Awakenings - Ventus Machina featuring Dr. Martin Kutnowski
7:30 PM
Charlotte Street Arts Centre
The premiere of STU Fine Arts professor Dr. Martín Kutnowski’s latest composition, Awakenings is part of Symphony New Brunswick’s “Virtuoso Series,” and will be performed by woodwind quintet Ventus Machina along with Martín himself on piano. The concert will also feature another of Martín’s compositions, Four Latin American Dances.
The concert is Thursday, November 25th, at 7:30 pm, at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre.
About the Concert
Titled for Martin Kutnowski’s colourful new work for piano and wind quintet, “Awakenings” explores the trepidation and joy we feel as we come together to experience music in these challenging times. Argentinian-born Kutnowski combines elements of Latin music and Jazz to describe a very personal and emotional journey during periods of isolation and uncertainty, and then the sense of awakening to new hope and possibility. Complementing this extraordinary piece are works for wind quintet by Eugène Bozza, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Miguel del Aguila, each of which takes us through the gentle awakening of musical themes. To ensure that everyone leaves the concert humming, Kutnowski will rejoin Ventus Machina to perform his own suite, “Four Latin American Dances”.
Martín Kutnowski is a composer, pianist, and writer. His music, fusing folk, world, and classical sources, has been performed in four continents, including major venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Izumi Hall in Osaka, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. He frequently performs his own works in collaboration with extraordinary chamber music partners, including Venancio Rius, E-jung Kim, Bertrand Giraud, the Saint John String Quartet, Janet Hammock, Esquisse Quartet, and Mina Jang, among several others. He has received numerous awards, from the National Endowment for the Arts of Argentina, Canada Council for the Arts, Arts New Brunswick, Fulbright, and ASCAP, among others. His music is published by Billaudot, Ricordi, and FJH, and it’s recorded in Anima (France) and Bridge Records (USA).