Rep. Kaufman to help inaugurate concert series

Betsy Schramm, an Arlington-based composer, will conduct the premiere of her new work, "Words of War/Letters of War," on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at Arlington Town Hall.

Featuring state Rep. Jay Kaufman, Democrat of Lexington and Arlington, as narrator, this chamber music work uses for a text war letters from American servicemen from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War as well as quotes about war.

Some of these letters, written by Arlington servicemen, were provided by the Arlington Historical Society. In addition to the narration, the piece contains four songs for soprano and tenor based on war poetry of Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg.

Charles Blandy and Melanie Salisbury are the featured tenor and soprano.

This work was commissioned in part by a grant from the Arlington Cultural Council.

The concert will include "Reconciliation" by Samuel Adler, a work for tenor and chamber ensemble, which is a setting of a beautiful poem by Holocaust survivor Elsa Lasker-Schuler.

Chicago-based trumpeter Mark Ponzo will perform a new work for flugelhorn by Schramm as well as "On Taps," for solo trumpet, by Pasquale Tassone.

Finally, Ponzo and percussionist Robert Schulz will perform "Luminous Duo," a new work by Schramm for trumpet and percussion.

The Menotomy Concert Series was established in 2006 to coincide with the festivities celebrating the bicentennial of the Town of Arlington. As Arlington officially changed its name from Menotomy in 1807, a concert series with a nostalgic nod to the town’s former name seemed an appropriate gesture.

The remaining concerts are scheduled for Jan. 8, March 5 and May 14.

We wish to thank Brian Sullivan, the town manager, and Patsy Kraemer for their support in nurturing this series.

We invite the citizens of Arlington to help us recognize and celebrate the endeavors of Arlington’ s artist-citizens.

Admission is free, and the public is cordially invited.

 

Background of premiere composer

Schramm tells YourArlington that she has been in the Boston area since 1992 and Arlington since 1997. Before that, she was on a Fulbright in London and was a doctoral candidate at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.

She is a widow and has two children -- a son, 12, at Ottoson and a daughter, 6, at Bishop. Both are musical: Her son plays violin and her daughter sings.

Here is her biography:

Schramm’s music has been cited for “visionary quality” and “impressive lyricism” and called “expansive, daring, and unpredictable” (Boston Globe, Buffalo News, Boston Herald). Schramm was awarded a 2008 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to compose “Letters of War, Words of War,” which will be premiered in Nov. 2009 in Arlington in the Menotomy Concert Series.

She Schramm conducted the premiere of “Three Pieces for String Orchestra” April 2008 at Harvard University at the inaugural concert of the Cambridge Chamber Players. “Light Excelleth Darkness,” commissioned by trumpeter Mark Ponzo, was premiered at Schramm’s residency at Northern Illinois University, and also performed at Boston University, and the Lumen Composers series in Arlington in 2007.

In London, BBC Radio3 produced and broadcast recordings of “and birds are wings” (Brian Israel Prize) and “while east deserves of dawn” with soprano Jane Manning and Jane’s Minstrels. Her elegantly drawn e. e. cummings’ cycles have received much acclaim. “and leap into the ripe air” was premiered by the New Millennium Ensemble and Mary Nessinger in New York City.

Schramm conducted premieres of “the roses of the day grow deep” and “The Second Coming,” a work created in response to 9/11, with Tanglewood Festival Chorus soloists Melanie Salisbury, soprano and Martin Thompson, tenor, on Lumen Composer concerts. “Alice and the White Rabbit” was narrated by the composer with the Solar Winds Quintet at Arlington Elementary schools. She very much enjoyed her time as Composer-of-the Month at Arlington Elementary Schools where she discussed her works, particularly the “Second Coming” and “American Mosaic.”

“American Mosaic” was premiered to critical acclaim with the Minnesota Ballet and the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra.

Boston Musica Viva’s premiere of “Alice and the White Rabbit’s Opera” was praised by the Boston Globe as “a highly professional undertaking.” Other premieres include “Sedna: Images of the Alaskan Eskimo,” a Barlow Endowment commission, premiered by Boston Musica Viva; “Q’eros,” commissioned by Lontano/ London Arts Board, premiered by Lontano in London; “Iridescent Dreams,” premiered on Television Belgrade, “Wings of the Wind,” commissioned/premiered by the Music Fix, “Arrays of Light” (ITG 1st Prize) for trumpeter Mark Ponzo, and “The Quickening of a Summer’s Morn,” commissioned and premiered by Jeff Renshaw with the Eastman Wind Ensemble.

She earned the Ph.D. in Composition at the Eastman School of Music where she taught composition and orchestration.As the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship for study at Cambridge University and at the English National Opera, she lived in London. Schramm studied with Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, and Warren Benson at the Eastman School of Music and Alexander Goehr at Cambridge University.

Additional prizes and fellowships for her music include: first prize in the International Trumpet Guild Composition Contest for “Arrays of Ligherht,” the Brian Israel Prize for “and birds are wings,” artist-in-residence at Harvestworks, Inc./Studio PASS with a 1993 Programming Residency; second prize in the International Trumpet Guild Brass Quintet Competition for “Illusions of the Masque,” and the Sernoffsky, Bernard Rogers, and McCurdy Prizes from the Eastman School of Music.

Festival performances include the International Society of Music Educators 20th New Band Music Symposium, British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles, June in Buffalo, International Trumpet Guild, Bowling Green Music and Art Festival, International Trombone Association, Washington State Young Artists Tour, and Summit Brass. Schramm’s music has been performed throughout the US and Europe.