The Rosenzweig 'Elegy' Project
The String Music of Michael Rosenzweig
Summer 2016 sees the launch of a substantial new project by Simon Hewitt Jones and Fifth Quadrant featuring Michael Rosenzweig's music for strings. The purpose of the project is to establish a historical recorded legacy for Rosenzweig's work, beginning with three of his most significant pieces for strings.
Summer 2016 sees the launch of a substantial new project by Simon Hewitt Jones and Fifth Quadrant featuring Michael Rosenzweig's music for strings. The purpose of the project is to establish a historical recorded legacy for Rosenzweig's work, beginning with three of his most significant pieces for strings.
Thursday 25th August 2016
"Elegy - The Music of Michael Rosenzweig"
Concert & Live Recording with The Fifth Quadrant
A live concert performance of Rosenzweig's works Elegy and Fugue '97 took place on Thursday 25th August 2016 at The Warehouse, London Waterloo. An archival audio recording of both pieces is in preparation, and a video of the Elegy is already available to view on the Video page of this website - click here to watch it!
A unique concert to celebrate and promote the groundbreaking musical work of Michael Rosenzweig, a significant but often overlooked figure in the development of 20th century music. Featuring Dvorak's Serenade for Strings, Barber's Adagio, and three of Rosenzweig's most compelling compositions.
Performed by 13 string players from the Fifth Quadrant group (led by violinist Simon Hewitt Jones), and conducted by Michael Rosenzweig himself, this concert brings to life Rosenzweig’s work for strings, and showcases the vitality and deeply expressive qualities of his writing in the first platform for his work in the UK for decades.
Rosenzweig’s visionary understanding of musical harmony, structure and form builds upon the traditions established by the master composers of the 20th century. This event presents his work in the context of popular pieces by Dvorák and Barber, two towering figures of 20th century.
Performed by 13 string players from the Fifth Quadrant group (led by violinist Simon Hewitt Jones), and conducted by Michael Rosenzweig himself, this concert brings to life Rosenzweig’s work for strings, and showcases the vitality and deeply expressive qualities of his writing in the first platform for his work in the UK for decades.
Rosenzweig’s visionary understanding of musical harmony, structure and form builds upon the traditions established by the master composers of the 20th century. This event presents his work in the context of popular pieces by Dvorák and Barber, two towering figures of 20th century.
Concert Programme: |
Event Details: |
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When: Thursday August 25, 2016 at 19:30
Where: The Warehouse, London 13 Theed Street, Waterloo, SE1 Tickets: £15 standard, £10 concessions (pensioners, students) Phone: 020 7060 0607 Email: music@simonhewittjones.com |
### PRESS RELEASE FOLLOWS ###
The Elegy Project
The first UK platform for composer/conductor Michael Rosenzweig in three decades.
The Warehouse - 25 August 2016 - 7:30pm
Fifth Quadrant (Leader: Simon Hewitt Jones) / Michael Rosenzweig (Conductor)
**********
At the age of 65, Michael Rosenzweig remains the dark horse of British classical music, a position he has held since his arrival on these shores in l979 touting a Symphonic Tone Poem, a string quartet, a piano trio and several other works that paid homage to Mahler, Schoenberg, Bartok and Stravinsky.
At the time, Rosenzweig had no formal music education at all; he’d simply listened to the masters, taught himself to write music and somehow produced work of such promise that two major universities offered to admit him straight into their Masters and Doctoral programs – on full scholarships. Further honours soon materialised, including the DAAD Artists Fellowship in Berlin and ringing endorsements from such luminaries as Chou Wen-chung, Yonty Solomon and Emanuel Hurwitz.
Rosenzweig appeared to be on the brink of greatness, but he ‘dropped out of sight’ circa 1995 and has spent the last three decades starving in London garrets while making the odd appearance as guest conductor of Bulgaria’s Vidin State Philharmonic. His appearance at The Warehouse with Simon Hewitt Jones' Fifth Quadrant offers Londoners a rare chance to see this enigmatic figure and hear some of his unheard music.
In praise of MICHAEL ROSENZWEIG:
CHARLES MACKERRAS, international conductor: “I must say I find your compositions wholly admirable. You are obviously a man of huge talent.”
OLIVER KNUSSEN, composer, conductor, Conductor Laureate London Sinfonietta: “A talent of a major order…one of the most substantial composers of his generation at work anywhere today.”
LUKAS FOSS, international composer, conductor, organist, pianist: “I have just listened to your beautiful Elegy again. Bravo!”
EMANUEL HURWITZ, leader Aeolian String Quartet and English Chamber Orchestra: “Michael Rosenzweig is a fine musician both as composer and conductor. I am surprised that such valid music is not getting any performances.”
DAVID ALBERMAN, violinist -Arditti Quartet / London Symphony Orchestra: “I feel that Michael's music is blazingly honest, strongly crafted music with a powerful intellectual rigour: the world is the richer for having it!”
Info & Videos: http://www.michaelrosenzweig.com/
About THE FIFTH QUADRANT
Fifth Quadrant (5Q) is a collective of classical and contemporary musicians led and directed by the English violinist Simon Hewitt Jones. At its core is a traditional classical string quartet. But 5Q has also been known to share the stage with piano, accordion, oboe, saxophone, percussion, banjo, vocals, voice, orchestra, ney, bazouq, actors, visual artists, and more... (...but not all at once).
5Q has performed at many of the UK's leading festivals and concert series including the Barbican, Spitalfields, and Henley Festival (where they were musicians-in-residence). They have recorded for Signum and for the BBC, worked and recorded with the Medici Quartet and the late Sir John Tavener, and have appeared at venues across Europe and the Middle East.
Info & Videos: http://www.simonhewittjones.com/music.html
CONCERT PROGRAMME:
String Octet - Michael Rosenzweig
Adagio for Strings Op 11 - Samuel Barber
Elegy, for 13 solo strings - Michael Rosenzweig
- Interval -
Fugue '97 - Michael Rosenzweig
Serenade for Strings in E Op 22 - Antonín Dvorák
TICKETS:
Ticket Prices: £15 (£10 Concessions)
Book Tickets Online: http://www.michaelrosenzweig.com/
Information & Enquiries: 020 7060 0607 or music@simonhewittjones.com
Complimentary tickets for accredited journalists are available upon request
VENUE & TIME:
Date/Time: Thursday 25th August at 7.30pm
Venue: The Warehouse, 13 Theed Street, Waterloo, London, SE1 8ST
**************************************************
CONTACT:
Telephone: 020 7060 0607
Email: music@simonhewittjones.com
SDH Production (Box 225, 34 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0RH) on behalf of Michael Rosenzweig and Fifth Quadrant
The Elegy Project
The first UK platform for composer/conductor Michael Rosenzweig in three decades.
The Warehouse - 25 August 2016 - 7:30pm
Fifth Quadrant (Leader: Simon Hewitt Jones) / Michael Rosenzweig (Conductor)
**********
At the age of 65, Michael Rosenzweig remains the dark horse of British classical music, a position he has held since his arrival on these shores in l979 touting a Symphonic Tone Poem, a string quartet, a piano trio and several other works that paid homage to Mahler, Schoenberg, Bartok and Stravinsky.
At the time, Rosenzweig had no formal music education at all; he’d simply listened to the masters, taught himself to write music and somehow produced work of such promise that two major universities offered to admit him straight into their Masters and Doctoral programs – on full scholarships. Further honours soon materialised, including the DAAD Artists Fellowship in Berlin and ringing endorsements from such luminaries as Chou Wen-chung, Yonty Solomon and Emanuel Hurwitz.
Rosenzweig appeared to be on the brink of greatness, but he ‘dropped out of sight’ circa 1995 and has spent the last three decades starving in London garrets while making the odd appearance as guest conductor of Bulgaria’s Vidin State Philharmonic. His appearance at The Warehouse with Simon Hewitt Jones' Fifth Quadrant offers Londoners a rare chance to see this enigmatic figure and hear some of his unheard music.
In praise of MICHAEL ROSENZWEIG:
CHARLES MACKERRAS, international conductor: “I must say I find your compositions wholly admirable. You are obviously a man of huge talent.”
OLIVER KNUSSEN, composer, conductor, Conductor Laureate London Sinfonietta: “A talent of a major order…one of the most substantial composers of his generation at work anywhere today.”
LUKAS FOSS, international composer, conductor, organist, pianist: “I have just listened to your beautiful Elegy again. Bravo!”
EMANUEL HURWITZ, leader Aeolian String Quartet and English Chamber Orchestra: “Michael Rosenzweig is a fine musician both as composer and conductor. I am surprised that such valid music is not getting any performances.”
DAVID ALBERMAN, violinist -Arditti Quartet / London Symphony Orchestra: “I feel that Michael's music is blazingly honest, strongly crafted music with a powerful intellectual rigour: the world is the richer for having it!”
Info & Videos: http://www.michaelrosenzweig.com/
About THE FIFTH QUADRANT
Fifth Quadrant (5Q) is a collective of classical and contemporary musicians led and directed by the English violinist Simon Hewitt Jones. At its core is a traditional classical string quartet. But 5Q has also been known to share the stage with piano, accordion, oboe, saxophone, percussion, banjo, vocals, voice, orchestra, ney, bazouq, actors, visual artists, and more... (...but not all at once).
5Q has performed at many of the UK's leading festivals and concert series including the Barbican, Spitalfields, and Henley Festival (where they were musicians-in-residence). They have recorded for Signum and for the BBC, worked and recorded with the Medici Quartet and the late Sir John Tavener, and have appeared at venues across Europe and the Middle East.
Info & Videos: http://www.simonhewittjones.com/music.html
CONCERT PROGRAMME:
String Octet - Michael Rosenzweig
Adagio for Strings Op 11 - Samuel Barber
Elegy, for 13 solo strings - Michael Rosenzweig
- Interval -
Fugue '97 - Michael Rosenzweig
Serenade for Strings in E Op 22 - Antonín Dvorák
TICKETS:
Ticket Prices: £15 (£10 Concessions)
Book Tickets Online: http://www.michaelrosenzweig.com/
Information & Enquiries: 020 7060 0607 or music@simonhewittjones.com
Complimentary tickets for accredited journalists are available upon request
VENUE & TIME:
Date/Time: Thursday 25th August at 7.30pm
Venue: The Warehouse, 13 Theed Street, Waterloo, London, SE1 8ST
**************************************************
CONTACT:
Telephone: 020 7060 0607
Email: music@simonhewittjones.com
SDH Production (Box 225, 34 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0RH) on behalf of Michael Rosenzweig and Fifth Quadrant