Faculty violist Melia Watras hosts a celebration of the release of her new album, String Masks. Music composed by Watras and performed by members of Frequency (violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim, Watras and faculty cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir) will be featured, as well as a video presentation and Q & A with the composer and performers.
Masks are required in all indoor spaces on the UW campus. Capacity in Brechemin Auditorium is limited to 100. Patrons must show proof of vaccination or recent negative provider-administered COVID-19 PCR test for entry to live events at The Music Building. Individuals unable to be fully vaccinated, including children under age five and people with a medical or religious exemption, must have proof of a negative provider-administered COVID-19 PCR test (taken within 72 hours of the performance). UW staff will check for proof of vaccination and negative COVID PCR tests at the doors as a condition of entry. Proof of negative test result must come from a test provider, a laboratory or a health care provider. Home or self-administered tests will not be accepted. Details of these protocols available here.
PROGRAM
Melia Watras Album Release Celebration: String Masks
Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin
Melia Watras, viola
Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello
Planet M Records presents String Masks, the new album of compositions by violist/composer Melia Watras. The titular work, String Masks, incorporates actors and Harry Partch instruments to dive into a fantastical vision of an underworld inhabited by string-playing legends from the past. The album also showcases solo works for viola, cello and voice, and her string trio, Kreutzer.
Welcome
Black wing, brown wing for viola solo (2019)……………………….Melia Watras (b. 1969)
Melia Watras, viola
String Masks for for voices, viola, violin, Harmonic Canon, Cloud-Chamber Bowls and
Bass Marimba (2017)…………………………………………………………Melia Watras
I. Transience
Video of live performance: Sheila Daniels, actor/director; Jose Gonzales, actor;
Rhonda J. Soikowski, actor; Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin; Melia Watras, viola;
Charles Corey, Harmonic Canon and Bass Marimba;
Bonnie Whiting, Cloud-Chamber Bowls
Videography by Jerry Morrison
Vetur öngum lánar lið for violin and cello (2017)………………Melia Watras
Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin
Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello
Vetur for cello solo (2016)…………………………………………….……Melia Watras
Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello
Question and answer session
Music video by Michelle Smith-Lewis
Music by Melia Watras
Performers: Frequency (Lim, Watras, Thorsteinsdóttir)
Artist Bios
Frequency
A “dream string trio,” according to King FM-Seattle’s Second Inversion, Frequency presents innovative, invigorating and intriguing chamber music concerts. Composed of Michael Jinsoo Lim (violinist and artistic director), Melia Watras (violist) and Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir (cellist), Frequency is a modular chamber music group, breaking into different parts to present solos, duos and trios, while also expanding with renowned guest artists to perform in a variety of formations. Frequency members have performed as soloists and chamber musicians worldwide, in leading concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Suntory Hall, and Disney Hall.
Michael Jinsoo Lim
Violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim has been praised by Gramophone for playing with “delicious abandon,” and hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “conspicuously accomplished champion of contemporary music.” Concertmaster and solo violinist for the internationally acclaimed Pacific Northwest Ballet, Lim is featured as soloist with the company in concertos by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bach and others, and has toured with PNB to Paris and New York City. Lim is artistic director of the Seattle-based ensemble Frequency and was co-founder of the award-winning Corigliano Quartet, with whom he appeared on over a dozen albums. His discography can be found on Naxos, Planet M, Sono Luminus, DreamWorks, Albany, Bridge, CRI, Bayer Records, RIAX and New Focus. Lim has served on the faculty of the Banff Centre, taught at Indiana University as a guest professor, and currently serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts.