The 2nd concert of our season includes a major world premiere by Shuying Li for the entire Earplay ensemble and soprano Chelsea Hollow. Pre-concert talk at 6:45pm.

Program

Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question (1908) – arr. Bruce Bennett (2025), for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, organ, and synthesizer.

Hyo-shin Na: Searching for the Way (2025), for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. World premiere and Earplay commission.

Benet Casablancas: Haikus Notebook (2021), for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. United States premiere, winner of Earplay’s 2025 Donald Aird Composers Competition.

Mark Winges: Loki’s Lair (2018), for flute, clarinet, viola, and cello.

Shuying Li: The Wild Party (2025), for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, soprano, and conductor. Text by Joseph Moncure March (1928); adapted by Jeffrey Hastings (2025). World premiere and Fromm Foundation commission.

Performers

Terrie Baune, violin

Tod Brody, flutes

Mary Chun, conductor

Margaret Halbig, piano

Chelsea Hollow, soprano

Peter Josheff, clarinets

Thalia Moore, cello

Ellen Ruth Rose, viola

Join us for this special Berkeley concert featuring the works of Earplay clarinetist Peter Josheff, along with many of your favorite Earplayers and other special guests. 

Peter Josheff, composer and clarinetist, has been a mainstay of the northern California new music community for forty years. He is a founding member of Earplay (1985) and of Sonic Harvest (2000). He is a core member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Empyrean Ensemble (at UC Davis), the Eco Ensemble (at UC Berkeley), and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. He performs frequently with Opera Parallèle and West Edge Opera.

Peter’s music has been performed by many ensembles and individual performers: the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (The Dream Mechanic); the Farallon Quintet (Groundhog Day); Earplay (House & Garden Tales, Sextet, Waiting, Big Brother); the Empyrean Ensemble (Prosperous Soul – Gregarious Heart, Viola & Mallets); Dan Flanagan, violin (September, Same Old Sadness); Rufus Olivier, bassoon (Elegy, Dewy not – dewy got); Haruka Fujii, percussion (Home Brew); Brenda Tom Vahur, piano (Sutro Tower in the Fog, Warped Oracle, Rag Wrung Dry, Exquisite Corpus); Brian Thorsett, tenor (The Cauldron, The Dream Mechanic, Europa & The Bull); and many others, including numerous premieres with Sonic Harvest. He recently completed Root Cellar (2024), a work for solo piano.

In his spare time Peter is an amateur guitarist/singer/songwriter.

PERFORMERS

Tod Brody, flutes

Dan Flanagan, violin

Peter Josheff, clarinet

Thalia Moore, cello

Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano

Sarah Rathke, oboe

Ellen Ruth Rose, viola

Vanessa Ruotolo, cello

Brenda Tom, piano

The final concert of Earplay’s 41st season features a world premiere by Trevor Weston. Pre-concert talk at 6:45pm.

Program

Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question (1908) – arr. Bruce Bennett (2025), for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and synthesizer.

Aida Shirazi: “answer” to The Unanswered Question, title TBA (2026), for flute, clarinet, and viola. World premiere and Earplay commission.

Trevor Weston: New work, title and instrumentation TBA. World premiere and Fromm Foundation commission.

Edmund Song: FlareStruck (2025), for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano. Winner of Earplay’s 2025 Vibrant Shores Composers Competition.

Elliott Carter: String Trio (2011), for violin, viola, and cello.

Anthony Brandt: Four Score (2013), for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano.

Performers

Terrie Baune, violin

Tod Brody, flutes

Mary Chun, conductor

Elizabeth Dorman, piano

Peter Josheff, clarinets

Thalia Moore, cello

Ellen Ruth Rose, viola