US-based New Zealand pianist Nicola Melville has been described as “having an original and intelligent musical mind” (Waikato Times), “a marvelous pianist who plays with splashy color but also exquisite tone and nuance” (American Record Guide), and “the sort of advocate any composer would love” (Dominion Post). Her live performances and recordings have been broadcast on Canadian, U.S., New Zealand, South African and Chinese radio, and she has been involved in numerous interdisciplinary projects with dancers, filmmakers and visual artists, including performances at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Recent performances include solo appearances and residencies in Chile, New Zealand, Ohio, Florida, Chicago, Vermont and New York City, and several collaborations with cellist Jeff Zeigler (formerly of the Kronos Quartet), violinist Chris Otto of the JACK quartet, and various members of the Minnesota, Detroit, Boston, and Saint Paul Chamber orchestras. Upcoming engagements will feature performances in Birka, Sweden, Helsinki, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, New York and a tour of New Zealand. She is also working on a multi-phased recording project with the prolific New Zealand/UK composer, Christopher Norton, and will be creating new works with Berlin-based media artist, Mark Coniglio.

Nicola attended Victoria University School of Music, Wellington, where she studied with Judith Clark, and then earned Masters and Doctorate degrees from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Rebecca Penneys. Nicola won both the National Concerto Competition and the Auckland Star Concerto Competition while in New Zealand, and has been a prizewinner in several competitions in the U.S., including being the winner of the SAI Concerto Competition at the Chautauqua Music Festival. While at Eastman, Nicola was awarded the Lizzie T. Mason prize for Outstanding Graduate Pianist, and the Performer’s Certificate. She has won grants from such organizations as Meet the Composer, Creative New Zealand, the Argosy Fund for Contemporary Music, and the Jerome Composers Commissioning Program for the commissioning and performance of new music. Nicola has recorded for the Innova and Equilibrium labels, including a CD of thirteen new solo pieces dedicated to her, entitled “Melville’s Dozen.” Nicola is Associate Professor at Carleton College, Minnesota, where she heads the piano and chamber music programs, and is Artistic Co-Director of the Chautauqua Music Festival Piano Program in New York. 

Zeitgeist and Caponi Art Park will team up to bring 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Luther Adams’ major workInuksuit to the Caponi Art Park Summer Performance Series on August 17. Before you go, Zeitgeist offers some background, insight, and clues for listening to and experiencing the work. 

Inuksuit is a 70-minute musical work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams. Adams lived for decades in Alaska, and the seasons and landscape of the arctic infuse his creative work. 
Inuksuit is written for percussionists and is to be experienced outdoors. It’s been performed in forests, urban parks, deserts, and even on a frozen lake. Inspired by large stone statues or markers that are found throughout Northern Canada and Alaska, Inuksuit will use sound (drums, cymbals, sirens, horns, conch shells, and shakers) to explore the topography of Caponi Art Park. In the process, the boundaries between our musical sounds and the sounds of nature are blurred, reminding us that we are children of the land upon which we walk. We are a part of nature just as the birds in the trees, and every bit as dependent on a healthy ecosystem for our survival.

Here are some clues for listening. There is no one way to experience Inuksuit. Musicians will be spread throughout the performance area. Some will be stationary, and others will move throughout the park. As a listener, you can wander the park, or you may choose to listen from just one place. While Inuksuit is a rather meditative piece, you (or your children) do not need to be silent or still. I suggest that you listen to the drummer closest to you, notice the sounds of the ones somewhat near at hand, and expand your awareness to take in the sounds of those Inuksuit drummers far away. Take it from there.

As we finish, performers will step away from their instruments one by one and join the audience. After a time, the last performer will fade out and we will let the sounds of nature take over. Applause will not be necessary. 


About John Luther Adams

Called "one of the most original musical thinkers of the new century" (Alex Ross, The New Yorker), John Luther Adams is a composer whose life and work are deeply rooted in the natural world. Adams composes for orchestra, chamber ensembles, percussion and electronic media, and his music is recorded on Cold Blue, New World, Mode, Cantaloupe, and New Albion. 

A recipient of the Heinz Award for his contributions to raising environmental awareness, Adams has also been honored with the Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University "for melding the physical and musical worlds into a unique artistic vision that transcends stylistic boundaries."