Catalog

This is such an unusual album, such an unusual concept filled with such imagination, I will quote the artist, Jeanne Golan, who currently teaches at Bard College to give you an idea of what this disc is about. "As a pianist who performs contemporary music and works directly with composers as colleagues and friends, I have become increasingly intrigued by the issues with which composers contend in the musical expression of their thoughts. In extending this approach to music of different generations, I have been inspired to discover the ways in which composers of traditional repertoire dealt with these same issues and ultimately employed compositional methods that also stretched the boundaries of what was considered possible to create a unique university in each piece. This approach has not only allowed me to view every piece as "contemporary," but has also affected my choices in programming. Searching for works that complement each other has repeatedly revealed kinships between composers and pieces that initially seemed unrelated. I have often found that composers, though from different eras and places, grapple with the same issues, often resolving them in similar ways. The primary issue behind the collection of piano works assembled on this disc is the structuring of time, hence the title Time Tracks. Its repertoire incorporates two extreme approaches to time: one the approach that transcends it, as seen in the works by Beethoven and Curran, the other that specifically defines it both rhythmically and historically, embodied by the works of Granados and Nancarrow. Both Beethoven and Curran are composers reckoning with mortality - Beethoven with his own, Curran with his recently deceased friend, Cornelius Cardew." Ms. Golan has rethought ways to program contemporary music and her ideas certainly work on this new recital disc.

The fact that Timothy Polashek has lived with moderate hearing loss (and the need to wear hearing aids) has actually had an impact on his compositional aesthetic; prompting him to explore the world of nonsensical speech sounds as music, as well as pitch and timbre manipulations of other sounds in his electro-acoustical works. He wrote his first computer program in the 5th grade to generate time-based graphic animations and by the time he entered high school he had written a computer program in PASCAL that could synthesize musical tones, generate improvisations in blues style, and display them as musical notation in real-time during the computation and reading of the music. As he writes, "all of the compositions on this album were composed recently, with the oldest, Porcupine Quest, dating from 2002...when I was composing these works, I knew that Eric Huebner might perform them so I kept his incredible virtuosity and spirited piano technique in mind...also, I am appreciative of pianist Steven Beck's superb playing on the duets, both in concert and in the recording sessions...overall, aesthetically, I view these works as modern classical music, but spoken at times in the dialect and emotion of jazz."

The much beloved and acclaimed composer David Maslanka (1943-2017) featured the saxophone in many of his compositions, including concertos, solo, and chamber works. Nicholas May has chosen two for his debut recording -- the Sonata for Alto Saxophone (1989) and Piano and Tone Studies (2009). Maslanka's music requires not only tremendous technique but also a performer who is master of sound and color. The saxophone is an instrument of tremendous beauty and flexibility and Maslanka's works require a saxophonist capable of broad swaths of color, rich depths of contrast, and generous apportionment of the musical canvas. Nicholas May is such a saxophonist and this recording defines the works. May has been a finalist in numerous state, national, and international competitions. He received degrees from the University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is now on the faculty at Mid Plains Community College and a member of the Heartland Duo and the Sanders-May Duo. His collaborator, pianist Ellen Sommer is on the faculty at the University of Kansas School of Music.

Touch: The Toccata Project is a collection of post-1900 piano toccatas written by American composers. The distinguished pianist Philip Amalong has uncovered many unknown gems of the genre. Amalong is known for his intelligent, passionate interpretations and diverse and challenging repertoire. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Mr. Amalong is an active recitalist and chamber music performer.

Through her recordings and her appearances in major cities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, pianist Eliza Garth is well known as an artist with a passionate voice and adventurous spirit, championing some of the most demanding works in the repertoire of our time. For her debut recording with Albany Records, Garth has chosen two works -- a set of Piano Preludes by Sheree Clement and a major work by Perry Goldstein. Clement, a graduate of Peabody, the University of Michigan and Columbia, has heard her works performed by some of the most noted new music ensembles in the U.S. including the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and the League of Composers Orchestra, among many others. Using intricate shimmering colors over re-imagined fragments of tunes, her music builds surprising narratives. It unfurls, percolates, and nudges, allowing listeners to rediscover the present. Perry Goldstein studied at the University of Illinois, UCLA, and Columbia. His music appears on 19 commercial recordings and he has written music for noted new music performers such as Gilbert Kalish and the Emerson String Quartet. On the faculty at SUNY-Stony Brook, Goldstein has been involved in a variety of activities in the service of contemporary music. His composition on this recording, Of Points Fixed and Fluid, is built on dramatic possibilities obtained when disparate ideas are forced to coexist and interact.

This recording is part of a larger project, TRIGGER: Artists Respond to Gun Violence. This concept is to bring composers and poets together to respond artistically to the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. The other parts of the project include a book of poetry and other writings, and an electronic folio of scores for speaking percussion. Trigger reckons with the issue of gun violence from many angles: school shootings, a personal history with guns, the gun lobby, the connection of guns with fervent religiious zealotry, the psychology of violence in public spaces, and how the wake of violence leaves indelible imprints on people's minds and bodies. John Lane has appeared on stages throughout the Americas, Australia, and Japan. He is the director of percussion studies at Sam Houston State University. Allen Otte has toured for decades throughout the world performing new and experimental music created for him and his colleagues. He is a professor Emeritus at the University of Cincinnati.

Performing his own music for piano on this recording, Gary Smart considers himself an improvising composer-pianist who finds ideas at the keyboard and works them out in an active engagement with the instrument. Smart contends that the piano can create subtle and complex orchestral textures, wonderful tonal variations and most of all -- the piano can sing. This recording adds to his discography on Albany Records. Previous recordings include a disc of sonatas, one of rags and one of songs.

British composer and conductor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was the son of an English mother, Alice Hare, and a Sierra Leonean father, David Hughes Taylor. Early in his life, Coleridge-Taylor's music education was directed by Colonel Herbert A. Walters, a fellow parishoner and choir member. After passing an audition for the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1890, Coleridge-Taylor studied composition with and became a protTgT of Charles Villiers Stanford. Coleridge-Taylor possessed extraordinary musical sensibilities, and his rise to credibility as a composer of note was at least partly the result of his Royal Academy pedigree. Arguably his greatest work was Hiawatha's Wedding Feast of 1898. What set him apart, of course, was his mixed heritage and his promotion of pan-Africanism, which sought to unify and uplift native Africans as well as those of the African Diaspora. Coleridge-Taylor would incorporate the indigenous music of Africans and African-Americans and sought the preservation of such music. This major piano cycle can best be summed up in the composer's own Forward to the published score: "What Brahms has done for the Hungarian folk-music, Dvorak for the Bohemian, and Grieg for the Norwegian, I have tried to do for these Negro Melodies. The plan adopted has been almost without exception that of the Tema con Variazioni. The actual melody has in every case been inserted at the head of each piece as a motto. The music which follows is nothing more nor less than a series of variations built on said motto. Therefore my share in the matter can be clearly traced, and must not be confounded with any idea of "improving" the original material any more than Brahms' Variations on the Haydn Theme "improved" that."

Marthanne Verbit was born in Atlanta and raised in the small town of Fitzgerald, Georgia. She spent her childhood either at a piano or in toe shoes, with frequent appearances on television, at music festivals and in theatrical productions in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. She left the deep South to attend Hollins College and Boston University School for the Arts, receiving music degrees from each. Further studies at the Eastman and Juilliard Schools and Columbia University kept her in the North. Widely acclaimed for her flair, poetic fantasy, insightful musicianship and unforgettable stage presence, Verbit's piano recitals through the United States and Europe have established her as a favorite among piano connoisseurs. This piano recital includes works by George Gershwin (1898-1937); George Antheil (1900-1959); John Diercks (b. 1927); Joseph Fennimore (b. 1940); Leo Ornstein (1892); and Cyril Scott (1879-1970).

In Vento Appassionato, Molly Barth presents her interpretations of ten of the most influential 20th century compositions for solo flute in the repertoire, chronologically spanning from 1913 to 1966. Each piece on this recording leads Ms. Barth on an impactful emotional journey, which she delights in sharing with her listeners. Grammy-Award winning flutist Molly Barth is in demand as a soloist, clinician, and chamber musician. Lauded by reviewers, she has performed in Australia, Korea, Mexico, and across the United States. A founding member of the famed new music ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, Ms. Barth won first prize at the 1998 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. She is on the faculty at the Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University and is a graduate of Oberlin, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and Northwestern University School of Music.

Pianist Kyra Zhao says that “Vibrant, just like the title sounds, is a colorful excursion taking the listener’s ear on a journey from the dreamy seashore to the roaring thunder and from intimate friendship encounters to triumphant marches.” The works by Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Schumann are essential repertoire of the Romantic to the early 20th century era. Hailed by New York Concert Review as “A born performer” pianist Kyra Xuerong Zhao has achieved an international reputation in many countries as a concert pianist. She won top prizes at the Seattle International Piano Competition, Rome Chopin International Piano Competition, and the Quebec International Music Awards, among many others. She has performed recitals, concertos, and chamber concerts in the most prestigious halls in the world. A graduate of Boston University, Yale, and the Mannes School of Music, she is currently on the faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music Pre-College.

Bodil Rorbech was born in Denmark in 1967. She debuted as a soloist in 1990 at Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen where she played Alban Berg's Violin Concerto. The following year, she also had her official debut from the soloist class at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. She has also studied in Germany and in the USA with Joseph Silverstein. She performs regularly as a soloist in Denmark and abroad, often premiering new works. For the last five years, she has also been a member of Ensemble Ars Nova, based in Malmo, Sweden. In the summer of 1995, she received a scholarship for an intensive course in new performance technologies at the Center of New Music and Audio technologies in Berkeley, California. Inspired by the possibilities, she then began giving recitals featuring interactive performance with electronics. She has received the Jacob Gade Prize, the Music Critic's Award, the Bolero Prize from the Danish Broadcasting Company and the Composers Union's Musician Prize of Honor.

Violinist Scott Conklin and pianist Alan Huckleberry have assembled an impressive group of new American compositions for violin and piano, which, with the exception of the Bolcom and Sheng, are world premiere recordings. Scott Conklin is Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Iowa School of Music. He appears regularly as a recitalist, soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and teaching clinician throughout the United States and abroad. He was named the 2008 Iowa String Teachers Studio Teacher of the year and was a featured artist at the 2004 Music Teachers National Association Conference. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Conklin earned his D.M.A. from the University of Michigan School of Music.

This compact disc presents keyboard masterpieces by five of our century's most acclaimed Jewish composers. The sampling of the rich and varied traditions of Jewish music seems especially appropriate as this is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. A somewhat mischievous note of caution creeps in, however, when one attempts to define precisely what "Jewish music" is. Apart from that which can be heard as either liturgical or folk, one faces an enormous gray area of diverse styles (often in the same work), national influences and musical personalities. All of which is to say that "Jewish music" is much more similar to than distinct from other music. This is especially true in America today as younger composers have shed much of their teacher's and their teacher's heritage. Jewish composers exhibit all the strengths and all the weaknesses found among all musicians as of all humanity. When describing great works of art of all styles or origins, massive or minuscule in scope, one is speaking in part of the "vision" of its creator. This is not a mystical term; rather it describes an overreaching personal statement which envelopes the work and, when combined with formal coherence, creates a sense of artistic truth. While this "vision" is common to all great art, the creator can cast his gaze in many different directions: upward towards the heavens; inward towards the mysteries of the self; outward towards the sights and sounds of the world; backward to the past or forward to the future. This sense of "Jewish music" is perhaps to be found here; while all art contains a vision, the Jewish vision is distinct in just what the artist, in this case the composer, sees and feels.

There is a new generation of performing artists and composers who in recent years have been redefining the temporal and aesthetic dimensions of music, thus paving the way for a veritable cultural renaissance. Nowhere is this more evident than in the work of James J. Pellerite, one of the world's great virtuosi of the modern orchestral flute and no less a master of the Native American flute, which he now plays almost exclusively. Former solo flute of the Philadelphia Orchestra and a distinguished soloist and teacher for many years, Pellerite in 1995 launched a second career as a Native American flute virtuoso. His company, Zalo/JP-Publications, produces an important catalog featuring a wide selection of orchestral, chamber and solo works by living composers who share his vision of bringing the Northern Plains instrument firmly into the 21st century and to elevate it to the status of a significant new voice on the contemporary concert stage. The present recording is the most recent of his many collaborations with living composers. Should anyone still require proof that the Northern Plains flute is more than a quaintly happy find for tourists browsing gift shops for souvenirs conjuring the color and spirit of the American West, he/she has only to experience the invigorating musical diversity and consummate artistry represented by this remarkable disc.

Cellist Jonathan Golove offers a program of contemporary Mexican works for cello, five of which are world premiere recordings. All of these composers are major figures in Mexican music and this recording showcases the exciting and vibrant work that is being done in Mexico. Golove is a dedicated performer of both new and traditional works as well as of improvised music. A native of Los Angeles, he now serves as associate professor in the University of Buffalo's Department of Music.

The cycle of birth, death, experience, and the renewal of life can be found in varying degrees as the inspiration for several of the works on this recording, and in some cases, their reinterpretations. This recording highlights the diversity and creativity that can be found in the music of these distinguished American composers. The music is brought to life through the exquisite performances of Jonathan Keeble and Ann Yeung. Their collaboration as a flute/harp duo since 2002 has led them to venues in Asia, Europe and throughout North America.

The guitar has always been a pillar of musical expression in Latin America. Its personal character reflects the strain of individuality in Latin cultures. Twentieth Century luminaries including Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Chavez and Alberto Ginastera, have paid homage to the guitar through their compositions. Contemporary Latin American composers continue the tradition of these musical giants. Composers on this recording, all different in their musical approach, share a special feel for the guitar. Roque Cordero (Panama-USA), Tania Léon (Cuba-USA) and Rafael Aponte-Ledée (Puerto Rico) employ techniques of atonal composition while fusing regional elements. Edmundo Vçsquez, the Paris-based Chilean composer, utilizes traditional folkloric structures elaborated by the techniques of current musical idioms. United States born Francis Schwartz, who has made Puerto Rico his home, uses the guitar and the guitarist as features of a music theater work which includes vocal sounds and gestures from the audience. The renowned Argentinian composer, Astor Piazzolla, added classical training to his vast popular musical experience as a bandoneon player. Piazzolla highlights in these guitar pieces the harmonic language he used to rejuvenate the traditional tango.

From the Hollywood Bowl to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, from Carnegie Hall to the "Meet in Beijing" International Arts Festival, Edward Knight's music has found a home straddling the worlds of jazz, concert and theater. Born in Ann Arbor, he earned his DMA from University of Texas at Austin. He studied privately with John Corigliano and was the first American to win the Sir Arthur Bliss Memorial award, for outstanding postgraduate composer at London's Royal College of Music. Knight is a "fresh, original voice" with "an inventive sense of humor" (Bernard Holland, The New York Times) who creates music that is "visceral in its excitement" (John von Rheim, Chicago Tribune). Wayne Lee Gay of Knight-Ridder News Service calls Knight's music "inventive and melodic." Timothy Mangan of the Los Angeles Times cites "the composer's canny combination of steady meter with atonal lyricism, a waltz-like lilt with expressionist angst." Mangan notes that Knight's orchestral work is "tightly unified, suave and sinister, confidently orchestrated." Recent awards include Best Song Cycle in the American Art Song Competition sponsored by the San Francisco Song Festival; ASCAP's Rudolf Nissim Award; first prize in the National Orchestra Association's New Music Orchestral Project and fellowships to Yaddo and MacDowell.

Beth Wiemann was raised in Burlington, Vermont and studied composition and clarinet at Oberlin and Princeton University. She teaches composition and clarinet at the University of Maine, and splits her time between Maine and Massachusetts, where her husband, composer David Rakowski, teaches at Brandeis University. On this compilation of works for voice, clarinet, piano and electronics, Beth Wiemann brings together in compelling fashion three important facets of her life as a composer: a fascination with setting words, broad experience as an active performer of her own music and that of her colleagues, and an ongoing interest in the incorporation into her work of electronic and digital technology. Wiemann has been fascinated for years with the already heightened speech of poetry and its translation into the still more heightened speech of song. Among her earliest musical memories is that of hearing original cast recordings of Broadway musicals played in her home as a child. Unlike a number of composers of her generation, the Broadway idiom has exerted a far greater influence on her than later pop and rock styles, though not in an immediately obvious way. While genuinely admiring the craftsmanship of such composers for the stage as Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Rodgers, Bernstein and Sondheim, however, she has not sought to introduce superficial characteristics of their styles into her music in any literal sense. Instead, she has cultivated a harmonically subtle, more chromatic and less obviously tonally grounded pitch language. Her clearest connection with mid-twentieth century American musical theater is in her treatment of the declamation of the text. Consequently, from the songs recorded here to her recent opera, Deeds, her vocal compositions, like the best American popular songs, reflect a penchant for capturing the rhythms and nuances of vernacular speech. In keeping with that tendency, she is often drawn to poetry that is intimate and conversational in tone or concerned with aspects of everyday life. In travels to artists' colonies over the years she has had the good fortune to meet and befriend a number of poets, who often provide her with new material for musical setting. Most of this disc consists of selections from Weimann's collection Simple Songs, a project she began in 1990. Included are the first songs of the set, "No Moon, No Star" and "Night Thought." At the time of their composition, she was also engaged in setting them for women's chorus. She was prompted to make solo settings partly in response to a request from the soprano Karol Bennett for some songs to perform on a concert planned for the fall of 1990. Over time, Wiemann added other songs to the collection as she came across poetry that interested her. The latest song from the collection that appears on this disc is "Seamstress" composed in 2001.

This recording fulfills a long-time dream of Charles Tibbetts to make the music of Alec Wilder for French horn more widely available. Tibbetts first met Alec Wilder and became acquainted with his music through his French horn teacher, the great John Barrows. In fact, some of the works on this recording were written for Barrows and Charles Tibbetts gave the world premiere performance of Suite Nr. 2 while a student of Barrows at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Charles Tibbetts studied with John Barrows until his death in 1974 and then left school to pursue a 46-year career in Europe where he played with the Philharmonia Hungarica, the Badische Staatstheater Nationaltheater Mannheim and the SWR Radio Orchestras. He returned to the U.S. in 2010 and is now active as a chamber musician in the Eau Claire area of Wisconsin.

William Appling, who died in 2008, felt that the music of Joplin and Bach were perfect compliments to each other. He was passionate to have people hear that the two composers were comparable in the caliber of their work. Bach wrote tightly structured works within the baroque style and his music became more complex over time. Joplin worked the tightly structured rag style, developing and expanding it throughout his career. Both stylistically created music having melodies within melodies. These were two geniuses writing at the highest level and thus the idea for a recording pairing the music of both was born. Those people who heard William Appling play knew that his gifts as a pianist were equal to those as a conductor, teacher and mentor. This recording is a small sample of his genius.

In a very short period, Buenos Aires-born Jorge Liderman has achieved much success both on and off record. He studied in Israel under Mark Kopitman and under Ralph Shapey and Shulamit Ran in Chicago. His works have been commissioned and performed by the London Sinfonietta, the American Composers Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and many other organizations here and abroad. As he writes about these fascinating works, "I have particularly been concerned with the idea of repetition since the early 1990's, especially after the impact minimalism has had not only on my musical thinking, but also on the musical world as a whole...I have used various types of repetition to create a cohesive structure on which to base some of my works...the three works in this album were written between 1990 and 2003; in different ways they all show the use of repetition as a central element..." Here is music that combines the color of Ginastera with the rhythmic sense of Steve Reich.

Pianist and composer Yvar Mikhashoff had an international performing career that led him to promote new music and American music around the world. He organized many festivals and broadcasts throughout the world, notably at the Almeida Theater in London and De Ijsbreker in Amsterdam. Mikhashoff was one of the founders of the North American New Music Festival in Buffalo and its co-director, with Jan Williams, for 11 years. The Canadian pianist Winston Choi offers splendid performances of Mikhashoff's Elemental Figures and Ravel's Gaspard. The parallel design of Ravel's work and Mikhashoff's is multi-faceted and extensive. Both are trilogies that are associated with poetry and the tempos and the structure of both works are similar.

Chris Gekker is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland. As a soloist he has been featured at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. For 18 years Chris was a member of the American Brass Quintet. He was principal trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke's and frequently performed and recorded as principal of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He writes: "Eric Ewazen, David Snow, and I all entered the Eastman School of Music as freshmen in 1972, and in fact David and I were roommates that first year. We all became friends quickly, and I frequently prepared and performed their music during those student years. In the more than 30 years since then, rarely has a year gone by that I have not been involved in their works, and in some years there have been many performances. When I joined the American Brass Quintet in 1981, it was with great pleasure that I introduced pieces by David and Eric to the group, works that immediately became standards on the Quintet's recital programs and recordings. As far as our friendships have gone, well, some things do get better with age, and it is with a deep sense of gratitude that I look back upon all our years as colleagues. Both Eric and David write music that is important to me, music that I hear when I am away from my instrument, music that continues to challenge me to strive for improvement as a musician and trumpet player". David Snow holds degrees in music from Eastman and Yale University. He studied with Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, Samuel Adler, and Jacob Druckman. Eric Ewazen was born in 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at Eastman and Juilliard. He has been Vice-President of the League-ISCM, Composer-in-Residence with the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. Lecturer for the New York Philharmonic's Musical Encounters Series, and he has been on the faculty of the Juilliard School since 1980.

The origin of this project lies in a grant obtained by flutist Asako Arai for commissioning and performing four new works. After the pieces were performed, Arai conceived the idea of making a recording and presenting a wide panorama of music for flute from both sides of the border. Moreover, there are no strict borders as far as musical languages and chronology are concerned with the six works. Not only is there a time frame of almost half a century between the earliest and the latest of these pieces, but there is also a wide spectrum of technical and expressive means.

A native of New Zealand, cellist Miranda Wilson has performed on five continents as a soloist and chamber musician. Educated in New Zealand, England and the U.S., she is on the faculty of the University of Idaho and is artistic co-director of the Idaho Bach Festival. Wilson has chosen to combine Ernest Bloch's three suites for solo cello with two new works by Daniel Bukvich. One of the connecting features between these two composers is their association with the Pacific Northwest. Bloch spent his last years in Oregon, while Bukvich has spent his career on the faculty at the University of Idaho. Bukvich studied Bloch's manuscripts as a student and names Bloch as one of his influences.

There is a fact in American music that can no longer be overlooked. There are a great number of composers over 65 who are very important and who are routinely overlooked by the major labels. This is shameful. In the fifties the music of Benjamin Lees, relatively speaking, was everywhere; the concert hall, RCA Victor, Turnabout, Louisville. So, when you have a magnificent pianist, Ian Hobson, performing the music of an equally magnificent composer, Benjamin Lees, you have an important disc. The Piano Sonata No. 4 was commissioned by the Ford Foundation for Gary Graffman and given its world premiere in Norfolk, Virginia. The Fantasy Variations are dedicated to Emanuel Ax who gave them their world premiere on February 1, 1984 at the Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York City. Mirrors, in six sections was composed for Ian Hobson. The first four sections were premiered by Mr. Hobson in Orchestra Hall in Chicago. Since that premiere in 1992, Mr. Lees has added two more sections. Since the work is open ended, there is no telling how many sections it will ultimately have. Here we have a disc that will really appeal to all lovers of contemporary American piano music: no - in fact, contemporary music in general.

As renowned trombonist James Pugh writes, "If there's anything (these works) have in common, it's that, while they can all be heard as serious works, they each contain elements of popular music of their time - they combine traditional classical elements with popular harmony and rhythm..."

Two young stellar musicians, cellist Xiao-Dan Zheng and pianist Clara Yang collaborate on a recording of music by Edvard Grieg and Sergei Prokofiev that includes sonatas for cello by both composers and two works for piano. Ms. Zheng is a member of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and previously served as principal cellist of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Her awards include a Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Young Artist Award and the ASCAP Ira Gershwin Award, among many others. Clara Yang, on the faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has a varied career as a soloist, chamber music musician and educator. She has performed concertos with the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Longview Symphony, the Eastman Philharmonia, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.