The Present Music Ensemble will perform with Margaret Leng Tan (www.margaretlengtan.com), who has established herself as a major force within the American avant-garde. She is a talented and visionary pianist whose work sidesteps perceived boundaries within the usual concert experience. Tan, the first woman to earn a doctorate from Juilliard, actively collaborated with John Cage and is recognized as the pre-eminent interpreter of Cage’s music. Tan is the world’s first professional toy piano virtuoso. She will perform Ge Gan-ru’s Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!, a melodrama for voice self-accompanied by a 17-piece toy orchestra. This performance is supported by WMSE’s Alternating Currents.

ABOUT PRESENT MUSIC
Present Music is proud to announce their 29th season featuring one of the largest commissions in Present Music history, the return of long-time favorites as well as a farewell performance by a seasoned Present Music Ensemble member. Each year, Artistic Director Kevin Stalheim develops a program which ranges from a core group of musicians to an ensemble of twenty with the addition of international guest artists. The Ensemble expands and contracts to allow for a diversity of instrumental combinations and the requirements of each program. Present Music is committed to the creation of new work and nurturing emerging composers commissioning over 50 major new works in the past dozen years. Composers who have worked in residence or have been commissioned by Present Music include John Adams, Michael Torke, Kamran Ince, Melissa Mazzoli, Jerome Kitzke, Elena Kats-Chernin and many others.

Present Music is Milwaukee’s internationally acclaimed new music ensemble. Celebrating 29 years of new music, Present Music commissions, performs, records, and tours the music of living composers. In the past quarter century, more than 50 new works, by composers from around the world, have come into existence because of Present Music. Founded by Kevin Stalheim, Present Music works closely with many of the world’s most exciting and significant composers while supporting the talents of emerging voices. It nurtures the next generation of composers through its education program, the Creation Project.

Present Music is a member of the United Performing Arts Fund, which provides major financial support. PM is supported in part by grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, NEA, Wisconsin Arts Board, City of Milwaukee Arts Board, CAMPAC, and by the generous support of foundations, corporations and individuals. PM is the five-time winner of ASCAP/Chamber Music America’s Adventurous Programming Award and can be heard on nine compact disk recordings on the Argo, Albany, Aoede, Northeastern and Innova labels.

Present Music engages artists and audiences in imaginative and provocative experiences with new music through ensemble performance, education and commissioning.