The New Spectrum Ensemble was formed by pianist Sandra Gu and cellist Kathryn Bates Williams in the fall of 2009. Gu and Williams met while performing contemporary music at Tanglewood in the summer of 2008, and they formed a friendship bound by their passion for music, a deep respect and admiration for each other’s musicianship, and a common desire to break standard boundaries between contemporary music and classical music.
The New Spectrum Ensemble is deeply committed to engaging all audiences in the Bay Area with both old and new live classical music. During each concert season, they present three to four programs that feature established repertoire, new music, and yet to be discovered pieces. Each piece is selected based on its own merits as well as the way it relates to others on a given program and every program features at least one emerging Bay Area composer. In lieu of conventional program notes or pre-performance lectures, the concerts integrate in-depth explorations of the music based on the performers' knowledge and understanding. By breaking down the box of the standard performance format, The New Spectrum Ensemble hopes to equip audiences with the tools and experience to listen to the music - even esoteric contemporary music - so that they have a deep, rich, and rewarding concert experience.
Pianist Sandra Gu is a versatile performers known for her dynamic interpretation of new music while bringing a fresh approach to established repertoire. Priased by the New York Times as “stunningly virtuosic”, “high-energy”, and “memorable” Ms. Gu was featured in Tanglewod’s centennial celebration of Elliot Carter’s music, and was awarded the 2008 Henri Kohn Memorial Award for her contribution during the season. Her passion for collaborating with composers of her generation has led to long-term working relationships and several world premieres. Ms. Gu is graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Oberlin College, and Northwestern University, where she is currently completing a dissertation on the piano music of Gyorgy Kurtag.
Hailed by the New York Times as "a cellist with a beautifully rounded sound," Ms. Williams has a passionate commitment to her art form by embracing tradition while exploring innovation in all genres of performance. She is the current cellist of the New Fromm Players at the Tanglewood Music Center, with performances of solo music marked as “the revelation of the concert” (Christian Carey, Sequenza 21) and quartet music that the Boston Globe called “electrifying rendition.” She has worked with numerous new music ensembles and collaborative projects, with this season including performances a new arrangement of the opera Wozzeck with Ensemble Parallèle and several dance collaborations. A native of historic Concord, Massachusetts, she has played for many masterclasses given by renowned cellists including Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Pieter Wispelwey, Bonnie Hampton, David Ying, David Finckel, and coached chamber music with members of the Concord, Cleveland, Guarnari, and Juilliard Quartets. Her collaborations in chamber music have been with celebrated artists Menahem Pressler, Jospeh Swensen, Jodi Levitz, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, and Axel Strauss. In her orchestral experience, she has had the opportunity to work under talented conductors such as Kurt Masur, James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Herbert Blomstedt, Oliver Knussen, Hans Graf, Seiji Ozawa, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Joseph Silverstein, and Larry Rachleff. Ms. Williams has a B.M. from Rice University Shepherd School of Music, under the direction of Norman Fischer and M.M. in Chamber Music from the San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied with Mark Kosower and Jean-Michel Fonteneau and was teaching assistant to Mark Kosower and chamber music assistant to Mark Sokol. She is married to chocolatier Shawn Williams, of Au Coeur Des Chocolats.
The first concerts of the New Spectrum Ensemble will be held around the Bay area in February 2010.
