Disassembled: Lives taken Apart and examined through new music for Piano, Cello, Flute and Voices is a concert presented by Philadelphia-based artists Cathy Mazza and Mike Leibowitz. New and old music will explore the themes of detachment and loss, and navigating through the onset and duration of the Covid pandemic. New compositions by Leibowitz and Mazza juxtaposed with Brahms; scored for piano, cello, flute and women’s voices.

Appropriate for ages 13+

Health & Safety

Masks are required to attend this event. Audience members must wear masks for the duration of this performance. Vaccination cards will not be checked. Please plan accordingly.

Credits

Composer: Michael Leibowitz

Composer and piano: Cathy Mazza

Cello: Tim Leonard

Flute: Tim Stopper

About the Artist

Cathy Mazza is both a classical pianist and a rock and pop keyboard player, as well as a singer, songwriter, composer and conductor. Cathy has performed at the Kimmel Center, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Longwood Gardens, West Chester University, Settlement Music School; and also at World Cafe Live, Please Touch Museum, The Sedgwick Cultural Center, The Tin Angel, Andrea Clearfield’s Salon, and many more venues in the Philadelphia area. She has also performed in New Jersey, New York City, Baltimore, and Eastern Europe. Cathy is the accompanist for the Gleeksman-Kohn Children’s Choir of Settlement Music School. At West Chester University, Cathy studied with Benjamin Whitten while earning her Bachelor of Music in Keyboard Performance. She also holds a Master of Music from the University of the Arts. Cathy has been a member of a number of rock bands, including The Kwerks, whose eponymous first CD contains two of her own songs. Cathy has composed choral pieces and children’s songs, including “Rising,” “Peace is the Way,” and “Thank You for Giving.” Cathy’s keyboard skills have been described as “awe-inspiring” and “playing with such ease, precision and emotion.” Kwerks album reviewers said “they keep the listener immersed in their musical soup” which contains “fetching hooks and swirling vocal harmonies” and “very original songwriting.and excellent arrangements.” Cathy’s piece for piano, flute, cello and women’s voices, “Apart (2020),” was composed between April and June of that year, and represents the emotions and struggles of the COVID pandemic. The video she created in a remote collaboration includes an accompanying text, and interpretive dance by Emily Kline and Melissa Faller of Emme Dance Collective, Lancaster, PA. It was premiered at a virtual concert given by The Philadelphia Women’s Music Project in March of 2021, and is a featured video in WHYY’s House Concert Series.

Cathy is a native of Easton, PA, and now resides in Wyndmoor, PA.

Michael Leibowitz (b. 1981) is a composer and music educator living in Philadelphia, PA. He holds his Bachelors in Composition from Oberlin Conservatory and his Masters in Art and Teaching from the University of the Arts. Michael has studied composition privately with Randolph Coleman and Lewis Nielson at Oberlin Conservatory, Andrea Clearfield and Norman Davis at the University of the Arts, and Howard Frazin at the Longy School of Music.

Michael’s compositions explore the expressive possibilities of sound and the relationship between the composer, performer, and audience. At times subtly beautiful and at others violent and alienating, the audience is both challenged and rewarded by attentive listening. Chance elements in many of his works allow the performer great interpretive freedom and expressive potential. Michael’s works have been performed both across the United States and internationally by artists such as Michelle and Kimberly Cann, The Jasper Quartet, The Borderlands Ensemble, The Perspective Collective, and Philadelphia Opera on Tap, among others. His short opera, For Love of Country, co-written with librettist Jeremy Basescu was recently premiered to much acclaim.