Photo courtesy of Present Music
Alex Temple - Composer
Alex Temple, composer
“The overall Gestalt of this season is a lot of women composers,” says Present Music’s artistic director, Eric Segnitz. What better place, then, to mark Present Music’s 45th season than the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin, celebrating 150 years as America’s oldest continuously operating women’s club.
Present Music opens September with a special event at the Woman’s Club, “Composed for the WCW.” The focus is on work originating with Luna Composition Lab, a New York City-based organization mentoring young composers. Luna was co-founded 10 years ago by Missy Mazzoli. “We gave her her first commission,” Segnitz recalls. That was Lies You Can Believe In in 2006.
Mazzoli’s newer piece, Ecstatic Science, will be performed at “Composed for the WCW.” Also on the program will be new music by Alex Temple, one of Luna’s mentors, and two young composers she has mentored, Olivia Bennett and Zola Saadi-Klein.
For the concert, Present Music will fly in several guest musicians: New York’s Ben Russell (violin), Chicago’s Mariane Parker (piano) and Indianapolis’ Derek Johnson (electric guitar). The concert will also rely on core Milwaukee members of Present Music’s ensemble: Adrian Zitoun (cello), Jennifer Clippert (flute), Dan Sipe (trumpet), Erin Pipal (viola), Bill Helmers (clarinet) and Alex Wier (percussion). Also on the program, the music of Chicago’s Irish fiddler-composer Liz Carroll. David Bloom will conduct.
Present Music comes to the evening’s music with fresh ears. They never actually heard the compositions until they began rehearsals.
Segnitz joined Present Music as a musician in the ensemble’s second year. For the past seven seasons he served as artistic director (sharing the role with Bloom for several years). How has Present Music evolved over time?
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
“We were all over the map at the beginning,” Segnitz says. PM was almost like a local alternative band playing esoteric music with a flair for fun in non-concert hall settings. Founder Kevin Stahlheim “brought it to national prominence, with national grants, recording and touring. It was a grass roots thing and took a lot of work, time and support from Milwaukeeans devoted to this group—and they are really devoted! It’s amazing!”
Present Music will perform at Woman’s Club of Milwaukee, 813 E. Kilbourn Ave., 7:30 p.m. Thursday, September 17. For more information, visit wc-wi.org.
