STEVEN TAKASUGI
PIANO CONCERTO
(SINFONIETTA VERSION)
Todd Moellenberg, piano
MONDAY, MAY 17, 2027 | 8 PM
ZIPPER HALL at the COLBURN SCHOOL
200 S GRAND AVE, LOS ANGELES, CA 90012
PROGRAM
Steven TAKASUGI - Piano Concerto (2016, rev. 2023) *
* West Coast premiere
ARTISTS
Todd MOELLENBERG, piano soloist
Jonathan HEPFER, conductor
ECHOI, musicians
ABOUT THE PROJECT
MEC presents Steven Takasugi’s monumental Piano Concerto (Sinfonietta Version), a work of almost hallucinatory intensity in which the familiar relationship between soloist and ensemble is transformed into something stranger, more theatrical, and more volatile. Across three movements, Takasugi draws together virtuosity, electronics, historical musical archetypes, and images of the natural world – from a fungus taking possession of its host to a final “science of obliteration” – to create a music poised between extreme precision and apparent loss of control. Pianist Todd Moellenberg joins ECHOI for this rare performance, conducted by MEC Artistic Director Jonathan Hepfer.
This concert is made possible with support from the Mike Kelley Foundation and the Siemens Foundation.
BIOS
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(Coming soon)
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Todd Moellenberg is a pianist and artist based in Los Angeles. He has been featured in performances with Piano Spheres, Monday Evening Concerts, Wild Up, Brightwork, LA Philharmonic, PARTCH Ensemble, and actress Laverne Cox. He has worked closely with composers Czaya Chernowin, Roger Reynolds, Yiheng Yvonne Wu, Rand Steiger, Bunita Marcus, Thomas Meadowcroft and Xavier Beteta, with recordings released on Deutsche Grammophon, Sideband, and Petrichor. His creative work encompasses composition, video, poetry, and performance art, and has been featured by Conrad Tao, Music for Your Inbox, Weirdo Night, Dog Star Orchestra, and LA Road Concerts. He currently lectures and instructs piano at UC Riverside.
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Jonathan Hepfer is a percussionist, conductor, and concert curator. He began playing classical music at age seventeen after discovering the work of John Cage while studying at SUNY Buffalo. Subsequently, Jonathan attended Oberlin Conservatory, UC San Diego and the Musikhochschule Freiburg (on a DAAD fellowship) where he studied with Michael Rosen, Steven Schick and Bernhard Wulff.
Since 2015, he has been the Artistic Director of Monday Evening Concerts (MEC) in Los Angeles as well as its resident ensemble ECHOI. At MEC, Jonathan has directed performances of major works by Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Julius Eastman, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Gérard Grisey, Sarah Hennies, Yves Klein, Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Salvatore Sciarrino, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, Simeon Ten Holt and Iannis Xenakis.
As a curator and producer, he has presented works by Georges Aperghis, Pierluigi Billone, Carolyn Chen, Chaya Czernowin, Julius Eastman, David Hammons, Sarah Hennies, György Kurtág, Klaus Lang, Alvin Lucier, Hans Otte, Éliane Radigue, Michael Pisaro-Liu, Caroline Shaw, Wadada Leo Smith, Steven Takasugi, Davóne Tines and Wu Tsang.
Jonathan has directed (or co-directed) projects at venues such as the Getty Museum, Harvard University, Hauser & Wirth, Jeffrey Deitch, LACMA, LAXART, Marciano Art Foundation, the Santa Monica Carousel (Frieze), Thomas Mann House and the Pinault Collection in Paris.
As a percussion soloist, Jonathan has focused extensively on the works of Georges Aperghis, Pierluigi Billone, Julius Eastman, Brian Ferneyhough, Morton Feldman, Vinko Globokar, Helmut Lachenmann, Giacinto Scelsi, Iannis Xenakis and Walter Zimmermann. In this capacity, he has performed widely across the United States, Europe and Asia.
Recent independent projects have included serving as artistic director for a portrait of Julius Eastman at the Pinault Collection in Paris (a collaboration with Anaïs Ngbanzo, Dev Hynes and Adam Tendler) and performing the role of conductor in a revival of Deborah Hay's 'Solo 2' at the Getty Museum. Jonathan has also contributed to projects by friends such as Henrik Purienne ('Tasjaki' at Galerie Chenel), Vanessa Beecroft and Gustave Rudman ('Two Shadows' at Jeffrey Deitch) and Henri Levy Alexandre (Enfants Riches Déprimés S/S '25).
He has published interviews with Meredith Monk (Autre Magazine), Éliane Radigue (Purple Magazine) and Steve Reich (Kaleidoscope Magazine). Jonathan also documented the oral histories of the pioneering generation of percussion soloists (Jan Williams, Christoph Caskel, Sylvio Gualda, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Gaston Sylvestre, Maurizio Ben Omar).
Jonathan has served on the faculty at Art Center Pasadena and Cal Arts. He is interested in the ways that music intersects with visual art, literature, architecture, fashion and film.