MARCH 31 IN ZIPPER HALL AT 8 PM

On Monday, March 31 at 8 p.m. in Zipper Hall at the Colburn School of Music, guest ensemble red fish blue fish, led by Steven Schick, presents a program of works centered around percussion instruments, including Inlets and Amores by John Cage, an American composer with Los Angeles roots. Cage and Reich share a keen interest in percussion and their unique approaches to structure tie them to the Greek visionary Xenakis.

Also featured is music by American composer Steve Reich and Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. Reich's Music for Mallets, Voices, and Organ (1973), which opens the program, combines the percussive energy of his landmark score Drumming (1971) with the evocative sonorities of the Balinese gamelan. Xenakis' Kassandra (1987), for baritone, psalterion (a 20-stringed instrument similar to a zither), and percussion, is part of a group of works inspired by the plays of Aeschylus that Xenakis began in 1965 and completed in 1992. Baritone Philip Larson will join red fish blue fish for this performance.

Persephassa (1969), which closes the program, was composed during Xenakis' "Symbolic Music" project of the 1960s and '70s, which explored ways of breaking with Western musical tradition through the use of mathematical formulas. The UCSD percussion ensemble red fish blue fish also have a connection to his music; in 1998, they released a recording of Xenakis' complete music for percussion ensemble.

STEVEN SCHICK was born and raised in Iowa. For the past twenty years he has championed contemporary percussion music as a performer and teacher. He studied at the University of Iowa and received the Soloists Diploma from the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany. From 1984 to 1992, Schick taught at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany, directing the course's seminal percussion program with James Wood. He has been a regular guest lecturer at the Rotterdam Conservatory and the Royal College of Music in London. Schick is Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego, and Lecturer in Percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. He is also the percussionist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Other important collaborations include work with pianist James Avery, the percussion group red fish blue fish and the Maya Beiser/Steven Schick Project.

red fish, blue fish is the resident percussion ensemble of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Along with touring and recording, the ensemble also collaborates with composers and performers of the UCSD Music Department in creating experimental percussion music. Recent performances include the Bang on a Can Marathon at Lincoln Center in New York. In 1998 red fish blue fish released a recording of the complete music for percussion ensemble by Iannis Xenakis.

Bass baritone PHILIP LARSON has distinguished himself as a leader in the performance of demanding contemporary repertoire: Aos and La déesse Athéna by Iannis Xenakis; The Palace, and last things, I think, to think about by Roger Reynolds, as well as his participation in the madcap duo [THE]. In the latter role, he has also collaborated with Braxton, Cage, and Takemitsu. International appearances have included he Pompidou Center in Paris, Music Today in Tokyo, the Festival International de Musique Expérimentale in Bourges, Festival d'Automne, Warsaw Autumn, the Holland Festival, and the Darmstadt Ferienkurse. A Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego, Larson has recorded for CRI, Mode, Nonesuch, Lovely, and Neuma labels.

EDITORS - PLEASE NOTE:

Monday, March 31, 8 PM

-GREEN UMBRELLA -

Zipper Hall, Colburn School

Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group

Steven Schick, director

red fish blue fish

STEVE REICH: Music for Mallets, Voices, and Organ

JOHN CAGE: Inlets

JOHN CAGE: Amores

IANNIS XENAKIS: Kassandra

IANNIS XENAKIS: Persephassa

Tickets ($26) are on sale now at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino, and selected Wherehouse locations), and by credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. Tickets are also available on-line at laphil.com. For further information, please call 323.850.2000.

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