Friday, November 3, 2017 • 8:00 P.M. NEW MUSIC DEPAUL DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Friday, November 3, 2017 • 8:00 P.M. DePaul Concert Hall NEW MUSIC DEPAUL Compositions by Seung-Won Oh (b. 1969) PROGRAM Circle (2004) John Corkill, percussion So-Ri I for flute and guitar (2001) Constance Volk, flute Jesse Langen, guitar Canonic Phase (2008) Sean Connors, percussion John Corkill, percussion Ian Ding, percussion Peter Martin, percussion Aphonic Dialogue (2014) Jess Aszodi, voice Alex Ellsworth, cello Ensemble 20+ NEW MUSIC DEPAUL • NOVEMBER 3, 2017 PROGRAM NOTES Circle Duration: 13 minutes The word circle emerged as a title when the piece was almost finished. Circle applies to the general structure of the piece, where later episodes continually return to a basic idea stated at the beginning. Upon each return, however, it will have developed somehow, mainly in timbre and rhythm. One of the most important goals of Circle was to realize a rich timbre within a limited setup, which is exemplified in the two ways Thai gongs are used. The gongs are initially played on the table with maximum muting. As the piece proceeds, selected gongs are gradually hung up for purposes of resonance in the last episode. The pitch collection of the gongs at the beginning differs extremely from the suspended gongs played at the end: chromatic versus pentatonic. The direction of the episode circles but eventually evolves to a quite unexpected section at the end. Circle for solo percussion is written for Claire Edwardes and is commissioned by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst. Canonic Phase concerns itself with two issues: canons and timbral transformation. So-Ri for flute and guitar Duration: 10 minutes Though So-Ri I was originally written for flute, the initial sound world I was imagining at the time was that of Asian bamboo instruments such as the DaeGeum, the Shakuhachi or the Dizi. Especially for tonight’s performance, the flute part has been replaced by the DaeGuem, a situation for which I am very grateful. There are no particular forms or musical goals in So-Ri I, it is rather an essay-like writing of chronological musical events as they occurred in my mind. What was more important in this piece was to be faithful to the natural sound world of the instruments, and I take advantage of idiomatic writing and gestures of each. Another point was to leave enough time for both players and listeners to appreciate what pleases their ears and to experience a stage of meditation. NEW MUSIC DEPAUL • NOVEMBER 3, 2017 PROGRAM NOTES So-Ri I, for flute and guitar, was commissioned by the Mostly Modern Chamber Music Society in 2001. It was premiered by Dan Lippel and Katherine Umble during the Aki New Music Series 2001 in Cleveland. Canonic Phase Duration: 10 minutes Formally Canonic Phase is divided into five sections, each the result of canonic processes and their ensuing timbral treatment. The beginning and end are based on wood sounds, the middle on non- wood sounds. Between the three main sections are two transitions of timbral change: the first is a change from wood to non-wood sounds, the second from non- wood back to wood sounds. The non-wood section is the direct result of a practical issue: working with limited and un-specified instruments. The canons are based on two different processes built from prime numbers, the ‘themes’ of which are clearly stated in the opening. These two themes are later rewritten in mirror form, augmented rhythmically in various manners, then combined in layers of timbral polyphony. Like a painting, the same object is projected under different shades and viewed from different angles. Aphonic Dialogue Duration: 16 minutes When thinking of two soloists – cello and voice- during my lowest point of personal turmoil in 2014, I simply had to address the pains of being trapped in stagnant, incomprehensible communication; regardless of whether the exchanged words and sentences are logical or not, to me, the whole conversations become completely useless if the listeners do not put their attention to hear each other and make an effort to understand the meaning, and catch the message from each other. In Aphonic Dialogue, metaphorically I took the noise-oriented (and dissonant) sounds as incomprehensible communication and the pitch oriented (diatonic) sound as comprehensible one. The ugly cello sounds and the fragmented vocal sounds in theatrical NEW MUSIC DEPAUL • NOVEMBER 3, 2017 PROGRAM NOTES nature gradually move away from it. By the end of the composition the path of these sounds finally reaches at absolutely diatonic music. In between these two contrasting states, the cello stirs up percussive dialogues with wind, brass and strings in the orchestra while the percussions, harp and piano co-exist with the hint of diatonic melody. The voice attempts to sing in the mid way but the lyrics do not make any sense at all; these non-logical sentences are the rework of the shuffled words within and from the lyrics that we hear at the end. The music continues to change and eventually shift to a bold, skin crawling diatonic music at the end. The voice finally becomes a singer to serenade one long melody; “When she woke in the woods and the cold of the night, she reached out and touched a spear of blue moonlight.” The cello at the very end recalls the moments of incomprehension and chaos in the past but in a beautifully transformed random harmonics sounds. Whether the cello and voice come to a mutually understanding state or not is completely open. By the time I was close to completing the composition, it was no longer important for me to resolve the issue of communication. Aphonic Dialogue is dedicated to my dear friend Doris Hochscheid. Asko| Schönberg ensemble premiered Aphonic Dialogue during the International Cello Biennäle in the Netherlands in 2014. NEW MUSIC DEPAUL • NOVEMBER 3, 2017 BIOGRAPHIES Praised as ‘Oh, a name to remember’ (De Volkskrant, 2005) Seung- Won Oh* (1969), a native of South Korea, is rapidly establishing her name as a composer with an individual voice. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious fellowships and awards, and has received commissions from ensembles and festivals including the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), Transit Festival (BE), Alicante Contemporary Music Festival (SP) the festival of the Tanglewood Music Centre (US), Aspen Music Festival (US) and Ultima Festival (NO) among others. Music critic Mirjam Zegers writes, “Oh connects East and West, vibrant motion and stillness, pure sound and ritual theatre, stratified structures and transparency.” Her music has been further described as being “...exciting... refined and sharply cut” (De Volkskrant), and the Cleveland Plain Dealers said, she “brought Asian sensitivity and meditation”. Writing in a contemporary idiom, Oh organically intertwines her Korean musical heritage with an innate sense of structural form and musical development. In 2009 her composition JungGa, concerto for oboe/musette and chamber ensemble (2009) won the Toonzetters award for best Dutch composition of the year. The virtuoso oboe part, based on the traditional JungGa singing technique from Korean Court music, uses a wide, ethnic vibrato and microtones. In her works, percussion often occupies a special place, with prominent percussion parts clearly marking the structure of her pieces. Oh’s formal ideas, as well as her affinity with traditional Korean music, are well represented in the versatility of her percussion writing, and she has written several works for percussion quartet and sextet as well as solo works. In her works for music theatre, a unique category within her output, Oh searches for non-western topics while striving to optimize the balance between western techniques and non-western concepts. In the first part of her music theatre trilogy, Words and Beyond: Hwang Jin-Yi (2008), Oh combined a mezzo-soprano using specifically traditional Korean vocal techniques with percussion ensemble, a dancer and a site-specific installation. After its initial performance in The Hague, this work received so much acclaim from the press and audiences that NEW MUSIC DEPAUL • NOVEMBER 3, 2017 BIOGRAPHIES Slagwerk Den Haag later reprised it. The premiere of the second part of this trilogy, Words and Beyond II: Nan Sul Hun followed in the fall of 2014 and featured a traditional Korean JungGa singer and kŏmungo (a Korean 6-string zither), in addition to percussion ensemble and accordion. Current commissions include a new recorder concerto written for the world-renowned virtuoso Erik Bosgraaf. The premiere will be part of the inauguration of a replica Schnitger organ in the Lutheran Church in Groningen, the Netherlands. Oh studied at Ewha Womans University (BA, MM), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (doctoral program), Brandeis University (MFA, PhD) and The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (MM).] Previously she taught at Brandeis University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Florida at Gainesville, and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Seung-Won Oh is currently Assistant Professor Composition at DePaul University in Chicago, USA. *composer Seung-Ah Oh changed her name to Seung-Won Oh Percussionist John Corkill is currently serving on faculty at the University of Chicago, Loyola University, and the Merit School of Music. As a chamber musician, John has played with groups such as Third Coast Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Dal Niente, and the University of Chicago New Music Ensemble. Similarly, he has held residencies at the Chamber Music Northwest, Norfolk, and Yellow Barn Festivals. He has also garnered awards at the Yale Chamber Music Competition and the Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition. In the realm of orchestral percussion, John has performed with ensembles such as the Milwaukee Symphony, Elgin Symphony, and NOVUS Orchestra.