Performer: Jeffrey Milarsky

The concert paired strong new works by Joan La Barbara, Nicole Lizée and Paola Prestini with compositions by Luciano Berio and George Crumb for a satisfying evening of adventurous works for voice.

On a program of musical works with imagery ranging from Mount Fuji to zygotes, the common thread was Japan and the sounds it has inspired over the past few decades.

Dangle the term “modern music” in front of your average classical music listener and chances are their reaction will range anywhere from polite indifference to outright bile-spewing hatred.