North/South's Season Finale: June 24 at 8 PM.

June 19, 2008 - PRLog -- North/South Consonance, Inc. concludes its 28th consecutive season with a concert on Tuesday evening June 24 at the auditorium of Christ & St. Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th St) in Manhattan.  Admission is free.

   Max Lifchitz  will lead the acclaimed North/South Chamber Orchestra in  performances of four recent works by composers from the Americas. Soloists will include soprano Melissa Fogarty; violist  Rita Porfiris; and pianist Claudia Knafo.

   The program will open with the first performance of Gharra (2007)  for eighteen instruments by  Christopher Dietz. The term Gharra refers to the strong gusts of wind that affect the northeast of Libya and Africa. They are sudden and frequent and are accompanied by heavy rain and thunder. A recent graduate from the University of Michigan’s doctoral program, Christopher Dietz  is now on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory.

   Five Lyrical Fragments of Sappho (2008) by  Christopher James will close the first half of the program. A native New Yorker, James was educated at SUNY Stony Brook and at Juilliard where his teachers included David Diamond and Milton Babbitt. Written especially for the occasion, the new song cycle comprises five songs based on texts by the Greek poetess Sappho (630-570 BC) who Plato dubbed the Tenth Muse. Soprano Melissa Fogarty will be the featured soloist.  Hailed by the New York Times as “brilliant” and given “high marks” by The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Fogarty is well known as an advocate of the music by  American composers.

   Binnette Lipper’s Circles of Light  for piano and string orchestra will open the second half of the concert. Circles of Light was written in 1996 for a concert that was scheduled at the residence of the American ambassador in Moscow, Russia. However, intrigues of a political nature as well as interference by Russian musical authorities  got in the way of the premiere. The composer explains that “her piece is a musical representation of intellectual freedom and the shedding of light, where  previously, secrecy and censorship had existed. I envisioned the intersecting circles as pebbles of knowledge and understanding, spreading ideas tjat would eventually merge into mutual compassion and trust.”  Pianist Claudia Knafo will be the featured soloist for Lipper’s work . Acclaimed for her “fiery and passionate approach to the piano” and for her “luscious sonority and definitive execution of technical complexities” Knafo has performed throughout the country and in abroad.

   The concert will close with a performance of Confrontacion (Confrontation)   for viola and orchestra by  Max Lifchitz, the Mexican-born composer and long time New York resident. The work is based on the confrontation and eventual reconciliation of opposing musical materials and sonorities. The music juxtaposes and contrasts melodic and rhythmic gestures of diverse ethnic origins and historical eras. Violist  Rita Porfiris, for whom the work was written, will be the featured soloist. Ms. Porfiris studied at The Juilliard School before joining the Houston Symphony. She has been honored with many prizes including the William Primrose Award. An avid runner, she has trained with the Navy SEAL Physical training team. Her top push-up score is 134 in two minutes!

  The composers will be on hand to introduce their works and meet with the audience during intermission and after the concert. All participants in the event are available to the press for interviews and may be contacted through our office at

   North/South Consonance’s 2007-08 season is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. For further information about its activities, including concerts and recordings, please visit http://www.northsouthmusic.org/

Website: www.northsouthmusic.org