Stephen Scott's Bowed Piano Ensemble—Thursday, April 20, 2006, Benildus Hall, College of Santa Fe.

Santa Fe New Music’s 5th Anniversary Season continued on Thursday, April, 20, 2006, with a presentation of the internationally-acclaimed Bowed Piano Ensemble performing Stephen Scott’s The Deep Spaces with soprano soloist Victoria Hansen. Ms. Hansen and the Ensemble gave the world premiere of The Deep Spaces in the medieval Town Hall in Tallinn, Estonia in March, 2005, and have recorded the work for Starkland Records.The Deep Spaces is a fantasy song-cycle celebrating the power and grandeur—evoked by poets and composers over two millennia—of one of the world's most dazzling and enchanting locales: Lake Como, surely the brightest jewel in the crown of Alps and mountain lakes that adorns Italy's far north, just below Switzerland.

The song texts, set for soprano soloist with the ensemble serving as accompanying orchestra (and, occasionally, chorus), are taken from writers as distant in time, culture, psychology and aesthetic stance from one another as Pliny the Younger, aristocratic native of Como and chronicler of many aspects of Roman life in the first and second centuries A.D., and Pablo Medina, twenty-first-century poet and novelist of Cuban ancestry residing and teaching in New York. Listeners might also have recognized musical themes and motives borrowed from composers linked to Como such as Liszt and Berlioz, woven together with Scott's own melodies and textures. What ties all of these artists together is their attraction to and connection with Lake Como and, more generally, Northern Italy. Scott's composition of The Deep Spaces was made possible by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, at whose Study and Conference Center on Lake Como he was in residence in June, 2004.

The Bowed Piano Ensemble is an elite group of ten student, faculty and staff musicians exploring the leading edge of performance with sounds made directly on the strings of a grand piano which result in an orchestral array of tone colors, harmonies and rhythms. The group has made seven European tours, two of Australia, and performed live and in broadcast throughout the U.S. and Canada. Highlights include a live national broadcast from the Sydney Opera House and appearances at many international festivals, including The Visual Music Festival (Canary Islands), Other Minds (San Francisco), MaerzMusik (Berlin) and ppIANISSIMO (Bulgaria).

The Ensemble's most recent recording, Paisajes Audibles/Sounding Landscapes, with Ms. Hansen as soprano soloist, is available on Albany Records (Troy 649). James Keller, writing in ChamberMusic magazine, finds the work to be "...at times touching on Puccinian lyricism, flamenco bravura, and reminiscences of courtly dances...anchored by a mysteriously seductive refrain that helps bind the hour into a coherent, compelling whole." Charles Ward of The Houston Chronicle wrote that the work is "...a well-written, highly communicative expression of a strong, haunting idea. I'd love to hear it again."

Earlier recordings for the New Albion label are Vikings of the Sunrise (NA 084), Minerva's Web/The Tears of Niobe (NA 026) and New Music for Bowed Piano (NA 107). Vikings of the Sunrise has been the subject of several programs on National Public Radio, including “All Things Considered,” “Weekend Edition,” and “Art Beat.” Vikings of the Sunrise was hailed by Billboard Magazine as “...the first truly provocative work of new music for the ‘90s,” and by Keyboard Magazine as “...vividly evocative.” Tom Manoff of “All Things Considered” called the work “...brilliant...if you can sail these mythic waters, you’re in for quite a journey.” Other favorable reviews may be found in The American Record Guide, Wired Magazine, Fanfare, High Fidelity, The New York Times, The Independent (London) and Keyboard.

Victoria Hansen, soprano, appears often as a recitalist and in operatic roles. As a performer for Opera Theatre of the Rockies, Ms. Hansen has sung the roles of Nella in Gianni Schicchi, The Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and Fifi in The Merry Widow.  She has also appeared with the Colorado Opera Festival in such productions as The Ballad of Baby Doe, La Traviata, The Stoned Guest and The Old Maid and the Thief. Musical Theatre audiences have seen her in such roles as Carlotta in Phantom, Miss Mona in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Mrs. Molloy in Hello, Dolly! and in the trio of Side by Side by Sondheim.   Ms. Hansen frequently performs compositions of her colleagues at Colorado College as well as composers showcased at C.C.'s annual New Music Symposium. She has performed as vocalist with The Bowed Piano Ensemble throughout the USA and on three tours of Europe.Ms. Hansen has taught private voice in Colorado Springs since 1980 and joined the Colorado College Music Department in 2000 as Principal Instructor of Voice. She has assisted Martile Rowland in the Vocal Arts Symposium and currently oversees C.C.'s Musical Theatre Experience for vocal students. She is the recent bride of composer Stephen Scott.

Stephen Scott joined the Colorado College music faculty in 1969. He has also taught at The Evergreen State College and as visiting composer at Eastman School of Music, Aspen Music School, New England Conservatory, Princeton University, University of Southern California, and at festivals and conservatories in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ireland, Norway, England, Canary Islands and Australia. Awards include a Barlow Endowment Commission, a grant from the Peter S. Reed Foundation, the New England Conservatory/Rockefeller Foundation Chamber Music Prize, and a National Endowment for the Arts Composer's Fellowship. Entries on his music appear in the major biographical dictionaries of music and his work is discussed in several books and articles on contemporary composition.