MIRO  MAGLOIRE’S  NEW  CHAMBER  BALLET  CELEBRATES  20TH  ANNIVERSARY  SEASON with the WORLD PREMIERE of ‘STARGAZING,’ to a commissioned score by CHRISTIAN-FREDERIC BLOQUERT

Friday & Saturday, November 22 & 23 at 7:30 PM

Mark Morris Dance Center, 3 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn NY

Tickets: $38

Reservations: https://memoryforgot2024.eventbrite.com   

Dancers:  Anabel Alpert, Megan Foley, Nicole McGinnis, Amber Neff, Rachele Perla

Musicians: Madeline Hocking, violin         Sophiko Simsive, piano 

Choreographer Miro Magloire continues to celebrate the 20th Anniversary Season of his New Chamber Ballet with the world premiere of “Stargazing,” set to the commissioned score, “Memory, Forgot,” by contemporary French composer Christian-Frederic Bloquert.

In honor of this special season, Magloire describes “Stargazing” as “a rhapsodic fantasy that revolves around the interweaving of music and dance.”   The choreography is performed in New Chamber Ballet’s signature, in-the-round setup, with the audience seated up-close and able to see the dancing from various angles.

Christian-Frédéric Bloquert (composer)

Christian-Frédéric Bloquert is a French composer and conductor. He is the co-founder and Music Director of the BeComEnsemble. His works have been performed by the Berklee Contemporary Symphony, the MIVOS Quartet, the PHACE Ensemble, the Symphony Orchestra of Brasilia, the Juilliard Symphony, the Basel Sinfonieorchester, and the Ensemble InterContemporain amongst others.

He was the recipient of the 2020 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award and, in 2021, he was a finalist of the Basel Composition Competition. Later that year Bloquert also won the Juilliard Orchestra composition Competition. Bloquert was a 2022 Blueprint Fellow and he was commissioned by the 2022 edition of the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute for which he also won the 2022 Israel/Pellman Prize.                                                                                                        Bloquert’s score for “Stargazing,” written for piano and violin, subtly evokes two iconic ballets: Tchaikovsky’s Serenade and Stravinsky’s Agon.  The score was commissioned by the Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation.

Madeline Hocking, violin

Hailing from Qathet, Canada, Madeline Hocking is a violinist, violist, composer, and artistic director committed to giving contemporary music the attention and passion it deserves. She thoroughly enjoys collaborating with composers on world premieres of their works, as well as interdisciplinary projects involving improvisation and electronics. Madeline is a member of the Boston-based Semiosis Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to new music, and co-founder/co-artistic director of Noise Catalogue, an award-winning collective based in New York City. She also co-hosts an ongoing concert series with violist and composer Trevor New, ‘Telematic Collisions’, which employs cutting-edge technology to maximize audience interactivity and accessibility. 

Madeline has achieved widespread recognition as both a chamber music and soloist, having soloed with the American Composers Orchestra, the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, the Vancouver Philharmonic, the Strathcona Symphony Orchestra, and the Comox Music Centre Orchestra. She’s been featured as a chamber musician in the New York Philharmonic’s ‘Nightcap’ series and as a solo performer at IRCAM forum, as well as being featured at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, the Banff Centre, the Bang on a Can Marathon, and countless festivals across North America. As a composer, her works have been performed at venues across the US, Canada, and Hungary. Madeline received her Bachelor’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a Master’s degree in contemporary violin from Manhattan School of Music.

Sophiko Simsive, piano

Hailed as an “exceptional musician of rare talent who promises to become one of the leading pianists of her generation” by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Simsive began her studies at the age of three and, since then, has been invited as a recitalist to prestigious venues such as Berliner Philharmonie and Concertgebouw. Simsive has performed with the Residentie Orkest, Yale Philharmonia, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Jeugdorkest Nederland, and MSM Philharmonia, and has worked with conductors such as Lev Markiz, Peter Oundjian, Jan Willem de Vriend, and Jurjen Hempel.

Simsive is the pianist of the prestigious Claremont Trio. She has performed with chamber groups including the Calidore String Quartet and has collaborated with prominent musicians such as Kian Soltani and Gilbert Kalish. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has been featured at renowned festivals including the Yellow Barn Festival, the Music Academy of the West, and the Verbier Festival. Simsive serves as a Senior Teaching Assistant at Yale University, where she co-teaches alongside violinist Wendy Sharp. She is also a Chamber Music and Private Piano Instructor at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

Simsive holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Solomon Mikowsky. Her past teachers include Boris Berman, Jacques Rouvier, Mila Baslawskaja, and Maka Aladashvili. Simsive is represented by Interartists Amsterdam Management.
www.newchamberballet.com