Guild Hall: Nico Muhly’s ‘The Bell Etudes’ / Performed by Conor Hanick, Sept 7th @ 7 PM

NICO MUHLY’S “THE BELL ÉTUDES”

– AN EVENING OF SOLO PIANO PERFORMED BY CONOR

HANICK AND COMMISSIONED BY GUILD HALL

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Guild Hall has announced they will host Nico Muhly’s “The Bell Études” on Saturday, September 7 at 7 PM. Guests will enjoy an evening of solo piano commissioned by Guild Hall, performed by Conor Hanick, and composed by Nico Muhly.

Guild Hall has announced they will host Nico Muhly’s “The Bell Études” on Saturday, September 7 at 7 PM. Guests will enjoy an evening of solo piano commissioned by Guild Hall, performed by Conor Hanick, and composed by Nico Muhly.

Connor Hanick will perform a new set of études from Nico Muhly’s “Bell Études” collection on piano, with selected works by Gabriella Smith, Samuel Adams, and Julius Eastman, in an intimate evening of music. Conceived after conversations during the pandemic, Conor and Nico have collaborated on several works, including the previously premiered first set of six études performed at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA. Nico Muhly will be in attendance for the concert event.

Tickets are $60-$80 ($54-$72 for Guild Hall members). For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit guildhall.org.

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NICO MUHLY

Nico Muhly, born in 1981, is an American composer who writes orchestral music, works for the stage, chamber music and sacred music. He’s received commissions from The Metropolitan Opera: Two Boys, (2011) and Marnie (2018); Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Tallis Scholars, King’s College and St John’s College, Cambridge, Wigmore Hall, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, among others. He is an avid collaborator, and has worked with choreographers Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opéra Ballet, Bobbi Jene Smith at the Juilliard School, Justin Peck and Kyle Abraham at New York City Ballet; artists Sufjan Stevens, The National, Teitur, Anohni, James Blake and Paul Simon; and has written film scores for The Reader (2008) and Kill Your Darlings (2013), and the BBC adaptation of Howards End (2017).

Among his concerti are works for violin, (Shrink, for Pekka Kuusisto), organ (Register, for James McVinnie), viola (Nadia Sirota) He collaborates with the same artists as a composer and performer of chamber music. He has written vocal works for Iestyn Davies, Renée Fleming, and Nicholas Phan, has collaborated with artists Maira Kalman and Oliver Beer, and has created site-specific pieces for the National Gallery, London, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and written articles for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the London Review of Books. Recordings of his works have been released by Decca and Nonesuch, and he is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008).

Photo by Heidi Solander

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CONOR HANICK

Pianist Conor Hanick is regarded as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master.” (New York Times) Hanick has recently performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, been presented by the Gilmore Festival, New York Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie, De Singel, Caramoor, Cal Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Park Avenue Armory, and worked with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ludovic Morlot, Alan Gilbert, and David Robertson.

A fierce advocate for the music of today, Hanick has premiered over 200 pieces and collaborated with composers ranging from Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, and Steve Reich, to the leading composers of his generation, including Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, Samuel Carl Adams, and Anthony Cheung. This season Hanick presents recitals in the US and Europe, including performances with Julia Bullock, Jay Campbell, Joshua Roman, Seth Parker Woods, AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), and the Takt Trio. Hanick also makes his San Francisco Performances debut at Herbst Theater, joins Sandbox Percussion at 92NY, returns to the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and, in Ojai as part of the California Festival, performs a new set of piano etudes by Samuel Carl Adams, whose piano concerto No Such Spring Hanick premiered last year to wide acclaim with the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Hanick is the director of Solo Piano at the Music Academy of the West, and serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School, Mannes College, and the CUNY Graduate Center, and is a founding member of AMOC*.

Photo by Laura Desberg

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GUILD HALL:

Guild Hall is the cultural heart of the East End: a museum, performing arts, and education center, founded in 1931. We invite everyone to experience the endless possibilities of the arts: to open minds to what art can be; inspire creativity and conversation; and have fun. Guild Hall has served four generations and introduced audiences to the most storied artists and performers of our time. As they approach their centennial, they have completed a state-of-the-art renovation to match the caliber of their artistry for twenty-first-century audiences. The facility-wide Capital Improvements Project & Campaign includes top-of-the-line physical and technological enhancements to better deliver on their mission as an artist-driven, interdisciplinary institution.

For more information about Guild Hall, please visit GuildHall.org. @guild_hall on Instagram.

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