Marilyn Shrude 75th Birthday Celebration Concert

Lost Dog presents an all-star concert, featuring three of New York’s most dynamic new music ensembles, in celebration of the 75th birthday of distinguished American composer Marilyn Shrude.

Including performances of:

LOST DOG NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Sotto Voce (2012)
A Window Always Open on the Sea (1990)
Within the Wall (2018; 2021)
*WORLD PREMIERE OF NEW VERSION WITH PERCUSSION

NEW THREAD QUARTET
energy flows nervously … in search of stillness (2015)
Evolution V (1976)
John Sampen, alto sax

MOMENTA QUARTET
Secrets (2004)
Ariadne Greif, soprano

In accordance with New York State policy, proof of vaccination against COVID-19 is required. Masks must be worn in all public areas of the Dimenna Center.

The concert celebrates Shrude’s 75th birthday, a ground-breaking composer, known for music of exquisite texture and detail. Her catalog features a large body of chamber and orchestral works, and a particular interest in saxophone. She is the first woman to receive the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award for Orchestral Music (1984) and the Cleveland Arts Prize for Music (1998).The concert celebrates Shrude’s 75th birthday, a ground-breaking composer, known for music of exquisite texture and detail. Her catalog features a large body of chamber and orchestral works, and a particular interest in saxophone. She is the first woman to receive the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award for Orchestral Music (1984) and the Cleveland Arts Prize for Music (1998).

The music of composer Marilyn Shrude is characterized by its warmth and lyricism, rich timbre, multi-layered constructions, and complex blend of tonality and atonality. The result is a bright, shimmering and delicately wrought sound world that is at once both powerful and fragile. Her concentration on color and the natural resonance of spaces, as well as her strong background in Pre-Vatican II liturgical music, give the music its linear, spiritual, and quasi-improvisational qualities. (Natvig – New Grove)

Shrude taught both Lost Dog director Garth Sunderland and New Thread’s tenor saxophonist Erin Rogers. Both Sunderland and Rogers have long felt that Shrude’s dazzling music should have greater presence in New York, and have discussed a concert like this for years. The works on the program span from 1976’s Evolution V, with one of the world’s leading concert saxophonists John Sampen as guest soloist, to the world premiere of a new version of 2018’s Within the Wall. Shrude’s catalog of music is deep and varied, and the chamber music presented here reflects that diversity – both with regards to instrumentation and aesthetic.

Sunderland states:

“I’ll never forget hearing Marilyn’s trio A Window Always Open On The Sea for the first time, a work whose mysteries and depths meld her exquisitely detailed craftsmanship with a fathoms-deep well of emotion. As a teacher, Marilyn’s nurturing heart and wise counsel have had an incredible impact on multiple generations of American composers, and it’s always been frustrating to me that her own extraordinary music isn’t more widely known. In this 75th birthday concert, featuring three terrific ensembles, and major works from the entirety of Marilyn’s career, we hope to let New York audiences in on the secret of this marvelous and pathbreaking American composer.”