Laura Frautschi holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Harvard College. She is a frequent recitalist and soloist with orchestras in the United States and Japan. As a chamber musician, she has appeared at the Caramoor, La Jolla Summerfest, Taos, and Topeka Sunflower festivals, and at the Wellesley Composer and Chamber Music Conferences. In addition, she has performed as concertmaster of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New York City Opera Orchestra, and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Frautschi has released a live recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons for King Records, several albums of short pieces for Pony Canyon Records, and five DVDs produced by Fuji TV.
Lee Hyla writes in a tremendously compressed style in which shape and gesture stand in for conventional melody despite an often clear tonal orientation. Rhythm also plays an important role in activating his musical textures and maintaining linear transparency, and it’s clear from a cursory listen to any of these three works that Hyla writes with a great deal of talent and confidence.