‘Ferocious’ Mivos Quartet to perform at UB

The Mivos Quartet, dubbed “one of America’s most daring and ferocious new music ensembles” by The Chicago Reader, will visit UB on Oct. 5 for a performance that features the work of UB faculty member David Felder.

The concert, sponsored by the Department of Music and the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music, will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus.

In addition to “Third Face” by Felder — SUNY Distinguished Professor and Birge-Cary Chair in Music Composition at UB and artistic director of the June in Buffalo new music festival — the quartet will perform “El jardin de senderos que se bifurcan” by Taylor Brook, winner of the 2013 Kanter Prize.

The Mivos/Kanter String Quartet Composition Prize was established in 2011 to support the work of emerging and mid-career composers, and encourage continued interest in new compositions for string quartet. 

The following evening, Ensemble Signal, with Brad Lubman conducting and featuring soloists Camilla Hoitenga, flute, and  Lauren Radnofsky, cello, will perform the work of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho at 7:30 p.m. in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus. The program, presented by the Department of Music and the Center for 21st Century Music, is being offered as part of the larger Finnish Festival being held in Buffalo.

Before the Ensemble Signal performance, Saariaho will present a lecture, which is free and open to the public, at 3 p.m. Oct. 6 in Baird Recital Hall.

Her research at the Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic marked a turning point in her career, with her music moving away from strict serialism towards spectralism. Her characteristically rich, polyphonic textures often are created by combining live music and electronics.

Also on tap next month for UB music lovers will be a return visit by pianist Stephen Manes, UB professor emeritus of music, who will perform Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas in a recital at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 in Lippes Concert Hall.

Manes, former chair of the Department of Music, has performed the entire set of 32 Beethoven piano sonatas at UB three times over his long and distinguished career as a faculty member and performer. In this performance, his all-Beethoven program will feature Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109; Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110; and Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111

Tickets for the Mivros Quartet, Ensemble Signal and Stephen Manes are $15 for the general public and $10 for UB faculty/staff/alumni, seniors and non-UB students, and free for UB students with valid ID. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Center for the Arts box office or online at Tickets.com.