Music of Beaser and Ligeti Featured at University of Arizona School of Music

The curtain rises on the Fourth Annual Music+ Festival at the University of Arizona on October 21, with a focus this year on contemporary music luminaries Robert Beaser, Béla Bartók, and György Ligeti. Jointly produced by The University of Arizona School of Music, The Hanson Institute for Film, The College of Fine Arts, and The Center for the Study of American Ideals and Culture, the five-day festival explores the life and music of the three master composers with chamber and orchestral performances, film screenings and a symposium led by Beaser, Benjamin Levy and Don Traut, all coordinated by UA Professor of Music and composer Daniel Asia.

The opening concert of the festival on October 22 features Beaser’s work for solo piano Landscape with Bells and selections from Ligeti’s towering cycle of piano etudes. On the evening portion of the October 22 concert, the Arizona Symphony Orchestra performs Beaser’s Double Chorus, Ground “O” and Ligeti’s Concerto Românesc. A panorama of keyboard, vocal and chamber music takes place on at the concert on Sunday, October 23 with Beaser’s Mountain Songs, Four Dickinson Songs and Ligeti’s Musica Ricercata.

Ligeti’s compositions will also be featured in the film portion of the festival. The School of Music has partnered with the University’s Hanson Institute for Film, and the newly renovated Fox Theatre to present Ligeti's work featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining. A discussion follows the screenings on the implications of contemporary music composers writing for mass media.

Robert Beaser Composer Profile
György LigetiComposer Profile

Robert Beaser
Double Chorus (1991)
for orchestra
pic.2.2.ca.2.bcl.2.cbsn-4.4.2.btbn.1-timp.4perc-hp.pno-str
10’

Ground “O” (2010)
for orchestra
pic.1.2.2.2-4.2.3.btbn.1-timp.3perc-hp.pno-str
4’

Mountain Songs (1985)
for flute and guitar
28’

Four Dickinson Songs (2002)
for soprano and piano
12’

Landscape with Bells (1986)
for solo piano
4’

György Ligeti
Concerto Românesc (1951)
for orchestra
2(2.pic.).2 (2.ca).2.2-3.2.0.0-2perc-str
12’