​Tell us about your tour! How long are you in the U.S. and where else are you going?

I have a workshop of a brand new piano duet composition "Outback Sonata for 2 Pianos" with high profile pianist Shannon Wettstein on April 15th, and I will be teaching at Saint Cloud State University on Monday, April 17. Then I head to New York for a solo show at Williamsburg Music Centre in Brooklyn, Live Jams at The Smooth Spot Studio and Studio #305, and a solo show at the Downtown Music Gallery. Details are on my website: www.keynawilkins.com and social media. 

Your music spans a wide range of topics and genres, and your solo shows include both composed works and stream-of-conciousness improvisations on both flute and piano. How do you go about combining all of these elements into a cohesive set?

That is a really great question! I think what links it all together is the fact that I hope I am able to merge all the styles into a hybrid so that it does all fit together in one big journey, with broad strokes of jazz, art music and contemporary classical as well as some experimental material. My music background is eclectic, but at the end of the day it's all music and it's all expression, and it all comes from me, so that must be a common thread. It begins and ends with outer space, with a bit of humanity and philosophy thrown in the middle, in a cosmic way.

Along those same lines, how do you find that the various aspects of your musical career influence or inform one another?

I was classically trained in UK, Australia and Germany on flute and piano. But I found that this approach was rather limiting for me. I got lessons in free improvisation from a Tibetan Buddhist monk  when I was 19 years old, and this definitely inspired me to a new path of using improvisation as a catalyst for compositional ideas,  and as a tool used in performances. What you will hear in my show is a range of stylistic features in the same piece, a hint of flamenco, Debussy, alongside contemporary jazz. 

How do you hope the audience feels after seeing your show, or what do you want them to take away from it? 

Firstly I want to create a space where people feel taken out of their daily lives, even for a moment, and be taken on an expressionistic journey. I also hope to raise awareness of issues around refugee rights around the world, and help people see connections between all things in a cosmic way. 

In 2019, I was getting tired of using musical computer programs. I didn’t know how to add the kinds of information that I wanted, and didn’t have the patience to dig into the tech aspect. I needed less screen time, not more! 

My cellist friend Aaron Kerr just started writing his scores by hand on very large paper, drawing the staves and notes. It was a return to the masters, who until very recently, wrote by hand. “Cool!” I thought. 

I started by creating staff paper by cut and paste, using the spaces on the page to have little motifs. I then copied them onto stiff cardstock. This worked perfectly for what I wanted--scores that had little motifs spread around the page that musicians could explore and develop. It wasn’t long before I started to add extra musical symbols to interpret. These were mostly in colored pen and pencils. I added some sketches, and started putting a lot of information on the page, so that musicians could choose from a wider palette. Carei Thomas said “Yeah! This is a great path! Take it!” 

Studio Z presents a concert of visual/intuitive scores by Todd Harper performed by the composer and special guests Michelle Kinney, cello; Laura Harada, violin; Garrett McQueen, bassoon; and Heather Barringer, percussion. ​

​​This concert is produced as part of "Studio Z Presents," a new concert series curated by musicians in our community, thanks to a grant from the City of Saint Paul STAR Program. ​

The culmination of a years-long commissioning project, ​The Dream Songs Project (Alyssa Anderson, voice & Joseph Spoelstra, guitar) will present the world premiere of Dale Trumbore's X Marks the Dress this Friday & Saturday, Oct. 14-15 at Studio Z. A musical exploration of feminine identity and societal expectations, X Marks the Dress was commissioned with support from the prestigious Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program. We had the opportunity to ask The Dream Songs Project and Dale Trumbore for the backstory on the new work ahead of this weekend's concert. 

How did your collaboration with Dale Trumbore come about? 

We met Dale several years ago when The Dream Songs Project (TDSP) was the featured ensemble for the American Composers Forum’s Showcase. She submitted a score for the Call-for-Scores, we picked it as one of three winners for the Showcase, and then ACF flew Dale to Minnesota to work with us preparing her Footnotes to a History of the Moon for that concert. We enjoyed working with Dale so much on that project that we decided then and there to find a way to commission her for a piece for TDSP. It took a few years to get funding (thanks Chamber Music America!!) and then the pandemic threw a big monkey wrench in the works, so the plan is now FINALLY coming to fruition with this premiere. 


What was the collaboration process like between you and the composer? 

In our work with Dale from the ACF Call-for-Scores, we knew how thoughtfully she wrote for both of our instruments (particularly a challenge on the guitar for a non-guitarist). She sent us the poetry and we were completely on board with the imagery and dark (and darkly humorous) perspective on wedding traditions. Dale also wanted to make use of some of the extended techniques on our instruments, so we had some remote sessions early on to go over the palette of sound possibilities. We had a couple of check-ins, but in the fall of 2021, Dale sent us the completed score to X Marks the Dress and it was this amazing 30 minute song cycle–a great variety of musical imagery and moods.
​

How did you choose the text and topic for X Marks the Dress? 

I met poet Kristina Marie Darling at an artist residency in Taos, New Mexico, and she generously gave me a signed copy of the book “X Marks the Dress.” At the time, it was her latest collaboration with poet Carol Guess. I’ve since set a number of Kristina’s footnote poems, and am hoping to set more of Carol’s excellent poetry very soon, but the poems in “X Marks the Dress” were on my radar for years before I finally had the chance to set them as a half-hour song cycle for the dream songs project. 

The timing worked out that this premiere is happening around the time of the book’s reissue, and I hope many more people will discover and love these poems! Many of the poems offer humorous, surreal takes on weddings; they present a sort of alternate history in a narrative skewering our oddest traditions. I decided to set these poems for Joe and Alyssa as I was planning my own wedding (years ago, now!). So many of the traditions that Kristina and Carol explore in the book (the tradition of wearing a garter, for example, or calling your spouse a “ball and chain”) are just plain weird, and Kristina and Carol capture that element of the bizarre so well. I love the faux-dictionary definitions sprinkled throughout this cycle, too, asking us to reconsider what we take for granted.


What was the collaboration process like between you and the duo? 

I worked with Joe and Alyssa on a setting of another poem by Kristina (“Footnotes to a History of the Moon”). As an ensemble, the dream songs project is up for anything, musically speaking. As a composer working with them, I feel free to be as weird or genre-bending as I want in any given moment, and that’s a great feeling! They’re exactly what a composer wants in a good collaboration: performers whose individual strengths inspire you to write more ambitious music—music that stretches everyone involved as artists and humans.


You are a writer in addition to being a composer. How often do you set your own texts, and how does your experience as a writer impact how you choose texts to set, and how you interact with those words? 

When I’m writing my own texts—about half of the time that I’m composing—I try to first write a poem that can stand on the page on its own, without music. When I set that poem, I approach it the way I would any other text, looking for repeated images or linked phrases, then for ways I can unite or light up these words with song. The benefit of working with my own words is, of course, that I can add those elements in as I’m composing or adjust whatever isn’t working without asking for anyone else’s permission. But the downside is that I’m not nearly as inventive of a poet as Kristina Marie Darling or Carol Guess or any of the other outstanding writers I’ve worked with. I derive such joy from getting to analyze poetry as part of what I do, so I don’t think I’ll stop setting other writers’ words any time soon!

The Dream Songs Project (Alyssa Anderson, voice & Joseph Spoelstra, guitar) presents X MARKS THE DRESS: A musical exploration of feminine identity and societal expectations. Featuring Voices by Carol Barnett, and the world premiere of Dale Trumbore's X Marks the Dress.

This Saturday, August 20, classical-rock duo Augmeanted will present the album release concert for their debut album "Life, Twice" at Studio Z. We interviewed songwriter/vocalist/pianist Mary Overlie to share more about the album and what you'll hear at the show this weekend. ​

​Tell us a bit about Augmeanted. What is the music like, and what are your influences? 

Augmeanted is the #classicalrock duo of cousins Geoffrey Taylor (fiddle, mandolins) and Mary Overlie (vocals, piano). The music is elegantly simple in its composition and instrumentation, but listeners of our first album respond to what they call the power of that simplicity. For us, the music is a mix of lyrical meditations on moments that left us speechless and violin-driven improvisations that say what it is impossible to say. 

Augmeanted’s musical influences are widely diverse. So much so that, if we weren’t family, we might not have found one another as musicians. Violinist Geoffrey Taylor improvises from his training in symphonic music, Appalachian fiddle tunes, and folk and acoustic music from around the world. In her other projects, Mary trends toward gospel-infused rock and soul, but for Augmeanted she’s dialed it back a wee bit, relying on her early fangirldom of 90s women who rocked (think Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole.)


How did the group get started, where do you play/what do you do? 

As cousins, we’re descended from an extensive, gifted line of musicians, but for various reasons, we didn’t get the chance to explore that heritage until now. A few years ago, we connected at a family gathering and realized we had a crazy ton of musical ideas that needed exploring. So we’re exploring them. Our first effort was for Mudsong’s  (Mary’s band) CelloWoman, a songstory featuring Geoffrey’s chincello, about a woman who wakes up to find herself transformed into the body of a cello. 

Right now, we’re focused on writing and recording. Performing when we can. Mary lives in northern Minnesota, and Geoffrey in Missoula, Montana, so the opportunities to perform are quite limited. But we have another project in development, and more tunes to craft together soon.

Yet, Geoffrey keeps a full schedule as a fiddler for several projects in Missoula including his vintage jazz sextet, Night Blooming Jasmine, and several other folk and country bands. He also plays with the regional symphony and gives private lessons in his studio. 

Mary leads a double-life as a teacher and songwriter. During the school year, she’s wedded to her students, songwriting, and recording. In summer, she has more time for performing for Augmeanted, and her other project, Mudsong. 


Your debut album, "Life, twice," takes its name from the Anais Nin quote, “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.” What does this quote mean to you, and how is it reflected in the album? 

Every song in the album, including the violin-driven instrumentals, are records of moments where the boundaries of time snapped as they were being lived. The moment may have taken 90 seconds in real time, but in heart time, it was life-changing because of what it meant (Aug-MEANT-ed 😉). When you experience a moment like that, it’s hard not to document it in some way, like “What just happened?” Sometimes as people, we take a picture, we call someone to share it, but since Mary is a writer, she tends to write them down first. 


Anything else we should know about the album? 

Life, twice was recorded in part at Geoffrey’s home studio, but also at Supple Studios in Bemidji, MN. Supple Studios did the mixing as well. It’s pretty amazing what Troy Foss at Supple can do to bring forward the full, textured sound of the violin. His recording studio is a gem in Minnesota’s Northwoods and our sound wouldn’t be our sound without him. 


What can we look forward to hearing at the album release concert? 

We’ll be playing the full Catching Snowflakes Suite (the violin-driven improvisations) from the album, as well as a selection of the vocal tunes. There’s a possibility Geoffrey might preview a few pieces he’s been writing for solo 5-string fiddle, too. 

​Quince Presents New Music by Asuka Kakitani: Songs of One's Own

It started when I stumbled on the article in the Guardian by Brigid Delaney where the author wondered what her female ancestors may have excelled at. "Writing or singing, sewing or poetry; did they draw, or did they paint?" She continues, "I have to guess because they left nothing behind but their bloodline. There are no books or songs or poems or works of art in their name; their culture and their contribution to it – their voice – is a big blank." This article resonated with me, and I thought about my own Japanese female ancestors. I imagined the lives of those women who I had never met - even pictures of most of them don't exist - and their creative voices I have no way to trace. As Delaney guessed, "there wasn't a lot of room back then to create beautiful things of your own. Imagination – that hinterland where ideas are born – needs acres of time, not just snatched minutes between cooking and cleaning." I wondered if maybe my female ancestors didn't even know their creative voices themselves. Perhaps they didn't have time to think about their own creativity or even the possibility to be creative? And this thought eventually led me to wonder what it was like to be a female artist in their generation. So I looked for clues for my question in the work of women writers. In 2020-21, I wrote music to the texts of Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Mary Shelley, Sappho, and Akiko Yosano, who left behind their strong voices despite the professional obstacles that they might have had by being women artists in their generation. Each text I humbly set music to touched my heart somewhere deep. I feel related to these writings because of my own experience as a woman and because I admired their bravery and because their beauty simply moved me.

When someone asked why I put music to their words, the question made me reflect on my motivations. Perhaps I tried to understand their writings on a deeper level and express my feelings in the form of music. I wanted to create the story of those women from my own perspective. Maybe I wanted to do what Woolf said at the end of her book Room of One's Own. She imagines Shakespeare had a sister who was as talented a poet as he was. However, his sister did not have the same chances as Shakespeare because she was a woman. Woolf expresses that she believes his sister lives "in you and me, and in many other women," and she would come back if we worked hard for her because "they need only the opportunity to walk among us in the flesh." Then I thought about my female ancestors again, whose faces I don't know, whose genes I inherited. Maybe they live in me, as Woolf said about Shakespeare's sister. I wonder if I work hard for them, they will come back, at least as inspiration. Somehow the idea is comforting to me that my ancestors join me in my creative journey. 

-Asuka Kakitani

​Minnesota-based solo/chamber artist and composer Julie Sweet holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from Minnesota State University Mankato. During her graduate years, she studied composition with David Dickau and developed close ties with guest artist/American composer, Jeffrey Brooks, who has believed in her writing-style since day one. Julie is the founder, flight director and pianist of Sound Field (formerly, Skeleton Crew), an organization committed to celebrating music by contemporary classicists and minimalists. In addition, Julie is a former seasonal pianist of the widely acclaimed new music ensemble Zeitgeist and has been an avid freelance educator since 1998. She enjoys finding hidden time to explore different roads, towns/cities and hiking trails with her trusty camera (Pentax K-01). 

Julie is one of three winners of Zeitgeist's 2021 Eric Stokes Song Contest. Named in memory of late composer Eric Stokes, the contest is designed to encourage and celebrate amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. Julie's winning composition, entitled Are you there?, will be featured on Zeitgeist's annual Playing it Close to Home concert, Sept. 10-11 at Studio Z. 

Are you there? (2020) was written for piano and soundtrack (or vibraphone, piano and soundtrack) with optional videography by the composer to accompany the music. Julie writes: 

"I began composing Are you there? during a pandemic lock-down. The sidewalks and hiking trails were eerily quiet then. It was on my solo walks, I did most of my composing. I'm interested in writing a multi-movement work that has an indie-like film quality about it. Slowly but surely my soundtrack for solo, mixed-chamber and pre-recorded sounds evolves. The videography for Are you there? was captured outside a bar/diner in Uptown Minneapolis on an unusually warm November day last year; the same day election results were announced. This explains all the activity you see through the glass. Uptown came back to life, momentarily. I took the video with the intent of pairing it with Are you there? They ended up being a good fit." 

Meet Eric Stokes Song Contest winner Ellie Gold. Ellie graduated from Minneapolis Southwest High School last spring and is now beginning her studies at McGill University's Schulich School of Music in music composition. 

Ellie began playing piano at age six and percussion at age nine. She had always made up melodies in her head as a kid, but it wasn't until high school that she started writing them down. She explains her path to becoming a composer as being influenced by family, friends, and supportive teachers. 

"Each year in my high school band we would be assigned into quartets and trios for small ensemble projects. It was around this time that my sister showed me the online composing program "flat", and I began writing my own marimba and mallet quartets. I found the structure of four single lined voices easy to work with.

Eventually I started bringing in my own music to school for my friends to play for our small ensemble projects. My music was largely influenced by the three other girls I played with in my mallet quartet, because I would write each part to their skill levels and musical interests. 

My high school band teacher was extremely encouraging and supportive of me and allowed me to perform one of my marimba quartets at our school's annual winter recital at the Basilica St. Mary, by far our largest concert of the year." 

Ellie is the youth winner of Zeitgeist's 2021 Eric Stokes Song Contest. Named in memory of late composer Eric Stokes, the contest is designed to encourage and celebrate amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. Ellie's winning composition, Beach Quartet, will be featured on Zeitgeist's annual Playing it Close to Home concert, Sept. 10-11 at Studio Z. 

Ellie writes about Beach Quartet: 

"I wrote Beach Quartet almost three years ago in one four hour sitting. I had no idea what to call the piece so it was titled "yeah" for a while. I brought it into school with the hopes of playing it with my mallet quartet that I mentioned earlier, but we never got around to it. It wasn't until this past year when I was putting together samples for my music school application that I happened upon the piece again and began reworking it." 

Ilan Blanck has written music for orchestra, string quartet, sad singer- songwriters, and A LOT of bands. As a guitarist he has been on over a dozen recordings of original music, shared the stage with artists ranging from eighth blackbird to Guster, and knocked out (fictional) rocker Staci Jaxx as lead guitarist for Theatre Aspen’s production of the hit musical Rock of Ages. Ilan can often be found counting to seven with progressive folk trio Sprig of That or as the Power Ranger in funk-rock circus Porky’s Groove Machine. He is currently pursuing the master of music degree in composition at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

"I began writing music almost as soon as I started playing music--noodling around on guitar, making changes to songs I would learn off the internet, plunking around on the keyboard we had at home. "Ilan, leave the composing to the composers," my first guitar teacher would say to me when I would come into my lessons having made all sorts of changes to the pieces he'd assigned me to play. I sure showed him! Since then, I've generally followed my first musical love - the guitar - as it's taken me through a variety of styles and settings. Feeling most at home in more popular styles of music, I try to follow my musical curiosities to create music that I find enjoyable, moving, and stimulating.

Musically, my biggest influences stem from rock bands like Hop Along, Radiohead, and Wilco; acoustic groups like the Punch Brothers and Hawktail; and composers like Sarah Kirkland Snider, Gabriel Kahane, and Robert Honstein. Throw in a pretty extensive knowledge (if I do say so myself) of the journalists who read the news on NPR at the top of the hour (“From NPR news in Washington, I’m...”), a love of WWII-era Soviet literature (Vassily Grossman, anyone?) and the 16 year old cat I’ve had for 14 years, and you get... well, me!

I've had endless teachers to whom I owe everything I know and so many of the opportunities that I've had and to whom I am and will be eternally grateful. There are too many here to list, but I’ll mention just a few who changed my perspective, music, and life: Joanne Metcalf, Gabriel Kahane, Asha Srinivasan, Matt Turner, Julie McQuinn, Ray Mueller, Nathan Wysock, among many, many others."  -Ilan Blanck

Ilan is one of three winners of Zeitgeist's 2021 Eric Stokes Song Contest. Named in memory of late composer Eric Stokes, the contest is designed to encourage and celebrate amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. Ilan's winning composition, Pesach Tras Pesach, will be featured on Zeitgeist's annual Playing it Close to Home concert, Sept. 10-11 at Studio Z. 

Ilan writes about Pesach Tras Pesach: 

"'Pesach Tras Pesach' is the second song from Ya No Tengo Miedo, Por Primera Vez, a song cycle I composed and premiered as a part of the 2019-2020 Cedar Commissions. The piece follows the life of my great-grandparents as they grow up in Eastern Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, survive the Holocaust in Soviet work camps, and ultimately immigrate and settle in Mexico City, where my grandparents and parents would be born and raised. 'Pesach Tras Pesach' itself is a snapshot into my great-grandfather's childhood years and specifically, his relationship with his mother (who died of cancer when he was only 13). A loving parent who always encouraged his education (my mother would say "you need to be able to write the letter in Yiddish but the address in Polish!"), he carried her memory and his love for her until the day he died at age 99. The lyrics are mostly verbatim quotes from a video interview my great-grandfather did in 1997 for the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive." -Ilan Blanck
​

Sept. 10-11, 7:30 p.m. 
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200, St. Paul
$15 / $10 students & seniors
Tickets/Info

With winning songs from the 2021 Eric Stokes Song Contest plus music by local composer Michelle Kinney, Zeitgeist’s Playing it Close to Home concert celebrates the wealth of musical creativity found right here in our own backyard. The program includes music by Eric Stokes Song Contest winners Ilan Blanck, Julie Sweet, and Ellie Gold, plus the world premiere of new music composed for Zeitgeist by Michelle Kinney. 
​
*Seating is limited to allow for social distancing. Masks will be required and attendees must provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result from the previous 72 hours.*
​

Kirsten Hanninen is a songwriter and vocalist based in Shakopee, Minnesota. Kirsten has a BA in Music Education from Gustavus Adolphus College, where she studied voice with Shannon Stuckey and performed three of her original songs (which included string orchestra and piano accompaniment) at her Senior Vocal Recital.

From 2016-2019, Kirsten created and organized a teen Christian band from Eden Prairie, Minnesota named Bridge 33.  She wrote several songs for this band and her daughter is the violinist. Bridge 33 performed Kirsten's original songs at many events, including a performance as the opening band for a Jason Gray concert in Eden Prairie, the Minnesota State Fair Talent Contest, and the Southwest Minnesota Junior High Youth Gathering in Willmar. 

In 2017, Kirsten was honored to work with Minnesota’s gospel icon JD Steele (singer/songwriter/producer) and he produced two of her songs (His Love and Guiding Light). Six of Kirsten's songs are currently available on iTunes, Apple Music and all other major music sharing sites:  His Love, Wild, The King of Love, Holy Water, Prayer Song, and Risen (All the Angels Sing). 

Kirsten currently has 22 voice and piano students, teaches group fitness classes at Dakotah Sport and Fitness, and directs a Children’s Choir at Saint Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie.

Kirsten is one of four winners of Zeitgeist's 25th annual Eric Stokes Song Contest. Named in memory of late composer Eric Stokes, the contest is designed to encourage and celebrate amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. Kirsten's winning composition, Holy Water, will be featured on Zeitgeist's annual Playing it Close to Home concert, March 6-8 at Studio Z. 

In November 2018, Kirsten and her dog went for a walk. The rough sound of a new song started running through her head. Later, she finished writing Holy Water for Bridge 33 to perform at the “Bridge 33 Farewell Services” on May 19, 2019 at St. Andrew in Eden Prairie. (All 6 band members were seniors in high school and preparing to leave for different colleges.) After May 19, the song continued to evolve until the final recording session on August 5. Kirsten and a large team of people also created a music video for “Holy Water.” Check it out below! ​

Iris Hu is a ten-year-old pianist and fifth grade student at The Blake School in Minneapolis. She started playing piano at age 4 under the guidance of Jennifer Geise, and continued her training with Dr. Irina Elkina at MacPhail Center for Music. She began composing at age 9, under the guidance of Dr. Sarah Miller, also at MacPhail. Nirvana is her first composition, and was placed first in the Minnesota Junior Composers State Contest this year. Iris has performed at numerous MacPhail recitals including the Honors Recital, Master Class, and Crescendo Gala. Iris is a member of her school’s choir and recorder ensemble. In addition to music, Iris has many hobbies including art, drawing, digital art, semi-realist art, photography, fashion illustration, and math (to an extent). As a ballet dancer, she has performed in Loyce Houlton’s Nutcracker Fantasy and the Strawberry Festival.

Iris is the youth winner of Zeitgeist's 25th annual Eric Stokes Song Contest. Named in memory of late composer Eric Stokes, the contest is designed to encourage and celebrate amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. Iris will perform her winning composition, Nirvana (for solo piano), at Zeitgeist's annual Playing it Close to Home concert, March 6-8 at Studio Z. 

Iris explains her winning piece, Nirvana: 
"It wasn’t the kind of peace that came with material pursuits. It was peace in a new form, peace as you’d never seen it before, peace transcending money, happiness, and life itself. The peace blinded you with white, the little plane of existence on which you lived blank, waiting, ready for a new world to spring from the old world’s ashes. You forgot everything unimportant in that moment, the memories rushing out of your still body, lifeless yet so full of lively energy. Only the most profound whispers from your past remained, agreeing to stay until it was time to say goodbye. As you lay there, barely aware of your body and the cold, smooth surface beneath you, you let go. Finally let go, of the sentimental things in your old life, the hopes for your new one. You could feel yourself leaving the floor, floating, hovering above the ground, whooshing through the air, going to a new place beyond death, but you didn’t care anymore."