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Chamber Music / Recitals New MusicSpanish CourtyardSummer SeasonConcerts
Overview
In the 1980s, the German composer and broadcaster Hans Otte released a series of solo piano pieces called Das Buch der Klänge. Inspired by Buddhist thought and American Minimalism, Otte created a series of works that are lyrical, alternately contemplative and energetic, and possibly a little psychedelic. It was an overlooked masterpiece until pianist Conor Hanick, praised as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old, began playing it a few years ago, to great acclaim.
“This Book of Sounds rediscovers the listener as a partner of sound and silence, who in the quest for his world, wishes for once to be totally at one with sound.
It rediscovers the piano as an instrument of timbre and tuneful sound with all its possibilities of dynamics, colour and resonance.
The Book of Sounds rediscovers playing as the possibility of experiencing oneself in sound, of becoming at one in time and space with all the sounds around one.
It rediscovers a world of consonant experience which could only now be written because of a totally changed consciousness of sounds on earth.”
Program
HANS OTTE: The Book of Sounds
Rain or Shine Policy: All events at Caramoor take place rain or shine. In the event of inclement weather, this performance will move indoors or under a covered space.
About the Artist
Pianist Conor Hanick is regarded as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master.” (New York Times) Hanick has worked with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ludovic Morlot, Alan Gilbert, and David Robertson; collaborated with the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Juilliard Orchestra; and been presented by the Gilmore Festival, New York Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie, De Singel, Centre Pompidou, Cal Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Park Avenue Armory, and the Ojai Festival, where in 2022 with AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company) he served as the festival’s artistic director and where in 2026 he’ll be a featured artist under director Esa-Pekka Salonen.
A fierce advocate for the music of today, Hanick has premiered over 200 pieces and collaborated with composers ranging from Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, and Steve Reich, to the leading composers of his generation, including Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, Marcos Balter, and Samuel Carl Adams, whose piano concerto, No Such Spring, he premiered in 2023 with Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony. This season Hanick presents solo and chamber recitals in the US and Europe, including concerts at the Barbican Centre, Cal Performances, Da Camera, Kaufman Center, and Aviva Studios Manchester, where he’ll join the BBC Philharmonic in the UK premiere of No Such Spring. He also appears with Orchestra Iowa, Ensemble New SRQ, and AMOC*, and collaborates Julia Bullock, Seth Parker Woods, Jay Campbell, and Sandbox Percussion, including the premiere of new works by Tania León, Samuel Adams, Marcos Balter, and others.
Hanick is the director of Solo Piano at the Music Academy of the West and serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School, the CUNY Graduate Center, and Mannes College at The New School. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School and lives with his family in the Hudson Valley.
Conor Hanick, piano loading...
