Due East Presents “The Madrigal Project” 3.23.2015 UW-Madison
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Due East presents “The Madrigal Project” 3.23.2015 UW-Madison Constellations (2012) Laura Schwendinger Broken Chains (2012) Martha Callison Horst REFORM (2012) Kyong Mee Choi Ligare (2002/2006) Alexandre Lunsqui intermission Madrigals - Books I-IV George Crumb Text by Federico Garcia Lorca Video by Bart Woodstrup About the Program: Constellations was written for Due East and is inspired by the arc of the night sky. Beginning the work is the bass flute, acting as background darkness. Slowly, the brightness of the piccolo and glockenspiel allow the mind to reach upward to the stars. The piece emerges with bright timbres of the full night sky (alto flute), accompanied by bowed crotales which represent the stars. The work ends with a floating echo of the questioning vibraphone chords, which were heard earlier in the work. Written for Due East, Broken Chains explores ways to create variation through repetition. After a brief slow introduction, the flute beings to repeat various pitch patterns against a pedal note supplied by the vibraphone. Rhythmic breaks are inserted within these repeating patterns at uneven intervals. Because the repeated pattern is constantly being segmented in different ways through the sporadic rests, the sense of repetition is muted. The middle of the work features flute flourishes and repeated patterns in the cymbals. After a brief crotale and flute section, the glockenspiel takes over and the flute supplies a pedal note similar to the initial accompaniment of the vibraphone. The glockenspiel’s patterns are disrupted in a fashion similar to the opening flute patterns. The entire work moves from the low range of the flute and percussion duo to its brightest range. REFORM explores diverse combinations of timbre and rhythm using instruments in the flute family and metal-oriented percussion. The piece shows different ways to re-form the same motivic idea through four sections. Each section has a dramatically different atmosphere. Over time, REFORM attempts to alter or challenge the structure, yet never to overthrow its foundation, which is the meaning of the word, 'reform', as distinguished from 'revolution'. REFORM is written for Due East (Erin Lesser, flutes; Greg Beyer, percussion). The western flute and percussion families have natural counterparts in folkloric music the world over. Afro-Brazilian music is no exception. In Ligare, ('linked'), Brazilian composer Alexandre Lunsqui utilizes this fact to great advantage. Ligare is a piece that literally links the two instrumental colors into a rapid flow of singular gestures. The performers are frequently connected in rhythmic unisons, rhythms clearly informed by Afro-Brazilian vocabulary. Yet Lunsqui is not writing in imitation of such music; if anything, he transcends it with a sculptured sonic sensibility that is unmistakably modern and individual. Ligare links the contemporary with the folkloric, and in doing so succeeds in a beautiful fusion representative of the celebratory aspects of musical globalization. "The Madrigal Project," is a multi-media interpretation of George Crumb’s Madrigals, Books I- IV, in collaboration with video artist, Bart Woodstrup. Mr. Woodstrup created this video montage using source video artwork in combination with live performance footage shot at NextStage in Putney, Vermont. The live performance footage was the culmination of a week- long residency at the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival on March 18-24, 2012. George Crumb composed this now classic cycle of works in the mid- to late 1960ʼs inspired by the highly evocative poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca. Equal parts stark, angular, tender, and explosive, Crumbʼs music mirrors Lorca’s richly nuanced language. We now come to this music nearly half a century later and still find it fresh, challenging and full of magic. Although its textures are at times sparse and rarefied, the music requires us to pay incredible attention to detail and to each other. The process of learning this music has heightened our sense of community and of our commitment to not just our music, but to one another. About the Video Artist: Bart Woodstrup’s goals are to understand and manipulate the aesthetics, semiotics, and narratives of various time-based media. His work takes the form of traditional musical composition, real-time interactive audio/video performance, multimedia installation and networked experience. He holds a Masters of Music from Northern Illinois University and a Masters of Fine Art from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His work is performed frequently in the US and abroad at various venues, including: Siggraph, ISEA, SEAMUS, Chicago Underground Film Festival, and Electronic Music Midwest. About the Performers: Amanda DeBoer Bartlett is an experimental singer and presenter based in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a member of Ensemble Dal Niente, is a co-founder of Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and is the director of an experimental performance festival called Omaha Under the Radar. As a contemporary classical music specialist, Ms. DeBoer has premiered works by inspiring musical innovators including Holly Herndon, Marcos Balter, Christopher Cerrone, Robert Honstein, Morgan Krauss, Ravi Kittappa, Fredrick Gifford, Aaron Einbond, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, Ryan Carter, Jonn Sokol, and many others. Ms. DeBoer released her first solo album in February 2013, and will release Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble's debut album in Fall 2014. She is also featured on Ensemble Dal Niente's album Without Words (music by Aaron Einbond), as well as a solo album by Christopher Wild, cello. She will release her second solo album in 2015. Born and raised in Omaha, NE, Ms. DeBoer moved to Chicago to study at DePaul University where she received a Bachelor of Music. She received a Masters degree from the University at Buffalo, where she studied with acclaimed contemporary interpreter Tony Arnold, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Bowling Green State University. Double bassist Mark Buchner is an active performer of both new music and the orchestral repertoire. As a member of Ensemble Dal Niente he has performed chamber music across the country and twice to Germany at the Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, where the ensemble took home the coveted Kranichsteiner Musikpreis in 2012. He currently is a member of the Grand Rapids Symphony, and has performed with a wide variety of groups around Chicago including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Philharmonic. In addition to performing, Mark maintains a small private teaching studio in Grand Rapids. His playing can be heard on several recent records including Ryan Muncy's Hot on New Focus Records, and Dal Niente's Without Words on Carrier Records. Harpist Jacqueline Kerrod hails from Johannesburg, South Africa, where she began her life and playing career. She graduated from Yale University with a Masters of Music and Artist Diploma. A versatile performer, Jacqueline has appeared as a member of the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera and as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She is a member of American Modern Ensemble and is the regular harpist for Argento Chamber Ensemble, with whom she has also recorded. Recently she performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) at Lincoln Center. As an advocate of new music, Jacqueline is a member of Clockwise with violinist Marc Uys, (a violin and harp duo with a special interest in commissioning and performing works by South African composers) and was a founding member of MAYA (a flute/harp/percussion trio). The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival featured her as soloist with Ransom Wilson and the festival orchestra in Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp. In Quito, Ecuador, she was again the featured soloist in the same work. She has also appeared as soloist with the Colonial Symphony, Montclair State University, and the SONOS Chamber Orchestras. She has performed with Kanye West, Santo Gold, Antony and the Johnsons, Mr. Fogg, and was the harpist for the Google Chrome online advertisement released in 2009. She is prominently featured on Robert Paterson’s CDs called Book of Goddesses and Star Crossing. In April 2011 Clockwise was presented at the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe. Recently, Ms Kerrod completed a tour of the Western Cape, South Africa with renowned flutist, Liesl Stoltz. She is the harpist for the hit show The Fantasticks! in New York City. DUE EAST (Erin Lesser, flutes; Greg Beyer, percussion) promotes new music and seeks to expand the flute and percussion duo genre through commissions and premieres. The duo has performed in China, Brazil, Europe, Canada and the USA at venues such as the Beijing Modern Music Festival, the Warsaw Crossdrumming Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts and the SEAMUS conference. DUE EAST has given multiple performances at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention and won first prize in the 2008 National Flute Association Chamber Music Competition. Their first recording, Simultaneous Worlds, is available on Albany Records. Their second recording, Drawn Only Once, is a multi-media CD/DVD now available on New Amsterdam Records. Noted critic Steve Smith gave it a rare 5.0-star rating in Time Out New York, calling it "spellbindingly beautiful." .