Strata: An Evening of Premieres

The Strata ensemble returns to UMBC to present the premieres of five new works by UMBC student composers — Permafrost by Joshua Epstein, Phaistos by Pam Voulalas, Trials and Tribulations by Sarah Yuran, Sonder by D’Juan Moreland, and Radical by Vittoria Tchotche.

Strata is a coming together of three extraordinary musical talents: Audrey Andrist, piano (an affiliate artist at UMBC); Nathan Williams, clarinet; and James Stern, violin and viola. Their combined credits encompass numerous international prizes and performances across four continents including such places as Carnegie Hall, the Marlboro Festival and the Kennedy Center.

Strata brings “deft ensemble playing” and a “talent…that’s worth getting worked up about” to a repertoire that combines the great trio and duo repertoire of the past with an ever-growing body of new works written especially for them over the more than 25 years they have been playing together. Equally capable of winning over an audience with unique renderings of popular music and of making even the most complex works accessible, exciting and meaningful, Strata has received enthusiastic repeat engagements at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, New York’s historic Maverick Concerts and San Francisco Composers Inc, for which they were listed as one of San Francisco Classical Voice’s “highlights of 2005.” They have been resident artists at the Banff Centre for the Arts and appeared in New York City under the auspices of the International Society for Contemporary Music.

All holders of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School, the members of Strata are dedicated to every level of music education, from the mentoring of graduate students and young professionals, to the initial sparking of musical passion in very young children, to the guiding of audiences in what to listen for. Spoken commentary is an integral part of all their concerts. They perform a wide range of specially tailored presentations for K-12 schools, and have done numerous university residencies involving coaching chamber music and both advising and performing the music of young composers. They have appeared as a featured ensemble at the annual conventions of the Music Teachers’ Association of California and the International Clarinet Association.

Their self-titled CD is an exciting mix of repertoire including works by Khachaturian, Bruch, Stravinsky, Rokeach and Freund. It is available on the AUR label as well as on iTunes and Amazon.