For Immediate Release: October 16, 2006
Contact: Marsha Mullan
(610) 328-8535

http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/

Stott Concert at Swarthmore to Feature
Momenta Quartet Playing Winning Composition

The Gil and Mary Roelofs Stott Concert at Swarthmore College on Friday, Nov. 3, will showcase the world premiere of "Intelligent Design" by the 2006 Stott Program competition winner, Dr. Daniel Koontz of Southampton, N.Y., performed by New York-based ensemble, The Momenta Quartet. Their program will also include works by Mozart, Kurtág, and Beethoven. The concert at 8 p.m. in Lang Concert Hall is free and open to the public.

The Stott Program supports emerging composers who are in the early stages of their careers. One promising young composer is selected and paired with a professional ensemble. The composer is commissioned to write a new work for the ensemble, which then gives the world premiere as a prominent part of a concert at Swarthmore College.

A Stott Alumna/us Artist is also chosen each year. This year's Stott Artist, Joanne Lin, Class of 1998, is cellist for The Momenta Quartet. Other members are Miranda Cuckson, violin; Stephanie Griffin, viola; and Annaliesa Place, violin. Formed initially to serve as the ensemble-in-residence for Temple University's Department of Composition, The Momenta Quartet quickly gained a following in the New York metro area after its debut concert at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture in November 2004. The quartet unites contemporary music with "great works" of the past, focusing on new and 20th-century works but including lesser-known or even older works, such as viol music from the Renaissance. More information about The Momenta Quartet can be found at http://www.momentaquartet.com/index.html .

Daniel Koontz was nominated for the Stott competition by the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he earned an M.A. in composition in 1996 and a Ph.D. in 2000. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition for 2001, several awards from such organizations as American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the American Music Center, and the Society of Composers, and fellowships to attend the Wellesley Composers Conference and the Voix Nouvelles festival at Abbaye de Royaumont, France. Ensembles that have commissioned his music include the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, the Choral Society of the Hamptons, Ensemble 21, and the Nieuw Ensemble. His music has been performed throughout the U.S., in Canada, China, the Netherlands, and France. He teaches music at Southampton College.

The Gil and Mary Roelofs Stott Concert Fund was established in 1997 as an expression of deep affection for the late Gil and Mary Roelofs Stott by Eugene M. Lang, Class of 1938, to recognize their special artistic talents and their many contributions to the Swarthmore community. Gil Stott was a dean, an associate provost, and an assistant to the president in his long career at Swarthmore College.

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