The Nimbus Ensemble - An Adventurous Chamber Orchestra

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We just finished a wonderful concert [March 29] and symposium [March 24], with Sara Schoenbeck, Nadia Shpachenko, Dan Hosken, and many others performing stunning works in our new space at Zipper Concert Hall in the Colburn School of Performing Arts. The concept of Palimpsest permeated the events, giving form and structure and excitement to our repertoire.

Thanks to all who came for making this a rousing success. See what the L.A. Times had to say about it: "a rare opportunity to hear solid performances of works by Xenakis and Schoenberg..." The Stravinsky was "Deftly played", and "the important young bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck got a chance to shine in young composer Steven Hoey's impressive 'Sotra Voce.' Schoenbeck coaxed extended sounds from her instrument but retained its lonely eloquence." Or in his "Palimpsest of 'Palimpsest' ", Dan Hosken " wielded his "Wizard of Oz"-like power impressively, with offstage controls and an expansive toolbox." In the Xenakis, "pianist Nadia Shpachenko and timpanist Dave Gerhart were given workouts and rose to their tasks." (The entire article is available in the L.A. Times archives.)

Thursday, March 29, 2007, at 8:00 p.m.
Zipper Concert Hall in the Colburn School of Performing Arts (venue info)

Iannis Xenakis, Palimpsest (1979)

Dan Hosken, World Premiere, written over Xenakis' Palimpsest

Arnold Schoenberg, Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 (Arr. Felix Greissle)

Igor Stravinsky, Three Pieces for Clarinet

Steven Hoey, Sotra Voce

The Nimbus Institute/Exploring Ideas in the Arts and Sciences

“Building, Destroying or Ignoring: Examining Creative Relationships to a Past—Palimpsest as Metaphor.”

Saturday, March 24, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Gallery 6, UCLA-Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024

In tandem with the Ensemble’s March 29 concert, the Nimbus Institute presents three renowned scholars exploring intriguing aspects of the past present relationship. These stimulating lectures will will examine how substrata from a past interacting with present surface features informs our understanding and aesthetic responses.

Widely known for her seminal work in electronic contextuality, Marjorie Luesebrink will discuss "The Palimpsest in Electronic Literature: Refreshing Modalities." (see here for related information)

Architectural Historian and head of special collections at the Getty Research Institute, Wim De Wit brings his focus to design implications of the palimpsest metaphor.

Composer and head of CSUN’s music technology studio Dan Hosken will explore his creative use of Iannis Xenakis’ Palimpsest as the basic building material for his new composition, featured in the Ensemble’s March 29 concert. In “Erasing Xenakis: Creating a Palimpsest of Palimpsest” Dr. Hosken will bring us inside his richly layered compositional process.

Please enjoy the following related links:
Palimpsest variously defined and explored
PBS NOVA series on the Archimedes palimpsest
Palimpsest in hypertexts and consciousness

Sunday, April 23, 2006, 4 p.m.
Westwood United Methodist Church

Dimitri Shoshtakovich, Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 35
with Sarkis Baltaian, piano
[about the composer here and here]

Witold Lutosławski, Preludes & Fugue for 13 solo strings
[about the piece here; about the composer here]

Ludwig van Beethoven, Grosse Fugue for string orchestra
[about the composer here]

Plus, as always, our mystery piece.

There was an L.A. Times review of February 12, 2006 concert (search the L.A. Times Archives)

Sunday, February 12, 2006, 4:00 p.m.
Westwood United Methodist Church

György Ligeti, Ramifications (for two string groups tuned a quarter-tone apart)

Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047 (with historically-informed instrumentation, including french horn and recorder)

Franz Joseph Haydn, Symphony No. 49 (La Passione)

Thursday, February 9, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
The Nimbus Institute Symposium

An initiative of The Nimbus Ensemble that supports the intellectual exploration of music, the arts and sciences — presented a symposium on The Physicality of Music at Steinway Hall (12121 W. Pico Blvd. [at Bundy] L.A.). The event featured composers Dr. Dan Hosken (Director of Music Technology at CSUN), Dr. Jeffrey Holmes (Lecturer at USC's Thornton School of Music) and Nimbus Ensemble Music Director Dr. Young Riddle discussing both composers' creative relationship to the physical nature of their compositional materials, and the connection of these insights to the Ligeti work on Sunday's orchestra concert. Oboist Paul Sherman performed.

Sunday, December 4, 2005, 4:00 p.m.
Westwood United Methodist Church

J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

Tomaso Albinoni, Concert a 5, Op. 7, No. 2
Paul Sherman, oboe

Paul Hindemith, Cello Concerto Op. 36, No. 2 [Kammermusik No. 3]
Jason Calloway, cello

Leon Kirchner, Five Pieces for Piano
Nadia Shpachenko, piano

Leon Kirchner, Music for Twelve

There was an L.A. Times review of April 10, 2005 concert (search the L.A. Times Archives)

Sunday, April 10, 2005, 4:00 p.m.
Westwood United Methodist Church
Elliott Carter – Dialogues for piano and chamber orchestra
West Coast Premiere
Nadia Shpachenko, piano
(boosey.com bio on Carter; Charles Rosen on Elliott Carter; NewMusic interview with Carter; article on the London premiere of Dialogues)

Igor Stravinsky, Dumbarton Oaks concerto in E Flat (1937-38)

J.S. Bach, Concerto No. 1 in A Minor (BWV 1041)
Rebekka Hartmann, violin

Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Sonata for solo Violin
Rebekka Hartmann, violin

Wednesday, March 23, 2005, 7:30 p.m.
The Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium
Sound and Space in the Rothko Chapel
lecture by Getty Research Institute director Thomas Crow

performance by Nimbus Ensemble of
Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel (with the Los Angeles Vocal Artists)
De Koooning
The Viola in my Life 2
I Met Heine on the Rue Furstenberg

Free, parking $7, reservation suggested (more info on Getty)

Sunday, January 16, 2005, 4:00 p.m.
Westwood United Methodist Church
10497 Wilshire Blvd., L. A.
free parking next to church
tickets available at the door, $25--$40 (students $10)

Luciano Berio (more on Berio), Chemins IV (1975)
Paul Sherman, soloist

Elliott Carter (more on Carter here and here and here), Elegy for Strings (1943/1952)

George Friedrich Handel, Organ Concerto, Op. 4, no. 3 in G Minor
Lawrence Strohm, soloist

Arcangelo Corelli, Adagio

Luciano Berio, Sequenza VII
Paul Sherman, oboe

June 4, 2004,
The Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Stephen Prina (visual artist and composer), A House Is Not A Home. NB-This performance was part of the L. A. Philharmonic/Getty "Building Music" symposium.

May 23, 2004,
Westwood United Methodist Church

Witold Lutoslawsky, Musique Funèbre (1958)

Johann Sebastian Bach, Keyboard Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052
Sarkis Baltaian, soloist

Young Riddle, Emanations Quartet (2004, site-specific work)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony no. 29 in A Major, K. 201