Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will present a work by Stony Brook faculty composer Perry Goldstein on Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 pm in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse in the Rose Building at Lincoln Center, 165 West 65th Street, in New York City.
The work, “Birding By Ear,” is a collaboration with novelist Richard Powers, who wrote the texts for the piece. The six poems, written in 2013, are about birds, and about what humans impose on them in our loneliness and need to connect with their world. They form a subtle preview of Powers’ exploration of a theme–the way humans have become alienated from the natural world–that finds full expression in his novel, The Overstory, which won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Literature.
The piece was completed in 2019 and was premiered at the Great Lakes Festival in Michigan in 2022 by baritone Randall Scarlata (previously on the faculty of Stony Brook University), violinist Philip Setzer and cellist Paul Watkins (both ex-members of the Emerson String Quartet and current Stony Brook faculty), and pianist Gilles Vonsattel. This same ensemble will perform the piece at Lincoln Center on January 23rd. Tickets are $35. A live stream will be available here for anyone unable to attend in person: livestream link
Photo of the ensemble and Dr. Goldstein from the initial premiere.
From left to right: Randall Scarlata, Gilles Vonsattel, Philip Setzer, Richard Powers, Perry Goldstein, and Paul Watkins.
For more information, please visit:
Video featuring Dr. Goldstein talking about the work:
Since 1992, Perry Goldstein has been a member of the music faculty of Stony Brook University with a long record of service to the department. He was the inaugural Director of the College of Arts, Culture, and Humanities (2003-2007), Undergraduate Studies Director (2001-2009), Graduate Program Director (2009-2012), and Chair of the Department of Music (2012-2020). In 2016, he was invited to join the SUNY Distinguished Academy with the title, “Distinguished Service Professor.”