The Jazz at Bard Series and the Bard Music Festival present

Reimagining Mahler with the Uri Caine Ensemble
Saturday, September 14, 2002

Preconcert Lecture/Demonstration
4:00 p.m.
Bard Hall
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Concert
8:00 p.m.
Olin Auditorium
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

"Caine's supple playing and high-minded reinterpretations reflect Samuel Coleridge's assertion that 'genius of the highest kind' involves the power to modify or transform an old work into something entirely new."
—Michelle Mercer, New York Times

"Uri Caine is a king among princes, a consummate musician who sounds great whether playing Bach, accompanying Don Byron on Puccini's Nessun Dorma, wrangling an ambitious avant-jazz ensemble around the music of Mahler . . . . He is prolific, hugely proficient, and ambitious—a bit of a monster."
—John Walters, London Guardian

Visionary jazz pianist Uri Caine indulges a lifelong love of Mahler with his band of acclaimed New York downtown musicians who transform the composer’s works in a genre-crossing blend of bop, bossa nova, tango, funk, bar songs and free jazz.

Uri Caine - piano
Ralph Allessi - trumpet
Joyce Hammannd - violin
Chris Speed - saxophone and clarinet
Drew Gress - bass
Jim Black - drums and percussion
DJ Olive - turntables

Caine's ongoing exploration of Gustav Mahler's music has been described by London's Independent as "becoming part of the essential repertoire of our time." The Mahler project grew out of Caine's scoring an accompaniment to a silent film during the JMT Records festival at New York City's Knitting Factory in 1995, and continues to this day. Caine has released two critically acclaimed recordings that focus on reinterpreting Mahler. A third recording, based on a Mahler song cycle, is due out at the end of this year.

One of these recordings, Urlicht/Primal Light, was awarded the "Composer's Hut" award for the Best Mahler CD of 1997 by the International Mahler Society. The recording, Gustav Mahler in Toblach, is a live version of Caine's performance at the Gustav Mahler Festival in Toblach/Dobbacio, Italy, in 1998.

Among Caine's ten other recordings are Sphere Music, Toys, Blue Wail, The Sidewalks of New York, his version of Schumann's "Dichterliebe" song cycle Love Fugue, a new version of The Goldberg Variations, Solitaire, Rio, and Bedrock3.

Caine has also recorded a jazz piano trio project with Drew Gass and Ben Perowsky, to be released soon. Caine composed music for a ballet that premiered at the Vienna Volksoper in June 2000; and created a work based on his Goldberg Variations. The latter choreographed by Val Canipoaroli, was performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet. Caine's new version of the Diabelli Variations, for Concerto Köln had its premiere at the Kempen Festival in 2001.

In addition to performing with his own ensemble, Caine has worked with groups, including those led by by Don Byron, Sam Rivers, Clark Terry, Arto Lindsay, Barry Altschul. He has also performed with the Woody Herman Band, the Enja Band, and Global Theory. Caine has appeared at many jazz festivals including the What is Jazz? Festival, the Texaco Jazz Festival (New York), the Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz Across the Borders (Berlin), and the Newport Jazz Festival. Appeareces at classical music festivals include the Salzburg Festival, the Holland Festival, and the Israel Festival. Caine is the recipient of grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The concert begins at 8:00 p.m., in Olin Hall, and admission is $20; $15 for senior citizens, students, faculty, and staff; and free for Bard students. Caine will also offer a free lecture demonstration about his work reinterpreting Mahler's music, beginning at 4:00 p.m. in Bard Hall.

Reservations and advance ticket purchase are recommended.

For further information, to purchase tickets, or for reservations, call 845-876-7666 or e-mail jazzatbard@bard.edu.