Kronos: Under 30 Project / #4

29-YEAR-OLD ISRAELI COMPOSER AVIYA KOPELMAN
COMMISSIONED TO WRITE NEW WORK FOR KRONOS QUARTET
THROUGH KRONOS: UNDER 30 PROJECT

March 15, 2007

Aviya Kopelman Photograph by Dafna Grossman

The Kronos Quartet is pleased to announce that composer Aviya Kopelman has been selected as the fourth composer to be commissioned through the Kronos: Under 30 Project. More than 200 composers from 28 countries applied to the Project, which is a collaboration of the Kronos Quartet, Carnegie Hall, and Cal Performances, in cooperation with the Lucas Artists Program at the Montalvo Arts Center. Read more about the partners here.

The Kronos: Under 30 Project was created in 2003, Kronos' 30th anniversary year, to support the creation of new work by young artists, and to help Kronos cultivate stronger connections and develop lasting artistic relationships with the next creative generation. Since the program’s inception, nearly 1,000 applications from 49 countries on six continents have been received. All composers under 30 years of age are eligible to submit music for consideration. The members of Kronos select one musician to whom they feel most artistically committed, and that composer is commissioned to write a new work for Kronos. For Frequently Asked Questions, visit the Under 30 Project Fact Sheet.

The newly commissioned work by Aviya Kopelman will receive its world premiere at Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall on February 22, 2008, and its U.S. West Coast premiere at Cal Performances in Berkeley, California, in the 2008/09 season. Kopelman will be in residence at the Lucas Artists Programs at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California, in 2007.

Kopelman was born in Moscow in 1978 and immigrated to Israel in 1987. She began taking piano lessons at her own initiative at the age of 12. She graduated from the Rubin Music Academy in Jerusalem, where she studied composition with Prof. Tzvi Avni. In 2000, she was commissioned by composer Michael Wolpe to write a string quartet for the Sounds in the Desert Festival, and since then her works have been performed regularly in Israel and abroad by the Israel Chamber Orchestra, The Israel Camerata, Tel Aviv Chamber Choir, Conjunto Iberico Octet, Ensemble de la Paix, Les Solistes de Waterloo, and Jerusalem Trio, among others. Last year she was commissioned to write an obligatory work for the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. She has worked with and been influenced by composers such as Andre Hajdu, Oded Zehavi, Ronen Shapira. Kopelman teaches composition at the Hed College for Music in Tel Aviv and at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.

"Composing to me is a vocation and a mission,” writes Kopelman. “I feel that if I am able to create a powerful emotional and spiritual experience, it is my duty to try and do so. Music is a world unto its own, containing all the varied emotions of human experience, both negative and positive; an imaginative world that has me riveted, fills me up and makes me happy. I try to communicate all this to whoever may listen to my music. Composing for Kronos fulfills a dream of mine, and I feel certain it will be a surprising experience for all concerned."

Kronos’ founder and Artistic Director David Harrington said, "The music of Aviya Kopelman is a thrilling discovery for Kronos. We are delighted that she will write our next Under 30 Project commission. The future holds so much promise for Aviya's music and we feel fortunate that her work will be able to take a featured place in Kronos concerts.”

The first work commissioned through the Kronos: Under 30 Project, String Quartet: Oculus Pro Oculo Totum Orbem Terrae Caecat (2003) by Alexandra du Bois has been performed by Kronos in major venues throughout the United States and Europe, including Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and the Barbican (London). Felipe Pérez Santiago's CampoSanto (2004) has been heard in major cities in 17 countries, including Moscow, Madrid, and Sydney. Both works were featured in Kronos’ 2005 performance at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, and both composers have written additional works for Kronos. Dan Visconti, commissioned in the third round of the Kronos: Under 30 Project, has heard his piece Love Bleeds Radiant performed throughout the U.S. since its world premiere in 2006 at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College. Read more about these past recipients here.

The new work by Aviya Kopelman is being commissioned for the Kronos Quartet as part of Kronos: Under 30 Project / #4 by The Carnegie Hall Corporation, Cal Performances, and the Kronos Performing Arts Association. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, Stephen K. Cassidy, and the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Programs at Montalvo Arts Center.

For more than 30 years, the Kronos Quartet—David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola) and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)— has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 40 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity. Kronos has collaborated with artists of diverse disciplines and styles, including American composers Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich; international composers such as Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali-Zadeh and Argentina’s Osvaldo Golijov; vocalists ranging from the iconic Tom Waits and Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq to Indian “Bollywood” playback singer Asha Bhosle and Malian Rokia Traoré; instrumentalists such as Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man, pianist Irina Schnittke and famed Nubian oud player Hamza el Din; Beat poet Allen Ginsberg; electronic duo Matmos, choreographers Merce Cunningham and Twyla Tharp; and many more. Kronos' work has also garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and "Musicians of the Year" (2003) from Musical America. As a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association has commissioned more than 500 new works and arrangements for string quartet. Kronos records exclusively for Nonesuch Records.