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"Affect me and know me better."
I could finally give Ray Gibson's lovely text score INTERACT some well-deserved attention. Each instruction, like the one above, directs the performer to physically engage with their instrument in a new way. The score echoes a ghazal, but one where the refrain has taken over most of each line. It is a text charged with intimate physicality, and approaching it felt poignant and even a bit ironic in this moment of generalized physical distancing.
You can see the score and find out more about Ray's music HERE.
January 17-18: Epístolas for string trio, performed by InConcerto + Sonus at the Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador. Simón Gangotena and Rodrigo Becerra of InConcerto have really made Epístolas their own since 2017. It's immensely satisfying.
February 17: Touch for solo mezzo soprano, performed by Kayleigh Butcher at Constellation in Chicago. June 14: Touch, performed by Kayleigh Butcher at the Connecticut Summerfest in Hartford. It's a really good performance! June 15: improvised performance with Sóley Sigurjónsdóttir at the Studio Loos June Impro Meeting in The Hague. Sóley and I were experimenting with a very physical form of improvisation--I am provisionally calling these "sound and movement duos". September 1: moise, a solo performance for voice and Arduino-operated, motor-driven percussion presented at Goldsmiths in London. This was a huge undertaking technically and theoretically as well as performance wise. I have so much to say about it; I'm still working on the best format in which to say it. November 14: 60//40, sound and movement duo with Elise Knudson at Dåncēhølø in Brooklyn. They made a lovely recap video of the performance. December 17: 60//40, sound and movement duo with Elise Knudson at at Dixon Place in New York. 60//40 grew out a little from my earlier experiments with Sóley, but it has quickly become it's own creature. Elise is primarily a dancer, so we are trying to push our voice and body in multiple directions. The first performance, at Dåncēhølø, was completely improvised. The Dixon Place show had a detailed structure while still leaving a lot of room for improvisation. Oddly enough, both performances lasted about seventeen minutes. There will for sure be more 60//40 in 2020. Stay tuned! December 6, 2018: Haz como si bailaras in the Great Hall of RHB at Goldsmiths, London, as part of the Electronic Music Studios Christmas Concert.
September 14, 2018: Haz como si bailaras, electroacoustic improvisation on voice, flute and laptop at the wonderful Festival Ecuatoriano de Música Contemporánea in Quito, Ecuador. The festival had excellent workshops, incredible performances, and I enjoyed every minute of it! March 19, 2018: Improvisation on flute and vocals with Jessica Aslan, Daniel James Ross, Roger Redgate, and Michael Zbyszyński at the recital room of RHB at Goldsmiths, London. March 11, 2018: Feutré, performed by Kayleigh Butcher and Christopher Narloch at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Oak Park, IL. January 28, 2018: Improvisation on flute and vocals with other Goldsmiths students and members of the Horse Improv Club on the last day of the Iklectik Horse Festival. You can find some video documentation HERE. From what I can tell, Iklectik is one of the prettiest venues in town. December 7, 2017: Delirio – Comunión for treble vocal quartet premiered by Rowan Perrow, Phoebe Robinson, Yasmin Harrosh, and Lila Tristram at the Great Hall of RHB at Goldsmiths, London. November 19, 2017: Feutré for voice and piano premiered by Kayleigh Butcher and Christopher Narloch at the debut of their Schönberg project: fifteen one-minute commissions performed alongside Arnold Schönberg's Book of the Hanging Gardens at Constellational in Chicago. Ellie Potts wrote a thoughtful, generous profile of the Goldsmiths Composers Collective, including a review of last December's concert, for [smiths], the student magazine. There's a nice quote about Delirio – Comunión: "The effect was beautiful, ushering fragments of harmony against whooshing phonic manipulation."
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