New Lens is a concert series founded in 2012 by myself, composer Garrett Shatzer and cellist Kevin Krentz. We program amazing music – old and new, present it to audiences unconventionally, and try to create a concert experience that lets you hear classical and contemporary works in new ways.
Our artists in residence for 2013 are Panic Duo – Pasha Tseitlin, violin and Nicolas Gerpe, piano. www.panicduo.com
Here is a review and description from our tour in 2012 http://www.afoolintheforest.com/2012/04/new-lens-concert-series-pasadena.html
New Lens Mission Statement
The mission of the New Lens Concert Series is to…
Transcend Assumptions.
To the dismay of “new music” musicians, many classical music consumers prefer to attend concerts featuring proven, rather than emerging, composers. These concertgoers assume that contemporary music has little in common with their beloved repertoire. But what if these listeners struggled to distinguish lesser-known works of the great composers from those of today’s composers? What if they weren’t informed of the program prior to the performance? New Lens conceals our programs from the audience until after each half has concluded, thus eluding many preconceived notions that the listeners may have based simply upon the composers’ names and dates. The audience may then be more receptive to new music, and if they find themselves enjoying it, we hope that they will seek out the music of living composers in the future.
Evolve the Program.
Though the variety of venues for classical music has been steadily growing over the past few decades, the way the music is presented has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. Our concert series radically alters this by performing two sections of continuous music with only the slightest pause between pieces. Larger pieces are connected by shorter compositions for subsets of the featured ensemble. The result is a pair of seamless wholes that contextually reframes each piece within them.
Juxtapose Eras.
We believe that the 20th century witnessed a rift between classical composers and audiences – the so called ‘ivory tower’ – that leads many to see ‘new music’ as something strange, esoteric, or clinical. We want to show listeners that new music has to be none of these things; it can be experimental, dissonant, and unfamiliar, and still have a connection with the audience and the lineage of classical music that came before. By framing new works in contexts that highlight the aural and narrative connections with more familiar pieces and composers, we aim to engage the audience to see the body of classical music as something dynamic. Juxtaposing new works with those of centuries past, we aim to show classical music as a living thing – reframing both the now-familiar works of the great composers and the contemporary works that have evolved out of them.
The New Lens Concert Series was founded by composers Juhi Bansal and Garrett Shatzer and cellist Kevin Krentz. A full website will be established this spring.