Diversity Rules Magazine

Grace - Con't from page 12 Difficult Grace was co-commissioned for Seth Parker Woods by the 92nd Street Y, with the generous sup- port of Elizabeth and Justus Schlich ng; the Harris Theater; UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance; and The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth. The world premiere of Difficult Grace without dance was presented by the Sea le Symphony at Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center at Benaroya Hall in February 2020. About Seth Parker Woods Hailed by The Guardian as "a cellist of power and grace" who possesses "mature ar stry and willing- ness to go to the brink," cellist Seth Parker Woods has established his reputa on as a versa le ar st and innovator across mul ple genres. His projects delve deep into our cultural fabric, reimagining tradi- onal works and commissioning new ones to propel classical music into the future. Woods is a recipient of the 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award. In the 2022-2023 season, Woods premieres a new version of his evening-length, mul media tour de force Difficult Grace at 92Y, UCLA, and Chicago's Har- ris Theater; curates and performs a program honor- ing the centennial of composer George Walker at The Phillips Collec on in Washington D.C.; premieres Freida Abtan's My Heart is a River, commissioned by the Sea le Symphony; and performs a world premiere by Anna Thorvaldsdo r at Carnegie Hall as part of Claire Chase's Density Series. The Great Northern Fes val in Minneapolis presented Woods in the final itera on of his cri cally acclaimed perfor- mance installa on, Iced Bodies, in which Woods, in a wetsuit, plays an obsidian ice cello. Recital appearances this season include concerts with pianist Andrew Rosenblum at Dumbarton Oaks in D.C., Boston's Isabella Gardner Museum, and The Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills, and a re- turn to his former home Brussels for a solo recital at Das Haus. He also tours to Washington Performing Arts, Krannert Center, Stanford Live, California Cen- ter for the Arts, Count Basie Center for the Arts, Au- burn University, and Emory University with the Chad Lawson Trio. In addi on, Woods will hold residencies at Montclair State University and Oberlin Conserva- tory. The season will also see the release of a new solo album on Cedille Records and the soundtrack of the PBS documentary The U.S. and the Holocaust – a film by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein – to which Woods contributed. In addi on to solo performances, he has appeared with the ICTUS Ensemble (Brussels, BE), Ensemble L'Arsenale (IT), zone Experimental (CH), Basel Sinfo- nie a (CH), Ensemble LPR, Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Atlanta and Sea le Symphonies, and in chamber music with violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Andreas Haefliger. A fierce advocate for contemporary arts, Woods has collaborated and worked with a wide range of ar sts ranging from the likes of Louis An- driessen, Ellio Carter, Heinz Holliger, G. F. Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Klaus Lang, and Peter Eötvos to Peter Gabriel, S ng, Lou Reed, Dame Shirley Bassey, and Rachael Yamagata to such visual ar sts as Ron Athey, Vanessa Beecro , Jack Early, Adam Pendle- ton, and Aldo Tambellini. In the 2021-2022 season, he premiered concertos by Rebecca Saunders and Tyshawn Sorey. His debut solo album, asinglewordisnotenough (Con- front Recordings-London), has garnered great acclaim since its release in November 2016 and has been profiled in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, The Guardian, 5against4, I Care If You Listen, Musical America, Sea le Times, and Strings Maga- zine, amongst others. Woods recently joined the faculty of the Thornton School of Music at The University of Southern Cali- fornia as Assistant Professor of Prac ce - Cello and Chamber Music. He previously served on the facul- es of the University at Buffalo, University of Chica- go, Dartmouth College, and the Chicago Academy of the Arts and as Ar st in Residence at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music and Northwestern University - Center for New Music. Woods holds de- grees from Brooklyn College, Musik Akademie der Stadt Basel, and a PhD from the University of Hud- dersfield. In the 2020-21 season, he was an Ar st in Residence with the Kaufman Music Center, and from 2018-2020 he served as Ar st in Residence with Se- a le Symphony and Crea ve Consultant for the inter- ac ve concert hall, Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center. Seth Parker Woods is a Pirastro Ar st and endorses Pirastro Perpetual Strings worldwide. Learn more at www.sethparkerwoods.com. Difficult Grace Tracklist 1. Fredrick Gifford (b. 1972) – Difficult Grace* [6:24] 2. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932–2004) – "Calvary Os nato" from Lamenta ons: Black/Folk Song Suite [3:25] 3. Monty Adkins (b. 1972) – Winter Tendrils* [10:23] 4. Nathalie Joachim (b. 1983) – The Race: 1915* [7:07] 5. Alvin Singleton (b. 1940) – Argoru II [12:15] 6. Nathalie Joachim – Dam Mwen Yo [5:29] Nathalie Joachim, voice Ted Hearne (b. 1982) – Freefucked* 18 |Diversity Rules Magazine | Mar 2023

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