LONGLEASH’s Light Traps program is a musical display of the fascination, draw, and allure of light. The program is a collection of pieces evoking light in many forms and stages: blinding, refracted, dim, illusory. Light Traps draws on today’s vanguard of Austrian composers; Bay Area-based composer Ken Ueno; and New York-based composer Reiko Füting.
Klaus Lang’s die fenster des universums (the windows of the universe) eternifies a murky, twilit stasis. Overtones develop and emerge in Haas’ Ins Licht (Into Light), brightening exponentially into a brief flash. In Beat Furrer’s own text accompanying Retour an Dich (Back to You) the glint of a watery mirage gives rise to cyclic patterns of curiosity and disillusionment. Reiko Füting’s re/fraction: shadows/palimpsest 2 draws dynamic inspiration from the Warhol series Shadows, while Ken Ueno’s Visible Reminder of Invisible Light evokes a paler, delicate luminosity.
Light Traps will be accompanied by the composers’ own texts, as well as original photography by Bay Area-based photographer Satoko Myodo.
LONGLEASH: www.longleashtrio.com
LONGLEASH was founded in 2013 by violinist Pala Garcia, cellist John Popham, and pianist Renate Rohlfing, with the purpose of performing, recording, and writing about important piano trio works of our time.
LONGLEASH has most recently worked with composers Beat Furrer and Reiko Füting, and will be working with numerous New York based composers in the 2013/2014 season, including collaborations on new works for LONGLEASH by Scott Wollschleger and Evan Antonellis. LONGLEASH will also benefit from the guidance of the instrumentalists and composers of the Klangforum Wien through cellist John Popham’s 2013-2014 Fulbright fellowship project in Graz, Austria.
LONGLEASH takes its name from the CIA’s Cold War era project Operation Long Leash, which was designed to disseminate American avant-garde art throughout Europe.
PALA GARCIA is a Bay Area native, completed BM and MM degrees at the Juilliard School, and an academy fellowship with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, whom she joined on multiple tours, subscription series, radio broadcasts, and recording projects for the Deutsche Grammophon label. A devoted chamber musician, she has performed in this capacity at various music festivals around the world, and is a regular participant at Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove (England). She has appeared as a guest on numerous occasions with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Either/Or ensemble. She explores music from around the world as a member of the Toomai Quintet and the Hindustani ensemble Falu. www.palagarcia.com
JOHN POPHAM was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. The New York Times has described his playing as “warm but variegated” and “finely polished”. About his recent premiere of Vincent Raikhel’s cello concerto, Cirques and Moraines, the New York Times wrote that he played “with energy and a touch of poetry.” John holds a BM and MM from the Manhattan School of Music where he was a student of David Geber and David Soyer. An active chamber musician, he is the resident cellist of Red Light New Music, the Toomai String Quintet, and a member of the Either/Or Ensemble. He has performed throughout North America, South America, and Europe with ensembles such as the Argento Chamber Ensemble and the Talea Ensemble. He has recorded for Tzadik, Carrier, and Arte Nova Records and teaches in the Mason Gross School of Music’s Young Artist Program at Rutgers University. www.johnpatrickpopham.com
RENATE ROHLFING has quickly established herself as a highly sought-after and versatile collaborative pianist, and has performed with some of the world’s leading artists, including James Conlon, Anna Netrebko, Alan Gilbert, and John Adams, among others. Recent highlights include recitals with soprano Janai Brugger and mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack under the auspices of the Cincinnati May Festival, recitals and chamber music concerts at the Ravinia Festival, and performances with the New World Symphony in orchestral and chamber repertoire. She has also served as a pianist-in-residence for Marilyn Horne’s “The Song Continues” series at Carnegie Hall, as a Piano Fellow at Songfest in Malibu, and on the Los Angeles Opera’s music staff as Assistant Conductor. Upcoming highlights include a third summer as staff pianist at the Insitute at the Ravinia Festival, and recitals in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington with sopranos Julia Bullock and Kathryn Guthrie. She is a native of Honolulu, and a graduate of the Juilliard School. www.renaterohlfing.com