Press Release
For Immediate Release:
February 22, 2006
Jazz Pianist Uri Caine in Residence at NEC for Masterclasses and Concert, March 14—16
Residency sponsored by NEC board member Bruce Hauben and the Helen G. Hauben Foundation
Jazz pianist/composer Uri Caine, who has stretched the boundaries of jazz and improvisation by drawing on jazz and folk traditions as well as the classical music of Bach, Mahler, and Wagner, will lead two masterclasses and coach a student performance of his music, March 14—16 at New England Conservatory. His residency is sponsored by NEC board member Bruce Hauben and the Helen G. Hauben Foundation. The masterclasses, at 1 p.m. in NEC’s St. Botolph Hall on March 14 and 15 and the Jazz Masters Concert on March 16 at 8 p.m. in NEC’s Jordan Hall are free and open to the public.
Born in Philadelphia, Caine studied composition at the University of Pennsylvania with George Crumb and George Rochberg. He also studied piano with Bernard Peiffer and with Vladimir Sokoloff at the Curtis Institute. He embodies the Third Stream—or perhaps Fourth or Fifth Stream--ideal. His Jewish heritage, his classical and jazz training, and his interest in electronics combine in ambitious hybrids that are often challenging but always inventive. Caine's first two CDs, Sphere Music and Toys, paid homage to jazz pianists Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock. His third CD, Urlicht/Primal Light, featured arrangements of the music of Gustav Mahler. In 1997, Caine released the CD Wagner in Venezia. This ambitious work had Caine arranging the music of Richard Wagner for a small ensemble, along with church bells, for a live recording at Cafe Quadri in St. Mark's Square, Venice. Caine has also released recordings of Schumann's Dichterliebe cycle, as well as a version of Bach's Goldberg Variations that interleaves straight renditions of the movements with interpretations by DJs and jazz musicians. Besides his recordings and performances as a leader, Caine has also worked in groups with Don Byron, Dave Douglas, Rashid Ali, and Arto Lindsay. He has performed both at jazz festivals, including Monterey and Newport, as well as classical festivals including Salzburg and Great Performers at Lincoln Center
Caine has received commissions from the Vienna Volksoper, The Seattle Chamber Players, Relache, The Beaux Arts Trio and the Basel Chamber Orchestra. The Pennsylvania Ballet performed the Goldberg Variations in 2002, choreographed by Val Caniparoli. Caine was the Director of the Venice Biennale for Music in September 2003, where he also premiered his new work The Othello Syndrome. Recent performances included playing his arrangement of the Beethoven Diabelli Variations with the Cleveland Orchestra in February 2004. In June 2004, the JVC Jazz Festival featured the pianist in Meet Uri Caine: A Man of Ideas, a series of concerts with a different theme each night, including his Mahler Project; the Goldberg Variations; Blue Wail, a quartet he has featuring saxophonist Greg Osby; Bedrock, his electronic group; and two nights devoted to his eponymous trio.
For more information, call the NEC Concert Line at (617) 585-1122 or visit NEC on the web at www.newenglandconservatory.edu/concerts
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.