String Reflections: Music from Spain and the US - June 7 @ 8 PM in New York City

NEW YORK - May 19, 2016 - PRLog -- North/South Consonance, Inc continues its 37th consecutive season of free-admission concerts on Tuesday evening June 7.

Clarinetist Julia Heinen and oboist Richard Kravchak will join conductor Max Lifchitz and the North/South Chamber Orchestra to perform for the first timein New York recent works by Jose Luis Gomez, Daniel Kessner, Max Lifchitz and Marilyn Ziffrin. Ziffrin is celebrating her 90th birthday this season.

The composers will introduce their works prior to being performed and
will also meet with the public after the concert.

The concert will take place at the auditorium of  Christ & St Stephen's Church (120 West 69th Street) on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The free-admission event will start at 8 PM and end around 9:30 PM. The auditorium is ADA accessible. No tickets or reservations needed.

Since its inception in 1980, the North/South Chamber Orchestra has brought to the attention of the New York City public over 1,000 works by composers hailing from the Americas and elsewhere representing a wide spectrum of aesthetic views. Its activities are made possible in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs as well as grants from the Women's Philharmonic Advocacy and the Music
Performance Trust Funds. Contributions by numerous individual donorsare also gratefully acknowledged.

ABOUT THE COMPOSERS AND THEIR MUSIC

Jose Luis Gomez Aleixandre (b. 1989; Valencia, Spain) attended the
Sibelius Academy in Finland where he studied composition and
conducting. His instrumental and choral works have earned prizes at
international competitions and have been performed throughout Spain,
Finland. Poland and Italy.  He resides in Bern, Switzerlnad where he
conduts the Wind Orchestras from the Musikgesellschaft Toffen and
Ferebalm. His work Reflections -- an intense and virtuosic concertino
for clarinet and strings in four sections -- depicts the commotion
and isolation of every-day life in the modern megalopolises.

Daniel Kessner (b. 1946; Los Angeles) studied with the late Henri
Lazarof at the University of California, Los Angeles. His many awards
include the Queen Marie-Jose International Composition Prize
(Geneva, 1972) and the Netherlands Opera Foundation/Holland Festival
Prize (Amsterdam, 1980). Also active as flutist and conductor, he has
taught and performed in Germany and Portugal as a Senior Fullbright
Scholar. Written in 2013 at the request of  Richard Kravchak,
Kessner's Oboe Concerto is a technically demanding work in three
movements. Its post-modern musical writing showcases the lyrical
qualities of the oboe while incorporating subtle elements of jazz and
improvisation.

Max Lifchitz (b. 1948; Mexico City) was awarded first prize in the
1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth
Century Music held in Holland. Robert Commanday, writing for The San
Francisco Chronicle described him as "a composer of brilliant
imagination and a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist." The New York
Times music critic Allan Kozinn praised Mr. Lifchitz for his "clean,
measured and sensitive performances" while Anthony Tommasini remarked
that he "conducted a strong performance." His Yellow Ribbons No. 48
is a three movement work scored for oboe, clarinet and strings. It
belongs to an ongoing series of compositions written as homage to the
former American hostages in Iran. These compositions represent a
personal way of celebrating the artistic and political freedom so
often taken for granted in the West. The performance of the work will
honor the victims of the recent tragic events in San Bernandino,
California and Brussles, Belgium.

Marilyn J. Ziffrin (b. 1926; Moline, IL) studied at the University of
Wisconsin and Columbia University's Teachers College. The recipient
of the '09 Lotte Jacobi Living Treasure New Hampshire Governor Art
Award, Ziffrin has received commissions from among others, the New
Hampshire Music Festival, the American Guild of Organists, the Hope
College Concert Choir and the Concord Chorale. Her song cycle Haiku
garnered the 1972 Delius Composition Award. Ziffrin's musical
language has been described by the press "as having a peculiarly
American sound: lean, direct, tonal and sometimes jazzy."  Completed
in 2015, her three movement work Strings is both lyrical and fresh,
with plenty of heart-felt harmonies and lively rhythms. Being heard
for the very first time anywhere, the performance of Strings will
honor the composer on the occasion of her 90th birthday.

MEET THE PERFORMERS

Clarinetist Julia Heinen has been hailed by the press as "a sensation
... absolutely brilliant.... someone who plays with intensity,
conviction and impressive virtuosity." Originally from Minnesota, she
resides in Los Angeles, where she recently completed her 21st  year
as professor of music at California State University, Northridge. She
has appeared on concert stages throughout France, Portugal, Belgium,
Italy, Czech Republic and El Salvador. Heinen is a Buffet Crampon and
D'Addario Performing Artist and performes exclusively on Buffet
Crampon RC Prestige clarinets and D'Addario Reserve reeds.

The press has stated that oboist Richard Kravchak's playing "revealed
a real beauty of tone, not monolithic, but always changing in color
and intensity. He makes even the most difficult lines seem almost
effortless." Trained at Eastman, Juilliard and Florida State,
Kravchak has premiered over 100 compositions especially written for
him. He has appeared as a soloist with ensembles as diverse as The
Dubuque Symphony, The University of Hawaii Wind Ensemble, The Carson
Symphony, Banda Espinia de Portugal and the Orquesta Symphonica de El
Salvador. He serves as the founding Director and Professor of Oboe at
the School of Music and Theatre at Marshall University in Huntington,
West Virginia.

For the complete Spring concert series schedule please visit
http://www.northsouthmusic.org


To stream, download and/or purchase the more than 60 compact discs
released under the North/South Recordings label please go to
http://www.classicsonline.com/North_South_Recordings/