Playground Ensemble to Present Chamber Music April 27 at UW

“Unchambered” will be presented by the Playground Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27, in the University of Wyoming Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Playground Ensemble, in residence at Metropolitan State University in Denver, is a group of professional musicians, composers and innovative educators dedicated to presenting chamber music as a living art form. Collaboration is at the heart of the Playground’s artistic vision. The ensemble commissions new works by living composers and works with dancers, poets, spoken word artists, and visual and multimedia artists.

The “Unchambered” concert features collaborations with eight UW undergraduate and graduate student composers from Department of Music Lecturer Anne Guzzo’s composition studio: Isabellé Carson, from Cheyenne; Vy Le, of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Monica Mendoza, of Salinas, Calif; Micah Miller, from Casper; Henrique Rabelo, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Javier Sanchez-Lopez, from Portland, Ore.; David Van Slyke, of Fredricktown, Ohio; and Giovanna Volpi Schmeiske, from São Paulo, Brazil.

The performance also includes music by San Francisco-based composer Cheryl Leonard, with a work featuring field recordings from Antarctica; and Aaron Helgeson’s composition titled “Fluxes,” referencing flute folk traditions from around the globe. Helgeson is an associate professor at Montclair State University’s Cali School of Music. Another feature is a “composed-in-the-moment” work with the use of soundpainting, a hand-signaling technique for concert music improvisation.

The Playground Ensemble has performed at many notable venues and festivals. The ensemble’s efforts have been recognized and supported by numerous regional and national organizations. The group has performed with or worked directly with a diverse cast of new music luminaries including Jace Clayton (DJ /rupture), Eyvind Kang, Morten Lauridsen, Tatsuya Nakatani, Roomful of Teeth, Caroline Shaw, So Percussion and Evan Ziporyn.

The Reeves Fund for Music Composition supports the “Unchambered” concert.

For more information about the Playground Ensemble, visit www.playgroundensemble.org or www.youtube.com/PlaygroundEnsemble.

For more information about the concert, email Guzzo at guzzo@uwyo.edu.