Spitting Image Collective, a dynamic group of up-and-coming composers formed in 2013, presents its second round of commissions this Saturday at Studio Z. The collective has commissioned five new works from a diverse mix of Twin Cities composers to be premiered at their push / bend / pull concerts on May 2, May 3, and June 11 in St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Featuring both seasoned veterans and inventive newcomers, the commissioned composers include Scott Miller, a leading voice in electro-acoustic music locally and nationwide, Joey Crane, a young new-complexity composer originally from Kansas City, and Spitting Image members Katherine Bergman, Ted Moore, and Daniel Nass.
Highlights of the program include:
Featuring both seasoned veterans and inventive newcomers, the commissioned composers include Scott Miller, a leading voice in electro-acoustic music locally and nationwide, Joey Crane, a young new-complexity composer originally from Kansas City, and Spitting Image members Katherine Bergman, Ted Moore, and Daniel Nass.
Highlights of the program include:
Raba by Scott Miller
In the fall of 2014, I visited Marimetsa Raba, an Estonian bog. A hike through a fairytale forest eventually leads to 11 kilometers of floating wood planks allowing you to walk across an immense bog, the result of thousands of years of decay, layer upon layer of peat built up a millimeter at a time. Marimetsa Raba is many meters thick, representing millenia of history; it is stitched together and compacted by time, floating in a vast nature reserve.
I was inspired by the idea of an immense surface that seems somehow empty, perhaps even simple, but when your eye is drawn to a detail, it leaps from the landscape. And once you begin to probe the surface, you discover a fantastically complex ecosystem above and below. In Raba, the percussionist is probing the tam1tam, revealing the interwoven partials that combine to create the sound we think of as the instrument. The alto flute, violin, cello, and electronics are tuned to reinforce, interact, and interfere with these partials revealed by the percussionist. The interaction of all these elements activates the room, causing a pulsing, living audio experience in the performance space.
In the fall of 2014, I visited Marimetsa Raba, an Estonian bog. A hike through a fairytale forest eventually leads to 11 kilometers of floating wood planks allowing you to walk across an immense bog, the result of thousands of years of decay, layer upon layer of peat built up a millimeter at a time. Marimetsa Raba is many meters thick, representing millenia of history; it is stitched together and compacted by time, floating in a vast nature reserve.
I was inspired by the idea of an immense surface that seems somehow empty, perhaps even simple, but when your eye is drawn to a detail, it leaps from the landscape. And once you begin to probe the surface, you discover a fantastically complex ecosystem above and below. In Raba, the percussionist is probing the tam1tam, revealing the interwoven partials that combine to create the sound we think of as the instrument. The alto flute, violin, cello, and electronics are tuned to reinforce, interact, and interfere with these partials revealed by the percussionist. The interaction of all these elements activates the room, causing a pulsing, living audio experience in the performance space.
Pinning a Shred by Joey Crane
"Blank wall. So nightly. Up. Socks. Nightgown. Window. Lamp. Backs away to edge of light and stands facing blank wall. Covered with pictures once. Pictures of...he all but said of loved ones. Unframed. Unglazed. Pinned to wall with drawing-pins. All shapes and sizes. Down one after another. Gone. Torn to shreds and scattered. Strewn all over the floor. Not at one sweep. No sudden fit of...no word. Ripped from the wall and torn to shreds one by one. Over the years. Years of nights. Nothing on the wall now but the pins. Not all. Some out with the wrench. Some still pinning a shred."
--Samuel Beckett, A Piece of Monologue
"Blank wall. So nightly. Up. Socks. Nightgown. Window. Lamp. Backs away to edge of light and stands facing blank wall. Covered with pictures once. Pictures of...he all but said of loved ones. Unframed. Unglazed. Pinned to wall with drawing-pins. All shapes and sizes. Down one after another. Gone. Torn to shreds and scattered. Strewn all over the floor. Not at one sweep. No sudden fit of...no word. Ripped from the wall and torn to shreds one by one. Over the years. Years of nights. Nothing on the wall now but the pins. Not all. Some out with the wrench. Some still pinning a shred."
--Samuel Beckett, A Piece of Monologue
Très Furias by Daniel Nass
Très Furias was inspired by a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition I visited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Part of the installation focused on what the artist called furias, or “intense obsessions with certain performers who would enthrall him for a single season or several years.” In Très Furias, I focus on three musical ‘obsessions’ in the form of three different collections of pitches.
Très Furias was inspired by a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition I visited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Part of the installation focused on what the artist called furias, or “intense obsessions with certain performers who would enthrall him for a single season or several years.” In Très Furias, I focus on three musical ‘obsessions’ in the form of three different collections of pitches.
bend to the light by Katherine Bergman
Trees are the tallest, most massive, longest-living organisms ever to grow on earth. These remarkably resilient and resourceful beings, though often taken for granted, should be admired for their ability to fend off stress and strain, and can act as a source of inspiration amid human conflict. In the face of danger, these unique living systems add strength to their structure, compartmentalize decay, and bend to the light.
Trees are the tallest, most massive, longest-living organisms ever to grow on earth. These remarkably resilient and resourceful beings, though often taken for granted, should be admired for their ability to fend off stress and strain, and can act as a source of inspiration amid human conflict. In the face of danger, these unique living systems add strength to their structure, compartmentalize decay, and bend to the light.
The Lotus Flower by Ted Moore
An electroacoustic work for violin, saxophone, cello, vibraphone, and SuperCollider.
An electroacoustic work for violin, saxophone, cello, vibraphone, and SuperCollider.
Spitting Image Collective
push / bend / pull
| Saturday, May 2 7:30 p.m. (pre-concert composer interviews 7 p.m.) Studio Z: 275 E. 4th St., Suite 200, St. Paul Sunday, May 3 7:30 p.m. (pre-concert composer interviews 7 p.m.) Honey: 205 E. Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis Thursday, June 11 7:30 p.m. Dreamland Arts: 677 Hamline Ave N, St Paul $15 / $10 students Tickets & Info |  |
New works by Twin Cities composers Scott Miller, Joey Crane, Daniel Nass, Ted Moore, and Katherine Bergman. Performed by James DeVoll, flute; Jeffery Kyle Hutchins, saxophone; Erika Blanco, violin; Carlynn Savot, cello; Jeremy Johnston, percussion; Stan Rothrock, conductor.
Come early on May 2-3 for pre-concert composer interviews at 7 p.m. with Charlie McCarron, host of the Composer Quest podcast.
Come early on May 2-3 for pre-concert composer interviews at 7 p.m. with Charlie McCarron, host of the Composer Quest podcast.
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