Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Kimmel Center’s Critically Acclaimed Fresh Ink Series Continues with Open Night November 13
Performance Features First Kimmel Center Presents Commission
October 29, 2003


Eric Moe
Kimmel Center Presents Fresh Ink, the critically acclaimed new music series launched this fall, continues on Thursday, November 13 at 7:30pm with the world premiere of Open Night, composed by the University of Pennsylvania’s Jay Reise and conducted by J. Karla Lemon. Open Night is the first new work commissioned for Kimmel Center Presents.

The program will also include wissahickon poeTrees (1998) by Curtis Institute of Music faculty member Jennifer Higdon; Lee Hyla’s In Double Light (1983); Eric Moe’s Up & At ‘Em (1988); and Chen Yi’s Qi (1997). Several of the composers will hold a free, pre-concert chat at 6pm in the Kimmel Center’s Merck Arts Education Center. The discussion will be moderated by Kimmel Center Vice President of Programming and Education Mervon Mehta.

Open Night is a 17-minute sextet for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, composed by Jay Reise, the Robert Weiss Professor of Music Composition at the University of Pennsylvania and president of Orchestra 2001. Other compositions by Reise have been commissioned and premiered by London’s Philharmonia Orchestra (The Selfish Giant in 1997) and the New York City Opera (Rasputin in 1988).

J. Karla Lemon has conducted performances and recordings throughout the world. Her name is associated with innovative programming and a philosophy of presenting works by living composers. She will be joined on stage by musicians Tara O’Connor (flute), Igor Begelman (clarinet), Melanie Feld (English horn), Ayano Ninomiya (violin), Teng Li (viola), Clancy Newman (cello), Eric Moe (piano) and Don Liuzzi (percussion).

The Fresh Ink series is a new addition to the Kimmel Center Presents roster and promises to provide some of the most artistically interesting performances of the 2003-2004 season. This non-traditional, informal (no tuxedos allowed!) classical music series features 21st century music, exciting young musicians and inexpensive tickets, all in the Kimmel Center’s intimate, 650-seat Perelman Theater. Other artists performing in the Fresh Ink series include violin sensation Jennifer Koh and pianist Simone Dinnerstein (February 5, 2004), the Orion String Quartet with special guest Tony Award-winning actor John Rubinstein (March 30, 2004) and classical pianist Christopher O’Riley playing the music of the British alternative band Radiohead (May 6, 2004).

"Institutional personalities can be elusive ... Yet the Kimmel Center, which has been largely defined by its pre-existing resident companies and the touring orchestra circuit, took a distinctive stand for itself with the debut of its Fresh Ink series." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Tickets for the November 13 Fresh Ink performance are $21 and $26 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. For group sales call 215-790-5883.

A limited number of $10 tickets will be available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance. $10 tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 5:30pm for evening performances and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one per person.

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