For immediate release:
NINTH PLANET- formerly Wild Rumpus and Composers, Inc - announces its 2020 December Concert: ON BEING curated by flutist Jessie Nucho featuring works by Angelica Negrón, Jessie Cox, inti figgis-vizueta and Darian Donovan Thomas “On Being is an exploration of the nature of our existence, from the intersection of the physical and spiritual to existence in the present moment” says Jessie Nucho, flutist and core ensemble member, who will be hosting the concert. Echoing the struggle that many performers feel when faced with the current virtual reality, Nucho’s vision for this program is to create a space in which the audience is invited to breathe, be present, and “find release for the tension we’ve all been holding in our bodies.” The works that bookend the program are extraordinarily beautiful pieces of music, each composed for a string instrument and pre-recorded electronics: Angelica Negrón’s La Isla Mágica for double bass & electronics played by Eugene Theriault, and Darian Donovan Thomas’ Fluid Suite, Mvt 1 (2016) for violin & electronics played by Mia Nardi-Huffman. Coincidentally, both composers perform together in the Brooklyn-based indie electroacoustic pop band Balún: Angelica plays accordion and sings, Darian plays the violin. The opening work on the program, La Isla Mágica, blends the acoustic double bass with sparkling electronic arpeggios, plucked melodies and delightfully quirky Múm-like glitchy rhythms. According to the composer, the piece explores the possible connections between the islands of Puerto Rico and Bali, focusing on “the joy of exploration and discovery with the intent of transporting the listener to an exotic location… where the present moment is the only thing that’s significant.” The closing work on the program, the first movement of Darian Donovan Thomas’s Fluid Suite, is equally gorgeous – and also inspired by an escapist paradise. According to the composer, the work was inspired by meditating on the sounds of waters and rivers, focusing on the San Antonio river Yanaguana which translates to “refreshing waters.” The piece begins with acoustic violin arpeggios and opens up into a sparkling and joyful sound world in which the acoustic and electronic elements blend seamlessly. Jessie Cox’s Spiritus (2016) is a contemplation on the word spiritus (Latin for “breath”): thinking about breathing while also thinking about the spirituality in the act of breathing itself. Throughout the piece, the flutist vocalizes while playing, producing an unearthly sound which is half human and half instrumental. The shape of the music follows the rhythm of breathing, interrupted by more agile microtonal passages. The largest ensemble work on the program is a recent work by inti figgis-vizueta called Form the Fabric (2020) featuring Jessie Nucho (flute), Sophie Huet (clarinet), Mia Nardi-Huffman (violin), Brendan Lai-Tong (trombone), Mckenzie Langefeld (percussion), Margaret Halbig (piano) and Giacomo Fiore (electric guitar). The phrase “Form the Fabric” is derived from an archaeology phrase describing the cosmological understandings of the Incan and Andean peoples in which it is believed that threads are interwoven to form the fabric of the physical and spiritual world. While Form the Fabric was not intended for an online context, the socially distanced setup allowed for extensive collaboration between the ensemble and the composer. “It has been invaluable to have inti [figgis-vizueta] join us,” says Nucho. “Her insights encouraged us to greater freedom and creativity in this remote collaboration.” It’s possible that the group will revisit these works in-person after the pandemic is over. “The pandemic has posed many hurdles for performing arts organizations” said Andrew Lu, Ninth Planet’s Board President who has been instrumental in technical logistics for the concert. Social distancing, along with the fickle nature of internet connection, have been among the most challenging hurdles to clear. For this reason, the concert will be presented as a mix of live performance and pre-recorded videos made specially for the concert. “While I’m disappointed we can’t be making and sharing music together in the same space, I’m very proud of our musicians, their enthusiasm and resilience, and their sense of community in putting this concert together, and I couldn't be more excited to share our music with the world.” WHERE: Online on YouTube WHEN: Saturday, December 12 at 7:00pm PST TICKETS: Free for all A Ninth Planet press kit can be accessed here. In light of the recent Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and systemic racism in America, Ninth Planet has been reflecting upon our role in society as an ensemble and service organization. In surveying our programming at Ninth Planet and our predecessor organizations (Composers, Inc. and Wild Rumpus) we found that of the 200 pieces performed over the course of nearly 10 years’ worth of repertoire and commissions, not one piece was written by a Black composer. This was a sobering realization. The demographics of performed pieces match closely to the lack of diversity in our organization’s personnel as well. We have been part of the problem that pervades the rest of the classical music world, and we are determined to change.
As we move toward our next season and our first full season since Ninth Planet’s conception last year, we have committed ourselves to programming, commissioning, and networking with a cohort of artists whose diversity reflects that of our greater community– and to extending this effort to broadening our audience. Being a new organization, we are uniquely positioned to make these important changes swiftly and permanently. We are actively working with our Artistic Committee to develop plans to diversify our programming and show our community not just through our words but through our actions that Black artists not only matter, but that their past and future contributions to the music and the extended arts are valued, necessary, and important. We are committed to using our platform to amplify and celebrate these contributions. All lives cannot matter until Black lives matter. Sincerely, Ninth Planet For Immediate Release: Ninth Planet's March 27 concert "Expedition #2: Spiral Sequences" at Old First has been postponed. Friends,
DG: Hi Jack! First of all, let me congratulate you on winning the 2019 Ettelson prize for Spiral Sequences! We are overjoyed to be presenting the West Coast premiere. It’s a string quartet, and I was personally very struck by your expert string writing. Are you a string player yourself?
JF: Thanks so much! So grateful to you and the Ninth Planet committee for choosing the piece. That is very nice of you to say--I am not a string player, but I am a guitarist which I suppose comes close in many ways. Bowing will forever feel horribly counterintuitive to me though. I recently picked up a $30 violin to get more hands-on experience which is helping...maybe... DG: Can you tell us a little more about the form of Spiral Sequences? In your program note you write that the first movement is a “constantly tightening” spiral...how do you untighten this, so to speak, in the second movement? JF: Sure! I was thinking a lot about second movements while formulating the structure for the piece. The Barber Adagio for example, which most think of as a standalone work, was initially the second movement of his string quartet and comes after eight minutes of fairly thorny material. To me, the adagio hits so much harder when it’s proceeded by this intense, chromatic material that’s perhaps more difficult to digest. So I took that basic fast-slow structure to achieve that same effect. My piece is also built around sequential chord progressions, which ascend or descend by consistent intervals. These can feel incredibly tense, constricting, treated chromatically and rhythmically; like you are trapped in their inevitable ascent or descent. They can also feel comforting, predictable, diatonic, spacious; given time to understand the pattern, you can anticipate where it’s going. The ‘untightening’ comes from moving from the first treatment to the second. DG: Browsing through your website, I notice you’re also very active as a filmmaker. How does this work influence or inform your work as a composer? JF: Films don’t have to try to describe a subject to you, they can literally just show it to you, so you end up with radical clarity and viscerality that just can’t exist in other mediums. I think filmmaking has inspired two things in my musical work, the first being finding ways to capture that clarity in music, where a listener always feels like they understand what’s going on (or that if something shouldn’t make sense, which is often, that there’s a sense of intentionality about it and that it’s eventually clear in hindsight). The second is figuring out what music can do that film can’t, which is really hard, especially considering music is such an integral part of cinema. Tangential, but I honestly think this is the greatest challenge artists have to face in the 21st century where film is clearly the most dominant, effective medium; what experience can music provide that film can’t? I think it’s something to do with emotional poignancy, but I won’t pretend I have any idea... DG: One of the aspects I’m really loving about your music as I dig in here is your lack of hesitance letting non-classical influences come to the fore...am I hearing that right? I’m thinking specifically of your orchestral work On Again, Off Again, but I’m hearing this a little in Spiral Sequences… JF: For sure. I grew up playing in bands, so that music - everything from Led Zeppelin to the Dead Kennedys, Buddy Guy, Chick Corea, Ray LaMontange, a real messy aggregate of influences - definitely finds its way into my compositions. There are definitely a few spots in Spiral Sequences; thinking of the cello’s low driving 16th notes in the first movement… DG: On that note, too, does filmmaking play into your musical upbringing? I might be hearing this through my own ears, as someone who’s dabbled a bit in film scoring. But film music has been and remains a huge love for me… JF: Same! I was very interested in film and audio production from quite a young age, which led quite naturally to film scoring. I scored a few short films and composed a handful of jingles for different projects during my first year of University in Australia, often with sampled ‘virtual’ instruments, before realizing that I was most interested in the compositional aspects of these projects. DG: You studied at The Juilliard School with Robert Beaser and John Corigliano. This has to be fascinating—Corigliano, especially, is a composer I’d love to sit down and chat with sometime! Can you pass on any of the lessons your teachers have passed to you? JF: They were both incredible for very different reasons. Beaser took me as a transfer student when I had about a year of composition experience under my belt. I knew nothing, and he was perfect at steering me towards the information and experiences I needed. I think the instinct of a lot of teachers in that situation would be to try and overload the student with information, but he was correct in guiding me to discover it for myself. Corigliano has the most insane musical instinct I have ever seen. Great teachers can identify what isn’t working in a piece, but John’s superpower is telling you how to fix it - and being right! The specific advice I’ll always remember though: I once brought him a piece that I’d devised with this intricate, clever structure that in performance went horribly. I said something about hoping the structure would make up for its lack of musicality, and he said “it should always be musical”. This might seem obvious - that music should be musical - but it was advice I sorely needed at the time. DG: I notice that you’ve written many fine works for voice, both solo and choral. Now this makes me wonder if you’re a singer, too! Can you tell us a bit about how vocal writing influences your approach to instrumental work? JF: Not a good one! A lot of composers seem to find writing vocal music really easy, or at least easier than writing purely instrumental music because they can just follow the direction of the text. I find it really challenging. Writing a piece of music that makes sense is hard enough; writing a piece that evokes the meaning of a text while also making sense as a piece of music is just overwhelming. Regarding how it influences my instrumental work though, I do think there’s a lot of truth to musical phrases being derived from patterns of speech. I definitely think about the nature of spoken phrases and breathing while composing musical phrases. DG: What music are you listening to these days? JF: Tyler, The Creator, Beethoven, The Philadelphia Brass, Thundercat, Vulfpeck, Ted Hearne and Chris Theofanidis are my most recently-played on Spotify. DG: This last question isn’t really a question, per se, but again, we can’t wait to perform your string quartet, and congratulations again! You’ll be at a pretty exciting previous engagement and unable to come to San Francisco for the show, correct? JF: Yes unfortunately I’ll be in Colorado for a premiere with the Arapahoe Philharmonic! Sad I wont be in San Francisco for the performance, but I’m looking forward to hearing about how everything goes! Ninth Plant New Music is excited to announce Selim Göncü as the recipient of the 35th annual Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composer’s Award. Göncü's piece Widerklang for 5 players was selected from over 100 submissions by a panel of six judges. In addition to a receiving a $1,000 prize, Göncü's piece will be performed by Ninth Planet during the 2020-2021 season.
Board President and Ettelson judge Daniel Godsil praises Widerklang, stating "[Göncü] takes sounds and gestures more often reserved for the avant-garde and crystallizes them into a tight, visceral, and— dare I say— fun six-minute gem of a piece." THIS CONCERT HAS BEEN POSTPONED. TO LEARN MORE VISIT: http://www.ninthplanetmusic.org/blog/press-release-march-27-concert-postponed Daniel Godsil, composer and member of the Ninth Planet artistic committee, sits down for a conversation with Jenny Olivia Johnson. Hear Jenny’s piece Reflect Reflect Respond Respond plus much more at our debut concert Sat November 2, 2019 at 8:00pm. Daniel Godsil: Jenny, we’re so excited to playing Reflect Reflect Respond Respond at our inaugural concert. This piece was played by Wild Rumpus in 2012; will the version we hear on November 2 have any significant changes?
Jenny Olivia Johnson: I’m excited too! The first version of Reflect Reflect was scored for flute/piccolo, clarinet, harp, piano, electric guitar, violin, cello, and the two sopranos. This version, which I revised in 2015, adds trombone, contrabass, and percussion to the mix, so it’s a broad expansion of the sound world, and one that I’m very happy with. The added low register instruments, further punctuated by bass drum/cymbal/gong and a sparkly vibraphone part, kind of bring everything into sharper focus. (I do miss the harp part from version 1, however; perhaps a third version can be imagined someday with that lovely sound back in the band!) DG: I love the title of this piece. The piece itself brings us into a fantastic sound world, and there’s a really compelling narrative...can you tell us a little about the voyage you’re wanting to take the listener on? JOJ: Thank you! I have always loved the word “reflect,” which describes the physical phenomenon of forces and energies bouncing off of surfaces and back onto themselves, and also conjures certain psychoanalytic concepts, such as obsession and mirroring and projecting. The myth of Narcissus and Echo seemed like a perfect context for exploring ideas related to mirror-like repetitions, reflections, and recursions, and the ways in which those phenomena are observable in emotional experiences of infatuation, melancholia, and grief--the rapture of thinking incessantly and repetitively of a loved one, for instance, or the anguish of spiraling through repetitive painful memories in the wake of a loss. I was interested in creating an immersive world in which all of those emotions are somehow expressed simultaneously, so a lot of the time the music is either incredibly fast, jittery, caffeinated, and loud, or is almost painfully languid, slow-moving, and mournful--two states which to me can simultaneously index both ecstasy and anxiety. DG: Your bio lists Mario Davidovsky as a primary teacher, someone who was such a pioneer in electroacoustic music (and who we sadly lost just recently). Since a lot of your music blends acoustic and electronic elements, was he a big influence on your work? JOJ: I only got to work with Mario for one semester, but our time together made a huge impact on me and my work. I actually posted on Facebook after he passed away about one crucial lesson I had with him; if you don’t mind, I’ll share an excerpt of it here: While I was at NYU, I studied with Mario Davidovsky for a semester—Spring 2006. I was writing an opera fragment at the time that opened with 3 minutes of stark, simple music—major thirds, F to A—on solo piano. I tried to think about how to develop these miniatures into a much larger piece, and I found myself both lost/apprehensive and also intrigued by the challenge of building something massive and mythological from something tiny and glistening. At our first lesson, Mario reacted to my major thirds by affirming their restraint, by helping me articulate and flesh out the aesthetics of emptiness and loneliness that underscored this impulse. He also asked me, for the next lesson, to write out as many Fs and As as I could—to think of every possible way to orchestrate and consider and represent this interval (the implied tonic and its mediant shadow). I did this, painstakingly, and it sliced deeply into my entrenched ways of thinking and working, and gave me an important new way to think about (seeming) simplicity. The purple color of F, and the soft red shadings of A, ran even deeper and more luminously for me after this effort, and absolutely contributed to the last movement of my (much later) piece “Sylvia Songs,” among other things. I really do think about that lesson all the time. And that particular third will always have a certain valence. DG: The first half of Reflect has an intense rhythmic drive. Am I far off in detecting some rock or pop influences, here? JOJ: You’re right on the money! I’m a (semi-retired) percussionist who has played drums in a number of bands over the years, most importantly the band Renminbi (later named Magnetic Island), who were based in Brooklyn in the early 2000s. My bandmates (guitarist Lisa Liu and keyboardist/writer Sue Visakowitz) are still dear and cherished friends of mine, and we still talk and collaborate all the time; Lisa actually just tracked electric guitar parts for my upcoming opera “The After Time,” which includes many rock, EDM, and post-punk-influenced sounds. I have also written several pieces that explore pop idioms in a kind of experimental, dreamy way, such as “Dollar Beers” (composed for the Bang on a Can Summer Program in 2006) and the first song from my recent 2018 album Sylvia Songs (“New York”), in which I sample a cheesy 1980s ballad to index a particular time, place, and feeling in a way that only pop music can. DG: In any case, browsing through your impressive catalogue of works online, a lot of your music has what’s sometimes called “extramusical” influences, almost autobiographical? JOJ: That’s very true. I’m often telling and retelling the same stories in different ways through music. It’s absolutely a medium in which I play with narrative and memory, and experiment with different ways of thinking about my past experiences and reframing their emotional resonances. I’m also very interested in poetry, and many of my works take their cue from fragments of poems I admire. I also find the genre of poetry itself very inspiring for my music; sometimes entire worlds or oceans or stories with geologic timelines can become revealed by the sound of one simple word or phrase. I kind of do the opposite--I pile on myriad layers and stretch things for strenuous amounts of time--but I think it’s an impulse that comes from obsessing over singular words or sentences in poems, and emotionally processing everything that they conjure for me (such as Sylvia Plath’s phrase “how frail the human heart must be...a fragile, shining instrument of crystal, which can either weep or sing,” over which I musically obsess for about 45 minutes on my album Sylvia Songs). DG: You’re from southern California? JOJ: I am! I was born in Santa Monica, and later lived in West Covina, San Dimas, and Claremont before moving to New York for college. While I’ve lived on the east coast for 23 years now(!), California continues to loom large in my imagination, and inspires a great deal of my music. I’m also spending more time in Southern California these days because my partner lives in Santa Monica; it’s been fascinating to experience life there as an adult. DG: What are you up to now? You’re balancing teaching at Wellesley with your composing activities, right? JOJ: I am indeed, and it is a balancing act--teaching is an intense vocation--but I often find that my work with the brilliant students at Wellesley inspires my own projects and compositions in some very interesting ways. DG: What music are you listening to these days? JOJ: I’m currently listening obsessively to Jonathan Harvey, as I have a performance of his 1994 work “Advaya” coming up this weekend with cellist David Russell and pianist Eliko Akahori. It’s an amazing piece and a great reminder of how skilled Harvey was at bridging the worlds of electronic and acoustic sound. I’m also exploring a lot of minimal and classic EDM, as I’m currently trying to teach myself how to DJ with turntables--an idea that was sparked by the opera I’m finishing, which takes place in 1990s NYC and revolves around a character who loves going to raves and clubs like Tunnel (RIP). I’m currently working my way through several playlists made by friends who frequent underground, late-night dance parties in cities like Paris and Berlin, and I’m finding the music very inspiring, especially on a durational level. Finally, I’m *always* listening to 1980s pop music that would have been played on the Southern California radio station KOST 103.5, especially during the show “Love Songs on the KOST”--I’m especially into a Sade/Chaka Khan/DeBarge kind of mood these days. DG: Thanks for taking the time to talk, Jenny... we’re so happy to feature your piece here, and hope to continue working with you for a long time to come! Are there any other ways our audience can hear more of your music locally or otherwise? JOJ: Likewise!! I’m so excited to continue working with all of you as well! And I would be honored for anyone who is interested to check out my two albums on Innova Recordings, “Dont Look Back” and “Sylvia Songs,” which are available on all streaming services (Spotify/Apple/Amazon/etc). I also maintain a SoundCloud page where I post recordings of works premiered both recently and in the past which have not yet been studio-recorded; I’ll actually be adding some new tracks there shortly. Thank you so much for this conversation, and for playing Reflect Reflect again! Daniel Godsil, composer and member of the Ninth Planet artistic committee, sits down for a conversation with Ursula Kwong-Brown. Hear Ursula’s piece Unwinding III plus much more at our debut concert Sat November 2, 2019 at 8:00pm. DG: Ursula, we’re so excited to be presenting your work Unwinding III at our inaugural concert! The piece we’ll hear is a new installment, part of an ongoing series for you, correct? UKB: Yes, Unwinding III is the third piece that I’ve written inspired by the craniosacral therapy process of “unwinding” - it’s something that’s been very important to me ever since I had a bike accident back in 2013, right after moving to Berkeley. DG: I always enjoy learning how composers find inspiration for their work. I have to say, I’m extremely fascinated by your inspiration of this particular piece coming from physical therapy. Could you tell us a little more about this? UKB: My music has always been driven by narrative. These “unwinding” pieces are all variations of the same story: landing on my head during the accident and undergoing craniosacral therapy as I recovered. Basically, the therapist holds your head in their hands, supporting its weight entirely, gently allowing the muscles to shift ever so slightly and release their tension. It’s a pretty amazing feeling. DG: What do you hope to accomplish with the new version of this piece for Ninth Planet? UKB: My first two “unwinding” works attempted to tell the entire story of my accident; it’s a classic dramatic arc, but it also spans a huge number of emotions, so those pieces are broken up into many contrasting sections. For this work, I decided to cut the whole beginning and simply start with the process of healing. There’s still a sense of building tension, but it’s all within the world of therapy: a sparkling wash of sound with repeated arpeggios and trills, and a rising melody that outlines minor seventh chords. DG: You've been writing a lot for orchestra these days...how do you translate your thinking to chamber groups? Do find it difficult to deal with a more limited color palette? UKB: That’s a great question! There are a surprising number of similarities between writing for orchestra and composing for a mixed chamber ensemble. The instrumentation for my piece is flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, marimba and piano: that’s a huge variety of colors to balance! The articulations and timbres are all so different - it’s not like the homogenous sound of a string quartet. It’s definitely a challenge and I didn’t get it quite right the first time, but the musicians were very kind to let me revise the piece after the first rehearsal. The Ninth Planet musicians are all superb players who are excited about being part of the compositional process. I feel very lucky to be working with them! DG: You lived for some time in the Bay Area. Browsing through your music online, I came across a great piece you did at CNMAT called “In Transit” that seemed to integrate sounds from BART...what are you up to now, and are you finding the same kinds of site-specific inspirations? UKB: So glad you liked it! That piece for the Black Cedar Trio was the result of a Chamber America commissioning grant for works that reflected community. Generally, my works tend to reflect my personal life, but I’m always open to other inspirations! Ironically, I just returned to trains, sound designing with my partner the world premiere of Stonewall for New York City Opera. The opening moment was a heavily-processed subway screech we created. DG: Are there any Bay Area spots you miss? UKB: Yes! I miss so many spots in the Bay Area. I miss driving down to the Berkeley Marina at sunset. I miss sitting on the beach and watching the dolphins swim past in Half Moon Bay. I miss hiking in Tilden Park. And I miss Berkeley Bowl! And the farmers markets. The produce in NYC simply doesn’t compare. DG: You’ve said that you’ve decided to become more politically active; does this translate at all into your music-making activities? UKB: Absolutely. Many of my recent pieces engage with issues that are important to me politically. “Cover the Walls” was based on Chinese poetry carved into the walls of the Immigration Detention Center on Angel Island. The orchestral version was premiered by the Berkeley Symphony last year, and a choral adaptation will be performed by the Pacific Chorale in LA at the end of October. “I should have taken the train” was my response to the #MeToo movement. It sets a true story of sexual assault written by my friend, Hannah Howard, using piano and recorded text. And I’ve recently started a work for soprano and orchestra inspired by women’s suffrage, both the uplifting aspects and the darker undertones of racial inequality and voter restrictions - all of which have resonance today. DG: What music are you listening to these days? UKB: No one ever asks me that! I’ve been listening to a lot of minimalist-related music, from the older guard (Philip Glass, Steve Reich, David Lang) and younger composers like Nico Muhly and Missy Mazzoli, to more electronic/ synth-based: Suzanne Ciani, Nils Frahm, CFCF, etc. It’s been a joy to discover new music through my partner, Danny Erdberg, who is a sound designer for theatre and dance. DG: You’ve been involved with Ninth Planet in its various iterations for some time now... we’re happy to feature your piece here, and hopefully we’ll continue working with you for a long time to come! Are there any other ways our audience can hear more of your music locally or otherwise? UKB: I’m very much looking forward to continued involvement with Ninth Planet! Uniting the performers of Wild Rumpus with the composers of Composers, Inc. opens up so many exciting new possibilities for collaboration and performance. If people are interested, many of my pieces are linked from my website, ursulakwongbrown.com. Also, the UC Berkeley orchestra will be performing a piece of mine featuring Ann Moss next spring (2020). Stay tuned!
Take a listen to the music of Expedition #1: Reflect Respond before we launch! You'll find this music to be exciting and groove-y, and downright awesome, but don't be fooled– the live experience is lightyears better.
Dan VanHassel, Balance of Power
Balance of Power opens Expedition #1 with a deep, otherworldly drone. Written for bass clarinet, percussion, electric guitar, cello, bass, and piano, the piece evolves from a minimalist trance into a groove-filled jam session between the instruments.
Kaija Saariaho, Cendres
Kaija Saariaho's Cendres, French for "ashes," is written for alto flute, cello, and piano. It is ethereal at points and passionate at other points. Saariaho masterfully uses various musical elements– pitch, rhythm, timbre, and more– to bring the listener back and forth between tension and release.
Ursula Kwong-Brown, Unwinding III
Kwong-Brown is presenting the premiere of her third iteration of her Unwinding series. Originally for string trio, Unwinding III employs a six piece mixed ensemble. Unwinding documents the composer's experience with a traumatic bike injury and the effects of craniosacral therapy treatment. The above recording is of the original Unwinding, which is considerably different than Unwinding III.
Eve Beglarian, Play Like a Girl
Play Like a Girl is based on the Bulgarian State Women’s Chorus's performance of Kaval Sviri. Eve Beglarian composed eight variations of the piece for various types of keyboards (including toy piano), which can be played in any combination or succession, generating tens of thousands of different versions of the piece. What will our pianist Margaret do during our concert? You'll have to go to find out!
Eve Beglarian, Until It Blazes
As a composer, Eve Beglarian can be described as very chill. She often writes music as a framework for performers– leaving lots of room for players to make their own compositional decisions. Just like Play Like a Girl, our guitarist Giacomo is given room to decide the fate of the composition– how it grows and how long it lasts. Enter the meditate state of Until It Blazes.
Jenny Olivia Johnson, Reflect Reflect Respond Respond
The main course of Expedition #1 is Reflect Reflect Respond Respond, written for a large chamber ensemble with two vocalists. It opens with an intense rhythmic tapestry, which then opens up to introduce the voices of Echo and Narcissus. Instruments and vocalists alike are amplified with delay to create simmering echo lines throughout the work. The recording above is the original (2012) version of the work, premiered by Wild Rumpus. The piece was revised in 2015, which will be the version performed at Expedition #1.
Enjoy what you heard? Experience the music live at Expedition #1: Reflect Respond:
For immediate release:
NINTH PLANET NEW MUSIC- the union of two established Bay Area new music groups, formerly known as Wild Rumpus and Composers, Inc - announces its inaugural concert: Reflect, Respond with works by Eve Beglarian, Jenny Olivia Johnson, Ursula Kwong-Brown, Kaija Saariaho and Dan VanHassel. “We seek to continue presenting and commissioning exciting new music and particularly bringing attention to the work of younger composers,” says Nathaniel Berman, Artistic Director of the newly-formed Ninth Planet ensemble. “Our inaugural concert is centered around the work Reflect Reflect Respond Respond (Echo and Narcissus in reverse) by Boston-based composer Jenny Olivia Johnson. The works on the program are united by this theme of Reflection and Response: how do we react to the world around us, especially in the wake of transformative life events?” The Ninth Planet’s core of nine players -- Jessie Nucho (flute), Sophie Huet (clarinet), Brendan Lai-Tong, (trombone), Mckenzie Camp (percussion), Giacomo Fiore (electric guitar), Margaret Halbig (piano), Mia Nardi-Huffman (violin), Joanne de Mars (cello) and Eugene Theriault (double bass) -- will all perform in Reflect Reflect Respond Respond, joined by the fantastic sopranos Ann Moss and Amy Foote, and conducted by Nathaniel Berman. Composer Jenny Olivia Johnson will be present to oversee the electronics of her piece. Reflect Reflect Respond Respond (Echo and Narcissus in reverse), which was commissioned by Wild Rumpus in 2012 and revised in 2015. The work is an extended meditation on Ovid’s story of Echo, the nymph cursed to only repeat what she hears, and Narcissus, who loves his own reflection and is oblivious to Echo’s love. With live delay creating ripples in her already shimmering and canonic textures, the piece traces the emotional journey of the two figures’ doomed communication. Jenny Olivia Johnson is Associate Professor at Wellesley University. Unwinding III, by Ursula Kwong-Brown – a Ninth Planet board member and former Composers, Inc. member – tells a personal story of recovering from a traumatic bike accident which left the composer with ongoing pain and memory troubles. The term “unwinding” refers to a craniosacral therapy treatment in which tensions of the muscular and nervous system are unravelled and the patient is left feeling light and free. An early version of the work for string trio was performed by the Earplay ensemble in 2017. This version will feature six members of Ninth Planet’s core ensemble. Two pieces by Eve Beglarian highlight contrasting elements: Play Like a Girl, and Until it Blazes. The former, written for one or two or more keyboard instruments with pre-recorded tracks, weaves material from Bulgarian choral music into a twinkling spiral. Until it Blazes, played in this version on solo electric guitar with live delay processing, is a spellbinding journey guided by Beglarian’s simple patterns and the choices offered the performer. The wonderful Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s Cendres, a trio for alto flute, cello, and piano, delves deeply into the timbral world of the instruments, at times bringing them together and other times opposing them, to create a sound world that ranges from ethereal to sensual. Finally, music by Dan VanHassel, one of the founders of Wild Rumpus. His Balance of Power juxtaposes funky, noisy percussive elements against a slowly unfolding chord progression. The result is a shifting sound world that is rich with color and catchy rhythms. Like all the works on the program, this work for sextet will feature core members of the Ninth Planet ensemble. WHERE: Osher Salon, San Francisco Conservatory of Music WHEN: Saturday, November 2. 8:00pm. TICKETS: $20 general admission, $10 students/seniors/persons with disabilities. Available at the door or online at ninthplanetmusic.org The San Francisco Conservatory of Music is wheelchair accessible. A Ninth Planet press kit can be accessed here. |
Ninth PlanetNew Music providers for the solar system and beyond. Based in the SF Bay Area, CA. Archives
December 2020
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