Due East
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About
"In DUE EAST, Erin Lesser and Greg Beyer have achieved a rare level of synergy that makes for an amazingly expressive and delightful program. Their wide-ranging repertoire is delivered with passion and vibrancy, and audiences are witnesses to an astonishing display of virtuosity. DUE EAST is a joy to behold."
- Rich Holly, Immediate Past President, Percusssive Arts Society
Greg Beyer
Hailed a “fine percussionist” in the New York Times, Greg Beyer specializes in repertoire that places non-western instruments into the context of contemporary musical thought. Second-prize winner of the 2002 Geneva International Solo Percussion Competition, Beyer has given solo performances and masterclasses throughout the United States, Europe, South America and in China. Of primary importance to him is his project, Arcomusical, dedicated to the advancement of the berimbau in contemporary music.
Erin Lesser
A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, flutist Erin Lesser has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout Canada, Europe, China, Brazil and the USA. Ms. Lesser is actively involved in the contemporary music world, having worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, Tristan Murail, and Philippe Hurel. She is a founding member of Argento Chamber Ensemble, Due East, and Scarborough Trio, and also performs regularly with Wet Ink Ensemble and Sequitur. Festival appearances include: Shanghai Electroacoustic Music Festival, Kilkenny Music Festival, Warsaw Crossdrumming Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Holland Festival, Ojai Music Festival (CA), International Spectral Music Festival (Istanbul), and Sounds French Festival (NYC). Erin has been a guest artist with So Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, American Modern Ensemble, H.T. Chen Dance Company, and Mabou Mines Theatre, and has been heard on CBC Radio Canada and WQXR (NY) Young Performer’s Showcase. Erin recently completed a two-year fellowship with The Academy, a program run by Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute. Erin is a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music and a Pearl Flute performing artist.
DUE EAST won first prize in the 2008 National Flute Association Chamber Music Competition. The duo has performed in Brazil, Europe, Canada and the USA at venues such as the Warsaw Crossdrumming Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the SEAMUS conference, Bargemusic, the National Flute Association Conventions in Kansas and New York and the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions in Texas, Tennessee and Ohio. Both accomplished and virtuosic soloists in their own right, Beyer and Lesser work closely with young composers to develop unique and engaging 21st century repertoire. Their programs are varied and highly engaging, ranging from extensive multi-media and technology-driven works to pieces that call for a variety of world music instruments in combination with folksong-like vocals and narratives. Beyer is an expert performer of the Afro-Brazilian berimbau, and incorporates this instrument into DUE EAST shows.
Program:
Bernhard Lang DW21 is a late offspring of the Difference/Repetition series, more related to the following series of Monadologies since implementing computer processed textures: I uses both cellular automata and granular synthesis to process freely written score fragments, resulting in a hypervirtuosic duo. The subtitle was inspired by Roger Water lyrics from "Dogs."
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart,
everyone's a killer.
Bernhard Lang, Paris, summer 2010
Greg Beyer
Hailed a “fine percussionist” in the New York Times, Greg Beyer specializes in repertoire that places non-western instruments into the context of contemporary musical thought. Second-prize winner of the 2002 Geneva International Solo Percussion Competition, Beyer has given solo performances and masterclasses throughout the United States, Europe, South America and in China. Of primary importance to him is his project, Arcomusical, dedicated to the advancement of the berimbau in contemporary music.
Erin Lesser
A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, flutist Erin Lesser has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout Canada, Europe, China, Brazil and the USA. Ms. Lesser is actively involved in the contemporary music world, having worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, Tristan Murail, and Philippe Hurel. She is a founding member of Argento Chamber Ensemble, Due East, and Scarborough Trio, and also performs regularly with Wet Ink Ensemble and Sequitur. Festival appearances include: Shanghai Electroacoustic Music Festival, Kilkenny Music Festival, Warsaw Crossdrumming Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Holland Festival, Ojai Music Festival (CA), International Spectral Music Festival (Istanbul), and Sounds French Festival (NYC). Erin has been a guest artist with So Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, American Modern Ensemble, H.T. Chen Dance Company, and Mabou Mines Theatre, and has been heard on CBC Radio Canada and WQXR (NY) Young Performer’s Showcase. Erin recently completed a two-year fellowship with The Academy, a program run by Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute. Erin is a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music and a Pearl Flute performing artist.
DUE EAST won first prize in the 2008 National Flute Association Chamber Music Competition. The duo has performed in Brazil, Europe, Canada and the USA at venues such as the Warsaw Crossdrumming Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the SEAMUS conference, Bargemusic, the National Flute Association Conventions in Kansas and New York and the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions in Texas, Tennessee and Ohio. Both accomplished and virtuosic soloists in their own right, Beyer and Lesser work closely with young composers to develop unique and engaging 21st century repertoire. Their programs are varied and highly engaging, ranging from extensive multi-media and technology-driven works to pieces that call for a variety of world music instruments in combination with folksong-like vocals and narratives. Beyer is an expert performer of the Afro-Brazilian berimbau, and incorporates this instrument into DUE EAST shows.
Program:
Bernhard Lang DW21 is a late offspring of the Difference/Repetition series, more related to the following series of Monadologies since implementing computer processed textures: I uses both cellular automata and granular synthesis to process freely written score fragments, resulting in a hypervirtuosic duo. The subtitle was inspired by Roger Water lyrics from "Dogs."
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart,
everyone's a killer.
Bernhard Lang, Paris, summer 2010