Alexandra Gardner | Building Noises

Above are a few pages of sketches and notes from the making of Mint Conditioner for double bass and electronics – signed, sealed and delivered (several weeks ago) to exceedingly awesome bassist Logan Coale. True to the title, this piece starts out a tangled ball of knots, and by the end rinses out smooth and silky!

About three-quarters of the way through the work I learned of the illness and impending death of a family member. That news and the events surrounding it stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t bring myself to write a single dot. Apparently grief is my musical Kryptonite.

I know this is probably the case for many people – death and the grief that goes with it is paralyzing for anyone. Although I wasn’t able to write music, and I had very little interest in listening to music, I found that playing the piano – simply noodling about on the keyboard – was very centering. Perhaps the act of playing music freely, without any expectation, censoring or the need to “produce” something, is housed in a different department of the brain?

A good friend asked if I turn to music when life gets rough, and evidently the answer continues to be yes. But when things become really complicated, the musical experience turns in a slightly different direction.

What helps you find your way through challenging life changes and events?

Shortly after I had completed my piece Tourmaline for saxophone and computer sound, I showed a recording engineer buddy the Pro Tools session that contained all the recorded elements, along with the score, and explained how the recorded part is represented in the score, how the performer plays along, and how if all goes as planned the different bits synch up and there is the music. He looked at me incredulously and said:

SO MUCH WORK! Why on earth do you put yourself through this?!

I have asked myself the same thing more than once! The answers are always the same.

1. Because I HAVE to – nothing else feels satisfying in quite the same way that composing does.
2. Because composing music is fun!! Duh!
3. The best reason goes something like this totally unexpected email from Antonio Albanese, the guitarist of the ensemble Compagnie Ch.AU, which is running around Switzerland playing my piece Two by Eight:

Hi Alexandra!

We have been working on your piece and I always forgot to tell you how much fun it is to play!!

Thank you a lot.

I’m sure we’ll have a lot of success with your piece.

All the best!

Antonio

That is why!

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In other news, a new piece for double bass and electronics is imminent! I am smitten by jazz orchestra. In the bloggerhood there happen to be a couple of new kids on the block. While we’re at it, some of my favorite reads are listed for you here since I haven’t got a proper blogroll going yet:

Mostly Musical
John Mackey’s Blog
Mind the Gap
Night After Night
Sound Directions
Unquiet Thoughts
Urban Modes

Extra-musical and excellent/funny/useful/interesting
1,000 Awesome Things
Cake Wrecks
The Daily Coyote
Honey Rock Dawn
Noisy Room Full of Silence
Study Hacks

Cheers all!

One can’t complain too much about this winter in DC after seeing what happened last week in Barcelona!

Now that is historic snowfall! (Photo courtesy of bass clarinetist Harry Sparnaay)

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As I patiently await the arrival of spring (grrrrrrrr!), this delightful tidbit, via Alex Ross, has become a daily necessity:

During this sort of performance you can clap whenever you like, though it would be a shame to risk frightening these little ones away.

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Listening:
Henri Dutilleux – Ainsi la nuit (Arditti Quartet)
Brooklyn Rider – Dominant Curve
Joan Jeanrenaud – Strange Toys

Updates are rolling in backwards! Chronological time is overrated…

I wanted to alert you to some videos from last month’s concert in Baltimore. The combination of fantastic performances, an enthusiastic, open-eared audience, and a venue that has really good feng shui (Baltimore people, if you haven’t been to The Metro Gallery, you must stop in for a drink asap!) made for a wonderful, completely satisfying experience.

Here is The Way of Ideas performed by Kelli Kathman, flute; Alicia Lee, clarinet; Yuki Numata, violin; and Joshua Roman, cello.

Joshua Roman playing Bloom.

There is a reason why performed by Alicia Lee, clarinet; Yuki Numata, violin; Joshua Roman, cello; Chris Thompson, drum set & melodica.

Almost like being there. Enjoy! There are plenty more where these came from too!

Last week I traveled with Molly and Brian to SUNY Fredonia, where we talked with students, played in and coached rehearsals, and had a concert sponsored by the Ethos New Music Society which included several compositions of mine, as well as works by Per Boland and Lei Liang. Thanks to Rob Deemer for being a most excellent and generous host! It was really fun! We were a posse.

Here is Brian during sound check in the recital hall!

A highlight of the trip for me was working with the four student percussionists who performed “Coyote”. They practiced hard all year, guided by Dr. Kay Stonefelt, to prepare for this performance (did I mention that this piece is actually a BEAR to play?), and they did an outstanding job! Guitarist Jim Piorkowski also gave a lovely, thoughtful performance of “Luminoso”.

There was much talk about the composer-performer relationship – a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. It is a more complex issue than the nuts and bolts of writing clear notation and understanding how an instrument works. The performer and composer are collaborating in the creation of a new work.

Working with performers is one of my favorite parts of the composition process. After spending weeks/months in semi-solitary confinement creating a new thing, I am SO ready to go out into the world for a dose of basic human contact, not to mention additional sets of eyes and ears on the work. Together we iron out the details, and as that happens the performer develops a personal approach to playing the music. It is incredibly satisfying when a performer brings something of themselves to a composition! For example, Jim P. plays the last section of “Luminoso” (a structured improvisation) with a sense of drama that is completely wonderful and surprising, while Ben unleashes his Inner Percussionist with an intensity that makes me worry slightly (!) about his guitar. Same piece, very different approaches, both awesome. The performer adds new layers of meaning and depth to the work.

For the composer this requires being open to interpretation. Literally! Letting go of the music enough to allow a musician to add their own voice to the mix. In my experience, when a performer asks, “Do you want this phrase played this way? Or that way?” sometimes they present options that I hadn’t considered, and sometimes those options are better than what I initially had in mind! Similarly, if there is a more efficient way to achieve that double/triple/quadruple stop, or that harmonic, than what I have written, I see no reason not to change it. The score is a means to an end. Don’t get me wrong – I am very attached to my compositions. VERY. They are extremely personal to me, and I know how I want them to be. At the same time, I understand that when the score leaves my hands, it’s not totally mine anymore – I am entering into a partnership, and the best thing I can do is be open to how that might unfold.

To make a little, er, structured improvisation on the words of Kahlil Gibran:

Your music is not your music….once in my hands it is mine…..once in the ears of the audience it is theirs!

photo by Jeremy Sawatzky

Dubbed a “Classical Rock Star” by the press, cellist Joshua Roman has earned a national reputation for performing a wide range of repertoire with an absolute commitment to communicating the essence of the music at its most organic level. Current season engagements include debuts with the Albany, Arkansas, and Santa Barbara Symphonies, the New Philharmonic Orchestra in Illinois, Oklahoma’s Signature Symphony, and Kentucky’s Lexington Philharmonic. In recent seasons he has performed with the Seattle Symphony, where he gave the world premiere of David Stock’s Cello Concerto, as well as with the Symphonies of Edmonton, Quad City, Spokane, and Stamford, and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, among others. In April 2009, Roman was the only guest artist invited to play an unaccompanied solo during the YouTube Symphony Orchestra’s debut concert at Carnegie Hall. An avid chamber music performer, the 25-year-old cellist is Artistic Director of TownMusic, an experimental chamber music series at Town Hall in Seattle.

For more information, please visit www.joshuaroman.com, and www.opus3artists.com

How did you get started playing your instrument, and how did it turn into a career?
My mom and my dad have different versions of the story – my mom says my dad (the cellist) coerced me by explaining the terrors of high pitches from the violin, and the long hours standing up, etc… he says it was my choice. Either way, I’m glad! I just loved it, and as far back as I can remember have wanted to “be a cellist”.

Talk about one of your most satisfying musical performance experiences.
Feb 3rd 2010, in Baltimore, playing the music of Alexandra Gardner!

(Alex interjects: Nooooooo, dude! TOTAL cop-out answer!!!)

What gets you interested in/inspired by/excited about playing a new piece of music?
I really enjoy being able to communicate with the composer, and getting to know them. I think it brings another dimension to the performance when there is a personal relationship which you can draw energy from.

What is your listening “guilty pleasure?”
http://www.myspace.com/fartclops. It’s hilarious and my friend made it.

What projects do you have coming up that we should know about?
I’ve got some collaborative projects that will be rolling out in the next couple of years and I’m very excited about them. Right now the one I’m most involved in is a Sonata commission with my friend Dan Visconti, which will have its first performance in June at Town Hall in Seattle, on the same series which last year commissioned Alex to write a piece that will be on the program in Baltimore!

Please answer: If I were not a musician, I would be a ________, because _________.
Ski Patrol dude, because I love skiing and snow and sunglasses.

photo by Timo Andres

Kelli Kathman attends the Graduate Center of the City University of New York where she is a doctoral student of Tara Helen O’Connor. Kelli also holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master’s Degree from Yale University. She regularly performs with new music ensembles Signal and Alarm Will Sound and has collaborated with such collectives as the Reich Ensemble, the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Zankel Band. Ms. Kathman had her solo debut at the age of sixteen with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Since then, she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls both here and abroad, most recently the Hermitage Theater, Izumi Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Miller Theater, Merkin Concert Hall, Kilbourn Hall and the Library of Congress. Ms. Kathman has recorded on such labels as Naxos, Nonesuch, Warp Records and New Amsterdam Records. Her passion for new music has brought her into close contact with composers such as Steve Reich, John Adams, Julia Wolf, David Lang, and Terry Riley, among many others.

Kelli is a founding member of the award-winning New York-based woodwind quintet, Sospiro Winds. Prize-winners at the 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Sprague Hall Chamber Music Competition, and finalists at the 2008 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, Sospiro Winds has been invited to perform on numerous concert series, including the Wintergreen Performing Arts Series, the Yale at Carnegie Concert Series, the Chamber Music Society at Yale Concert Series, and the Trinity Concerts at One Series. For more information, please visit www.sospirowinds.com.

How did you get started playing your instrument, and how did it turn into a career?
One day almost 20 years ago I picked up my friend’s flute and taught myself the Star Spangled Banner. The next year I announced in my school newspaper that I was going to be the principal flutist in the Philadelphia Orchestra when I grew up. Then one day, many years later, I woke up and found myself getting paid to play music. So I ran with it.

Talk about one of your most satisfying musical performance experiences.
I worked on a project of composer Ted Hearne called “Katrina Ballads”. At the beginning I didn’t know Ted so well, or anyone else on the project for that matter, and I remember having the absolute worst attitude when I showed up. All I could do was focus on the crazy rehearsal schedule, the long schlep from the subway, the cold rehearsal space, bad lighting… you name it, I complained about it.

So we started rehearsals and I was totally stuck in my obnoxious world of imaginary suffering when, on day two or three, I started listening to the music, started to really hear the words. The project was inspired by Hurricane Katrina and all of the text came from survivors, politicians, aid workers, and other well-known public figures during the storm and in the days following. So there I was, complaining in my head, when I hear baritone Anthony Turner sing, “My wife, I can’t find her body, she gone…” Had I really just been whining about fluorescent lighting?? All of a sudden I was super grateful to be sitting in a warehouse in Brooklyn, with electricity and running water and a room full of wonderful people.

Katrina Ballads was the first truly meaningful project I had been involved in. You could hear in the music that Ted had put his heart and soul into this work. And you could hear in the rehearsals and the performances that the whole band was totally into the project. My career, which was starting to feel like one big ego trip, was suddenly infused with meaning and conviction and I felt truly inspired! It wasn’t about impressing people but about reaching people.

I consider myself very lucky to be a part of this ongoing project. Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to have other hugely meaningful projects, namely David Little’s “Soldier Songs” and outreach work through Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections. All of these are my most satisfying musical experiences.

What gets you interested in/inspired by/excited about playing a new piece of music?
I love seeing little dots on a page and then hearing what they sound like when everyone plays theirs at the right time. And then you can all go have a beer.

What is your listening “guilty pleasure?”
Ambient music. I used to wait in front of the radio for Hearts of Space to come on NPR when I was a kid.

What projects do you have coming up that we should know about?
I’m playing a show with the New York Miniaturist Ensemble on January 31. It’s a super clever group that is dedicated to playing works of 100 notes or less. I’ll be playing four pieces for solo flute, three of which are premiers by composers Anna Mikhailova, Ruben Naeff and Ed RosenBerg III.

Also, Signal Ensemble has a really awesome Spring, with works by Helmut Lachenman, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Nico Muhly and Sir Harrison Birtwistle on the program. Those are all really exciting shows. You should definitely check them out if you can. Brad Lubman is a rockstar conductor and always makes the group sound like a million bucks.

Please answer: If I were not a musician, I would be a ________, because _________.
Probably a social scientist of some sort? Just because it’s the only other field I ever considered as a kid. But who knows at this point??

Born into a musical family, Alicia Lee grew up in Michigan where she began her musical studies on the violin and piano at age 4. She made the switch to clarinet at the age of 12. Her orchestral appearances include the Spoleto festivals in Italy and America, the Lucerne Festival Academy, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and the Pacific Symphony.

Her chamber music experience includes performances at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, and the Yellow Barn Music Festival, where she has performed for the past three summers.

This Fall, Alicia began her second season as a fellow in The Academy – a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute. As a part of her fellowship, Alicia is a teaching artist at PS 249K in Brooklyn. Alicia is the associate principal and eb clarinet player of the Santa Barbara Symphony, a position she has held since the Fall of 2006. She has performs in New York with a variety of groups, including the Knights, the Talea Ensemble, and ICE. Alicia holds a B.A. in French Language and Literature from Columbia University, an M.M. in clarinet performance from the University of Southern California, as well as a Professional Studies Certificate from the Colburn School.

How did you get started playing your instrument, and how did it turn into a career?
I come from an extremely musical family – my dad is a pianist and conductor, mom is a pianist, brother is a violinist, and sister is a cellist. It was sort of never even a question of whether or not we would play instruments. I started on violin at around 4 years old, shifted to piano around 5 or 6, and then shifted to clarinet at around 11. I was always a serious music student but never thought I’d go into it as a career when I was in high school. I went to college thinking I’d figure out some sort of career that would be super lucrative. That, however, never happened. Though I was a French major all throughout undergrad, I made a decision by the end of my first year that I could not not be a musician professionally. I suppose in the end it’s just in my blood.

Talk about one of your most satisfying musical performance experiences.
Although I come from this musical family, we have practically no opportunities to all play together! On two occasions, however, we’ve been asked to do a family concert in Michigan (where I grew up). Both times it’s been a totally amazing and fun experience. We put together programs of mostly duos and trios (in different combinations) and then ended with an arrangement that my dad did of a Strauss Waltz (“The Artist’s Life” – clever right?) for piano four hands, violin, cello, and clarinet. It’s so different to be with your family in a more professional context and is so interesting to explore.

What gets you interested in/inspired by/excited about playing a new piece of music?
One of the things that I love most about seeing a new piece, and specifically a contemporary piece, is having to figure it out like a puzzle. I like working through really thorny, dense rhythms in a kind of mathematical way and then figuring out how to make it sound musical.

What is your listening “guilty pleasure?”
Probably Beyoncé. And Alicia Keys. And no, I don’t feel guilty!

What projects do you have coming up that we should know about?
I have a few things scheduled that I’m particularly excited about: I play in a group called Ensemble ACJW and this season we started doing a little series at Le Poisson Rouge in New York where we are in charge of all the programming. We have shows on February 24, April 28, and June 13. On February 24 I am playing 2 duos: “Last” by Philippe Manoury for marimba and bass clarinet and “Suite im hexachord” by Stefan Wolpe for oboe and clarinet. All the shows should be a lot of fun.

Please answer: If I were not a musician, I would be a ________, because _________.
If I were not a musician, I would be some kind of small business owner. Not sure what kind of business – probably clothes. There’s something very appealing to me in the idea of owning something that would be very representative of myself. Good thing I’m not actually trying to do that in this economy.

Hi Everyone! For those of you who may be tuning in for the first time, this series of performer interviews is acting as a countdown to the February 3 Mobtown Modern concert in Baltimore. Come and meet everyone in person, it will be fun!!

If you are inspired by these interviews to sponsor a musician, please click here or on the “Make A Donation” sidebar to make a tax-deductible contribution that will go directly towards performer fees and travel expenses for the above mentioned concert. Thank you!!

Now back to our regularly scheduled post….

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The merging of an ageless classical instrument and the twenty-first century has found life in the person of guitarist Benjamin Beirs. Trained as a classical guitarist at Peabody Conservatory by Julian Gray, he has among other things performed a concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic and appeared at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – yet he is oh-so-much more. A singer, songwriter, teacher and composer, you can find him almost anywhere from the concert stage to an elementary school, playing to a most diverse and appreciative audience.

Mr. Beirs believes in music as a “great kindness” – one that has helped him immensely in his own life, and just as importantly, one which helps others. In addition to teaching and performing, he frequently performs outreach in various settings, such as hospitals, nursing homes, and schools.

Whether he is performing the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Concerto in D major with “intense musicality,” the rags of Scott Joplin, a song by Nick Drake, or his own compositions, Benjamin Beirs is the quintessence of the modern musician, open to any great musical idea.

How did you get started playing your instrument, and how did it turn into a career?
I started taking guitar lessons at age 6 on classical guitar, because my parents told me my after-school music program “didn’t offer drum lessons.” Not true, and I still want to buy myself a drum set. I think my own compositions reflect my yearning to be a percussionist as well!!

Talk about one of your most satisfying musical performance experiences.
I have two performance experiences that stand out, and they’re on opposite ends of the spectrum. One was recently, in June 2008 – as a finalist in the Joann Falletta Guitar Concerto Competition, I performed a concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic in front of around 2,000 people. It was just electrifying playing with so many great musicians. My other experience was performing the “Invocacion y Danza” by Rodrigo for a patient at the Gilchrist Hospice in Baltimore. There was a kind of communication that happened that was and is beyond words. Very touching.

What gets you interested in/inspired by/excited about playing a new piece of music?
It depends on what it is, and what it’s for! Basically, if I think it’s going to make the audience happy and I like it as well, I can get pretty excited about it. Sometimes I have trouble jump-starting myself into work mode, but once I’m into it there’s no stopping me!

What is your listening “guilty pleasure?”
I don’t really know! I don’t have any guilt about what I listen to – I guess maybe I feel guilty that I don’t listen to enough “classical” music!

What projects do you have coming up that we should know about?
I have a couple of solo recitals in February in Baltimore and Philadelphia, and then in April my guitar duo will be touring the East Coast. I’m also working on an album of my songs – as if I’m not busy enough, I’ve decided to do the singer-songwriter thing when it fits in my schedule

Please answer: If I were not a musician, I would be a ________, because _________.
If I weren’t a musician, I would be a completely lost soul because I honestly can’t answer this question. I like the saying that you don’t do music because you love it, you do it because you can’t imagine doing anything else.

photo by Steve Gong

Yuki Numata is a violinist with “virtuosic flair and dexterous bravery,” according to the New York Times.

Ms. Numata is rapidly gaining attention as a charismatic virtuoso, having performed as a soloist with the New World Symphony, the University at Buffalo’s Slee Sinfonietta, the Wordless Music Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and the Eastman Philharmonia Orchestra.

As a result of her avid interest in new music, she has had the opportunity to work closely with some of today’s foremost composers including Charles Wuorinen, Steve Reich and John Zorn. Ms. Numata performs frequently with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) which had its Carnegie Hall debut this past spring.

Born in Vancouver, Canada, Ms. Numata holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan. Her principal teachers include Andrew Jennings, Zvi Zeitlin and Gwen Thompson.

How did you get started playing your instrument, and how did it turn into a career?
I began playing the violin at the age of 3 because my parents told me to! According to my dad I sounded so bad that he wanted to let me quit playing, but my mom wouldn’t let that happen. She said that if they let me quit I would forever think that anytime something is difficult, I can just walk away. Talk about learning life lessons at an early age! I never hated the violin but I didn’t begin to really enjoy it until I started playing in the orchestra at the Vancouver Academy of Music. My first experience playing a Brahms symphony blew me away and I was hooked. When I graduated from high school, my parents said that I could study music in college if I also took on another degree, so I went to the Eastman School of Music and began a double major in English Lit at the University of Rochester. After a few months at Eastman I knew that I wanted to focus on the violin, so after many months of pleading and arguing with my parents, I dropped the second degree and put all of my time into music. It was there that I met the conductor Brad Lubman and began playing in Musica Nova, the school’s new music ensemble. I was so inspired by Brad and by the other players who were into new music that I never looked back. I’ve loved playing contemporary music ever since my undergrad and it has now become the bulk of the playing that I do professionally. After 3 years at the New World Symphony, I recently moved to New York and have been trying my hand at the freelancing scene here. So far I’m loving the freelance life!

Talk about one of your most satisfying musical performance experiences.
I have been very lucky to be part of the Tanglewood Music Center for 4 years – 2 years as a fellow and 2 years as a Fromm player, specializing in the performance of contemporary music. In my 2nd year as a Fromm player, I performed Charles Wuorinen’s Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra with Kazem Abdullah conducting the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. This experience was so exciting to me because I rarely have the opportunity to perform with orchestra, and especially with one that is as responsive and as dedicated as the TMCO. Although they were coming off of some very demanding weeks, the orchestra sounded incredible in the performance and I felt honoured and proud to be their soloist. Charles Wuorinen and James Levine were both in the audience and they were very complimentary and gracious afterwards. To have such pillars of the contemporary music world take the time to speak with me made the whole experience unforgettable.

What gets you interested in/inspired by/excited about playing a new piece of music?
There is such a long lineage of wonderful violinists dating back hundreds of years that along with the tradition and history also comes a certain amount of intimidation. For me, it’s difficult to find concrete reasons for why the world needs to hear me play the Tchaikovksy concerto for the millionth time when there have been so many thoughtful and historic performances in the past. I get excited about playing a new piece of music because of the freedom that I have in interpreting it, and because I like to discover new ways to communicate and connect with an audience.

What is your listening “guilty pleasure?”
Lately, I love listening to Ne-Yo!

What projects do you have coming up that we should know about?
I play a ton with ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble) and we’ll be performing this summer in the Berkshires. The program uses Bach as inspiration and we are commissioning quartets by Timothy Andres and Ryan Streber. Very exciting stuff!

Please answer: If I were not a musician, I would be a ________, because _________.
If I were not a musician, I would be a personal trainer because I enjoy working out and would love to have more time to do it!