News and Press: Press Releases

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Episodes and Emergence, two new orchestral works composed in 2010 by American-born composer Dr. Janet Dunbar, were premiered by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine at the Concert Hall of Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University in Kiev on January 23, 2011 under the direction of Swiss conductor, Maestro Silvio Wyler. Dunbar's new pieces were greeted enthusiastically, along with works by Giacomo Puccini, Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, and Giuseppe Verdi.

Other recent premieres of Dunbar works include Deja Vu performed by the Kharkiv Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Stephen Ellery (April 2010), a double bill of Vision and Epiphany performed by the Dnepropetrovsk State Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Leo Walz (June 2009), a virtuosic tremolo piece for solo guitar, Recuerdos de Segovia, performed at the University of Oklahoma in March of 2009, and the three movement Spring Fever Triptych for two guitars performed at the Austin Guitars Galore! Festival in April of 2009.

Pioneer of The New Elegant Simplicity, Dunbar reaches out to audiences with memorable melodies and countermelodies, straightforward harmony, rhythmic excitement and drive, and colorful orchestration. While influenced by many types of music, the composer's highly individual style remains extremely melodic with strong Latin influences; yet it is distinctly modern in its rhythmic inventiveness and metric ingenuity.

Active since 1979, The State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine has won both national and international acclaim. The orchestra's repertoire includes works by Beethoven, Bortniansky, Bruckner, Dvorak, Elgar, Gershwin, Glinka, Lyatoshynsky, Mahler, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky. The State Academic Symphony Orchestra performs a wide variety of contemporary and classical music, premiering works by leading modern composers, and showcasing talented young soloists. Under the direction of Maestro Victor Zdorenko, the State Symphony Orchestra has become very popular in Ukraine.

Guest conductor Maestro Silvio Wyler hails from St. Gallen, Switzerland. While obtaining a BA from the Musik Academy of Basel and a soloist diploma from the Conservatory of Lausanne, Wyler performed classical and jazz repertoire on saxophone. After having taught sax in Zurich and St. Gallen for a number of years, Wyler founded the Birdland Bigband in 1994, catapulting this organization to the professional stage and recording with the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra. Concomitantly Wyler blossomed as a conductor under the able guidance of such conducting greats as Peter Gülke and Ewald Körner. In 2002, Wyler pursued formal studies in conducting in Bucharest, earning a Master of Arts with subsequent doctoral studies focusing on Energy in Music. Now in demand as a guest conductor as well, the charismatic Wyler has likewise demonstrated special abilities for dynamic interpretations of operatic and symphonic masterworks and bold premieres of new music.

While earning a doctorate in composition at Stanford University, Dr. Dunbar worked at Stanford's CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) on computer-generated, algorithmic compositions with strong melodic and rhythmic content. Excursions into world music motives, jazz harmonies, musique concrete, computer music and text setting culminated in the 28-minute, ten part tour de force, Song of the Sea, recorded on her 1999 CD, Spirit Journey. Prior to studying at Stanford, the composer completed a master of arts in music at San Jose State University. The composer currently resides in Colleyville, TX, where she divides her time between directing Amberlight Conservatory, teaching at Tarrant County College, attending premieres of her works, and producing orchestral, instrumental, vocal and choral works.

For more information about Janet Dunbar, visit the website http://www.janetdunbar.com or contact Amberlight Productions at (817) 403-0927 or pr@amberlight.com.

Deja Vu (2010), a new orchestral work by American-born composer Dr. Janet Dunbar, was premiered by the Kharkiv Philharmonic Orchestra, with guest conductor, Londoner Stephen Ellery, at the podium. The work was performed at the historic Kharkiv Philharmonic Hall in Ukraine on April 15, 2010 for an enthusiastic and especially musically savvy audience.

Dunbar's Deja Vu for orchestra is a melodic, tonal work with a relaxed feel and an intuitive nonlinear organization. Its logic is that of dreams, not waking conscious thought. The idea of a Deja Vu (the sensation of already having experienced a brand new situation) plays out through the repeated return and chameleon-like transformation of the initial theme. Interspersed between these unique variations lies contrasting material, ranging from waltz-like to carnival-esque. One section of the piece mutates into another. Throughout the work, memorable, tightly interwoven countermelodies create quickly shifting scenes that resemble the unexpected transitions in dreams; the goal-oriented principle of organization in the prototypical bombastic orchestral work is largely eschewed. By the end of the piece, the return of the melancholy initial theme has taken on a slow-burning salsa feel. One of Dunbar's more introspective works, Deja Vu is best experienced through concentrated listening. According to the composer, "While writing the piece, I had in mind political and economic crises in Ukraine and other parts of the world and an empathy for the people enduring and recovering from them."

Dunbar's recent premieres include two orchestral works, Vision and Epiphany, by the Dnepropetrovsk State Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Leo Walz in June of 2009, a virtuosic tremolo piece for solo guitar, Recuerdos de Segovia, performed at the University of Oklahoma in March of 2009, and the three movement Spring Fever Triptych for two guitars, performed at the Austin Guitars Galore! Festival in April of 2009.

Pioneer of The New Elegant Simplicity, Dunbar reaches out to audiences with memorable melodies and countermelodies, straightforward harmony, rhythmic excitement and drive, and colorful orchestration. While influenced by many types of music, the composer's highly individual style remains extremely melodic with strong Latin influences; yet it is distinctly modern in its rhythmic inventiveness and metric ingenuity.

While earning a doctorate in composition at Stanford University, Dunbar worked at Stanford's CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) on computer-generated, algorithmic compositions with strong melodic and rhythmic content. Excursions into world music motives, jazz harmonies, musique concrete, computer music and text setting culminated in the 28-minute, ten part tour de force, Song of the Sea, recorded on her 1999 CD, Spirit Journey. Prior to studying at Stanford, the composer completed a master of arts in music at San Jose State University. As an undergraduate at Duke University, Dunbar's interest in the orchestra was rekindled by a Masterpieces of Music Literature course. While her academic achievements are notable, the composer attributes her ongoing fascination with writing for orchestra to the early influence of the orchestral program in the Tenafly, NJ school system. "I was fortunate enough to attend elementary schools with an orchestral program and to experience the beautiful colors of orchestral instruments live from a very young age", says Dunbar.

The composer currently resides in Colleyville, TX, where she divides her time between directing Amberlight Conservatory, teaching at Tarrant County College, attending premieres of her works, and producing orchestral, instrumental, vocal and choral works.

The Kharkiv Philharmonic was founded in 1929, and is one of the oldest concert organizations in Ukraine. The House of Philharmonic is a beautiful Ukrainian landmark and historic cultural center that has hosted great artists such as Piotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Alexander Scriabin, Aram Khachaturian, Mstislav Rostropovich, Dmitri Shostakovich, Fyodor Shaliapin, Aleksandr Gauk, Reinhold Gliere and many others. With over 100 outstanding professional orchestral players, many recipients of national and international prizes and acclaim, the orchestra is a strong supporter of Ukrainian culture and provides many opportunities for youth to become familiar with classical and Ukrainian folk music. The orchestra's Gift Concert in the University Subway Station last year can be viewed on youtube.com. Particularly appealing to the university crowd is Rodriguez's famous tango, La Cumparsita, done with panache under the spirited direction of Maestro Yuriy Yanko. This Subway Gift Concert idea is a testimonial to the innovative approach this orchestra takes to introducing young people to the joys of the orchestral sound. Approximately 6000 people, mostly of university age, attended this concert.

Jazz sax player turned conductor, Maestro Stephen Ellery resides in London, England and has directed orchestras in Poland, Peru, Japan and the UK. In August of last year, Ellery led the International Asian Youth Orchestra in the Nanking and Shanghai performances of a Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Ellery's repertoire ranges from the music of Mahler and Bartok to works by Schumann, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart all the way through to Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Berio, Varese, Boulez, Lutoslawski, Takemitsu, Dunbar and others. Stephen Ellery was a pupil of Maestro Ilya Musin in St Petersburg (Russia 1991-95) and Maestro Jerzy Katlewicz in Krakow (Poland 1988-91).

For more information about Janet Dunbar, visit the website http://www.janetdunbar.com or contact Amberlight Productions at (817) 403-0927 or pr@amberlight.com.

Two orchestral works, Vision (2009) and Epiphany (2009) by American-born composer Dr. Janet Dunbar will be premiered by the Dnepropetrovsk State Philharmonic Orchestra under the able direction of Maestro Leo Walz. The works will be performed at the Dnepropetrovsk Philharmonic Grand Hall, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine on June 11, 2009.

Pioneer of The New Elegant Simplicity, Dunbar reaches out to audiences with memorable melodies and countermelodies, straightforward harmony, rhythmic excitement and drive, dynamic and timbral contrasts, and mastery of tension and release in formal design. These principles are exemplified in the most recent works for full orchestra, Vision and Epiphany. Although the works synthesize many styles, the music remains highly melodic with strong classical influences, yet distinctly modern, in its rhythmic inventiveness and metric ingenuity.

Dunbar's recent premieres include Recuerdos de Segovia, a virtuosic tremolo piece for solo guitar, performed at the University of Oklahoma in March, and Spring Fever Triptych for two guitars, performed at the Austin Guitars Galore! Festival in April.

While earning a doctorate in musical composition at Stanford University, Dunbar worked at Stanford's CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) on computer-generated, algorithmic compositions with strong melodic and rhythmic content. Excursions into world music motives, jazz harmonies, musique concrete, computer music and skill at text setting culminated in the 28-minute, ten part tour de force, Song of the Sea, recorded on her 1999 CD, Spirit Journey. Prior to earning a doctorate at Stanford, the composer also earned a master of arts in music from San Jose State University.

The composer currently resides in Colleyville, TX, where she divides her time between directing Amberlight Conservatory, attending frequent premieres of her works, and producing new compositions.

Maestro Leo Waltz holds a doctorate in conducting from the University of Miami and serves on the faculty at Miami Dade College. He has conducted a wide variety of repertoire in a multitude of national and international venues. His sensitive and highly appealing realization of Barber's Adagio for Strings in Sibiu Romania is available on http://www.youtube.com/leowalz.

The Dnepropetrovsk State Philharmonic Orchestra has been conducted by composers and conductors of international renown such as Khachaturian, Gauk, Gliere, Rakhlin, Kondrashin, Klimov, Khrennikov and many others in its greater than 65 year history. With fine orchestral players, many working as soloists, the orchestra is a regular participant in numerous international festivals and European tours.

For more information about Janet Dunbar, visit the website http://www.janetdunbar.com or contact Amberlight Productions at (817) 403-0927 or pr@amberlight.com.