki; an ongoing residency at Temple University; and performances at Columbia, Cornell and Yeshiva Universities; the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies; City University of New York; Mannes School of Music; the Boston Conservatory; Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, Kingsborough, Lehman and Haverford Colleges; and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (U.K.).
The Momenta Quartet has recorded for Centaur Records; Furious Artisans; MRS Classics; and Albany Records; and has been broadcast on WQXR; Music for Internets and Austria’s Oe1 radio. Momenta’s 2010/11 season was made possible through the generous support of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music; the Cornell Council for the Arts; the Alice M. Ditson Fund; the Asian Cultural Council; and the New York State Council on the Arts. www.momentaquartet.com
Rachel Schutz, Soprano
Hailed for her “diamantine high notes… and giddy delirious coloratura” (Richard Dyer, Boston Globe), Welsh-born soprano, Rachel Schutz is increasingly in demand throughout the US and Europe for her sensitive and evocative performances and wide range of repertoire. In the summer of 2006, she made her much acclaimed orchestral debut at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops Orchestra singing, most notably, Bernstein’s “Glitter and be Gay”.
Ms. Schutz’s recent engagements have included her Carnegie Hall Zankel Hall debut singing the world premier of Elena Langer’s Songs at the Well; a return to the Apprentice Artist program at the Santa Fe Opera singing Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore; several solo and chamber music concerts on the Hawai’ian islands, including a performance presented by the Honolulu Chamber Music Society and one for Hawaii Concert Society in Hilo; a concert tour of Taiwan; her debut with the contemporary music ensemble Ebb & Flow Music; a recital at Tongji University in Shanghai, China and a solo recital at Bard College featuring Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi.
Ms. Schutz is a seasoned recitalist and an avid supporter of new music. A two-time Tanglewood Music Center Fellow, she performed Babbitt’s Phonemena to critical acclaim in the presence of the composer, and has premiered the works of many young composers including Matt Vandegriff, Elena Langer and Michael-Thomas Fumai. She has performed numerous solo recitals in prestigious international concert series and universities and her programs are known for their variety and originality. Recent performances of note include a return appearance with the Boston Pops Orchestra for their “Bernstein: A Celebration!” tour, soloist in Honegger’s King David with the Dessoff Choirs and James Bagwell, Strauss’s Brentano Lieder with the Bard Conservatory Orchestra under the direction of Leon Botstein, Mozart C Minor Mass with the Stony Brook Symphony, and Bach’s Cantata No. 51 with the Stony Brook University Orchestra.
Equally at home in the opera house as on the concert stage, Ms. Schutz’s recent roles have included Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore with the Santa Fe Opera, Euridice in Gluck’s Orpheus ed Euridice with the Berkshire Bach Society; Sophie in Der Rosenavalier with The New Opera Company; Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and St. Settlement in Four Saints in Three Acts. Other notable roles include Zerlina in Don Giovannni, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Ilia in Idomeneo, Norina in Don Pasquale, La Fée in Cendrillon, Frasquita in Carmen, First Maid in Daphne, Rose in A Street Scene, Flora in The Turn of the Screw , Mable in The Pirates of Penzance and the title role in Patience.
Previously she was the winner of the Roland Jones Scholarship Competition at the Welsh National Eisteddfod, New York Civic Morning Musicals Vocal Competition, both Stony Brook University and Bard College Concerto Competitions, and the Lillian Caroff Meyer Award from the Santa Fe Opera. She also holds awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition.
After making her professional debut at age 12 premiering John Hardy’s The Roswell Incident with Music Theatre Wales, Ms. Schutz began studying with Mark Gruett of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. She completed her B.A. in Music at Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Elaine Bonazzi, and received her Masters of Music degree from the Dawn Upshaw-run Vocal Arts Program at Bard College studying with Patricia Misslin.
Maya Hoover, Mezzo-Soprano
Photo Credit: Kelsey Edwards
Mezzo-soprano Maya Hoover is an active performer, teacher, author, and leading scholar and researcher of Latin American art song. Her accomplishments in the performance and teaching arenas have taken her around the world, and her specialty in the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has led her to collaborations with some of today’s leading composers. Ms. Hoover has a longstanding partnership with pianist José Meléndez, with whom she has worked as a performing and teaching team since 1997. As a duo, they are known for their cohesive and innovative recital programming, which frequently highlights Latin American repertoire and other outstanding lesser-known works.
Ms. Hoover’s performance credits include Festival Internacional Bach, Festival Mozart y Beethoven, and Festimúsica Internacional (Peru); Songs Across the Americas Festival (Bolivia); New Operafestival di Roma (Italy); Bellingham Festival of Music (Washington); Martes por la Noche (Costa Rica); Bloomington Early Music Festival (Indiana); Auditorio Fabio Lozano (Bogotá, Colombia), Teatro Municipal (Peru), and Spivey Hall (Georgia). With such roles to her credit as Mimì and Cio-Cio San in addition to her various mezzo roles, she now focuses exclusively on the mezzo repertoire. As a mezzo, she has also performed symphonic standards such as Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, as well as more contemporary works such as Osvaldo Golijov’s Oceana.
Ms. Hoover serves on the Board of Directors of Latin Business Hawaii, and she has also served on the Advisory Board of the Latin American Art Song Alliance, an organization dedicated to the promotion of songs from North/South America, Central America, and the Islands of the Caribbean. She is a supporter of new music, and has given world premieres of both Latin American and North American repertoire. In October 2011, she will perform Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with Chamber Music Hawaii, under the direction of Henry Akina.
Maya Hoover holds a Doctor of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature with a minor in Music Education from Indiana University, a Master of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, and a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Italian Language and Literature from Binghamton University. She has studied with Mary Burgess, Laura Brooks Rice, Patricia Havranek, and Virginia Zeani. Her publications have appeared in Classical Singer, The Mentoring Connection, and the Philosophy of Music Education Review, and her book Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire: An Annotated Catalog of Twentieth-Century Art Songs for Voice and Piano (Indiana University Press) was released in March 2010. In August 2007, she joined the distinguished faculty of the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, where she serves as Associate Professor of Music.
Laurie Rubin, Mezzo-Soprano
Mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin received high praise from The New York Times chief classical music critic Anthony Tommasini who wrote she possesses “compelling artistry,” “communicative power,” and that her voice displays “earthy, rich, and poignant qualities.” The Los Angeles Times special critic Josef Woodard wrote Laurie gives a “charismatic, multi-textured performance,” and “Rubin seems to have an especially acute intuition about the power and subtleties of sound and she was a compelling force at the center of the music.”
Recent career highlights include her United Kingdom solo recital debut performance at Wigmore Hall in London as well as her solo recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She has performed Berlioz’ Les Nuit d’ete with the Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra; Yale Symphony singing the Mozart Mass in C Minor; Oakland/ East Bay Symphony singing Haydn’s Harmonie Mass; a benefit concert of duets with opera star Frederica von Stade; performing Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915 with the Oberlin College Orchestra under the baton of John Williams; a benefit performance with Marvin Hamlisch; concerts in both the Terrace Theater and The Millennium Stage at The John F. Kennedy Center and The White House in Washington, DC.
Ms. Rubin has performed a number of roles including the title role in Rossini’s “La Cenerentola,” the lead role of Karen in Gordon Beeferman’s “The Rat Land” at City Opera, and Penelope in Monteverdi’s “The Return of Ulysses” at the Greenwich Music Festival. Ms. Rubin has also performed concerts of new music with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has collaborated with and premiered works by composer’s John Harbison, Gabriela Lena Frank, Bruce Adolphe, Keeril Makan, Noam Sivan and Gordon Beeferman.
Ms. Rubin is a co-founder and co-artistic director of Musique A La Mode Chamber Music Ensemble which has a concert series in the East Village of Manhattan. She is also one of the founding members of Callisto Ascending Baroque Ensemble which has performed concerts at Lincoln Center.
Ms. Rubin has recorded a CD of art songs by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, Brahms, Hahn, Bizet, Copland, Rorem, Harbison, and some beloved Yiddish pieces with renowned pianist Graham Johnson and David Wilkinson on the Opera Omnia label.
Ms. Rubin will be a featured artist on a soon to be released CD of works by Keeril Makan on the Starkland label.
Tim Carney, Conductor
Timothy Carney is Associate Professor of Music at Chaminade University of Honolulu and Music Director of Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble. He began his conducting career in France, where he founded La Chorale américaine de Paris. Since then, he has conducted choruses across the United States, in New York, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Illinois, as well as in Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand.
He has served as guest conductor for the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and the Hawai‘i Chamber Orchestra, leading performances of Verdi’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Brahms’ German Requiem and other choral masterworks.
He has given the first Hawaii performances of many choral masterworks, including Handel’s Solomon, Schumann’s Paradise and the Peri, Herman Suter’s Le Laudi, and Arvo Pärt’s Berlin Mass. With the O‘ahu Choral Society and Honolulu Symphony, Dr. Carney prepared choruses for Robert Shaw, Robert Page, Sergiu Commisiona, and Joseph Flummerfelt. He has served as chorus master for Hawaii Opera Theatre and has been music director for musical theatre productions at Chaminade University, including Brigadoon, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Music Man. In 2009 he was invited to lecture at Cambridge University. In recognition of his services to sacred music, Dr. Carney received a Papal Knighthood from Pope John Paul II.
Dr. Carney has also taught at St. Olaf College, Ripon College, the University of Illinois, and the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. He holds degrees from Hamilton College, the University of Tennessee, and University of Illinois.
As a solo singer, he has performed with Sir David Wilcocks, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Roger Norrington, and the late Alfred Deller.
Jennifer Taira, Conductor
Ms. Taira has performed extensively throughout the United States as a clarinetist and collaborative pianist. Recent performances include concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Greenwich Music Festival, National Press Club, State Department and French Embassy in Washington D.C., Ruth Eckard Hall in Tampa, Florida, West Chester University, and Zipper Hall in Los Angeles, California. As composer, Ms. Taira was selected to create the musical setting for the Buddhist recitation of the Golden Chain of Love to be performed at the 2005 Honpa Hongwanji Choralfest, comprised of over 100 singers from all the Hawaiian islands conducted by master choral conductor Nola Nahulu. She is also co- founder of Musique à la Mode Chamber Music Ensemble and the Music at the Bowery Series in Manhattan’s East Village. Some of her career highlights include receiving top prizes in the Hennings-Fischer Foundation Young Artist Competition and Kingsville International Competition, as well as a solo performance with the Burbank Philharmonic. She has performed with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, New Britain Symphony, and the Royal Hawaiian Band. She has been the recipient of many awards and scholarships, including a full fellowship to study at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, winner of the Winnetka Music Club Scholarship, and prize winner in the Evanston Music Club Scholarship Competition.
Jennifer is one of the founders of Ohana Arts and currently serves as Artistic Director. She is music director for the Ohana Arts Summer Musical Theater Workshop for youth ages 8-18, and conductor of the culminating production’s pit orchestra.
Jennifer is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she received a Bachelor of Music degree and studied with Russell Dagon. She received a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with David Shifrin and Lawrence McDonald, and was a recipient of the Keith Wilson Scholarship.
Jonathan Korth, Pianist
Pianist Jonathan Korth enjoys a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, collaborator, and teacher, having performed recitals across the United States, Canada, and France to critical acclaim. A native of Forest City, Iowa, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2002 at the Weill Recital Hall and has returned for multiple performances including included the world premiere of Robert Sirota’s Mixed Emotions.
Last season, Jonathan presented solo and chamber recitals at many important venues and series across the country and abroad, including New York’s Weill Hall, Lincoln Center, and Piano Salon at Yamaha Artist Services, Washington DC’s Phillips Collection, the Perlman Young Artist Recital Series in Sarasota, Spokane’s Bing Theatre, the Jefferson Library in Monticello, and the l’Hôtel d’Assézat in Toulouse, France.
An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with musicians such as violinist Martin Beaver of the Tokyo String Quartet, former New York Philharmonic associate principal cellist Alan Stepansky, soprano Hyunah Yu, and members of many of America’s leading orchestras. His chamber music residencies include the Banff Centre, Kneisel Hall, Sarasota, and Tuckamore Festivals and he has worked closely with artists like the Emerson String Quartet, members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Colin Carr, Pamela Frank, Ellen Mack, Seymour Lipkin, and Robert Levin.
As an avid proponent of classical music, he often returns to his native Iowa to play and promote the arts, including appearances with the Des Moines Symphony, Fort Dodge Symphony, and at the Des Moines Arts Center, Drake University, Simpson College, and Waldorf College. He is also a devoted advocate of new music. He enjoys programming new works, including premiers, and performs regularly for the “The Collected” and the Contemporary Chamber Players.
Dr. Korth is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (BM) where he studied with Ann Schein and Boris Slutsky, and Stony Brook University (MM and DMA), where he was a student of Gilbert Kalish. He began teaching at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the fall of 2008. He previously taught piano at Stony Brook University and Suffolk Community College.
Djordje Nesic, Pianist
Djordje Stevan Nesic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he obtained his undergraduate degree in piano performance from the Belgrade Academy of Music. In 1992 he came to the U.S. to pursue a career in music, which includes recital, concerto, chamber, collaborative, church music and coaching work. Currently, he lives in New York City where he is an associate vocal coach at the Juilliard School and an artist in residence at the Broadway Presbyterian Church. Djordje became a part of the Broadway Community in the fall of 2001.
Djordje’s career includes recital, concerto, chamber, collaborative and vocal coaching work. This season, Mr. Nesic appeares in recitals at the Ico Gallery in Tribeca, Princeton Club (NYC), Riverside Church, and Trinity Church. In January 2007, he appeared at Carnegie’s Weill Hall with soprano Hanan Alattar in the recital sponsored by the Marilyn Horne Foundation. The summer of 2007 was his fifth season with Glimmerglass Opera. In November 2006, Mr. Nesic performed with the Metropolitan Opera soprano Monica Yunus at an event honoring her father, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Prof. Mohammad Yunus. He has also been invited as a panelist for the Opera America’s discussion “Who’s In Charge Of Rehearsal”, alongside with Christopher Alden and Michael Barrett. In March 2006 he appeared at Carnegie Hall with bass-baritone Daniel Gross in a series of Lieder Workshops and a recital led by the famed German artist Thomas Quasthoff. Across the U.S. he performed in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New York, Cleveland, Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago, and has participated in the Glimmerglass Opera, Tanglewood, Cleveland Art Song, the Lake Luzerne Chamber Music, and the Aspen Music Festivals. Currently, Mr. Nesic lives in New York City where he is an artist in residence at the Broadway Presbyterian Church. He has been associated with the Juilliard School, the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY, the University of Texas in San Antonio, the Ash Lawn Opera Festival, and the California State University in Long Beach, CA. He is a roster member of the Swiss Global Artist Foundation.
In 2006, Mr. Nesic worked with the Houston Grand Opera, preparing Audra McDonald for her HGO debut in the double bill of Michael John La Chiusa’s SEND and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine, and has since continued working with her privately in preparation for her LA Opera debut as Jenny in Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny. Mr. Nesic is in great demand as a vocal recital collaborator, as well as an opera coach/diction coach/repetiteur, and specializes in Slavic diction (mostly Russian and Czech). He has worked with conductors such as Julius Rudel, James Conlon, Stewart Robertson, David Angus, Reinhardt DeLeeuw, Gerald Steichen and Robert Spano. His recent recital activity includes appearances in many recitals sponsored and organized by Glimmerglass Opera, both in New York City and in the Cooperstown area. With Glimmerglass Opera, Mr. Nesic has participated as a performer and panelist in many live radio shows, recorded and broadcast on NPR affiliated stations in Albany (WAMC) and Rochester (WXIX). He has also performed on a live broadcast from New York for FUJI television, Japan. His activity for season 2007/08 takes him to the Florida Keys, Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts, around New York City, and back to Texas and California.
