Roulette Presents: Eclipse Quartet Feat: Piano and String Quartet 1985, Morton Feldman & the N.Y Premiere of Roscoe Mitchells 9/9.99 With Cards For String Quartet

What: Eclipse Quartet w/guest pianist Vicki Ray
When: Monday, May 21 & Tuesday, May 22, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $10
Info: www.roulette.org / 917.267.0368

Brooklyn, NY: May 21 & 22 Roulette presents highly acclaimed, Los Angeles based ensemble, Eclipse Quartet. An all-female, musical powerhouse comprised of award winning musicians, Eclipse Quartet will present two fascinating evenings of programming featuring the New York premiere of Roscoe Mitchell's 9/9/99 version II, Morton Feldman’s epic Piano and String Quartet, 1985 (featuring guest pianist Vicki Ray), String Quartet 1931 by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Amazing Grace by Ben Johnston and, the New York premiere of Sean Heim’s No Quartet. The fearless repertoire encompasses a wide spectrum of styles, the first night a courageous journey of color and minimalism as the quartet share the stage with pianist Vicki Ray, one of the leading interpreters of contemporary piano music, to perform one of Feldmans last, intense and meditative pieces, and the second night diving deeply into the surreal and improvisational world of iconic musician and composer Roscoe Mitchell.

Featuring Grammy Award winning violinist Sara Parkins, violinist Sarah Thornblade, associate principal second violin of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, sought after violist Alma Lisa Fernandez and versatile, seasoned cellist Maggie Parkins, Eclipse Quartet are a unique group dedicated to 20th century and present day composers. They boast a dynamic and bold repertoire that features standard new music, micro-tones, subtones, electronic and improvised pieces, they are intrepid, unafraid, and unquestionably talented, making their upcoming New York engagement an event not to be missed. Furthermore, the inclusion of pianist Vicki Ray only propels this already wonderfully progressive group further forward. Ray, who has worked with some of the most prominent musicians and composers of our time, is highly regarded as a champion of new music and is a perfect addition to an already thoughtful and provocative group.

As a group Eclipse Quartet have worked with Roger Reynolds, Julia Wolfe, Ben Johnston, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Annie Gosfield, John Zorn, Fred Frith, Philip Glass, John King and Lois V. Vierk and have premiered new works by Zeena Parkins, Carla Kihlstedt, Justin Haynes, Gernot Wolfgang, Stephen Cohn and David Jaffe. They have performed across the globe, most notably the Scarlatti Festival in Naples, Italy, the Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Festival and the Angel City Jazz Festival. Individually, they are all incredibly achieved in a variety of musical avenues including education, motion picture soundtracks, chamber orchestras, commissions, professional recordings and more.

Full Program:
Monday, May 21, 8pm
Piano and String Quartet 1985 (feat pianist Vicki Ray) - Morton Feldman

Tuesday, May 22, 8pm
No Quarter - Sean Heim – N.Y. Premiere

String quartet 1931 - Ruth Crawford Seeger

9/9/99 version II - Roscoe Mitchell – N.Y Premiere

Amazing grace - Ben Johnston

About Eclipse Quartet
Sara Parkins - Violin
Sara is a Grammy award winner for the Best Chamber Music Performance of the complete recordings of the Haydn String Quartets, with the Angeles Quartet. She is a prizewinner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with the Stonybrook Piano Trio. On the forefront of contemporary music Sara performs, records and commissions new works with The Eclipse Quartet. She has collaborated with prominent new music composers and performers such as Anthony Braxton, Mark Dresser, Zeena Parkins and Guy Klucevsek. In addition, Sara has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York City. She is currently principal second violinist with the Pasadena Symphony, is an active studio musician, and is a member of the Rosetti String Quartet in Los Angeles. Ms. Parkins has performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Strings in the Mountains, and the Bravo Festival in Vail, Colorado. Internationally, Sara has participated at the Taklos Fesitval in Zurich, The Wels Unlimited Festival, the Festival Internationale de Cadeques in Spain and in Eisenstadt, Austria. Sara is featured on Phillips Classics, Victo, Avant and Tzadik recording labels. She attended the Curtis Institute of Music and SUNY at Stony Brook.

Sarah Thornblade - Violin
Sarah is the associate principal second violin of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She is an avid chamber musician and a member of both the Eclipse quartet (a new music string quartet) and X-tet. She has performed with Camerata Pacifica, and the Auros Group for New Music (Boston). Her playing has been described by the L.A. Times as “rapturously winning” and has been called a “marvelously versatile violinist” by the Santa Barbara News. As a former founding member of the Arianna String Quartet, former quartet in residence at Eastern Michigan University, she won first prize at the Fischoff, Coleman and Carmel chamber music competitions. Sarah has performed throughout the country and abroad including festivals such as Tanglewood, Spoleto, Colorado Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Norfolk Festival, Banff and the Portland Chamber Music Festival. She has collaborated with artists such as Glibert Kalish, Jeffrey Kahane, Andres Cardenes, Randall Hodgkinson and Warren Jones. Sarah studied with Miriam Fried and Shmuel Ashkenasi. Currently, she is on faculty at Pomona College.

Alma Lisa Fernadez - Viola
Alma attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and UCLA, where she received a Master's Degree in Viola Performance. She performs regularly with such ensembles as the LA Opera Orchestra, LA Master Chorale, Long Beach Symphony, and Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician, she has been described as "...a soulful violist. (--LA Times, Mark Swed), and has performed with chamber music Los Angeles based ensembles including the Denali String Quartet, the California String Quartet, and the Capitol Ensemble. Ms Fernandez has been featured as a soloist with the Pepperdine University Orchestra, the Jacaranda Chamber Music series, People Inside Electronics, and Electronics Live! at UC Riverside, where she premiered new works for Viola & Electronics. Alma is also active in the Los Angeles recording industry, having played for numerous motion picture soundtracks, television shows, and record albums. She is currently professor of viola at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA.

Maggie Parkins - Cello
Cellist Maggie Parkins  is equally at home performing chamber music, orchestral music and the avant-garde, and has concertized throughout the Americas and Europe. Always an advocate for new music, Parkins is a member of the Eclipse String Quartet. She is also the cellist of the Los Angeles based Mojave Piano Trio and formerly with the Robin Cox Ensemble. Her interest in music outside the classical tradition has led her to perform with Todd Sickafoose, the Jazz Passengers, the Anthony Braxton Tri Centric Ensemble, percussonist Alex Cline and The Phantom Orchard Orchestra. As an orchestral performer, Parkins has performed under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle and Andre Previn. An active recording artist as well, Parkins has recorded extensively with harpist Zeena Parkins and with accordionist Guy Klusevsek on the Tzadik, Avan and Victo labels. Ms. Parkins has performed around the world at prestigious venues including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Festival Internacional de Musica de Cadaques (Spain), Heidelberg Castle Festival, Spoleto (USA and Italy), the Taktlos Festival (Switzerland), and the Bach Aria Festival in New York. She attended the Eastman School of Music and has a doctorate from SUNY at Stony Brook. She has taught cello and chamber music at UC Irvine since 1997.

Vicki Ray – Pianist (Guest)
Ms. Ray’s work as a collaborative artist has been extremely diverse and colorful. She has been the keyboardist for the pioneering California E.A.R. Unit since 1994 and is currently their Artistic Director. Vicki is also the pianist in the CalArts-based New Century Players and the Los Angeles based ensemble Xtet.  Her chamber music contributions to the vibrant musical life in greater Los Angeles include frequent performances on the Dilijan, Jacaranda and the Green Umbrella Series. She performs regularly on the venerable Monday Evening Concert series and was featured  in Grisey’s Vortex Temporum on the 2006 celebration of the re-birth of the series. Vicki has been heard in major solo roles with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the German ensemble Compania, and the Blue Rider Ensemble of Toronto, with whom she made the first Canadian recording of Pierrot Lunaire.

About Roulette
Roulette – one of New York City’s premiere venues for experimental music for over 33 years - has reopened bigger and better than ever. Located in a newly renovated 1920s Art Deco concert hall in Downtown Brooklyn, the new Roulette features two levels of seating for up to 400 people (600 standing), an expanded multi-channel sound system, projection screen for film and multi-media events, state-of-the-art lighting system, modular stage, and a specially designed floor to accommodate dance. Teamed with bold new programming, the new Roulette promises to be one of the most exciting places in New York City - if not the country - to experience adventurous music and art.

###