Christopher Taylor Concert Preview
Susan Vita, Music Division Chief, 96th season welcoming message
Susan Vita, Music Division Chief, welcomes you to our 96th season.
Boccaccio Project: Allison Loggins-Hull and Nathalie Joachim
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
Composer Allison Loggins-Hull has been paired with flutist Nathalie Joachim of Flutronix to write a new work for singing flutist and electronics, entitled Have and Hold.
PROGRAM:
ALLISON LOGGINS-HULL Have and Hold
Nathalie Joachim, flute/voice
About the work:
Have and Hold was commissioned by The Library of Congress as part of the "Boccaccio Project." Inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century work The Decameron, a written piece about escaping the deadly effects of the Black Plague, the Boccaccio Project is a collection of micro-commissions responding to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Have and Hold reflects the desire to be near others during an extended period of social distancing and isolation. Personally, I have realized that being around people and experiencing life with them not only brings me great joy, but fuels my energy, creativity and spirit. This piece is truly dedicated to all of the people in my life who I miss dearly and long to be near again.
~ Allison Loggins-Hull
Boccaccio Project: Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Jannina Norpoth
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
Composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh has been paired with violinist Jannina Norpoth of the PUBLIQuartet to write a new work for solo violin, entitled A Shared Solitary.
PROGRAM:
NILOUFAR NOURBAKHSH A Shared Solitary
Jannina Norpoth, violin
About the work:
Over the course of the piece, a delay line becomes less and less distant as the texture becomes fuller, culminating into a collective sound. A Shared Solitary attempts to resurface the fact that we are all going through this together all over the world even though we might not be able to physically see it.
~ Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Boccaccio Project: Ashkan Behzadi and Mariel Roberts
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
PROGRAM:
ASHKAN BEHZADI Lobelia
Mariel Roberts, cello
About the work:
In Lobelia, we are observing the fragile and solitude expressivity of the performer "singing to herself," in searching for a forgotten melody of a past collective memory.
~ Ashkan Behzadi
Boccaccio Project: Luciano Chessa and Charlton Lee
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
Composer Luciano Chessa has been paired with violist Charlton Lee of the Del Sol Quartet to write a new work for solo viola, entitled 1462 Willard Street.
PROGRAM:
LUCIANO CHESSA 1462 Willard Street
Charlton Lee, viola
About the work:
Written for Charlton Lee, a fearless performer I much admire, "1462 Willard" is a piece for unaccompanied viola. 1462 Willard Street is the address of a hilltop San Francisco house I was visiting when, on March 16, 2020, the City of San Francisco lowered the boom with a shelter-in-place order to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
What was supposed to be a pleasant, week-long California visit bizarrely lasted two full months. My flagging spirits, a result of uncertainty, fear, and dread, were lifted by daily meals and storytelling sessions with my two hosts John and Zane; heartfelt telephone calls to my anguished parents in Italy; as well as to friends throughout a dislocated world. “1462 Willard” reflects the emotions of this lockdown, expressed through a counterpoint, often found in my music, of sweetness and grit. May this piece then capture my days in isolation. May it recall our storytelling and the endless strands of pleasure that resulted. And may the kindness of the two angels who sheltered me always be remembered.
~ Luciano Chessa
Boccaccio Project: Erin Rogers and Erin Lesser
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
Composer Erin Rogers has been paired with flutist Erin Lesser of the Wet Ink Ensemble to write a new work for solo flute, entitled Hello World.
PROGRAM:
ERIN ROGERS Hello World
Erin Lesser, flute
About the work:
Orbiting a sonic portal to the outer world, a flutist self-arranges within a mirrored video frame. The face-to-face encounter sets the scene for introduction, reintroduction, and exploration.
~ Erin Rogers
Boccaccio Project: Cliff Eidelman and Jenny Lin
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
Composer Cliff Eidelman has been paired with pianist Jenny Lin to write a new work for solo piano, entitled Bridges.
PROGRAM:
CLIFF EIDELMAN Bridges
Jenny Lin, piano
About the work:
In the spirit of "The Boccaccio Project,” I reflected on the times we are all collectively living through and with this music, I found myself yearning toward a day when the world could all cross the bridge back into life. “Bridges" went through several incarnations before I started to see the shape and the themes more clearly. I wanted to create a piano work worthy of virtuoso Jenny Lin and that is partly what kept me going back to the drawing board. After trying so many possibilities, the piece took shape. Upon finishing, I looked back on it and realized that the work crossed over 4 bridges into different contrasting scenes to be interpreted by the listener.
~ Cliff Eidelman
Boccaccio Project: Miya Masaoka and Kathryn Bates
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
Composer Miya Masaoka has been paired with cellist Kathryn Bates of the Del Sol Quartet to write a new work for solo cello, entitled Intuit (a way to stay in this world).
PROGRAM:
MIYA MASAOKA Intuit (a way to stay in this world)
Kathryn Bates, cello
About the work:
This piece begins to push at the liminality of microtonal ways of playing within underlying tonal centers. How to balance dynamic range and tone color/timbre within a contemporary practice? What is sacrificed, what is gained in such a scenario? In this piece, there are limited modalities for the performer to control and negotiate the suggested and indicated delicate balance of these parameters in the score.
Just as this musical balance is negotiated, so is the balance of our lives in lockdown. This piece is a positive and optimistic hope for a way to be present in the outside world of lockdown, and a wish to find a healthy balance between our own interiority and the outside world, which, under such extraordinary circumstances, we seek relief.
~ Miya Masaoka
Boccaccio Project: Richard Drehoff Jr. and Andrew Nogal
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
Composer Richard Drehoff Jr. has been paired with oboist Andrew Nogal of the Grossman Ensemble to write a new work for solo oboe, entitled shadow of a difference/falling.
PROGRAM:
RICHARD DREHOFF JR. shadow of a difference / falling
Andrew Nogal, oboe
About the work:
shadow of a difference/falling is a series of moments based around the idea of the proverbial bird beating its wings against its newfound cage in trepidation. Each impulse provides insight into its fragile disposition, venturing from moments of cautious curiosity, through forlorn wails and futile exertions, to a melancholy resignation of its confinement. The work exposes the bird’s vulnerability by exploring blurred inflections of pitch, unsteady and ever-wavering sweeps across registers, and sharp juxtapositions between timid and rash gestures.
~ Richard Drehoff Jr.
Boccaccio Project: Damien Sneed and Jeremy Jordan
Concerts from the Library of Congress developed the Boccaccio Project to provide some artistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten composers were commissioned to write brief solo works, with the remotely recorded pieces to be premiered online in June 2020.
Composer Damien Sneed has been paired with pianist Jeremy Jordan to write a new work for solo piano, entitled Sequestered Thoughts.
PROGRAM:
DAMIEN SNEED Sequestered Thoughts
Jeremy Jordan, piano
About the project:
Sequestered Thoughts was inspired by spending many days alone in solitude during the COVID-19 pandemic of Spring 2020. It opens with a virtuosic fluttering in the right hand juxtaposed against a strong and determined left-hand motif speaking to the many meandering thoughts that come to one when they find themselves devoid of human interaction and fellowship. Then a motif comes out of the left hand representing the inquisitive longing for things to shift to a new normal while the right-hand plays octaves mirroring the monotony of days running together and weeks running into months. Then with the feeling of inward searching of the soul, a chromatic scale cascades downward into a strong-willed determination to survive in resilient hope for the future upward into keys effervescently peering upward in expectation.
~ Damien Sneed
'Sequestered Thoughts' was the most wonderful piece of music to study and record. Mr. Sneed displayed a good deal of harmonic and thematic ingenuity and managed to craft all of it into a work that expertly captures the spirit of this project. The circumstances under which this project was created make it that much more remarkable, and it served as a creative inspiration for my own continued artistic endeavors.
~ Jeremy Jordan
The Library of Congress celebrates Disco all week! Grab a selfie with the giant disco ball in front of the Jefferson Building. #LCDisco Gloria Gaynor Tim Gunn Brightest Young Things Recording Academy / GRAMMYs Capital Pride loc.gov/concerts/disco?loclr=fbmus
