Every year, the FEU selects a small number of alumni projects to be feature in the annual cultural program. This February, we invite you to discover the musical universe of Alexa Ciciretti and Edo Frenkel with a program exploring the themes of friendship, collaboration and musical duos. Discover Edo Frenkel’s new piece: Archipelago 1, composed in 2022 in memory of the late composer and conductor Oliver Knussen.
Among the most-beloved works for cello and piano, Brahms’ Cello Sonata in E Minor was composed with the intention of being a duo among equal partners. Taking cues from various historical forms, from the minuet and trio to the fugue, Brahms weaves together a tapestry of storminess, nostalgia and whimsy.
Santa Fe Project (Konzertstuck) was born from a long-time friendship and collaboration between composer/pianist Magnus Lindberg and cellist Anssi Karttunen. Divided into three movements that follow each other without pause, it is, like the Brahms Sonata, a duo of equals. It was later orchestrated and augmented into Lindberg’s Second Cello Concerto.
Nestled between these two works is the Edo Frenkel’s new piece Archipelago 1, composed in 2022 in memory of the late composer-conductor Oliver Knussen. Edo and Alexa, partners in life and in music, were inspired by Alexa’s cello teacher Anssi Karttunen’s many artistic collaborations with his friends including Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Oliver Knussen.
Linking music of the past with that of the present, demonstrating the indelible human bonds that create art, and sharing that with others – that is Something Between Us.
~ Alexa Ciciretti
Practical Information
Date Thrusday, February 29 | Time 7:30pm | Facebook Event
Musical Program
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegretto quasi Menuetto
III. Allegro
Edo Frenkel (1988-)
Something Between Us
Movement I
Magnus Lindberg (1958-)
Santa Fe Project
Meet the Artists
Parisian-based Alexa Ciciretti is the cellist of Ensemble Cairn. Additionally, she has performed as guest solo cellist of Opera Nationale de Lorraine and with Quatuor Béla, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Orchestre Nationale d’Auvergne, Ensemble Multilatérale, Ensemble Sillages, and Barcelona Modern Ensemble. She has performed solos and chamber music at Palais Garnier, Salle Cortot, Château de Versailles, Château de Fontainebleau, and the Centre tchèque de Paris. Her interest in contemporary music has led her to work extensively with living composers, including Betsy Jolas, Jérôme Combier, Philippe Leroux, and Noriko Baba. Ms. Ciciretti was a guest artist at the 2019 Ojai Festival, where she performed John Zorn’s Ouroboros with Jay Campbell of the JACK Quartet, which was hailed as an “impressive tour de force” (sequenza21.com). A member of the Spoleto Festival USA for several seasons, Ms. Ciciretti served as continuo cellist on the U.S. premiere of Vivaldi’s Farnace and section cellist on the U.S. premiere of Helmut Lachenmann’s Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern. As an invited member of the Lucerne Festival Academy, she participated in several European tours, both with the Alumni Orchestra under the direction of Riccardo Chailly and the Academy Orchestra under the direction of Matthias Pintscher. Additionally, she was the solo cellist in Wolfgang Rihm’s Jagden und Formen under George Benjamin, and was one of six orchestral cello soloists in the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s Das Ding singt. Ms. Ciciretti was a cello fellow at the New World Symphony for four years, serving as principal cellist in their 2019 tour to Carnegie Hall. A frequent principal cellist under Michael Tilson Thomas, she additionally performed as principal under conductors such as Osmo Vänskä, Matthias Pintscher, John Adams, Brad Lubman, and Mark Wigglesworth. She also performed contemporary chamber music extensively during her time at New World Symphony, including Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King with baritone Kelvin Thomas and George Crumb’s Black Angels. She received her master’s degree and orchestral studies diploma from Eastman School of Music and her bachelor’s degree with a minor in historical performance from Oberlin Conservatory. Principal teachers include Steven Doane, Amir Eldan and Ronald Lowry. Ms. Ciciretti pursued post-graduate studies with Anssi Karttunen in Paris. She was in residence at the Fondation des États-Unis at Cité internationale universitaire de Paris from 2019-2020. Facebook | Instagram
Edo Frenkel is a “feisty” (LA Times) conductor and composer, who is quickly gaining attention for his “performances of both intimacy and intensity” (Opera Magazine) and “three-dimensional ductile precision” (Diapason). He is currently Associate Conductor of Ensemble Meitar with whom projects have recently included a concert tour through Austria and the world premiere of the opera Groundwater for Israel Music Festival. In addition, Edo has conducted performances with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Baltimore Symphony, Tonkünstler Orchester-Niederösterreich, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Northern Ballet, LUDWIG, Spóldzielnia Muzyczna, Charleston Symphony, and Ensemble Mise-en. He has performed in numerous international festivals including Aldeburgh, Présences, Opera Rara, Lucerne, Klangspuren, Manifeste, Verbier, and CEME. Between 2021-23 Edo served on music staff of The Royal Opera House as a Jette Parker Young Artist, working extensively on both Opera and Ballet productions as conductor and pianist. In 2024 he will serve on music staff as conductor and repetiteur at San Francisco Opera for the American premiere of Kaija Saarhiao’s Innocence. He previously worked as conductor and repetiteur on music staff at Bühnen Bern for the world premiere of the opera Sycorax by Georg Friedrich Haas. In October 2021, he was awarded the American Prize: Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for best performance of American Music for his conducted performance of Anthem by George E. Lewis. In 2019 he was a featured guest artist at the Ojai Festival. In 2018 he collaborated with Barbara Hannigan as her rehearsal pianist on the Satie: Socrate project at the Ruhrtriennale Festival and at the Park Ave Armory in New York City. He has closely collaborated with composers such as George E. Lewis, Betsy Jolas, Georg Friedrich Haas, Tansy Davies, Peter Eötvös, and Helmut Lachenmann. In addition to his work in notated music, Edo is equally at home in improvisation. He has performed alongside Jazz greats Peter Erskine and Randy Brecker. His compositions have been performed by such artists as Talea Ensemble, EXAUDI vocal ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, New Gates Trio, JACK quartet, Now Hear Ensemble, and Ensemble Paramirabo. His music has been performed in the US, Canada, North America, Japan, Hong Kong, and across Europe in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Het Concertgebouw, Festival Aix-en-Provence, and Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival. Between 2020-21 he was Artist in Residence at Cité internationale des arts de Paris as a composer and pianist with his ensemble Collectif Dissensus. Edo was awarded his Doctorate from the Eastman School of Music in 2020. In addition to his studies in music, he holds diplomas in Philosophy and Critical Theory. He was in residence at the Fondation des États-Unis at Cité internationale universitaire de Paris from 2019-2020. Facebook | Instagram | YouTube