On Saturday April 6th, at 7pm, Kettle Corn New Music presents piano duo HereNowHear in a concert of premieres by Loren Loiacono, Emily Cooley, and Walter Zimmermann, with Luciano Berio, Steven Stucky, and George Crumb’s epic masterwork, Celestial Mechanics” (Makrokosmos Book IV) completing the evening.
Founded in 2016, HereNowHear consists of pianists Ryan MacEvoy McCullough and Andrew Zhou, who first met at Tanglewood and subsequently at Cornell University, founded to perform Stockhausen’s epic work Mantra for two pianos and electronics. Bringing together two compelling and dedicated performers of new works, the ensemble regards itself as a laboratory for compositional experimentation moved by a digitally autonomous (re)build-it-yourself spirit. Its core mission is to reinvigorate the repertoire for two pianists (+ collaborators) through commissioning, scholarly, and educational projects involving close, committed collaborations with composers, using traditional instruments to activate new sonic paradigms.
The ensemble has received coachings from Stockhausen “favorites” Benjamin Kobler and Ellen Corver, as well as Pierre Laurent-Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich. They have appeared as a featured group at Northwestern University’s NUNC3! Festival, Washington University in St. Louis, the Vanguard New Music Series (Kent, OH), and the Stockhausen Courses (Kürten, Germany). Upcoming residencies and performances will occur with Kettle Corn New Music in New York City and Notre Dame University. The ensemble has commissioned and collaborated on new works from composers Christopher Stark and Loren Loiacono (premiere in April 2019). Other upcoming projects include work with visual/video artist Andrew Lucia and a new work by composer John Liberatore, supported by the Fromm Foundation, to be performed in the 2019–2020 season.
HereNowHear references Chap. 1, iv. of Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.