Album Notes

Paul Griffiths, in the New York Times, describes Cygnus as an "enterprising and supple group--featuring guitars, strings and woodwinds in pairs", an instrumentation that has its precedent in the Elizabethan "broken consort". Cygnus is a group of six versatile chamber musicians, all of whom are among the most highly respected practitioners of their instruments. A sampling of the extensive repertoire that has been written for Cygnus may be heard on its recent CRI disc entitled Broken Consort.

While Cygnus has been especially active in promoting the composition of music involving guitar, commissioning many new works from a diverse group of American composers, ranging from Charles Wuorinen to Anthony Braxton, the ensemble does not program music with guitar exclusively. For its New York concert series, Cygnus expands indefinitely to facilitate virtually any repertoire. Cygnus's first full-length recording entitled Broken Consort was recently released by CRI. Raymond Tuttle, in the Nov/Dec issue of Fanfare writes, "I have nothing but praise for their playing and for their taste in assembling this varied but unified program. There's no question that the music and the performances presented here are reason enough for the group to continue what it's been doing so well for the past 14 years."

Cygnus presents a series of three concerts every year at various halls in New York City, and has toured extensively in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. Cygnus presents an annual concert series in New York City's major recital halls and tours nationally and internationally. In March of 1996, Cygnus performed in the Morelia International Festival of Guitar, presenting six concerts in Central Mexico. In April and May 1997, Cygnus toured Holland and Denmark, culminating in a live broadcast concert on Denmark National Radio. In July 1997, Cygnus reached thousands of listeners in a Polish National Radio broadcast. 1998 brought the ensemble to Moscow and Kazan for
the Europe/Asia Festival of Contemporary Music, and to California's FENAM
(Festival of New American Music) at the University of California, Sacramento.

Cygnus has appeared live on WGBH's Chamberworks in Boston; and numerous
performances have been broadcast nationwide on National Public Radio's
Performance Today. Fanfare, The Boston Phoenix, and Guitar Review have all
praised Cygnus' recording of Meyer Kupferman's Summer Music on the
Soundspells Productions label. Cygnus has also recorded for the Composers
Guild of New Jersey's Jersey Sessions series. In 1999 Cygnus recorded its
first feature disc for CRI, produced by Grammy Award winner Judith Sherman.
In 2001 Cygnus became Ensemble in Residence at the City University of New York's Graduate Center, under composer David Olan, and in 2002, Cygnus took on another residency at Sarah Lawrence College under its music department chairman Chester Biscardi.

Cygnus Ensemble:
Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Robert Ingliss, oboe
Calvin Wiersma, violin
Susannah Chapman, cello
William Anderson, guitar/mandolin/banjo
Oren Fader, guitar, electric guitar
Guest soprano: Elizabeth Farnum