Beyond his work as a conductor, Alan Pierson creates and writes innovative events that combine theater and music to tell deep, personal stories about composers' lives and work.
A personal storytelling of the unexpected life of Hans Abrahamsen through the composer’s coming of age, his decade facing writer’s block, and his coming to terms with cerebral palsy. Finding Balance explores Hans’s journey to finding himself through losing himself; to achieving balance through accepting imbalance; and into the limitless possibilities unlocked by embracing limitations. Created by Alan Pierson in collaboration with director Jon Levin and dramaturge, Paul Melnikow.
György Ligeti’s work embodies the dreams and nightmares of his early life spent on the run from Nazi and Soviet oppression. This Music Should Not Exist connects Ligeti’s story to his music, explores the relationship between politics and art, and sheds light on a unique artistic imagination. Created by Alan Pierson in collaboration with Meet the Composer, and director Nigel Maister.
Through recorded interviews with the composer, performers, and historians, Splitting Adams tells the story of the creation of Adams’s two seminal chamber symphonies, and of the struggle required to perform them. Created by Alan Pierson in collaboration with Meet the Composer. This project exists both as a live performance and an album.
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An invaluable introduction to this demanding but rewarding and exhilarating music.
—Allen Gimbel, American Record Guide The tightly integrated text and examples brilliantly illuminate, and the wackiness is in keeping with the music itself... I came back to these pieces, both of which I know fairly well, with a much greater appreciation for what was going on. —Ronald E. Grames, Fanfare |
On a winter’s day nearly 50 years ago, the Beatles and composer Karlheinz Stockhausen arranged to meet in New York City to plan a joint concert. No such performance would ever take place. But its tantalizing promise is the departure point for 1969. Told through their own words, music, and images, 1969 is the story of great musicians—John Lennon, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Paul McCartney, Luciano Berio, Yoko Ono, and Leonard Bernstein—striving for a new music and a new world amidst the social and political ferment of the late 1960s. Created by Alan Pierson in collaboration with writer Andrew Kupfer and director Nigel Maister.
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A swirling,heady meditation on the intersection of experimental and commercial spheres, and of social and aesthetic agendas... a consistent wonder.
—Steve Smith, The New York Times Exploded musical genres, made history come alive and demonstrated that art — original, vivid, reckless — can lift the grim clouds of current events, if only for two hours. —Kevin Berger, The Los Angeles Times |
An ongoing video series, in which Alan Pierson looks deeply into the inner workings of favorite moments in favorite compositions.
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György Ligeti: Piano Concerto
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Donnacha Dennehy: The Hunger
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Matt Marks/Stefan Freund: kinda asleep
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A theatrical performance piece based on the story of an unexpected connection between Frank Zappa on Edgar Varèse. Created by Alan Pierson for Carnegie Hall in collaboration with director Nigel Maister.
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The program covered vast stylistic ground, and the energy of the playing was impossible to resist.
—Allan Kozinn, The New York Times |