Lura Johnson, Pianist

Photography by Katya Chilingiri

“Composers pray for players that are this imaginative and intelligent, this risk-taking and expressive. Christina [Jennings] and Lura not only bring already composed works of mine to renewed life, but actually feed my fancy new ideas and sounds. Add to this the duo’s power and virtuosity and you have every composer’s dream.”
-Gabriela Lena Frank, composer

JOHN ADAMS (b. 1947)
Fearful Symmetries (1988 )

JUDAH ADASHI (b. 1975)
The Dark Hours (2007)

KATHRYN ALEXANDER (b. 1955)
From the Faraway Nearby

STEVE ANTOSCA (b. 1955)
++kairos: time outside of time (2008)
++chamber set ~  threads (2009)

DEREK BERMEL (b. 1967)
Turning (1995)

WILLIAM BOLCOM (b. 1938 )
Garden of Eden Suite (1969)
Recuerdos (1991)
Three Dance Portraits (1986)

PIERRE BOULEZ (b. 1925)
Derive 1

DOUGLAS BOYCE (b. 1970)
Palimpsest: A Composition of Maps (2004)
A Book of Songs (2006)

MARTIN BRESNICK (b. 1946)
My Twentieth Century (2002)

JOHN CAGE (1912-1992)
Nocturne (1947)
Amores (1949)
Credo in US (1942)

ELLIOTT CARTER (b. 1908)
A Mirror on Which To Dwell

HENRY COWELL (1897-1965)
The Tides of Manaunaun (1917)
The Aeolian Harp (1923)
Exultation (1919)

CINDY COX (b. 1961)
Axis Mundi (2005)

GEORGE CRUMB (b. 1929)
Eleven Echoes of Autumn (1966)

C. CURTIS-SMITH (1937)
Twelve Etudes (2000)

TOM DELIO (b. 1951)
Transients/Resonances (2006)

LINDA DUSMAN (b. 1956)
++Diverging Flints for Piano Trio

MORTON FELDMAN (1926-1987)
Four Instruments

GABRIELA LENA FRANK (b. 1972)
Sonata Andina (2000)
Sueños de Chambi (2002)

GEOFFREY GORDON (b. 1968 )
Fallen Eve (2004)

SAMUEL HAMM (b. 1955)
Absence of Joy (2001)

DAVID HEUSER (b. 1966)
Catching Updrafts (2000)

CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)
The Concord Sonata (1910-1915)
Piano Trio (1909-10, revised 1914-1915)

AARON JAY KERNIS (b. 1960)
Newly Drawn Sky (2005)

LEON KIRCHNER (b. 1919)
Trio I (1954)

WILLIAM KLEINSASSER
++A Gift of Possible Futures (2006)
Innocent Proteins (2004)

GYÖRGY KURTÁG (b. 1926)
Jatekok (1975-)

LEI LIANG (b. 1972)
Trio for Piano, Cello and Percussion (2002)

DONALD MARTINO (b. 1931)
Notturno (1973)

A.J. MCCAFFREY (b. 1973)
++**Reflections on Beati Quorum Via (2003)

ERIC MOE (b. 1954)
Rip Rap (1989)

PAUL MORAVEC (b. 1957)
Andy Warhol Sez (2005)
Chamber Symphony (2003)

JEFFREY MUMFORD (b. 1955)
for Elliott (1983)
tango-variations (1983-1984)
++four dances for Boris (2003)
**++a gracious accord: romance (2005)
**++an evolving romance (2005)
undiluted days, for piano trio (2000)
a diffuse light… (1989)
a focused expanse… (2003)

TRISTAN MURAIL (b. 1947)
Feuilles à Travers les Cloches

SAMUEL NICHOLS
Axis

EUGENE O’BRIEN (b. 1945)
Embarking for Cythera (1978 )

ARVO PÄRT (b. 1935)
Spiegel im Spiegel (1978)

ESA PEKKA-SALONEN (b. 1958)
Dichotomie for solo piano (2000)

GEORGE PERLE (b. 1915)
Critical Moments (2001)

SHULAMIT RAN (b. 1949)
Mirage (1990)

GEORGE ROCHBERG (1918-2005)
Viola Sonata (1979)
Between Two Worlds (1982)
Contra Mortem et Tempus (1965)

MATHEW ROSENBLUM (b. 1954)
Maggies (1997)

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN (b. 1958)
Dichotomie (2000)

ALFRED SCHNITTKE (b. 1934)
Suite in the Old Style (1972)
Cello Sonata (1978)

JOSEPH SCHWANTNER (b. 1943)
Black Anemones
New Morning for the World  (1982)

LAURA SCHWENDINGER (b. 1962)
High Wire Act (2005)

JUDITH SHATIN (b. 1949)
++Tower of the Eight Winds (2008)

OTAR TAKTAKISHVILI (1924-1989)
Flute Sonata

ANTHONY VILLA
Duo for Piano and Percussion

DAN VISCONTI (b. 1982)
Fractured Jams (2005)

CHARLES WUORINEN (b. 1938)
New York Notes (1982)

CHEN YI (b. 1953)
Qi (1997)

SAMUEL ZYMAN (b. 1956)
Flute Sonata

**commissions

++premieres

“The Verge Ensemble, a power hitter on Washington’s modest contemporary music scene, is coming off a 35th-anniversary season that saw involvement in the new 3gen Festival in Washington, several performances in New York and a stint at the legendary new-music festival June in Buffalo: in short, the continuing development of a national presence.” (Washington Post)