NEW MUSIC FOR YOUNG ENSEMBLES IN ASSOCIATION WITH
MANNES COLLEGE OF MUSIC TO PRESENT AN EVENING OF WORKS BY
CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 AT 7:45 PM

Program to include works by Josef Alexander, Jackson Berkey, Spencer H. Schedler and others

(New York, NY – August 15, 2002) New Music for Young Ensembles, in association with Mannes College of Music, will present an evening of works by contemporary composers on Thursday, September 19, 2002 at 7:45 PM at Tishman Auditorium, New School University, 66 West 12th Street, NYC. Tickets are $10/$5 for seniors and students at the door or can be reserved by calling 212-877-1999. Tickets for the concert and champagne reception with the artists and composers are $45. For reservations, call 212-877-1999.

Martin Bookspan will host the program, which will feature Jackson Berkey's "Piano Trio Kassarjian" (NYME co-winner, 1998), Josef Alexander's "Five Fables for Three Instruments" (NYME co-winner 1982), selected songs by Stephen Foster, Spencer H. Schedler's Piano Quartet (World Premiere – NYME winner 2001), and cabaret music by Francis Thorne, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter.

Performers will include tenor Robert White and pianist/composer Francis Thorne, as well as Mannes College of Music alumni performers: Junah Chung, viola; Laura Gardner, bassoon; Katie Kresek, violin; Rita Mitsel, oboe; Yun-Joo Na, cello; and Barbara Podgurksi, piano.

New Music for Young Ensembles is a not-for-profit organization, now affiliated with Mannes College of Music, whose goals are to create a repertory of contemporary chamber music of moderate difficulty, to make the music of living composers more accessible, and to interest a new and ever-increasing audience in the music of today. These goals are achieved through a biennial composition competition and by thoughtful, sophisticated programming of contemporary music by living composers, along with music of the past. Composer Otto Luening has said of New Music for Young Ensembles, "How much this organization has accomplished and contributed to the musical life of our country…Congratulations to NYME for holding its standards valiantly."

This concert is made possible in part through a grant from Meet the Composer.

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Mannes College of Music, founded in 1916, is one of the world's major conservatories of music. A division of New School University, Mannes offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as a Professional Studies Diploma program. Notable alumni from Mannes include soprano Frederica von Stade, pianists Murray Perahia and Richard Goode, and conductors Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, JoAnn Falletta and Julius Rudel. Joel Lester is Dean of the College. For further information on Mannes, call (212) 580-0210 or go to the Web site at www.mannes.edu.

New School University, with 7,000 matriculated students and 25,000 continuing education students, is a New York City university comprised of a liberal arts foundation of three schools: The New School, Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, and Eugene Lang College and five professional schools: Parsons School of Design, Mannes College of Music, Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, Jazz and Contemporary Music Program, and Actors Studio Drama School. New School Online University offers one of the largest selections of online courses in the nation. For further information about admission to New School University, call (877) 528-3321 or go to the Web site at www.newschool.edu.