Inscape is pleased to announce the start of a year-long educational collaboration with the DC Youth Orchestra Program beginning Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 2PM with a concert at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. 

Principal musicians from Inscape will perform side-by-side with the Youth Orchestra in rehearsal and performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute led by DCYOP Music Director Mariano Vales.  On the same program, Inscape will perform Silvestre Revueltas’ Ocho por Radio and Dan Visconti’s Low Country Haze led by Inscape Artistic Director Richard Scerbo. 

In addition to their extensive performance credentials, Inscape musicians hold numerous teaching positions throughout the Washington Metropolitan region. Having been inspired by their own childhood performances with various youth orchestras, Inscape’s musicians look forward to participating in this meaningful collaboration between two of Washington DC’s most respected musical organizations.

The concert is free and open to the public, although tickets are required. Reserve tickets at www.dcyop.org.  Doors open at 1:30 pm.

About DC Youth Orchestra Program:

DC Youth Orchestra Program (DCYOP) is a curriculum-based music education program offering fall, spring, and summer sessions of instruction and ensemble training on all orchestral and wind ensemble instruments for beginning through advanced students. Over 600 students a year ages 4 ½ to 18 from Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia participate in the program which is located at Eastern High School on Capitol Hill. Every week, over 30 faculty members teach nearly 100 classes and rehearsals on Saturdays and Tuesday evenings. DCYOP offers seven intermediate and advanced ensembles: three string orchestras, one wind ensemble, and three full orchestras, including the Youth Orchestra.

Founded in 1960, the mission of DC Youth Orchestra Program is “music for young people, achievement for life.” The program welcomes all students that wish to participate, regardless of background, socioeconomic status or ability. No auditions are required to join at the beginning level, only the desire and will to learn. DCYOP derives its success from a strong emphasis on musical achievement and excellence.

One hundred percent of DCYOP seniors graduate from high school and most go on to college. Many graduates have gone on to play in orchestras, conduct, compose music or engage in other successful fields of study.

DC Youth Orchestra Program has received recognition such as the “Coming Up Taller Award” (now the National Arts and Humanities Youth Programs Award) and the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Arts Education. The Catalogue for Philanthropy selected DCYOP in 2012-2013 as “one of the best small charities in the Greater Washington region.”

For more information about DC Youth Orchestra Program, go to www.dcyop.org.

Beginning this weekend, UrbanArias presents She, After, an exciting pair of one-woman operatic mono-dramas by composer Daniel Felsenfeld, featuring soprano Emily Pulley.

Like Inscape, UrbanArias is dedicated to commissioning and presenting new works, many by emerging American composers.  Based in Arlington, VA, UrbanArias presents short (under 90 minute) and contemporary (written in the last 40 years) operas. Their unique new production is a thought-provoking and amusing take on the imagined lives of two famous literary women, AFTER their moments of notoriety.

Last spring, UrbanArias critically acclaimed production Paul's Case acquainted us with composer Gregory Spears.  We were extremely impressed with Spear's work and have commissioned a new work from him that will be performed in March and included on our next album!

Inscape is excited to collaborate with UrbanArias on future productions.  In She, After, our principal piano, Tim McReynolds, is featured prominently.

If you love Inscape and new music in the Washington, D.C. area, you will love UrbanArias!  Be sure to check them out from November 9-17 at Artisphere!

Inscape's season opening gala was held at the historic Strathmore Mansion on Thursday September 12, 2013.  A great review by Charles T. Downey appears in The Washington Post.  While you're at it, head on over to Charles's insightful blog, Ionarts, for lots of great reading.    

This week, Inscape is preparing to head back to the Sono Luminus studios in Boyce, Virginia, to record Paul Hindemith's Hérodiade, a neglected but masterful work of the twentieth century.  This recording will be released as a digital exclusive follow-up to Sprung Rhythm, and should be available on iTunes in a few months.

Hérodiade is a unique work in Hindemith's prolific output.  It is an episodic ballet based on the poem by symbolist French poet Stéphane Mallarmé (the same poet who inspired Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune).  While living in the United States, Hindemith composed the work in 1944 for the illustrious American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham.  Interestingly, the work premiered at the Library of Congress on the same program as Copland's Appalachian Spring.  Though rarely performed, Hérodiade is one of Hindemith's most expressive and colorful works and  stands comfortably alongside some of his more familiar works such as Mathis der Mahler, or Nobilissima Visione.

It will be a welcome challenge to record this piece which has been in our concert repertoire for several years.  Most recently, we performed it at the National Gallery of Art as part of our program "Color, Line, Light" in March 2013.  After the intensity of recording six world premiere compositions for Sprung Rhythm, we are looking forward to interpreting this work by one of the twentieth century's great composers.   

"Sprung Rhythm", our debut album on the Sono Luminus label, is now available for purchase.  This exciting album is a collection of six world premiere chamber works by three emerging American composers.  The music of Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis, Joseph Hallman, and Justin Boyer are presented in stunning surround sound and stereo mixes.  They are available on a Pure-Audio Blu-ray and standard CD in one package, or available for digital download.

Purchase from Sono Luminus.  
Purchase from Amazon.
Download from iTunes.