Toward the Sea
Toward the Sea | Wednesday, June 16th, 7:30 PM
STREAMING on YouTube and www.CapeCodChamberOrchestra.org. Premiere June 16th at 7:30 PM, video available until July 12.
Join us virtually from the Cultural Center of Cape Cod as we explore art from the Cape and music of Takemitsu, Vaughan Williams, Rautavaara & Debussy. Featuring artists Jackie Reeves, Richard Neal, and Lauren Wolk.
Toru Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea (1981) was commissioned by Green Peace for the Save the Whales campaign, a piece of music that is an homage to the sea which “creates all things” according to the composer. Flautist Zach Sheets and harpist Charles Overton are featured on this program. The CCCO will also perform Vaughan Williams tone poem The Death of Tintagiles, the Andantino from the Debussy string quartet, and Rautavaara’s thrilling “Fiddlers”.
PROGRAM:
Debussy | Andantino
Vaughan Williams | Death of Tintagiles
Takemitsu | Toward the Sea
Zach Sheets, alto flute | Charles Overton, harp
Rautavaara | The Fiddlers
ABOUT ZACH SHEETS:
Zach Sheets (b. 1991) enjoys a multi-faceted career as a performer/composer, and as an advocate for funding in the performing arts and arts education.
As an active freelancer, he has performed in a wide variety of festivals, ensembles, and concert series. Recent performing engagements include with the Boston Ballet, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Ensemble Signal, New World Symphony, Callithumpian Consort, Phoenix Chamber Orchestra, the Talea Ensemble, Albany Symphony, Portland Symphony, and more. Solo and recital performances have been presented by the the Spoleto Festival USA, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; NEC’s Jordan Hall; University of Chicago; University at Buffalo’s Creative Arts Initiative; the Houston Flute Club, Æpex Contemporary Performance, the EQ Concert Series, the Knutson Masters Series, and more. He is currently Principal Flute of the Cape Symphony Orchestra and a member of the [Switch~ Ensemble] and Duo Axis.
Awards include a 2021 Artist Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a 2020 St. Botolph Club Emerging Artist Award (Boston), 1st prize in the 2017 Byron Hester Competition (Houston), 1st prize in the 2015 Tallon Perkes Competition (Rochester), and 3rd prize in the 2019 San Diego Flute Guild Young Artist Competition During the summer, he has performed as part of the Spoleto Festival USA, Aldeburgh Festival, Royaumont Voix Nouvelles, Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, ManiFeste@IRCAM, Klangspuren Ensemble Modern Academy, Colorado College Music Festival, and June in Buffalo Festival, with distinguished conductors such as Heinz Holliger, Oliver Knussen, and Brad Lubman.
As a composer, Zach's works have been performed in the U.S. and abroad by some of the world's foremost interpreters of contemporary music, including the Ensemble InterContemporain, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. In November 2016 Zach had a month-long residency at the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne’s FORUM international des jeunes compositeurs, for which his new work was awarded the 1° prix du jury and the 2016 Lorraine Vaillancourt Prize. Other recent projects include performances by the [Switch~ Ensemble] and Ensemble Plural, and commissions from Ogni Suono Saxophone Duo, Wolftone, Duo Axis, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, as composer-in-residence for their 6-city "Made-in-Vermont" tour.
As a member of the [Switch~ Ensemble] and Duo Axis, Zach has performed as ensemble-in-residence at Bard College, University of Chicago, Cornell, Eastman School of Music, Harvard Group for New Music, Ithaca College, University of Miami, and UC Berkeley. [Switch~] has worked closely with a wide range of today’s most prominent living composers to commission and premiere new works. Alongside pianist Wei-Han Wu, flute & piano Duo Axis will launch Duo@50 in 2021, a landmark commissioning project celebrating the 50th anniversary of Copland's Duo for Flute and Piano.
Zach is currently Managing Director of the [Switch~ Ensemble] and Manager of Institutional Giving at Community Music Center of Boston, where he oversees a $1M portfolio of gifts and grants in support of arts education in the Boston Public Schools. He is formerly Managing Director of the Talea Ensemble. MM, Eastman School of Music; BA, Harvard University; flute studies with: Bonita Boyd, Ransom Wilson, Cynthia Meyers, Judy Grant, Heidi Baxter.
ABOUT CHARLES OVERTON
Charles Overton is a Boston-based harpist and performer of classical, jazz and world music. He began his harp studies at the age of ten under the direction of Lynelle Ediger, where as a member of her "American Youth Harp Ensemble" he was afforded the opportunity at an early age to perform internationally in notable venues such as the Salle Gaveaux in Paris and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. In 2009 Charles went on to attend the Interlochen Arts Academy to further his musical development under the direction of Joan Raeburn Holland during which time he was a prizewinner in the Young Artist Harp Competition and was twice a finalist for the Interlochen Arts Academy Concerto Competition.
In 2012 Charles moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, where while continuing to study classical music under the direction of BSO principal harpist, Jessica Zhou, he also began to explore the world of jazz and other improvised musics more seriously. During his time at Berklee, he competed in the 2013 American Harp Society National Competition where he was a finalist, and became the first harp student to be admitted to the Berklee Global Jazz Institute - a prestigious and highly specialized program at the school in which students are able to learn from and work intimately with master jazz artists such as Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, and Terri-Lynn Carrington.
Over the course of his musical career, Charles has attended several summer music festivals such as the Tanglewood Music Center, Pacific Music Festival, and the Castleton Festival where he has performed under the batons of conductors such as Stéphane Denève, Jun Markl, Stefan Asbury, and the late Lorin Maazel. Additionally he has performed with various ensembles in some of the world's greatest concert halls including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston's Symphony Hall and the KKL Luzern Concert Hall.
Currently, Charles resides in Boston where he maintains an active performance schedule as a performer of classical, jazz and contemporary music. Recent engagements include an appearance at Scullers Jazz Club with his jazz ensemble: the Charles Overton Group, regular performances with the Boston Philharmonic, an appearance as a featured artist at the Dutch Harp Festival in concert with the Dutch National Youth Jazz Orchestra, as well as a performance tour of Spain performing Ginastera's Harp Concerto with Benjamin Zander's Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.