Uri Caine
composer-in-residence
The New York Times calls Uri Caine “...ferociously versatile…,â? saying, “He is a genuine polyglot, at home in jazz but fluent in many musical languages and capable of juxtaposing them in virtuoso collage.â?
The diverse expressions of composer-pianist Uri Caine’s wide-ranging career reflect his eclectic education. In addition to studying piano with Bernard Peiffer and composition with George Rochberg and George Crumb at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia native played in bands led by Philly Joe Jones, Hank Mobley, Johnny Coles, Mickey Roker, Odean Pope, Jymmie Merritt, Bootsie Barnes and Grover Washington.
Since moving to New York City, Caine has recorded 18 albums as a leader. His most recent is the The Classical Variations (Winter and Winter 2007). He has made CDs featuring his jazz trio, his Bedrock Trio and the ensemble performing arrangements of Mahler, Wagner, Beethoven, Bach and Schumann.
In recent years, Caine has written works on commission for the Vienna Volksoper, the Seattle Chamber Players, Relâche, the Beaux Arts Trio, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Concerto Köln and the American Composers Orchestra. Caine was the director of the Venice Biennale for Music in September 2003, where he also premiered his new work, The Othello Syndrome. He has performed his version of the Diabelli Variations with orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, the CBC Orchestra in Canada and the Swedish and Moscow chamber orchestras.
Beginning in the 2005-06 season, Caine became the composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for four seasons. His term will conclude in 2009, coinciding with the Orchestra’s 40th anniversary season. Caine’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Chamber Orchestra, composed to honor Mozart’s 250th birthday, received its world premiere with the Orchestra in May 2006, a commission from LACO’s Sound Investment program. As part of his LACO residency, Caine visits classrooms at elementary schools participating in the Orchestra’s Meet the Music program where he inspires students to compose “on-the-spot.â?
In addition, Caine’s LACO residency has produced fascinating explorations of classical music and jazz at Los Angeles’ prestigious Jazz Bakery. In 2005, LACO music director Jeffrey Kahane performed the original version of JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations on piano followed directly by Uri Caine and his ensemble performing the Caine version. In 2007, Caine curated the Orchestra’s Musaic at the Jazz Bakery, a mini-festival that juxtaposed chamber music with jazz and jazz-influenced reimaginings. Caine’s second commission from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Mosaics for Piano and Orchestra, was premiered as part of this festival, and the composer and his work will also be featured in several concerts of the Orchestra’s 2008 European tour.
In the past several years, Caine has worked in groups led by Dan Byron, Dave Douglas, John Zorn, Terry Gibbs and Buddy DeFranco, Clark Terry, Rashid Ali, Arto Lindsay, Sam Rivers and Barry Altschul, the Woody Herman Band, Annie Ross, the Enja Band, Global Theory and the Master Musicians of Jajouka. He has performed at the North Sea, Montreal, Monterey, JVC, San Sebastian, Vittoria and Newport jazz festivals as well as at the prestigious classical festivals of Salzburg, Holland and Israel, IRCAM, Great Performers of Lincoln Center and the Munich Opera.
Caine is the recipient of grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
http://www.uricaine.com