ALIAS, Nashville’s most eclectic and critically acclaimed chamber music ensemble, is thrilled to announce that it has been nominated for its first-ever Grammy for Hilos, an album composed by Latin Grammy-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and performed by members of ALIAS and Frank.

Hilos is among five nominees in the Grammy category for Best Small Ensemble Performance, as announced Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 on the Grammy.com website.

“It’s phenomenal,” said ALIAS executive director Jim Robert on Wednesday, after learning of the group’s nomination.”It’s beyond our wildest dreams. These guys have worked so hard to do this. It’s ALIAS, (Artistic Director) Zeneba (Bowers) and the group that deserve the recognition. They have worked very, very hard for this. It is phenomenal that this is their first CD, and to have this nomination. I think they’re a winner right now.”

ALIAS wishes to thank composer and fellow performer Gabriela Lena Frank, engineer Gary Hedden, producer D. Wilson Ochoa, the fantastic musicians and dedicated Board of Directors of ALIAS, and Naxos Records.

Commissioned by ALIAS, The Schubert Club, and Dr. Jonathan Neufeld and Dr. Jennifer Lena, and supported by a grant from Vanderbilt University, Hilos (Spanish for “threads”) is an eight-movement quartet for piano, violin, cello and clarinet.

ALIAS’ recording of Hilos was released by Naxos Records in February 2011 on its American Classics imprint.

“ALIAS has been inspired by Gabriela for years and has already programmed four of her chamber works on our regular season concerts,” said Bowers, founder and artistic director of ALIAS.”Naturally, we were thrilled and honored to have this opportunity to commission a piece from her and to perform and record it alongside her.”

Frank frequently draws on her multicultural Latin heritage as inspiration for her music. In Hilos, each short movement evokes vivid pictures, such as “Canto del Altiplano” (Song of the Highlands), “Zumballyu” (Spinning Top), and “Juegos de los Niños” (Games of the Children).

The story of pianist and composer, Gabriela Lena Frank, born in Berkeley, California in 1972 is a remarkable one. From her earliest childhood, she created stories at the piano, although it wasn’t until the age of four that it was discovered she had been born with a severe hearing impairment. While at the keyboard, Gabriela Lena Frank had been reacting to the “feel” of sound, as in vibrations. After being given hearing aids, Frank’s world changed. She, at once, became aware of the air itself as sound. Her piano teacher, Babette Salamon, recognized that not only was her talented pupil a musical story-teller, but she was endowed with perfect pitch and total musical recall. Frank could hear a composition one time, and immediately reproduce it at the keyboard.

Gabriela Lena Frank is dedicated to sharing her ethnic heritage through her compositions. Frank’s mother is a Peruvian of Chinese descent and her father, an American of Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry; her multi-cultural background provides the inspiration for her compositional work which has earned many prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Latin Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in 2009.

Frank’s training included both conventional composition studies (with William Albright, Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty, and Samuel Jones) and time spent in Peru exploring traditional Peruvian folk music. A self-described musical anthropologist, Frank seeks new ways of combining sounds and rhythm patterns to evoke indigenous life. Three of the four works on this disc are inspired by Frank’s own culture—Peruvian—while the fourth reflects the Spanish influence and its lasting imprint on Peru.

Hilos (Threads, 2010) is the most recent work in this program and was written specifically for the Nashville based Alias Chamber Ensemble. Scored for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, the eight short movements mix and match the players as if weaving together threads that reflect Peruvian textiles and culture. Each movement is a snapshot of everyday life. So vivid are the melodies and rhythms, skillfully performed here by the Alias Chamber Ensemble, that the spirited Afro-Peruvian dance—in a jaunty movement entitled “Zapatos de Chincha”—teases and exhilarates. In another snapshot,”Bombines”, the Bowler hats worn by mountain women are depicted as the “karnavalito” or South American dance rhythm, punctuates the movement. Swirling melodies of clarinet and piano intertwine to depict the “Zumbaliyu,” a children’s spinning toy. A gifted and dexterous pianist, Gabriela Lena Frank joins Alias violinist Zeneba Bowers, clarinetist Lee Levine and cellist Matt Walker for this riveting performance.

The second work featured on this disc, Danza de los Saqsampillos (Dance of the Saqsampillos, 2006, 2000) for marimba duo offers a dazzling display of virtuosity by percussionists Christopher Norton and Todd Kemp. The marimba instrument is popular all through Latin America and figures prominently in much of the popular music and folklore. This dance is inspired by the Peruvian “saqsampillo,” a rambunctious jungle-dweller. Surprising shifts in meter, common to many styles of Latin American music, infuse this work with playful energy.

Frank’s one movement Adagio para Amantani for cello and piano (2007) was written in homage to the island of Amantani. Situated in the middle of Lake Titicaca between Peru and Bolivia, the island is both beautiful and desolate. Frank and Walker perform this poignant meditation with sensitivity and pathos. The cello lingers on sustained plaintive cries—often bursting into dissonant pleas— while the piano articulates repeated tremolo rhythms and flowing, arpeggiated chords; the result is an atmospheric and hauntingly beautiful work recalling the isolation and loneliness of the Amantani inhabitants.

Quijotadas (2007) for string quartet comprises five movements which take their inspiration from Cervantes’ tale of Don Quixote. The four intrepid players—Bowers, Walker, violinist Alison Gooding and violist Chris Farrell—join forces to perform this texturally varied and rhythmically pulsating score with all the quirkiness and gusto it demands. The music featured on this disc is a wonderful display of richly imaginative and innovative style by one of America’s most original and prolific composers.

Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi

ClassicsToday.com review of GABRIELA LENA FRANK Hilos (Threads); Danza da Saqsampillos; Adagio para Amantaní; Quijotadas

Gabriela Lena Frank is the real deal: a modern composer with a personal style, one that manages to integrate a wide range of sounds and performing techniques into a cohesive language that unapologetically includes melody and tonal harmony without ever sounding anachronistic. She clearly manages to remain true to herself, but she doesn’t have to write down to her listeners in order to share her thoughts and feelings. This is just good music.

Hilos is a quartet for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano inspired by Peruvian weaving. The music is colorful, vibrant, and consistently inventive; the Latin element is pervasive, but not cheap, and not overwhelming. Danza de los Saqsampillos is an arrangement for two marimbas of an earlier piano piece, and it sounds like a blast to play; Adagio para Amantaní (for cello and piano) is a soulful meditation inspired by an island landscape in the middle of Lake Titicaca. Quijotadas is a string quartet based on Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Its second movement, Sequidilla para la Mancha, has to be one of the most charming pieces of its kind since the scherzo of Ravel’s Quartet, which it resembles in some ways (lots of pizzicato).

The performances, with the composer’s participation where the piano joins in, and presumably her supervision where it does not, are uniformly excellent, and so are the sonics. A wonderful disc of inventive, fresh, characterful music, plain and simple.

–David Hurwitz

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=13267

The Alias Chamber Ensemble is arguably the most venturesome classical music group in Nashville. Since its founding in 2002, this outstanding virtuoso ensemble has presented nearly a dozen world-premiere performances. Its wide-ranging programs, moreover, feature everything from little-known Renaissance-era pieces to contemporary works that seemingly owe more to rap than to Rachmaninoff.

Just about the only place Alias hasn’t ventured with its music is the recording studio. At least, that was the case until last month, when Alias released its first album, a CD on the Naxos label devoted to the music of Gabriela Lena Frank.

A California-based composer and pianist, Frank, 38, finds inspiration for her music in her multicultural background. Her mother is a Peruvian of Chinese descent and her father is an American of Lithuanian-Jewish heritage. Not surprisingly, Frank drew on Peru’s rich musical culture to compose three of the four works on Alias’ new CD. The fourth piece pays homage to Cervantes’ 17th century Spanish novel The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.

Without question, the most ambitious piece on the disc is Hilos…

For the full review at Nashvillescene.com, CLICK HERE.

Made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission, MMMC will include the following events:

• Oct. 3^rd at 4:00pm – Family Concert, location TBA
• Oct. 4^th at 8:30am – Educational Concert, Cole Elementary School (for students and their families)
• Oct. 4^th at 4:00pm – Educational Concert, W.O. Smith Community Music School (for students)
• Oct. 5^th at 8:30am – Educational Concert, Paragon Mills Elementary (for students and their families)

MMMC includes arts-integrated lesson plans inspired by Hilos and developed by a curriculum specialist which meet TN state standards for grades K-4 in Social Studies and Student Performance Indicators (SPIs) for 3rd and 4th grades. Music and Art lessons will meet standards for all grade levels, focusing on instruments and musical styles from Latin American countries and cultures, as well as the specific instruments the composer used in Hilos: clarinet, violin, cello and piano.

In each scenario, the composer will talk to audiences of all ages about Andean cultural influences in her music, and demonstrate how she uses traditional western instruments to evoke the folkloric traditions of sound and style. Her superb blending of cultural elements and classical music has won Gabriela Lena Frank both a Latin Grammy and a Guggenheim Prize.  Her new piece, composed with a civic purpose in mind, lends itself perfectly to introducing kids and families to art music in an easily identifiable manner.

Please visit the MMMC’s Facebook page by clicking HERE.

ALIAS, Nashville’s most eclectic and critically acclaimed chamber music ensemble, and Latin Grammy Award-winning composer and Guggenheim fellow Gabriela Lena Frank will give the world-premiere performance of Hilos on Friday, October 1, 2010 at 8 p.m. at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music in Nashville.  Also on the program are works by DJ Sparr, Kenji Bunch and Bayani Mendoza de Leon.

The Schubert Club in St. Paul, Minn. will host the second performance of Hilos on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, at 8 p.m.

Commissioned by ALIAS, The Schubert Club, and Drs. Jonathan Neufeld and Jennifer Lena supported by a grant from Vanderbilt University, Hilos (Spanish for “threads”) is an eight-movement quartet for piano, violin, cello and clarinet. It will be performed by Ms. Frank (piano) and three members of the 12-member ALIAS ensemble:  Zeneba Bowers (violin), Matthew Walker (cello) and Lee Levine (clarinet).

ALIAS will record Hilos, which will be released by Naxos on the American Classics imprint, along with other premiere recordings of Ms. Frank’s works, performed by the composer and ALIAS ensemble members.  The recording is anticipated for a 2011 release.

“ALIAS has been inspired by Gabriela for years and has already programmed four of her chamber works on our regular season concerts.  Naturally, we were thrilled and honored to have this opportunity to commission a piece from her and to perform and record it alongside her,” says Zeneba Bowers, founder and artistic director of ALIAS.

Ms. Frank frequently draws on her multicultural Latin heritage as inspiration for her music. In Hilos, each of the short movements evoke vivid pictures, such as “Canto del Altiplano” (Song of the Highlands), “Zumballyu” (Spinning Top), and “Juegos de los Niños” (Games of the Children).

“There are similarities to Pictures at an Exhibition in that each movement tells a different story,” explains Ms. Frank.  “Hilos refers to the ‘threads’ that make up Andean textiles and how these threads weave together to portray tantalizing pictures.  I am looking forward to bringing this piece to life with an innovative, quality ensemble like ALIAS.”

In conjunction with the premiere of Hilos, ALIAS and Ms. Frank will participate in “Mestiza Music in Music City,” an educational outreach initiative that will take place in September and October 2010 as part of National Hispanic Heritage Month.  This NEA-funded initiative will bring Hispanic music, including Hilos, and related educational materials to minority schools and communities in Nashville.  The purpose of the program is to help promote understanding between Nashville’s diverse cultures.  In addition, Ms. Frank is participating in the interdisciplinary Music, Authority and Community project with Drs. Lena and Neufeld at Vanderbilt University.

Tickets to the world-premiere performance of Hilos in Nashville are $12 ($5 for students) and are available in advance at www.aliasmusic.org, or by clicking HERE. All proceeds will benefit Conexion Americas.

General Admission $12

Students w/ID $5

Tickets to The Schubert Club performance will go on-sale September 7 and can be purchased by calling 651-292-3268, or by visiting www.schubert.org.

Biographies

ALIAS

Founded in 2002, ALIAS is a chamber ensemble dedicated to innovative repertoire, artistic excellence, and a desire to give back to the community. Comprised of 12 professional musicians in Nashville, its wide-ranging repertoire brings audiences a mix of chamber music that cannot be heard anywhere else in the community.  To date, ALIAS has premiered 10 new works and makes a point of performing undiscovered or seldom heard pierces.  As part of its mission, ALIAS also adopts three nonprofit partners each season and gives 100 percent of its ticket proceeds to these partners. For more information about ALIAS, visit: www.aliasmusic.org.

Gabriela Lena Frank, Composer and Pianist

Identity has always been at the center of Gabriela Lena Frank’s music. Born in Berkeley, California, to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Frank explores her multicultural heritage most ardently through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Bela Bartók and Alberto Ginastera, Frank is something of a musical anthropologist. She has travelled extensively throughout South America and her pieces reflect and refract her studies of Latin-American folklore, incorporating poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own. She writes challenging idiomatic parts for solo instrumentalists, vocalists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras. For more information about Gabriela Lena Frank, visit: http://www.schirmer.com.

ALIAS is proud to announce the group’s major new project to feature Guggenheim Fellowship- and Latin Grammy-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank as the centerpiece.  The overarching project, to take place in 2010, includes a commission of a quartet (for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano) by composer Gabriela Lena Frank; the commission is funded through partnerships with the Music, Authority and Community Project at Vanderbilt University, and with The Schubert Club of St. Paul, Minn.

The project also includes the first-ever ALIAS recording, which will feature Ms. Frank’s chamber works for NAXOS, on its American Classics label. This recording is being made possible with our partnership with Vanderbilt and with support from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission. The recording will include the new commissioned work, and several other works which will be recording premieres.

ALIAS was drawn to Ms. Frank’s music due to her artistic incorporation of folk idioms from the Andes and Peru. She travels extensively and uses the traditional music of South America as inspiration. A date for the recording’s release has not been announced.

“At the time of this announcement, I confess I’ve been in the thick of creating a new piece of music for ALIAS for more than a month,” said the composer, Gabriela Lena Frank. “In these early days of sifting, choosing, discarding, and sometimes rescuing ideas, I’ve frequently been suffused with a feeling of overwhelming gratitude towards these excellent musicians for the confidence and interest they have in my work as a composer. I’m so looking forward to working with them closely in bringing the new work to life, to our recording on the NAXOS label, and to our live performances. ALIAS is exactly why us composers love what we do.”

“We are very excited to work with ALIAS on their upcoming recording featuring the music of Gabriela Lena Frank,” said Lea D. Maitlen, Senior Marketing Manager, Naxos of America, Inc. “This excellent ensemble is an important part of the Nashville community, and I applaud their focus on new composers and lesser known repertoire.”

This commission, as well as the recording, is funded in large part by the ongoing Music, Authority and Community Project, led by Vanderbilt professors Jonathan Neufeld and Jennifer Lena. It combines scholarship from philosophy, sociology and music, and it is an unprecedented means of funding the creation of a new composition. “ALIAS has wanted to commission a new work from Gabriela, and to record it, for a long time,” says Matt Walker, cellist and Executive Director of ALIAS. “We are very grateful that Jonathan and Jenn’s profound academic efforts have helped us bring the idea to fruition.”

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About Gabriela Lena Frank:

Identity has always been at the center of Gabriela Lena Frank’s music. Born in Berkeley, California, to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Frank explores her multicultural heritage most ardently through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Bela Bartók and Alberto Ginastera, Frank is something of a musical anthropologist. She has travelled extensively throughout South America and her pieces reflect and refract her studies of Latin-American folklore, incorporating poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own. She writes challenging idiomatic parts for solo instrumentalists, vocalists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras.

For full bio, click here.

Interviews with 2007 Joyce Awards winners, Gabriela Lena Frank and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in Indianapolis.

Video of Gabriela Lena Frank, winner of Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s 2008 Brillante Prize.

The project is one component of the GLF Project, and will feature a series of educational and outreach programs based in Nashville’s Hispanic community during Hispanic Cultural Heritage Month, from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.

More details, including a schedule, will be available at aliasmusic.org when they become available.

For more details about other Nashville arts organizations that received part of the $1.1 million NEA grants, please click here for a link to the full story at Tennessean.com.

For full details about The GLF Project, including how you can be part of this special event, please click here.

After intermission, artistic director and violinist Zeneba Bowers excitedly gave the audience details about the ambitious new venture. Alias has commissioned a quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano from rising star composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and the ensemble is set to record a full album of Frank’s music for leading classical label Naxos, with the composer herself appearing as pianist.

A nice deal for anyone, and a truly impressive one for a young nonprofit ensemble with all-volunteer membership and no institutional affiliation. With the same zeal and inventiveness that informs their music-making, ALIAS lined up funding and support from the long-established Schubert Club of St. Paul, Minn., as well as from Vanderbilt and the Metro Nashville Arts Commission…”

Click here to read the full story and concert review at nashvillescene.com.