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Fine Music, Vol. 5
Hans Bakker composer
Kyle Peter Rotolo composer
Peter Vukmirovic Stevens composer
Nicholas Vines composer
Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn composer
Gregory W. Brown composer
Sydney Hodkinson composer
Karen A. Tarlow composer
Robert DeGaetano composer
Yves Ramette composer
Richard Stoltzman clarinet
Andrew Schultz composer
Chris Wild cellist
Apollo Chamber Players
Michael Glenn Williams composer
The Bowed Piano Ensemble
Navona Records’ new installment of the FINE MUSIC series presents a deep cross-sectionof the label’s wide-ranging and provocative 2013/2014 release slate, featuring performances by the Grammy-nominated New York Polyphony, Ensemble Dal Niente, cellist Chris Wild, Grammy-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the Apollo Chamber Players, and many more in works by Hindemith, DeGaetano, Hodkinson, Ramette, Stevens, Williams, Bakker, Rotolo, Vines, Sternfeld-Dunn, Brown, Tarlow, and others.
Since its launch in 2008, the Navona label has established a hard-earned reputation as a strong advocate for new music and artists, being hailed for “providing an excellent service to music fans by promoting lesser known modern classical composers whose music would otherwise not reach a larger audience” (babysue) and “exploring the range of styles available to contemporary American composers” (Audiophile Audition).
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Artist Information
Hans Bakker
After he finished his studies piano, church organ, and choral conducting at the Dutch Institute for Church Music in Utrecht, Hans Bakker (b. 1945) worked as a teacher at two music schools in the Netherlands. He also conducted two choirs and was active in the improvisational music scene. His career in music was followed by the study of Sanskrit. After obtaining his master's degree at the University of Amsterdam, he returned to music, becoming completely occupied by teaching at Globe Center for Art and Culture in the city of Hilversum.
Kyle Peter Rotolo
Called “a fresh, bold, and individual creative force” (Los Angeles’ Canyon News), and “a very talented young composer with much to look forward to in the future” (Paula Brusky, 2010 Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition), Kyle Peter Rotolo (b. 1986) is a multi-faceted musician who has worked in a variety of mediums including contemporary classical, film/television/radio, and pop/rock. He grew up on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, just across from the City That Never Sleeps. 2012 was an exciting year for Kyle; it saw the premiere of Marilyn’s Room, a mini-opera on his own story and libretto, by the Peabody opera company, as well as the album release of his piece for solo guitar Le crâne a lá cigarette qui fume on the album Epitaphios by the lauded guitarist Anastasios Comanescu. He is an alumnus of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (M.M. ’13), the Brevard Music Center, and a member of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. His primary teachers have been Kevin Puts, Liviu Marinescu, and N. Lincoln Hanks. He has also studied with Robert Aldridge and David Dzubay.
Peter Vukmirovic Stevens
Peter Vukmirovic Stevens is a composer, pianist, and multimedia artist. Stevens’ illustrative music covers an extensive palette of sensibilities from concert to sound art. He is the founder of Ensemble Ex Materia. Stevens lives in Paris.
Nicholas Vines
Described as “exquisite” (Gramophone), “riveting” (The New York Times), “arresting” (The Boston Globe), “compellingly original” (Boston Phoenix), “full, extravagant and wild” (Sydney Morning Herald), and “edgy, bright and entertaining as hell” (NewMusicBox), the works of Nicholas Vines (b.1976, Sydney) have been performed by the likes of Alarm Will Sound, BMOP, Ensemble Offspring, the Schola Cantorum Gedanesis Chamber Choir, the BT Scottish Ensemble and the Australian Piano Quartet. He has been commissioned by organisations around the world, such as Acacia Quartet, Callithumpian Consort, Firebird Ensemble, mmm…, Guerilla Opera, ChamberMade Opera, Ensemble Apex, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and various Sydney schools.
Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn
Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn (b. 1980, Vallejo CA) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, was educated on both coasts and now finds himself in the middle of the country. His music combines a frenetic rhythmic language, lean textures and lyrical sensitivity. His music has been recorded and performed throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Asia by ensembles and organizations including the Kiev Philharmonic, The Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra, Huntsville Alabama Army Band, Composers Inc, Conundrum, The Yale Brass Trio, Scott/Garrison Duo, and Vox Novus.
Gregory W. Brown
Composer Gregory W. Brown’s works have been performed across the United States and Europe — most notably in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Cadogan Hall in London, and the Kleine Zaal of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His commissions for vocal ensemble New York Polyphony have been heard on American Public Media’s Performance Today, BBC Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, Kansas Public Radio, and Danish National Radio; his Missa Charles Darwin received its European debut in March 2013 at the Dinosaur Hall of Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde.
Sydney Hodkinson
Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Sydney Hodkinson (January 17, 1934 – January 10, 2021) led an impressive career in conducting, composition, and music education, having received a bachelor’s and master’s of music from the Eastman School of Music, and a doctorate of musical arts from the University of Michigan in 1968.
Karen A. Tarlow
Born in the Boston MA area, Karen A. Tarlow now lives in Western Massachusetts and composes music on commission. She has written for a wide range of vocal and instrumental forces, including ballets, solo and chamber works, choral music and music for orchestra. Most recently (2011), she composed a new work for Mak’hela: The Jewish Chorus of Western Massachusetts; new music for the Da Camera Singers; and completed music for a series of multi-media ballets and puppet shows for children for Picture Book Theatre and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
Robert DeGaetano
A native of New York City, pianist Robert DeGaetano (1946 – 2015) enjoyed a widely esteemed career as both a virtuoso interpreter of the great keyboard repertoire and a composer of striking originality and communicative intensity.
Yves Ramette
Composer Yves Ramette (b. 1921) was born in Bavay, France, where his father was the director of a school. From a very young age Ramette was instinctively attracted towards music. When he was seven years old he started learning musical notation as well as to play the violin and the piano. At age fourteen, while pursuing his secondary studies at the Beauvais Lycée, he also began taking advanced lessons in harmony.
Richard Stoltzman
Richard Stoltzman's virtuosity, technique, imagination, and communicative power have revolutionized the world of clarinet playing, opening up possibilities for the instrument that no one could have predicted. He was responsible for bringing the clarinet to the forefront as a solo instrument, and is still the world's foremost clarinetist. Stoltzman gave the first clarinet recitals in the histories of both the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, and, in 1986, became the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize.
Andrew Schultz
Australian composer Andrew Schultz studied at the Universities of Queensland and Pennsylvania and at King's College London and has received various awards, prizes and fellowships. His music, which covers a broad range of chamber, orchestral and vocal works, has been performed, recorded and broadcast widely by many leading groups and musicians internationally. He has held numerous commissions, including from the major Australian orchestras.
Chris Wild
Chris Wild (b.1983) was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. He is now based in the United States where he is active as a cellist, conductor, and music educator.
Apollo Chamber Players
Houston TX based Apollo Chamber Players “performs with rhythmic flair and virtuosity” (The Strad) and has “found fruitful territory” (Houston Chronicle) through innovative, globally-inspired programming and multicultural new music commissions. Winner of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Residency Partnership award, the quartet has performed for sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall, and it holds the distinction of being the first American chamber ensemble to record and perform in Cuba since 1960. Apollo is featured frequently on American Public Media’s nationally-syndicated program Performance Today.
Michael Glenn Williams
Michael Glenn Williams' music and piano performance is featured on productions such as the "Chicago Hope;" "Wicker Park," "The Limey," "King of the Hill," "Younger and Younger," "House of Yes," "Through the Door" and "Wonderland." His concert transcriptions of video game music are featured in the game "Crabs and Penguins" from Coke, and performed by the Video Games Live orchestra.
Bowed Piano Ensemble
The Bowed Piano Ensemble, founded by composer Stephen Scott at Colorado College in 1977, has evolved into a small experimental-music orchestra whose ten players conjure, from one open grand piano, long, singing lines, sustained drones, chugging accordion-like figures, crisp staccato tones reminiscent of clarinets, deep drum tones and more, often simultaneously, to create a rich, contrapuntal new-chamber-music tapestry.
