Titled Voices,the evening will feature radiant, emergent works including premieres she commissioned from Nomi Epstein and Sheree Clement, the New York premiere of Judith Weir’s Piano Concerto led by conductor James Baker, and two masterpieces by Mario Davidovsky: Synchronisms No. 6 (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) and Chacona. Garth’s commissions reveal her adventurous and imaginative spirit. In for Eliza, Epstein uses the prepared piano to create colorful, complex sonorities, explored in slow motion. Garth makes her theatrical debut in Clement’s Teeth, playing the role of a disintegrating pianist during the pandemic of 2020, haunted by her thoughts and musical memories in fixed media. Featured guest musicians: violinists Rebecca Fischer, Anna Lim, Curtis Macomber, and Deborah Wong; violists Lois Martin and Liuh-Wen Ting; cellists Chris Finckel and Robert LaRue; Lewis Paer on contrabass.
As described in The New York Times, “Ms. Garth…has an exquisite ear for piano sound. One can think of no one better qualified to play this intricate, shining music.”
Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 7:30pm
Merkin Hall
129 West 67th Street (bet. Broadway & Amsterdam)
New York, NY 10023
$25; $15 Student & $20 Senior Tickets Available at the Box Office at 212-501-3330
Tickets: https://bit.ly/ElizaGarthWSR
Eliza Garth, Pianist
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 an adventurous spirit, championing some of the most demanding works in the repertoire of our time. As described in The New York Times, “Ms. Garth … has an exquisite ear for piano sound. One can think of no one better qualified to play this intricate, shining music.”
Her recordings of the complete solo piano works of Donald Martino (Centaur Records) were released to national critical acclaim. The first of these, her debut solo CD, was the first-ever recording devoted entirely to Martino’s solo piano music and was included in a New York Times survey of its own music critics’ favorite recordings of music written since 1945.
Her latest recording, of works by American composers Sheree Clement and Perry Goldstein, is available on the Albany label.
Since graduating from The Juilliard School, Ms. Garth has performed hundreds of new works; many were written for her, including Gradualia, a piano concerto by the American composer Scott Wheeler. Ms. Garth performed the world premiere of Gradualia at the Alba Music Festival and the American premiere at the River Concert Series in Maryland.
A creative recitalist, Ms. Garth and choreographer James Martin partnered to develop The Enchanted Piano: Dances for Piano with Electronics, Piano Strings, and Amplified Piano for five dancers and live piano. Featuring music by American composers Mario Davidovsky, Henry Cowell, George Crumb, and Maurice Wright, The Enchanted Piano received its world premiere performances at the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center in New York City.
Ms. Garth’s versatility and range of musical interests is evident in her programming. In 2012-13 she celebrated the centennial of John Cage with numerous performances of his masterpiece for prepared piano, Sonatas and Interludes. These included appearances in New York City under the auspices of the League of Composers/ISCM, and in Chicago as part of “a.pe.ri.od.ic presents A John Cage Festival” in collaboration with the Floating World Gallery, alongside an exhibition of works by Japanese Buddhist artists Toko Shinoda and Yozo Hamaguchi.
Ms. Garth was a founding member of the Chamber Players of the League – I.S.C.M. in New York City, and has made guest appearances for the Chamber Music Society of Baltimore, Collage at Symphony Hall in Boston, the Twenty-first Century Consort at the Smithsonian Institution, Parnassus, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, the New Music Consort, the Fromm Foundation concert series (Boston), and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, among many others.
Her recordings are available on the Centaur, Albany, CRI, Arabesque, and Opus One labels. Her broadcast performances have been heard on the BBC Radio 3, WQXR and WNYC in New York, WBUR and WHRV in Boston, Radio de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, and WGUC in Cincinnati.
Eliza Garth has been recognized by the Maryland State Arts Council with two Individual Artist Awards, most recently for her performance of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes.
