CONCERT PREVIEW: Q&A with Jamie Jordan

by Maggie Molloy

We hear it all the time in the classical music world: the “Three B’s”—Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. But this season the North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO) is putting a little twist on this old adage.

01

Their concert this weekend features three bold “B’s” with a little more bite: Bartók, Barber, and Beethoven. And while the program is grounded in the traditional classical canon (ahem, Beethoven), the lineup bends the “B’s” into the 20th century.

NOCCO will be performing Beethoven’s classic First Symphony and Bartók’s neoclassic crowd-favorite, Divertimento for String Orchestra—but the centerpiece of the show is Barber’s 1947 masterwork Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a lush, richly textured work for soprano and orchestra.

The 15-minute lyric rhapsody takes its text from a 1938 short prose piece by author James Agee. Barber’s interpretation of the text paints an idyllic and poignant picture of Agee’s native Knoxville, Tennessee, blurring the lines between dreamy reminiscence and reality.

And to bring the nostalgic dreamland to life, NOCCO has enlisted the talents of New York-based soprano Jamie Jordan, a specialist in contemporary classical music with a strong background in jazz, classical, opera, improvisation, and more.

Second Inversion sat down with Jamie to ask her five questions about Knoxville, contemporary classical, and NOCCO’s upcoming concert.

3112158

Second Inversion: What do you think is most unique or inspiring about Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915?

Jamie Jordan: Knoxville is so tremendously moving for me because Barber chose a wonderfully touching, poignant text (by James Agee), and set it to music with utmost sensitivity and great imagination. Barber paints the text through his orchestration, and creates very vivid imagery.

SI: You specialize in contemporary classical music but also have lots of experience with jazz, opera, improvisation, and more. What do you find to be some of the unique challenges and rewards of performing contemporary classical works?

JJ: For me, repertoire written since 1905 is usually most fulfilling. Every piece is an adventure. Understanding the structure, intent and also the great fun of learning pitches and rhythms brings me joy. Collaborating with a composer and bringing their work to life is also extremely meaningful; I have premiered dozens of works so far.

SI: Who are some of your biggest musical inspirations? What composers, artists, or styles of music most influence you?

JJ: My late mentor, Judith Kellock, was a truly great inspiration, beautiful artist and consummate pedagogue. Judy was a student of Jan DeGaetani, who is also someone who I deeply admire, along with her contemporary Cathy Berberian.

There isn’t enough ink or space on the web for me to list all the artists I respect and love. The 1960s were to me one of the greatest decades in music. George Crumb, Berio, Boulez, Copland, Druckman, Feldman, Messiaen, Pousseur, Shostakovich, Stockhausen, Stravinsky, and Xennakis are just a few of the incredible composers that were creating their art. In jazz many of my favorite artists—Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, Sarah Vaughan…plus Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and many other great bands…It was an unbelievable era. I’ll stop myself.

SI: What are you most looking forward to with this NOCCO performance?

JJ: The opportunity to work with exquisite musicians on this masterwork. Most of the music I perform is chamber music for only a handful of instruments. This piece is very ‘classical’ for me, and it has resonated with me for many years. It is thrilling to sing with a fine chamber orchestra- not something I do very often at this point.

SI: What do you hope audiences will take away from your performance of Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915?

JJ: I hope the audience loves Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and that listeners are transported and touched by this stunning piece.

Performances of NOCCO’s “Three B’s with a Twist” are this Saturday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. at University Christian Church in the University District and Sunday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Royal Room in Columbia City. For additional information and tickets, visit NOCCO.org.

CONCERT PREVIEW: Q&A with Laura Schwendinger

by Maggie Molloy

It’s been raining to beat the band this week—but not even the wildest thunderstorms could drown out the beautiful music of Seattle’s North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO). This Sunday, NOCCO invites you to get out of the cold and into the warmth of the concert hall for a very special “Heart of Winter” performance.

LauraSchwendinger

Known for their dynamic performances and adventurous programming, NOCCO’s 2015-2016 season features works by three different American women composers. The star of this weekend’s performance is composer Laura Schwendinger’s gorgeously luminescent Chiaro di Luna, a piece filled with icy strings and glimmering melodies inspired by the mysterious beauty of Lake Como in Italy.

Second Inversion sat down with Laura to ask her five questions about Chiaro di Luna, female composers, and NOCCO’s upcoming season.

Second Inversion: What is the story or emotion behind Chiaro di Luna, and how would you describe this piece?

Laura Schwendinger: It was written after my residency at the beautiful Rockefeller Bellagio Center on Lake Como in Italy. We would walk out on the veranda at night, and look out at the beautiful lake, and when there was a moon we could see the outline of the lake and the Dolomite Mountains beyond. Chiaro Di Luna celebrates the dark beauty of that experience.

SI: How is this piece similar to and/or different from your other compositions?

LS: Chiaro di Luna was written for the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Hungary, so I wanted to tap into the Romantic side of my expression a little more. It was one of the first works where I ventured into those waters (no pun intended), after having moved away from Romanticism for a time. I think of my work as being lyrical but passionate, and intense at times. I’m a “maximalist” and at times a romantic.

SI: What composers, artists, or styles of music most influence your work?

LS: French composers have had a huge influence on me. Debussy, Ravel, and very substantially Dutilleux, and at the same time many American composers such as my teacher Andrew Imbrie, with his lyrical voice, and even composers like Elliot Carter and Aaron Copland have influenced me and my way of thinking and hearing.

SI: Three out of the four NOCCO programs this season feature American women composers’ works. Why do you think this is a significant programming decision?

LS: It’s funny, I get asked about that a lot, and being a female I understand it. I think though, there are so many fine female composers  now that it’s almost hard for me to think of my favorite living composers without including at least 50-60% women.

I think it’s wonderful NOCCO is programming women and I think that other ensembles should get to know the music of women and if they do, they’ll realize how many great women are out there writing amazing music. That might not have been true 30 years ago, but it is certainly true now.

I run a contemporary music ensemble at UW Madison, where I am a professor, and last year I programmed an entire concert of music by women without even thinking about it. In other words, I programmed music that was great and after I had, I realized all of the works were by women!

SI: What do you hope audiences will take away from listening to Chiaro di Luna?

LS: I hope they will see the dark and beautiful, brooding Lake Como—under the moonlight with the Italian night sky and a full moon above.

 

NOCCO’s “Heart of Winter” concert is this Sunday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Magnolia Church of Christ in Seattle. In addition to Laura Schwendinger’s Chiaro di Luna, NOCCO musicians will also perform Arcangelo Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, Darius Milhaud’s Chamber Symphony No. 5 for 10 Winds, and Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite. For additional information and tickets, visit NOCCO.org.

concert preview: Q&A with Dorothy Chang

by Maggie Molloy

In the world of classical composition, women who write music are far outnumbered by their male peers—and this imbalance is a sensitive issue for composers, musicians, and concert programmers alike.

Fortunately many music organizations are taking steps forward to break down assumptions and stereotypes within the music industry by highlighting the works of contemporary female composers. One such organization is Seattle’s own North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO).

01

Known for their dynamic performances and adventurous programming, NOCCO’s 2015-2016 season features works by three different American women composers. The first concert, taking place this weekend, features a performance of Dorothy Chang’s eclectic and expressive Virtuosities.

Second Inversion sat down with Dorothy to ask her five questions about Virtuosities, female composers, and NOCCO’s upcoming season.

download (35)

Second Inversion: What is the story or emotion behind Virtuosities, and how would you describe this piece?

Dorothy Chang: Virtuosities for string orchestra was commissioned by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in 2012 in honour of its 40th anniversary season.  Given the occasion, I was inspired to write a work that celebrates music history and tradition while also embracing the new and innovative.  Virtuosities seeks to draw connections between the music of the past and present, either through points of intersection or through sharply contrasting juxtaposition.

In the first movement, “To dream, perchance to fly,” a lightning-fast tempo and continuous, overlapping rising figures are meant to create a breathless, whirlwind energy, referencing elements of Baroque virtuosity within a contemporary context.   Beginning in B minor, the movement quickly becomes tinged with chromaticism, with juxtaposed layers of contrasting material, as if creating one big swirl of musical activity combining the old and the new.

The second movement, “Souvenir,” is intimate and lyrical, inspired by the slow movement of Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in A minor.  In Vivaldi’s movement, I’m struck by how a simple texture achieves such poignancy and expressivity.  Similarly, in my own second movement, I tried to feature the beauty of a simple melody-and-chordal texture, enriched with an expanded sound palette of distinct colours and timbres.

In the final movement, “Mechanica,” an energetic walking bass serves a constant driving pulse over which a hodgepodge of various short musical quotes and other musical references are spliced, layered and woven together.

 

SI: How is this piece similar to and/or different from your other compositions?

DC: This piece is different from my other compositions in that it uses quotation, and it references Baroque and Classical music in a way that I haven’t done before in my other works.   The mixing of tonality and atonality is something I do explore often in my music, though in this work the two languages are presented more as a dichotomy rather than the blended mixture that I might use more typically.

Also, this piece is in three movements; the multi-movement form is typical of most of my compositions.  When starting a piece, I usually find I have a number of ideas I’d like to explore, and I’ve found the multi-movement form a good way to incorporate contrasting characters and materials within a single work.   I’m also drawn to exploring larger structures that can be built through the succession of multiple movements, and to shape the dramatic arc they form, as if creating a musical or emotional journey.

 

SI: What composers, artists, or styles of music most influence your work?

DC: I am inspired by and influenced by different types of music that I’ve heard, performed or studied from my childhood to the present.  My first exposure to classical music was from learning piano, so the influence of Romantic music, particularly piano repertoire, is strong.  Although my music might not sound very much like Brahms, Rachmaninoff or Schumann, there is a strong emphasis on melodic lyricism, sweeping Romantic gestures and rich harmonies.

The influence of popular music and, in certain works, Chinese music is also present.  Once I became aware of contemporary music, the composers whose music influenced me most included Debussy, Stravinsky, Lutoslawski, Takemitsu and Ligeti.  More recently, the music that inspires me is wide-ranging, and could include anything that happens to catch my ear, be it contemporary, popular, world music, etc.  The influences may not be immediately apparent in my music, but I am always consciously aware of their presence in my work.

 

SI: Three out of the four NOCCO programs this season feature American women composers’ works. Why do you think this is a significant programming decision?

DC: It looks like a great season, and I’m delighted to be in such good company!  The issue of women composers and programming continues to be a rather sensitive one (I remember becoming acutely aware of the issue as the only female in my graduate composition program years ago), and I have to say that I look forward to the day when the programming of music by female composers is something that happens spontaneously through the programming of good music, period.

I do think this is happening more and more, though one still comes across contemporary music concerts that include no music at all by women composers.  In this day and age, with so many talented women composers writing exciting, engaging, and unique music, it does perplex me how this is even possible.

As for NOCCO’s season: I’m thrilled to see such diverse and innovative programming.   I honestly don’t know if the programming was done specifically with the intention of featuring women composers, though I’m certainly excited that important and influential voices such as Laura Schwendinger and Joan Tower are included.  If the listener hasn’t had the opportunity to hear the music of these composers, it’s wonderful for NOCCO to bring it to a new audience.

 

SI: What do you hope audiences will take away from listening to Virtuosities?

DC: Virtuosities was written as a work that would bring together various old and new elements, and each movement reflects on this theme in its own way.  My hope is that the audience will connect with the music and the emotion and intention behind it:  the breathless energy and excitement of the opening movement, intimate lyricism broadening into lush gestures in the second movement, and the rhythmic drive and quirky turns of phrase in the closing movement.   This is a celebratory piece that I hope will engage the audience, and perhaps inspire them to hear both traditional and contemporary elements in a new context.

 

Performances are Saturday, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. at University Christian Church in the University District and Sunday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Royal Room in Columbia City. In addition to Dorothy Chang’s Virtuosities, NOCCO musicians will also be performing Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings (featuring pianist Cristina Valdés), Jacques Ibert’s Three Short Pieces for Wind Quintet, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 29. For additional information and tickets, visit NOCCO.org.

LIVE CONCERT SPOTLIGHT: April 2-5

by Maggie Molloy

This week’s concert calendar has everything from Crumb’s “Makrokosmos” to Club Shostakovich!

Daria Binkowski Performs “L’Opera per Flauto”

sciarrino-600x400

Flutist Daria Binkowski knows a thing or two about breath control. As a celebrated musician with performance experience spanning from classical to modern, she has performed and taught around the world. And this week, she is tackling a truly breathtaking musical feat: a 75-minute piece for solo flute.

The piece is Salvatore Sciarrino’s influential “L’Opera per Flauto.” One of the foundations of contemporary flute repertoire, the work is a virtuosic and strikingly intimate exploration into silence and sound. Binkowski’s performance is part of Inverted Space Ensemble’s “Long Piece Fest,” a music festival highlighting contemporary pieces which are, well, really long.

The performance is this Thursday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.

Pianist Mayumi Tayake Performs Crumb and Pärt

Slide1-600x400

Avant-garde composer George Crumb takes contemporary piano repertoire to a new level—a new decibel level, that is. His innovative four-volume series “Makrokosmos” is written for amplified piano.

Known for his hauntingly beautiful soundscapes, his exploration of unusual timbres, and his use of alternative forms of musical notation, Crumb is a fascinating composer with a truly unique musical language. This weekend, you can hear Volume II of his ethereal “Makrokosmos” in all its amplified glory, performed by Seattle-based pianist Mayumi Tayake (who, by the way, wrote her doctoral dissertation on “The Performance Guide to Makrokosmos Volume II”—needless to say, she knows what she’s doing). A video presentation of Crumb’s composition sketches and influences will be presented before the performance.

Tayake will also perform Arvo Pärt’s “Spiegel im Spiegel,” (Mirror inside the Mirror) with violinist Sharyn Peterson, accompanied by projected visuals.

The performance is this Saturday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.

Club Shostakovich XIII at the Royal Room

cs13-poster-screenshot1Russia’s rich musical tradition has given rise to some of the most imaginative and innovative composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. And so, this weekend Seattle’s Royal Room is hosting a special performance in celebration of Shostakovich and several other Russian showstoppers.

Club Shostakovich XIII will feature the fearless music of Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. Breathing life into these beautiful works are the Girsky Quartet, violinist Blayne Barnes, violist Heather Bentley, cellist Douglas Davis, and soprano Jennifer Krikawa.

The performance is this Sunday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Royal Room.

NEW VIDEOS: Jherek Bischoff and Scrape

Jherek Bischoff recently co-curated the Bang on a Can marathon here in Seattle.  Part of this epic, six-hour new music extravaganza included a collaboration between Jherek and the local string ensemble Scrape, who stopped by our studios for a video session of some awesome original tunes!