GHEORGHE COSTINESCU

Gheorghe Costinescu, born in Bucharest in 1934 and residing in New York since 1969, has been active as a composer, conductor, pianist, musicologist, and educator.

After studying privately with Pascal Bentoiu and earning an M.A. in composition from the Bucharest Conservatory under Mihail Jora, he continued his studies with Karlheinz Stockhausen in Cologne and Luciano Berio at The Juilliard School in New York.  In 1976 he received a Ph.D. with Distinction from Columbia University, where he studied with Chou Wen-chung.

His chamber, choral, orchestral, and stage works have been performed in major cities in Europe and the United States, and at the Royan, Shiraz–Persepolis, and Tanglewood festivals.

His stage work The Musical Seminar, a winner in the League-ISCM National Composers Competition, was premiered at Lincoln Center in New York City; the German version of the work was produced by the State Opera of Stuttgart, and the British premiere took place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. 

Costinescu has received grants and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, and the Ford Foundation. He was a Fulbright Scholar and also received the Romanian Academy’s George Enescu prize; The Juilliard School’s Alexandre Gretchaninoff Memorial Prize; and fellowships from MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

For his drawings in musical scores, he was awarded a Creative Artists Public Service fellowship in Graphics, New York State. The Awardees Exhibition took place at the Pratt Graphic Center Gallery, New York City.

His theoretical writings include articles on contemporary music, essays on comparative aesthetics, and A Treatise on Musical Phonology. 

Gheorghe Costinescu has held teaching positions at The Juilliard School, Columbia University, and the New School for Social Research. In 1982 he joined the faculty and subsequently directed the electronic music program at Lehman College of the City University of New York, where he became Professor Emeritus of Music in 2003.

His Multimedia Retrospective at Merkin Concert Hall, New York, May 5, 2015, was covered by New York Classical Review under the title "Craft and Virtuosity Spotlighted in the Fascinating Music of Gheorghe Costinescu"  "...a composer with a rare range of creativity." 

PEFORMER BIOGRAPHIES

Gheorghe Costinescu, conductor (track 7) piano (track 5) piano and voice  (track 10)  Bio above

Vesselin Gellev, violin (track 2), was born in Bulgaria and has been a featured soloist with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. As violinist of the Antares quartet, he won First Prize at the 2002 Concert Artist Guild competition in New York. As Concert-master of Kristjan Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble, a Grammy-nominated, genre-blending “classical band,” he has recorded several CDs, appeared in venues like the Sydney Opera House, Concertgebouw, and Wiener Konzerthaus, and collaborated with many world-renowned artists, as diverse as Paquito D’Rivera, Goran Bregovic, L. Subramaniam, and the late Joe Zawinul. He has also performed as Guest Leader with a number of orchestras, such as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Philharmonic Ochestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Vesselin received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from The Juilliard School in New York and, prior joining the LPO in 2007, held the position of Concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy. He has led the LPO in numerous concerts and several recordings for the Orchestra’s own record label, most recently on the Official Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant CD. An avid chamber musician, Vesselin also performs regularly in the LPO’s Chamber Contrasts series at Wigmore Hall. He holds the position of Sub-leader (2007) Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler at the London Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Stephen Gosling, piano (tracks 3, 4, and 6), is a ubiquitous presence on the New York new music scene, and has also performed throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia. His playing has been hailed as “brilliant,” “electric,” and “luminous and poised” (The New York Times),  possessing “utter clarity and conviction” (Washington Post) and “extraordinary virtuosity” (Houston Chronicle). A three-fold graduate of the Juilliard School of Music (DMA, MM, BM), he was for three years pianist of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and appeared in several seasons of the Summergarden series at MOMA.  He has also performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington,  D.C., the Grant Park Festival in Chicago, the Bang on a Can Marathon, Barge-music, the 2011 Great Day in New York festival, and the PAN festival in Seoul, Korea. Mr. Gosling has collaborated with numerous American and European composers, including John Adams, Milton Babbitt, Piere Boulez, Elliott Carter, Brian Ferneyhough, Oliver Knussen, Steve Reich, Poul Ruders, Charles Wuorinen, and John Zorn. He is a member of the New York New Music Ensemble, and has performed with Orpheus, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Speculum Musicae, DaCapo Chamber Players, the Orchestra of St Luke’s, Continuum, the League of Composers/ISCM Chamber Players, and Da Camera of Houston. He has additionally been a frequent guest artist of many other groups, including the New York Philharmonic, Duch Radio Philharmnoic, and the American Composers Orchestra. He has been heard on the NPR, WNYC, and WQXR radio networks, and has recorded for New World Records, CRI, Mode, Innova, and Rattle Records.

David Hoose, conductor (track 11), obtained his BMus in Composition and Theory from Oberlin Conservatory; graduate studies in composition at Brandeis University; Conducting Fellow at Berkshire Music Center. He studied conducting with Gustav Meier; composition with Richard Hoffmann, Walter Aschaffenberg, Arthur Berger; horn with Robert Fries, Barry Tuckwell, Joseph Singer, Richard Mackey. David Hoose holds the current positions: Cantata Singers & Ensemble (since 1984), Music Director; Collage New Music, Music Director. Rose City International Conducting Workshop, faculty. Past positions include Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Music Director; Brandeis University Orchestra, Music Director; Longy School of Music, faculty; Emmanuel Music, Music Director ad interim; Cantiones Sacrae, co-founder and Music Director. David Hoose was guest conductor with Chicago Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra (KBS), Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Handel and Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music, Chorus pro Musica, Tanglewood Music Center, Monadnock Music Festival, Warebrook Music Festival, Dinosaur Annex, Alea III, Fromm Chamber Players. Guest conductor with Boston University Young Artists Orchestra, Eastman School of Music Kilbourn Orchestra, Music Nova and Philharmonia, University of Southern California Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Contemporary Ensemble, Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra (Rice University). Recipient of Dimitri Mitropoulos Award (Berkshire Music Center); Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award (with Emmanuel Wind Quintet); Choral Arts New England Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award; Ditson Conductors Award, for the Advancement of American Music; Grammy Nominee, Best Recording with Small Ensemble (with Collage New Music). Recordings on New World, Koch, Nonesuch, Albany, Composers’ Recordings (CRI), Delos, Arsis, GunMar, and Neuma labels. 

Eric Huebner, piano (track 1), has drawn worldwide acclaim for his performances of new and traditional music since making his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 17. In January 2012, he was appointed pianist of the New York Philharmonic and has been featured in works by Lindberg, Stravinsky, Ives, Milhaud, and R. Strauss among others. The same year he gave the New York premiere of Elliott Carter’s Two Conversations and a Controversy for piano, percussion and chamber orchestra with Musicians of the New York Philharmonic and David Robertson conducting as part of the CONTACT! series. He has previously collaborated with Mr. Robertson in performances of György Ligeti’s Piano Concerto and Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques. Since 2001, Huebner has been a member of Antares, a quartet comprised of clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. First prize winners of the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Antares appears regularly in major chamber music venues throughout the country. Mr. Huebner has twice been a featured recitalist at the Ojai Festival in California. In 2010 he performed the complete Vingt Regards sur L’Enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen. Other highlights include solo appearances at the Monday Evening Concerts and Piano Spheres series in Los Angeles, The Carlsbad New Music Festival, the oh-ton new music series in Oldenburg, Germany, and recitals  in New York City of the solo music of Stravinsky and Andriessen presented by Miller Theatre and Le Poisson Rouge respectively. Mr. Huebner is currently Assistant Professor of Music at the University at Buffalo and is director of the June in Buffalo Performance Institute. His performances have been broadcast on PBS and NPR, and on radio stations KMOZ (Los Angeles), WNYC (New York), Radio Bremen (Germany), ORF (Austria), and BBC. He has recorded for Col Legno, Centaur, Bridge, Albany, Tzadik, Innova, New Focus Recordings, and Mode Records.  Mr. Huebner holds a B.M. an M.M. from The Juilliard School where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal.   

Lucy Shelton, soprano (tracks 5, and 6), the only artist to receive the International Walter W. Naumburg Award twice, as a soloist and as a chamber musician, has performed repertoire from Bach to Boulez in major recital, chamber, and orchestral venues throughout the world. Highly acclaimed as an interpreter of new music, Ms. Shelton continued to bring new audiences into the sound world of new works often composed for her. Notable world premieres include Elliott Carte’s Of Challenge and of Love and Tempo and Tempi; Oliver Knussen’s Whitman Settings; Stephen Albert’s Flower of the Mountain; Joseph Schwantner’s Sparrows and Magabunda; Alexander Goehr’s Sing, Ariel; David Del Tredici’s Quaint Events; Paul Ruder’s The Bells; Gerard Grisey’s L’icone Paradoxale; Ned Roram’s Schuyller Songs; Sally Beamish’s Monster; James Yannatos’s Trinity Mass: Lewis Spratlan’s Of Times and the Seasons; and Rob Zuidam’s Johanna’s Lament. The theatrical highlights of Ms. Shelton’s activity include staged performances of Berio’s Passaggio and the role of Mama in Carter’s What Next? with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris; Berio’s Sequenza III at the Tanglewood Festival; Da Camera of Houston’s touring production of Pierrot Lunaire; the role of Jenifer in Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage for Thames Television; and the title role in Milhaud’s Medea. She made her BBC Proms debut in Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero and her Vienna and Berlin debuts singing Kurtag’s The Sayings of Peter Bornemisza with Andras Schiff. Shelton has been a guest artist with ensembles such as Center Chamber Music Society, 21st Century Consort, Speculum Musicae, Da Capo Chamber Players, Sospeso, New York New Music Ensemble, Musica Viva, Da Camera of Houston, the Nash Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Schoenberg Asko, Ensemble Moderne, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. She has participated in numerous festivals including those of Aspen, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Chamber Music Northwest, BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Caen, Kuhmo, Togo, and Salzburg. Among notable conductors with whom Shelton has worked are Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, De Leeuw, Knussen, Metzmacher, David Nott, Eotvos, Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Rostropovich, Esa Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, and Wolff. Her extensive discography is on the Deutsche Grammophon, Koch International, Virgin Classics, Nonesuch, NMC, Bridge, Albany, and Innova labels. A native Californian, Ms. Shelton’s musical training began early with the study of both piano and flute. After graduating from Pomona College, she pursued singing at the New England Conservatory and at the Aspen Music School, where she studied with Jan de Gaetani. Lucy Shelton has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and at Tanglewood. She is currently on the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center and coaches privately at her studio in New York City.

Voxare String Quartet (track 9) 
Emily Ondracek-Peterson, violin; Galina Zhdanova, violin; Eric Peterson, viola; Adrian Daurov, cello
“The gifted Voxare String Quartet” (The New York Times) formed in 2008 and has since received critical praise for its inventive programming, technical prowess, attention to detail, and passionate performances. Voxare’s performances have included appearances at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic, the Guggenheim Museum, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. Voxare has had performing residences at Dartmouth College and Columbia University, among others; additionally, the quartet has been the prestigious quartet-in-residence at New York’s Bargemusic. Voxare performs works by living composers, bringing together a community of America’s leading composers, both emerging and established. Voxare’s unique performing activities earned the quartet Chamber Music America’s ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. With a repertoire spanning five centuries, Voxare is not afraid to break down the boundaries of classical music; they have made and performed their own transcriptions of popular and rock music and often perform in alternative concert venues, presenting innovative concerts focused on unique and accessible presentations of contemporary chamber music while assimilating classical standards and popular music. Individually, Voxare members have performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and orchestrally with the Cleveland Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic. The four musicians have amassed a number of prizes at international competitions.