The Taproot New Music Festival will take place on the campus of the University of California, Davis, during the week of February 5, 2024, and will culminate in performances at the end of that week (February 8–11, 2024). Eight composers have been chosen to participate in the festival: they’ll have new pieces performed, and will participate in seminars and workshops facilitated by the visiting artists and UC Davis composition faculty. The festival will feature Splinter Reeds as a visiting ensemble. UC Davis’s own Empyrean Ensemble will also join the festival line-up.

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Taproot New Music Festival: Empyrean Ensemble

Ann E. Pitzer Center

Nicholas Tolle has made it his mission to get the cimbalom (the Hungarian hammered dulcimer) in front of as many living composers as possible. He joins UC Davis’s professional contemporary music ensemble, the Empyrean Ensemble, for this concert at the end of his week-long residency. The concert features works for the cimbalom by classical composers of different regions and centuries: Hungarian composer György Kurtág’s 1961 “Tre Pezzi” and the more recent 2015 “Etudes” by Korean-American composer Juri Seo. The cimbalom is also featured in “Five Animated Shorts” by Steven Mackey, a composer and alumnus (B.A. music ‘78) of UC Davis who won a GRAMMY award in 2012.

Empyrean

Feb 11, 2024

Taproot New Music Festival: Empyrean Ensemble

Oct 15, 2023

Empyrean Ensemble & Nicholas Tolle

Empyrean