Fulcrum Point 22nd Annual Concert for Peace:

“For the Fallen”

Wednesday, December 16, 2020, 7 PM Presented virtually on YouTube, Facebook Live and Zoom We dedicate this concert to the 1 million+ victims of COVID-19 & the nurses, doctors, healthcare, and essential people who work every day to heal, provide and create community.

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Program

For the Fallen (2012) Judith Shatin Stephen Burns, trumpet

3x1-1 (2013) Patrick Grant Kuang-Hao Huang, piano Steve Roberts, electric guitar

Laconisme de l’aile (1982) Kaija Saariaho Dalia Chin, flute

String Quartet #8 (1960) Dmitri Shostakovich Rika Seko & Kathleen Carter, violin Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, viola Paula Kosower, cello I. Largo II. Allegro Molto III. Allegretto IV. Largo V. Largo

Intuitive Music (2020) Sistas of the Nitty Gritty Angel Bat Dawid, clarinet/vocals Brooklynn Skye Scott, bass Anaiet, piano/vocals

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Notes

Welcome to the 22nd Annual Concert for Peace. Over the decades we have celebrated the holidays with interfaith concerts and mourned the broken bodies of 9/11. We’ve bridged cultures to build peace, explored the rites of ecstasy and devotion and asked the provocative question: What is The Price of Peace? Through music and poetry, improvisation and film, our performances present the richness of new art music in powerful contexts. Tonight we honor the fallen and celebrate the heroes of the Covid-19 pandemic; over 300,000 Americans have died and millions impacted worldwide. We dedicate our concert to the essential people who brave the virus and bring us food, energy, transport, healthcare and so much more. Thank you for your courage, sacrifice, and generosity.

For the Fallen, for amplified trumpet and electronics, was commissioned by Italian trumpeter Ivano Ascari, and premiered at the Mondi Sonori, XV Edizione in Trento, Italy. For the Fallen was inspired by, and the electronics made from, the Maria Dolens bell in Rovereto, Italy. Originally cast from cannons melted after World War I, this bell is one of the largest ringing bells in the world. Built between 1918 and 1925 to commemorate the fallen in all wars, it is rung every day in their memory. While the political situation changes in the particulars, the topic is still all too timely. The original recordings were kindly provided by sound engineer Marco Olivotto. For more information visit www.judithshatin.com –J.S.

“Three Times One Minus One” or “3x1-1” was created for the 2013 Tribeca New Music Festival and was premiered by James Moore (electric guitar) and Kathleen Supove (piano) and a backing track played through a sound system. In 2017 a commercially released version of the piece was made and retitled “To Find a Form That Accommodates the Mess” or “TFFTATM.” The guitarist is left to find their own sounds as they see fit for the piece and their instrument. The piano is amplified in stereo if possible. The track emulates trap set drums, electric bass, and other instruments, it should at least be loud as their real life equivalents would be and loud enough to balance with the live players. - P.G.

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Laconisme de l’aile (Brevity of the wing) was composed by Kaija Saariaho in 1982. Based on a scale of tonal colors ranging from brilliant and pure to coarse and harsh this haunting electroacoustic work starts with spoken text: Ignorant Ignorant of their, shadow and not knowing of death, of death, that which consumes immortality. in the noise far from the great waters. They pass by, leaving us and we are never more the same. They are space… traversed by one sole thought. Saint-Jean Perse (translation by Stephen Burns) The composer writes: “The possibility to move from secret whispers into clear, beautiful and ‘abstract’ sound was one of the starting points for Laconisme de l’aile. Another important image on which I focused my mind when writing this piece was that of birds, not really their song, but rather the lines they draw in the sky when flying. I had already started the piece when I felt the need to add a text in the beginning, which would in fact be the source for the musical material. The book Oiseaux (Birds) by Saint-Jean Perse (French poet, diplomat, and Nobel prize-winner) got into my hands in the public library of Freiburg, and I found a passage in this collection of poems that described somehow the images that I had in my mind: that of birds, fighting gravity, flying away, secret and immortal.” - K.S.

Dmitri Shostakovich composed his String Quartet No. 8 in Dresden in 1960 with the dedication: “In memory of victims of fascism and war.” There is much controversy as to the underlying meaning or message in this neo-romantic, post-modern work; some interpret it to be a political protest against Stalinist totalitarianism, while others intuit autobiographical content, since he quotes liberally from his own works (Cello Concerto, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Symphony #10, 2nd Piano Trio) and the primary motif based on his initials DSCH (D, Eb, C, B natural in German terms.)

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This haunting work has five-movements played without pause and ingeniously includes references of the Dies Irae chant, Russian Revolutionary songs, and Jewish folk music, which had powerful impact on Shostakovich. He commented: “It can appear to be happy while it is tragic. It's almost always laughter through tears. This quality… is close to my ideas of what music should be. There should always be two layers in music. Jews were tormented so long that they learned to hide their despair. They express despair in dance music.” - D.S. The opening and closing movements are wistful, elegiac and tragic, while the quartet’s contrasting inner-movements are playfully surreal and maniacally menacing. As with all abstract art music, the underlying meaning is a personal experience in the heart of each listener.

Sistas of the Nitty Gritty (named by Artist/Musician Lonnie Holley) are Clarinetist/Vocalist Angel Bat Dawid, Pianist/Vocalist Anaiet Sivad and Bassist Brooklynn Skye Scott. Emerging from the Great Black music traditions of Chicago, this group comes together with a myriad of musical backgrounds, textures and sounds relying heavily on spontaneous compositions and improvisation. This ensemble has performed for Elastic Arts 3rd Annual Benefit Concert, Merkin Concert Hall at the Kauffman Center of the Performing Arts annual Ecstatic Music Festival in New York, and recently featured at New Music Circle Festival in St Louis.

Bios

Composer, clarinetist, vocalist & spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid descended into Chicago’s improvised music scene in 2016. In a very short time Angel become ubiquitous in Chicago’s avant-garde performing with Bel LaMar Gay, Damon Locks, Jaimie Branch, Matthew Lux and the legendary Roscoe Mitchell. In 2019 The Guardian named her “2019’s brightest new jazz star.” Her acclaimed albums, The Oracle and Transitions East, feature her myriad talents of performing, overdubbing, and mixing all instruments and voices by herself using her cell phone in various location from London to Capetown; but primarily from her residency in the attic of the historic Radcliffe Hunter mansion in Bronzeville, Southside, Chicago. Angel is the 2020-21 co- curator with Dalia Chin of Fulcrum Point’s Aux In: Connected & Discoveries: Hear & Be

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Heard series.

Conductor, composer and trumpeter Stephen Burns is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Fulcrum Point New Music Project in Chicago. He has been acclaimed on four continents for his virtuosity and interpretative depth in recitals, orchestral appearances, chamber music, and multi-media performances. He has worked closely with composers John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov, Gunther Schuller, Jacob TV, and La Monte Young. He won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Avery Fisher Career Grant, the NEA Recital Grant, the Naumburg Award, the Charles Colin Award, the Meier Arts Achievement Award, and the Maurice André Concours International de Paris. Mr. Burns is on faculty at DePaul University’s School of Music and The Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. CDs at Naxos, MHS, Dorian, Delos, Essay, Kleos, & Innova. Stephen Burns is a Yamaha performing artist.

Violinist Kate Carter made her Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2014. She has frequently appeared as soloist with the Elmhurst Symphony, where she serves as Associate Concertmaster. She has performed internationally as a member of Camerata Chicago and with the Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated in performances at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Sunday Salon Series, Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Sounds of the South Loop, David Adler Music and Arts Center, and she frequently performs in recital with pianist Louise Chan. Her musical education spans from the Eastman School of Music in New York to Northwestern University in Chicago, where she earned the Doctorate of Music in Violin Performance. She is currently on the artist/teaching faculties of Lake Forest College and the Merit School of Music, and she writes a blog about performance psychology at www.fearlessfiddler.com

Dalia Chin is a Costa Rican flutist specializing in new art music. Currently living in Chicago, Chin is Co-Curator with Angel Bat Dawid of Fulcrum Point’s Aux In: Connected & Discoveries: Hear & Be Heard series. She’s founding member of the ensemble Fonema Consort with which she has played at the New Music Miami Festival, Visiones Sonoras in Morelia and Mexico DF, Interfaz Festival in Monterrey, Chihuahua International Festival, and Omaha Under the Radar New Music Festival. As

6 an individual artist, Chin is often commissioning, collaborating and premiering pieces by new music composers. This led her to curate her last project “in the same breath” for which she earned the DCASE individual artist program grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Ms. Chin was featured soloist in the Costa Rican premiere of Pablo Santiago Chin’s flute concerto “In the form of a shell” with the Symphony Orchestra of Heredia.

Patrick Grant is a Detroit-born composer/performer living in New York City and creating music for a wide range of media. He has worked on the production and recording teams of John Cage, Philip Glass, and Quincy Jones. His studies of Gamelan in Bali led him to experiment in alternative tunings and ensembles with multiple keyboards. He has created scores for Robert Wilson, The Living Theatre, The Louvre, and Musée du Quai Branly in Paris. He is the founder and artistic director of Strange Music Inc. as well as Peppergreen Media. A faculty member of the NYU Tisch School of the Art Mr. Grants works have been performed all over the world. www.patrickgrant.com

Pianist Kuang-Hao Huang has performed throughout the United States as well as in Europe and Asia. Mr. Huang is most often heard as a collaborator, performing concerts and radio broadcasts with Chicago's finest musicians, from Chicago Symphony Orchestra to singers with the Lyric Opera. An advocate of new music, Mr. Huang has premiered numerous ensemble works, including pieces by Jacob Bancks, Mason Bates, Kyong Mee Choi, Stacy Garrop, John Harbison, Daniel Kellogg, James Matheson and Laura Schwendinger. Mr. Huang is a member of Fulcrum Point New Music Project and has been a guest with the Avalon, MusicNOW, Spektral and Vermeer String Quartets. Mr. Huang can be heard in recordings on the Cedille and Naxos labels. A dedicated teacher, Mr. Huang serves on the faculties of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and Concordia University-Chicago.

Paula Kosower is an active performer and teacher currently residing in Chicago. She frequently performs for the Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, the University of Illinois Tuesdays-at-One series, North Park University Faculty Concerts, Bach Week Festival Concerts, for events at the Music Institute of Chicago, and for live

7 performances on WFMT 98.7. Other concert appearances include the Chicago Symphony Chamber Music Series, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Rembrandt Chamber Players, Rush Hour at St. James Cathedral, Art Institute of Chicago, Classical Mondays at Preston Bradley Hall, Mostly Music, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Music of the Baroque, Dempster St. Pro Musica, Bach Aria Society of Kansas City, Kansas City String Quartet Program and Wisconsin Public Radio FM 89.7. She has appeared on faculty recitals performing with colleagues at Roosevelt University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, North Park University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Wheaton College, Carthage College, and UW Madison.

Violist Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor of Music degree and earned a Master of Music and a Certificate in Performance from Northwestern University. She then became the principal violist of the Cape Town Symphony in South Africa. Ms. Lasareff-Mironoff has performed chamber music with members of the Chicago Symphony, members of the Lyric Opera, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Pacifica String Quartet, Roger Chase, Stephen Burns, Mathias Tacke, Ilya Kaler, Victor Yampolsky, William Wolfram, PINOTAGE, and members of Eighth Blackbird. She has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Grant Park Music Festival, Music of the Baroque, the Chicago Philharmonic, Ars Viva and has been the principal violist of the Colorado Music Festival, Chicago Opera Theater, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, the American Ballet Theater in Chicago and the Joffrey Ballet. During the 2007 season she performed with the Santa Fe Opera. She is a member of the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, WI.

Violinist Rika Seko has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, and is a member of the Grant Park Orchestra. A core member of Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Ms. Seko’s interest in new art music has found its expression in the MusicNOW series, The Chicago Ensemble, and international tours of music by Bernstein, Terzian, and Keiko Fujiie. She has served as concert master with the Colombia Symphony, Bogotá Philharmonic, Elmhurst Symphony, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra.

Kaija Saariaho is a prominent member of a group of Finnish artists who are making a worldwide impact. She studied in Helsinki, Fribourg and Paris at IRCAM, Saariaho

8 developed techniques of computer-assisted composition and acquired fluency in working on tape and with live electronics. This experience influenced her approach to writing for orchestra, with its emphasis on the shaping of dense masses of sound in slow transformations. Significantly, her first orchestral piece, Verblendungen (1984), involves a gradual exchange of roles and character between orchestra and tape. And even the titles of her, linked, pair of orchestral works, Du Cristal (1989) and …à la Fumée (1990) suggest her preoccupation with colour and texture. Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works, she has turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures, such as Orion (2004), Laterna Magica (2008), Circle Map (2008). Her detailed notation uses harmonics, microtonality and detailed continuum of sound extending from pure tone to unpitched noise – all features found in her frequently performed works. www.saariaho.org

Composer Judith Shatin is renowned for her acoustic, electroacoustic and digital music. Called “highly inventive on every level” by the Washington Post, her music combines an adventurous approach to timbre with dynamic narrative design. Described as “powerful and distinctive” by Fanfare and “both engaging and splendidly controlled” by the San Francisco Chronicle, her music includes chamber, choral and orchestral; electronic to electroacoustic and multimedia. An innovator, she often combines acoustic and electronic media, as in Ice Becomes Water (string orchestra and electronics fashioned from glacier field recordings). Her imagination is sparked by her multiple fascinations with literature and the visual arts, with the sounding world, both natural and built; and with the social and communicative power of music. Her music is recorded on more than 30 albums, with more in the pipeline! Shatin is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emerita at the University of Virginia, where she founded the Virginia Center for Computer Music and led the program to national prominence. www.judithshatin.com

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Recorded Live on December 8th, 2020 in Chicago at PianoForte Studio Fulcrum Point New Music Project staff: Stephen Burns, Founder & Artistic Director Monica Benson, General Manager Jeff Handley, Education Director Don Macica, Marketing & Communications Manager Stephen Burns, trumpet Kathleen Carter, violin | Dalia Chin, flute | Angel Bat Dawid, clarinet/voice | Kuang Hao Huang, piano | Paula Kosower, cello | Claudia Lasareff- Mironoff, viola | Steve Roberts, electric guitar | Rika Seko, violin Sistas of the Nitty Gritty: Anaiet, piano | Brooklyn Skye Scott, electric bass Jeremy Whetstone, audio/video recording engineer at PianoForte Fulcrum Point New Music Project Board of Directors Suzanne Brown Steve Bynum Christian Dillingham Gustavo Leone Veljko Trkulja, Vice-President To support Fulcrum Point artists, visit www.fulcrumpoint.org/support or text FPMUSIC to 44321 on your phone. www.fulcrumpoint.org

The Neisser Family Foundation Earl & Brenda Shapiro Foundation The Zuckerman Family Foundation The Reynolds Family Foundation Heitman LLC The Kathy and Grant Pick Fund The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University Harry and Jane Saville Smith Foundation

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