Legendary pianist Marilyn Nonken and master percussionist Jonathan Haas join forces for the world premiere of composer Steven Swartz’ latest piece, ‘When the horizon has a mind of its own.’ Scored for piano and percussion (vibraphone, almglocken, sizzle cymbal, and bass drum, one player), the work is divided into four main sections, separated by measured pauses. Each section evokes a different dynamic of sun, sea, horizon, and sky. Of the piece, the composer shares:

“I’m drawn to sonorities that emerge, separate, and form new groupings at a leisurely pace, like clouds drifting across the sky. And nothing highlights the atmosphere like a sunset. . . Over the past several months, I watched the sun set over various bodies of water (New York Harbor, Lake Superior, the Tyrrhenian Sea), and noticed something curious. While we tend to visualize the horizon as a simple thing – a crisp line dividing sea and sky – in actuality, it’s much more elusive and interesting. It changes by the moment. We can chase it, but never catch up to it. You could almost call it playful.”

Nonken is a leading interpreter of the music of Morton Feldman (Swartz’s teacher) and Jonathan has premiered major scores by Philip Glass, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and numerous others.

Also on the program is Kurtág’s ‘… couple égyptienne en route vers l’inconnu,’ Mio Sato’s ‘Threads of Belonging,’ Takashi Yoshimatsu’s ‘Atom Hearts Club Suite,’ and Jacob Druckman’s ‘Animus ll’ and ‘Selections from Reflections on the Nature of Water’ which will be performed by piano and string students at NYU.