about Ryan Anthony FrancisFrancis has received commissions from American Composer's Orchestra, Metropolis Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Wordless Music Series, the New York Choreographic Institute, the Columbia Symphony of Portland, New Juilliard Ensemble, Axiom, FearNoMusic Ensemble and the New York Youth Symphony, and his works have been performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, New York Times Hall and Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center. His work is available on New Dynamic Records. His complete piano works are available on Tzadik.
Francis holds a D.M.A. in composition from The Juilliard School, where he also received his M.M. in composition. He also holds a B.M. in composition from the University of Michigan. He is the only composer to twice receive the Juilliard School's top compositional honor, the Palmer-Dixon Prize (2005, 2008), as well as the prestigious Charles Ives scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His teachers have included Robert Beaser, Bright Sheng, George Tsontakis, Steven Stucky, Susan Botti, Erik Santos and Evan Chambers. A native of Portland, Oregon, Mr. Francis now resides in Brooklyn.
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Composer Ryan Anthony Francis’s (b. 1981) compositions have been met with audience and critical acclaim throughout the United States and Europe. His works have been variously described as “sweeping” and “exceptional” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), “compelling” (Los Angeles Times) as well as “shimmering”, “focused” and “rhythmically sharp-edged” (New York Times). The dynamic and inventive force of Mr. Francis's piano music was recently the focus of David Dubal's radio show "Reflections from the Keyboard", and in April 2008 Metropolis Ensemble premiered his new piano concerto with Anna Polonsky as soloist. This past summer, Mr. Francis’s collaboration with fellow composer Ricardo Romaniero of an electro-acoustic remix of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was featured on NPR and at Celebrate Brooklyn. Mr. Francis has received commissions from Metropolis Ensemble, the Wordless Music Series, the New York Choreographic Institute, the Columbia Symphony of Portland, New Juilliard Ensemble, Axiom, FearNoMusic Ensemble and the New York Youth Symphony, and his works have been performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, New York Times Hall and Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center. His work is available on New Dynamic Records and on an upcoming Tzadik release of his complete piano works. Mr. Francis is currently a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School, where he also received his M.M. in composition. He also holds a B.M. in composition from the University of Michigan. He the only composer to twice receive the Juilliard School’s top compositional honor, the Palmer-Dixon Prize (2005, 2008), as well as the prestigious Charles Ives scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His teachers have included Robert Beaser, Bright Sheng, George Tsontakis, Steven Stucky, Susan Botti, Erik Santos and Evan Chambers. A native of Portland, Oregon, Mr. Francis now resides in Brooklyn.
TzadikRyan Anthony Francis is a remarkable young composer who was born in Portland, Oregon, studied at Julliard and now resides in New York City. His work is brilliant and dynamic, combining the imagination of Ligeti with the minimal language of Steve Reich and John Adams. Fluid and fascinating, his work for solo piano is some of his very best. Performed here by the virtuoso pianist Vicky Chow, a long time colleague of Francis, the music is lush, beautiful and endlessly inventive.
about Vicky ChowCanadian pianist Vicky Chow has performed extensively as a classical and contemporary soloist, chamber musician, and ensemble member, and has been described as “brilliant” (New York Times), “virtuosic” (New Jersey Star Ledger) and “sparkling” with a “feisty technique” (MIT Tech). She is the pianist for the New York based eclectic contemporary sextet, Bang on a Can All-Stars and has performed with other groups such as Wordless Music Orchestra, Opera Cabal, Wet Ink Ensemble, ai ensemble and AXIOM. Her passion has propelled Vicky to work with an A-to-Z of leading composers and musicians such as John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Nik Bärtsch, Don Byron, Bryce Dessner (The Nationals) Michael Gordon, Glenn Kotche (Wilco), David Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), David Lang, Terry Riley, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Julia Wolfe, Evan Ziporyn. In 2010, Ms. Chow did a performance tour in China, Italy, Germany, and Holland with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, a performance tour in Malaysia with the Perak Performing Arts Society, and performances in Chicago with Opera Cabal. Recent performances include a recital tour across Canada of a newly commissioned work of Montreal based composer Eliot Britton alongside other new piano works with the support of a touring and commissioning grant from Canada Council for the Arts, Evan Ziporyn’s opera ‘A House in Bali‘ at BAM, solo appearances at Carnegie Hall, The Stone, and Merkin Hall, and world premiering Louis Andriessen’s work with video titled “Life” written for the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Upcoming appearances include a tour with the Bang on a Can All-Stars to Australia, Portugal, Hong Kong, London and Portugal, collaborations with Kronos Quartet, performances with Detroit New Music ensemble at the Detroit Institute of Art, performance at the American Composer’s Alliance Festival at Symphony Space, and with eighth blackbird at Carnegie Hall performing Pulitzer-Prize-winner Steve Reich’s Double Sextet and 2x5 (written for the Bang on a Can All-Stars).
Ms. Chow has performed across North America, Europe and Asia in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Guggenheim Museum, The Stone, le Poisson Rouge, Galapagos Art Space, Syphony Space, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Tonhalle in Zurich, Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, The Polytheater in Beijing, Chan Center for the Performing Art in Vancouver and has been a guest artist in the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Music Festival, Golandsky Institute International Piano Festival, musicacoustica festival (in association with Electro-acoustic Music Association of China and China Electroacoustic Music Center) in Beijing, E-music Week in Shanghai, Big Ears festival in Knoxville, the f(x) New Music Marathon in Miami, Desert Chamber Music Society in Palm Springs, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Music on Main series in Vancouver, and Las Vegas Music Festival. She has received grants and support from Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, Fromm Foundation, and the Vancouver Foundation.
Her upcoming album of solo piano music by Ryan Francis will be released in April 2011 under the ‘tzadik’ label. In addition to performing, Ms. Chow also produces and curates “Contagious Sounds”, a new music series focusing on adventurous contemporary artists and composers at the Gershwin Hotel in New York City.
Originally from Vancouver Canada, Ms. Chow studied at The Juilliard School with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Julian Martin (B.M, M.M. ‘Piano Performance’) before continuing studies at Manhattan School of Music (M.M., P.S. ‘Contemporary Performance’) with Christopher Oldfather. Previously, she studied at the Vancouver Academy of Music with Lorraine Ambrose. Starting the piano at age 5, she was invited to perform at the age of 9 at the International Gilmore Music Keyboard Festival where she performed a solo program of Chopin, Debussy, Bartok and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major. She made her orchestral debut at the age of 10 with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and her last orchestral appearance was at Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Symphony performing Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Other orchestral engagements include the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Symphony, The Vancouver Academy Orchestra, White Rock Festival String Orchestra and the B.C. Sinfonietta. She has performed under numerous conductors, including George Manahan, James Conlon, JoAnne Falleta, Bramwell Tovey, Victor Feldbrill, and Jeffrey Milarsky. As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with New York Philharmonic flutist Renee Siebert and Metropolitan Opera soprano Janet Hopkins at the Desert Chamber Music Society and cellist Andre Emelianoff of the Da Capo Chamber Players.
As a competitor, she placed first in the Canadian Music Competition four consecutive years. She took top prize the Toronto Symphony Piano Competition and Juilliard concerto competition, second prize in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Piano Competition, third prize in the Pacific International Piano Competition, and a finalist and honorarium prizewinner of the San Antonio International Piano Competition.
Ms. Chow has performed in master classes with a number of distinguished pianists, including Menahem Pressler, Jerome Lowenthal, Ruth Laredo, Ursula Oppens, and Angela Cheng.
Ms. Chow resides in New York City.