College of Visual and Performing Arts to present acclaimed French chamber music ensemble Accroche Note

College of Visual and Performing Arts to present acclaimed French chamber music ensemble Accroche NoteMarch 28, 2006Jaime Winne Alvarezjlwinne@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will present acclaimed French chamber music ensemble Accroche Note, April 17-18 at 8 p.m. in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium in Crouse College. Both concerts are free and open to the public; no tickets are required. Parking is available in Irving Garage.

Called “a group of true explorers,” and “equally remarkable whether playing Mozart, Berg or Donatoni,” Accroche Note is renowned throughout Europe for its brilliant performances and imaginative programs. Led by the husband-wife team of clarinetist Armand Angster and soprano Francoise Kubler, the ensemble has worked with some of the world’s most respected composers, including Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux and Franco Donatoni. Performing regularly at leading festivals in Europe, Accroche Note has recently broadened its reach, performing in Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Japan, in addition to regular engagements in Stockholm, Paris and at the international festival Musica in Strasbourg. The ensemble’s concerts at SU present a rare opportunity to hear the group on this side of the Atlantic.

The free concerts will include works by France’s most prominent living composers, including Boulez, Dutilleux, Pascal Dusapin, Ivan Fedele, Betsy Jolas and Tristan Murail, and music by American composers Harold Meltzer, Steven Stucky, Anna Weesner and VPA faculty members Nicolas Scherzinger and Andrew Waggoner. Accroche Note will also be joined by American ensemble Open End, founded by another husband-wife team (both of whom are VPA faculty), composer/violinist Waggoner and cellist Caroline Stinson.

A major feature of both concerts will be improvisation from the groups, both separately and combined. The two ensembles share a commitment to bringing improvisation into the contemporary concert scene and these concerts will provide both with the chance to adapt on the fly to each other’s varying styles and approaches.

The concerts are made possible with funding from VPA and the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music, the French Program in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics in The College of Arts and Sciences and the French-American Fund for Contemporary Music.

For more information, contact the Setnor School of Music at 443-5892.