Minnesota composer and vocalist Shruthi Rajasekar is trained in Carnatic (South Indian classical) and Western classical music, and explores cultural identity in her music. Shruthi studied composition at Princeton University and is currently pursuing music in the UK as a 2018 Marshall Scholar.

​In 2009, at the age of twelve, Shruthi won the youth division of the Eric Stokes Song Contest with her original composition entitled A Memory. Shruthi shares her song contest experience with us reflects on its impact on her music career. 

​Hello!

My name is Shruthi Rajasekar, and I'm a Minnesotan composer and vocalist. I'm currently living in London as a Marshall Scholar, where I am "reading" for a master's degree in Ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London; next year, I'll be doing another degree in composition. I'm a product of the Wayzata Public Schools, and did my undergraduate work at Princeton University. In other words, I like school! 

During the winter of 2008-2009, I did something that kinda changed my life--I submitted one of my ditties to the Eric Stokes Song Contest. The word "composition" was wholly foreign. I wrote some tunes, but I only performed them for myself; they were a part of my private "play" world.

A little about me: I began my studies in Carnatic (South Indian classical) music. My mom, Nirmala Rajasekar, is a veena player and Carnatic singer, so my education probably began in the womb! I wasn't the best singer, but I loved Indian music theory, and I made up little exercises. I also studied some piano; I was not very good at practicing the repertoire, but I really liked making my own songs. This did not translate to sight-reading/notational skills; I was basically an aural musician... and I'll get back to that in a moment. 

So, the Eric Stokes Song Contest. I learned about this amazing contest through Zeitgeist virtuoso Heather Barringer. Before, I'd never thought that (1) what I did was capital-M Music and (2) others would want to hear my "Music." And so my submission--that is, sending my piece to the judges-- was the very first time I'd ever shared myself in that uniquely emotive way. 

In fact, everything about the submission process was an exercise in growth. First, though my lovely mother has always paved the way for my musical happiness, I did this contest solo: she was touring internationally when I made my submission, and my dear (poor) dad had to teach me how to mail it in. As I mentioned earlier, I did not "do" staff notation, so I made a recording of my piano piece instead. It was the first time I'd ever used a recorder. I had this part-toy thing (bless its heart) that didn't pick up much sound, and let me tell you--I needed several takes. I'd also never written a bio before, probably because there was literally n.o.t.h.i.n.g. to put into it, so I created an actual biography of my young life (think math competitions and a lengthy explanation of my given name). As for the program note, see below... and please note the spelling error:

Enter the Eric Stokes Song Contest by Dec. 28, 2018. 
Zeitgeist welcomes song submissions (any type of musical composition) from youth and adult amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. ​
​Details

Boston-based acoustic double-neck guitarist and composer Ian Ethan Case is quickly becoming recognized as “one of the most creative and engaging fingerstyle guitarists in the world” (International Center for Creativity.) His latest live project, PORTALS, will be presented at Studio Z on Sunday, Nov. 11. PORTALS expands on Case's creativity in the form of his "Photon Symphony," an intricate system of synchronized projections which enable a large cast of musicians to virtually join him on stage in a unique blend of virtual reality and live performance.

Inspired in part by his many performances in the Boston Museum of Science planetarium, the PORTALS project was primarily born out of Case’s newest album Earth Suite, which features twelve musicians from all over the globe and combines elements of Arabic, flamenco, jazz, classical, and Brazilian music with the energetic minimalism and rhythmic sophistication Case is becoming known for. “A lot of the musicians on the album, and really a lot of musicians today period, are simply not in a position to go on tour for several months at a time, and even if they were, we’re just not at a level yet where we could afford to bring 12 musicians on the road. But I really wanted people to hear these incredibly unique, one-of-a-kind instrumentalists, and I also really want people to hear these songs the way they’re meant to be heard, with the full orchestration.”

Case’s wife, live sound and electronics specialist Stephanie Case, has for years played a crucial role in bringing to life concerts that, in terms of scope, significantly exceed expectations for a solo performance. “For the past several years we’ve really tried to stretch the solo format as far as possible, and Stephanie has taken live looping and live sound design to the next level in an effort to communicate these songs as fully as we could. But the newer songs really demand the unique qualities of the specific musicians on the album, and we were hungry to break out of the looping box entirely. The constraints we were faced with ended up leading us to this whole new concept for what a live concert experience can be.”

Visiting artist Matthew Bengtson will present a solo piano recital at Studio Z on Sunday, Nov. 4th featuring new works by Evan Chambers, Marcus Blunt, Jennifer Higdon, Ron Thomas, and Chiayu Hsu in addition to Debussy's Preludes Book II in honor of the 100th anniversary of the composer's death. We interviewed Bengtson to learn more about him and his concert program. 
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Your concert at Studio Z will feature new works for piano plus Debussy Preludes. Tell us a bit about the new works you're performing. Have you had a chance to work with any of the composers? 

​Let me begin by describing the program of new works. I know and have worked with all these composers.

I am opening with "torn" by Evan Chambers. Evan is on our composition faculty at Michigan. This piece was one of a group of compositions commissioned to commemorate the early passing of William Albright, a brilliant composer and a mentor and friend of Chambers, among others. Albright had a Jekyll-and-Hyde-like personality; he could be very sweet, caring and warm, but he could also be irrational, confrontational, and nasty. Especially in his later years, he descended into alcoholism, which may have caused, and certainly exacerbated this split personality. This extremely violent piece, with a heart-rending middle section, is quite vivid in depicting both this torn personality, and our attempts to deal with his life or his premature death. I promise that this piece will get everyone's attention!

The next pieces are a group of miniatures by English composer Marcus Blunt. Marcus and I met digitally (though not yet in person) through our mutual interest in Scriabin, and the many elements of Scriabin's harmonic language. It uses the piano's resonance in an attractive way. The fantasy on the name of Gabriel Fauré takes as a melodic line the musical letters of Fauré's name. It's one of several Blunt compositions governed by this principle. Both it and the Nocturnes have their moments of drama, but they will be heard in this program as a lyrical counterpart to the Chambers opening salvo. These are my first performances of Blunt's music.

Jennifer Higdon's Notes of Gratitude was commissioned for a concert "Notes of Thanks" on the occasion of Linda Reichert's retirement from many years of directing Philadelphia's distinguished "Network for New Music" ensemble. Reichert was among the first to commission Higdon (and numerous other commissions were to follow). This relationship could be seen as the beginning of Higdon's distinguished career. In "Notes of Gratitude" the piano is divided into two instruments, one sounding conventional, resonant triadic sounds, and second giving a percussive sound given by stopped notes in the middle register. The piece has an aura of festivity and also one of sadness, reflecting that this chapter has come to a close. I gave the premiere of the work last April and will not forget the lively time we spent working on the piece.

Ron Thomas is a distinguished Classical and jazz pianist, and Classical and jazz composer, teacher and improviser from the Philadelphia area. His Classical training led to training under Stockhausen, but Thomas found a new direction in his encounter with Bill Evans, Miles Davis, and the jazz tradition. These Five Pieces for Piano are attractive pieces written in the manner of late-Romantic piano miniatures as by Brahms or Liszt, with some crossing into a popular idiom. In a number of these pieces, Thomas delights in exploring the tensions between chromatic voices, leading us to ever unexpected tonal regions. The conclusions of these pieces arise from their harmonic and dramatic logic, but they typically come as surprises nonetheless.

Chiayu Hsu is a Taiwanese-American composer on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. I heard her Rhapsody-Toccata on an extraordinary recording at the International Conference of the College Music Society in Sydney, Australia. The performance was effective, but since the recording suffered from poor audio, I was interested to take up the piece, so I could give an audience a live experience of the work in the danger of live performance (and live performance IS dangerous in this piece!). The piece is an attempt to combine two pianistic virtuoso styles: the brilliant, fast-driving toccata style, and the Gershwinesque free, rhapsodic style. The piece is a great deal of fun and full of charm, even a little quixotic, but it is also extremely difficult. It will bring this part of the recital to an exciting close!

I learned the Debussy Preludes Book II as part of a semester's focus on Debussy at Michigan. I'll be playing this set at three other venues this fall. Debussy is likely the most important father of 20th and 21st century musical styles, always questioning traditions and exploring many fresh new ideas. He made possible many stylistic breakthroughs. This second book of Preludes represented a turn towards his later style, in which his more familiar "Impressionism" meets the Stravinsky style of Petrushka. There are various threads of connection one might find between Debussy and the other part of the recital. For example, there are the crosses between traditional art music and vernacular music, such as we find in Chambers, Thomas and Hsu in particular. In just this collection of Preludes, Debussy borrows from cakewalk in "General Lavine" and from the habanera in "La Puerta del Vino." He quotes excerpts from a Brahms Liebeslieder Waltz, from "The Rite of Spring," from a children's song "Au clair de la lune," from "God Save the Queen," and even the "Marseillaise." ​Debussy perfected the art of the inconclusive ending, reflecting the symbolist's credo of suggesting and evoking, rather than explicitly describing. You can hear the influence in Blunt and Thomas especially.


You are composer in addition to being a pianist. How does your work as a composer inform your compositions, and how does your experience as a performer inform your composing? 

I am no longer an active composer, but from my experience, I understand the struggle to notate on paper the kind of gesture one makes on the piano. Notation can't capture all the nuances of a musical performance. Composers usually want us performers to respect and examine, and then go beyond the notation to create something fresh. I especially enjoy the opportunity to work with composers, as I have on this program. I like the opportunity to engage with them about what they are trying to achieve in their music. That frees me to go beyond the notation and gives me full confidence to communicate their vision.


Anything else you would like to add about yourself or your concert? 
​
About myself, I would just say that I'm an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, where I teach courses and seminars in Piano Literature, studio piano, and also historical performance on early keyboard instruments. I'm best known as an interpreter of Scriabin and Szymanowski, and my outside interests include golf, tennis, chess, and go.

​What is the Rimon Artist Salon series, and how long have you been doing it?

Amazingly this is the 12th year of the series. The Salons began as a way to explore how artists interpret or come to terms with the world that we all live in. What are their methods to grapple with an idea? How do they develop their art work? What inspires it? What technologies do they use? Different Salons generate different questions, of course. There have been forty-five Salons to date, investigating dance, photography, slam poetry, popular music, puppetry, glass arts, fiction, multimedia installation, film, architecture, theater, painting, video, non-fiction, and interdisciplinary work too. It turns out that the arts-loving public is hungry for these intimate conversations. I call it “lifting the veil.”
 
How is this different from an artist’s talk?

It’s meant to be a dialogue, not an information dump. One or two artists present some of their work, and a dialogue partner (aka moderator) starts to stir the conversational pot with them. The Salons are always built around an idea and are meant to be public conversations in which everyone in the room walks out having learned something, including the artists. The format is simple and dynamic, and the audience plays a big role in the conversation. I like to say that the best idea in the room is usually sitting in the audience.                                                 
 
Tell us about Lisa Gutkin and how you became familiar with her work. 

I first encountered Lisa Gutkin in her work as the violinist in the amazing band The Klezmatics. They’ve performed in the Twin Cities a lot over the years. Few bands have had the staying power and enduring creativity of this ensemble. Then I started hearing about a remarkable theater piece in New York called Indecent. Everyone seemed to be blown away by the show. Lisa had created the music for it. When the Guthrie did its wonderful production of Indecent last winter, Lisa played in the show along with two other great musicians: Pat O’Keefe and Spencer Chandler. The music provided some of the most memorable moments of the evening for me and was brilliantly integrated into the flow of the show. Later in the year I met Lisa at Spencer’s home and found out that she would be back in Minnesota in October. That brings us to the present moment.
 
What is the story behind "The Trail Forward"? 

This is a very personal project for Lisa and is very much in development—a work-in-progress. Its working title is “The Trail Forward,” and it’s about growing up with eighty-five Jewish, outdoor-loving, garment worker, leftist grandparents. It delves into the multilingual, politically radical village assembled by these immigrants who were mostly Eastern European Jews. The community’s evolution over time has become a metaphor for their assimilation into American life. Lisa is terrifically excited to get her musical ideas and some of the show’s characters in front of an audience to see what’s working or what could work better.
 
So what’s the idea in this Salon that you referred to?

Music has the power to reflect and ignite change in the culture. Artists have a role to play in shaping the world, and we all need to get busy.

Lisa Gutkin--composer, multi-instrumentalist, and violinist in The Klezmatics--offers a first hearing of her music-theater work-in-progress, "The Trail Forward," about growing up with 85 lefty, Jewish, outdoor-loving garment worker grandparents. Rabbi Arielle Lekach-Rosenberg joins Lisa in conversation about making change through collective action and the power of music to ignite it. ​

Todd Harper (composer/piano/director) and Jun Miyake (metal & bamboo flutes) will come together for their second collaborative tour this fall, starting with a performance at Studio Z on Thursday, Oct. 18 featuring seven premieres by Harper contemplating the relationship with humans and their environment. We interviewed Harper to find out more about the project: 
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​How did your collaboration with Jun Miyake get started and how has it evolved?

​Jun and I met at our SGI Florida Nature & Culture Center in September 2016.  We started talking in the lunch line:  
"What do you do?” I asked.
"I play free jazz.“
"No kidding! No one admits to that anymore!"

We resolved to play together. We had our first tour in the fall of 2017, playing Studio Z, Phalen Poetry Park, a barn, and a club. This ended with recording a CD, Before Dawn. When I think of it, I am amazed at how we came together having never played before. Jun and I decided to do this again. Studio Z is the first stop of our 5-day, 6-event tour.  We will also play Phalen Poetry Park, the barn, Jazz Central, and end at the East Side Freedom Library. And, yes, we will record again!
 
Tell us about Musical Ecology.

This is a hard question! Part of Musical Ecology is an aesthetic/philosophic statement, which I am still developing. I am going to leave it to your curiosity to define it! This music is not "classical," not "jazz." Actually, it doesn’t really matter what I call it. For ASCAP, there are two categories: "serious" and "popular."  This music is not "popular!" So I guess this is serious music. Musical Ecology is the name of this ensemble.
 
Who is in the ensemble? 

For this ensemble I am bridging two different musical streams in my musical life: composing and improvising. The musicians I chose for this project have  a wide range of complimentary strengths. Jun Miyake is touring in Japan with pioneering drummer Pheeroan akLaff, in his "Dear Freedom" ensemble. They have collaborated for several years. Jun lives in New York City, and performs with a wide variety of musicians.

Musical Ecology is Todd Harper, composer/piano/director; Jun Miyake, metal & bamboo flutes, tenor saxophone; Aaron Kerr, acoustic/electric cello; Eric Coursen, drums/percussion. All of these musicians performed with Jun last year, but not as the same unit. Drummer Eric Coursen and I have a long history. We played together in “The Seekers of Beauty” from 1988 to 1993, and reconnected in 2015. You can find Eric playing for Haitian dance classes, and playing in Brazilian, Cuban, & West African ensembles. Cellist Aaron Kerr also has many hats as member of The Modern Spark Trio (classical) his band Dissonant Creatures (original rock.) We also collaborate with Eric in The Open Air Trio. Aaron plays cello and electric cello, which can take a bass or a soloist role. When I have a paying gig, Aaron and Eric are the first people I call. We have a book of original and interesting tunes to play for cafes, Farmer’s markets, and private functions. 
 
How do you and Jun Miyake collaborate long distance? 

It’s kind of an odd process, and we are defining it as we go along. For this ensemble, I tend to write more music than we could possibly play, and then edit it down in rehearsal to find the essential elements. What remains are vehicles for engaging inventions. My tendency has been to bring in more of my musical friends, to make things bigger, but at the moment, I am going deeper with a smaller unit.

Tell us about the theme and the various new pieces for "Ending the war on trees."

While there are many great musical works which are not programmatic, I tend to write about topics. Shiny voracious Beetles addressed the attackers of my plum and cherry trees. Snake River Trail is a tone poem about a walk in humid hot woods before a thunderstorm. Forgotten Forests is an evocative work regarding the forests which exist only in our memory. However, in these serious times, we need to lift our spirits. I am ending with the idea of resilience, “ Old tree, laughing in the blizzard”. At the end of the concert, we will have a short dialogue about the connection between ecology and music.

Clocks in Motion builds many of its own instruments. Tell us about these instruments and how they are used in performance. 

Clocks in Motion has built many instruments over the years. Our most notable instruments include:

• Quarimba - a four-octave marimba tuned 1/4 step flat. This instrument when paired with a traditional marimba creates a 24-tone chromatic scale.
• Sixxen - These instruments are constructed from aluminum channel. There are six sets of these instruments all tuned within 3/4 tones from one another. This results in wild mixing over-tones when all six sets are played together. These instruments are necessary for performing Xenakis' symphony-length percussion sextet, Pleiades.
• Galvitone - This instrument consists of 88 tuned galvanized pipes. We will be using a small selection of these pipes in our Studio Z performance. They create a ringing, chime-like sound.
• Found percussion objects - Tin cans, rattles, conch shells, toys, cricket-callers, and other gadgets will be used in John Cage's Third Construction during this concert.

​Most percussionists double as "inventors" of some type. We are always figuring out new ways to combine our instruments to create new sounds and textures. Finding the "right" sound is always an adventure as we swap mallets and move instruments into different setups. The instruments that we have built as an ensemble always serve to perform specific works of music and also inspire new composers to write for these unique sounds. Although our repertoire at Studio Z does not feature many of our hand-made instruments, it will still feature our inventiveness and general approach to performing.

​
Atomic, Atomic by Andrew Rindfleisch was written for Clocks in Motion and will be performed at Studio Z. How did this collaboration come about and how has it evolved? 

Andrew Rindfleisch has been a long-time supporter and friend of Clocks in Motion. Rindfleisch invited Clocks in Motion to perform at Cleveland State University back in 2013 and we have had an ongoing relationship since then. A few years ago, Rindfleisch came to a Clocks in Motion performance in Madison and he approached me about wanting to write us a marimba quartet. After some negotiation, I convinced him to write a "mallet quartet" instead of a marimba quartet. The mallet quartet instrumentation is two vibraphones and two marimbas and is becoming more or less a "standard" instrumentation for the percussion quartet. Much of our music is centered in that setup. The great thing about the mallet quartet is that you get to take advantage of the huge range of the marimba and have the fantastic resonance of the vibraphone. It just frees the composer up to do a lot more with the texture. Also, as a touring ensemble, it's important for Clocks in Motion to consider common instrumentation across our repertoire. That way, we can transport our instruments in a truck and have everything fit. We tend to always tour with two marimbas and two vibraphones, so having Rindfleisch write for that instrumentation allows us to perform his piece frequently.

Atomic Atomic, Rindfleisch's resulting mallet quartet, is an in-depth study of the sonic and dynamic capabilities of the ensemble. The title refers to the attraction and repulsion of subatomic particles. We find the piece to be extremely effective and evocative. Each performer is required to have no less than 5 different combinations of mallets of various hardness that we switch between throughout the composition. It really shows off the wide variety of sounds that can be produced on the instruments.


What else can you tell us about the music on the program? 

Third Construction, John Cage's 1941 percussion quartet masterpiece, features entirely non-pitched percussion instruments. 

Glitz! by Bejorn Berkhout is a wacky percussion quartet featuring Matthew Coley on hammered dulcimer. This piece is a sort of tone poem depicting a casino with a person having a heart-attack after winning big.

Fantezie by Sergiu Cretu is a tour de force featuring Matthew Coley on hammered dulcimer playing traditional Eastern European music.

Mechanical Ballet by Anders Koppel is loosely based on George Anthiel's Ballet Mechanique. This fun composition has a chromatic jazzy language and rhythmic complexity.

Gravity by Marc Mellits was written for Clocks in Motion in 2013 as part of a consortium of various percussion groups. This post-minimalist mallet quartet has become a staple of our repertoire.

We are also playing three movements from Threads by Paul Lansky. This moody piece combines pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments in an ever-changing sonic landscape. This piece features loud, complex drumming alongside, quiet serene Arias.

Clocks in Motion is a percussion quartet from Madison, Wisconsin, specializing in new music from living composers, classical repertoire from the 20th century, and experimental sounds with hand made instruments. They seek to inspire new audiences, educate people within the percussive and musical arts, and generate meaningful lasting collaborations with composers and other artists. ​

Visiting artists Chartreuse will perform a concert of new music for string trio at Studio Z on Saturday, July 14, featuring works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Leah Asher, Kaija Saariaho, and Henry Purcell. Violinist Myra Hinrichs shares a preview... 
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Because we live in different parts of the country, in the summer we converge on a single place and learn a bunch of music in a very short period of time. So that’s what we’re doing right now! In this show you’ll hear pieces from past seasons, as well as fresh picks from this week! When we commission pieces, we like to go back and forth with ideas about sounds and then see how the composer organizes those into a form. They can adjust based on how we play their in-process ideas so the piece really fits our group. The pieces where we are part of the process and we feel like we have agency often become our favorites. It’s exciting to grow the string trio corner of the repertoire with music by composers we admire. 

Growing up playing classical music, we did a lot of research to find out what composers were thinking and how they wanted their music to sound. When we play new music, we know exactly what they want, and we’re the ones who get to create the style book for musicians of the future. 

Myra Hinrichs
​Violinist, Chartreuse String Trio

July 14  •  8 p.m.   •  $10
Details

Chartreuse string trio is violinist Myra Hinrichs (Chicago), violist Carrie Frey (New York City), and cellist Helen Newby (San Francisco). The tricoastal trio pools the strengths of their cities of residence, commissioning new works from composers across the globe and collaborating with fellow performers. Chartreuse is uniquely committed to repeat performances and developing the string trio repertoire through adventurous commissions. Cleveland Classical described the trio in concert as "a maelstrom almost tactile in its grittiness." 

Questions for Davu Seru:

​How did this collaboration with Thollem and the other artists for June 15-16 come about? 

The residency at Studio Z has provided a convenient opportunity for me to bring some of my favorite fellow improvisers into what is--acoustically speaking--my favorite space to perform.   

Though there are people who would blur the distinctions between improvised and composed music, I view the methods to be different. Composing for the page is, in part, about posterity--it is a way to project ourselves onto a future--a future which we assume will require lessons from the past. These performances are an effort to remain true to my roots as an improviser. They are an affirmation of what it means to be alive now, with others, as if that were all there is. 

How do you choose who to improvise with and what makes a good improvisatory collaboration? 

People should listen to one another, and these musicians do. But how to respond? These musicians have made it their priority to compose in living time; which requires an adeptness at drawing from one's surroundings to make something new, faced with the urgency of now.   And what they bring to the ritual are unique, musically informed voices, a wealth of experience, technical range and the confidence to risk everything. ​
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Questions for Thollem McDonas:

You have traveled to the Twin Cities several times in the past few years for solo performances and collaborations with local improvisers. What brings you back? What new relationships have formed from your visits?

I tour perpetually, so the Twin Cities are on my yearly route, more or less. This time, Davu Seru has brought me back as part of his residency at Studio Z. Davu is a remarkable musician, thinker and human being, and my relationship with him has been important to me. He's a curious person and artist and stands firm in his world views, writing eloquently about his informed opinions and ideas. He's a very responsive and fluid drummer/percussionist who hears the whole picture and nuance of every sonic moment in an improvised music setting. I also have good friends and family who live here, so it's always a bit of a homecoming for me!

Tell us about your "artistic and political commitment to egalitarian precesses" and how it plays out in your work. 

For over a decade, I have been perpetually traveling, primarily focusing on improvised music and short-term collaborations. We are fortunate to live in a time with this concept of free improvisation that gives us the ability to connect with our fellow human beings in deep and immediate ways. One of the foremost concepts of free improvisation is that each individual musician's voice has something integral to offer the situation regardless of their experience level; each member of the group is respected for what they are able to bring and are solely responsible for the choices they make every moment along the way. This is a practice that I believe is important for civic life in a society. It's not a matter that everyone is equal; I do believe that experience and mastery of an instrument should be highly respected. At the same time, everyone's perspective has some validity, and everyone is capable of bringing something unique that can enlighten everyone.

I also believe that art is crucial to a healthy society, and by traveling perpetually, I am able to help make connections between communities, sometimes within the same town or city and sometime across national borders. My partner ACVilla and I have also dedicated ourselves to documenting artists as well as the focused work artists do in their communities through our project, Artists Engaged.

At this moment, my focus is in transition and this will actually be the last improvised music concert for me for some time. I have been developing several solo projects: Hot Pursuit Of Happiness, that I'll be touring for a couple of months leading up to the mid-term elections, and Technicolor Grey Zone, a project playing live scores to the films of 6 filmmakers. So, this concert will be a sort of swan song for me and this period of my life. It feels very appropriate, playing with Davu and the ensemble he's brought together.

Friday, June 8, Studio Z will be home to four performances highlighting the relationship between sound and image presented by Nada. A total of five artists will showcase solo and collaborative approaches to audiovisual performance using computational processes. The works presented demonstrate an interest in digital synthesis, improvisation, and generative systems. Headlining the event will be Pittsburgh’s Spednar and REW, with opening acts from local artists Kindohm, John Keston, and Michael Flora.

Spednar aka Kevin Bednar uses live coding methodologies to create poly-rythmic and microtonal compositions often employing an improvised and impromptu approach. His recent works have included both installation and curatorial projects. In 2016 he composed an original soundscape for Dennis Maher's A Second Home installation piece at Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory. Spednar has also curated events for the VIA Music and New Media Festival, at Wood Street Gallery and for Pittsburgh's Cultural Trust.

REW (Rachel Wagner) is a new media artist who has exhibited work at experimental film festivals in the United States and internationally. Her video works use abstraction, distortion, and ethereal textures to inspire awe and curiosity in the viewer. REW’s videos have been projected onto the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh via The Drift Project, and in Carnegie Mellon University's Gates-Hillman Center. She works as a VJ, freelance videographer, video editor, and animator.

What is a cimbalom and how did you become interested in specializing in cimbalom performance?
 
The cimbalom is a type of dulcimer, in the zither/chordophone family, that originates from Central-Eastern Europe. It is trapezoidal in shape with strings stretched across the top. It has a dampening pedal that is much like the pedal system of the piano or vibraphone. The dulcimers that I've had a long interest in are hammered dulcimers, and most countries in the northern hemisphere have a traditional hammered dulcimer that is integral to the folk music; the German Hackbrett, the Chinese Yangqin, the Persian Santoor, etc. The performer utilizes different stick-shaped hammers that widen at the striking end; bare wood, with a rawhide strip, or wrapped in cotton in the case of the traditional cimbalom hammer. 

In the late 19th century the Hungarian instrument maker, Josef Schunda, developed the 'concert' cimbalom, the one you will hear on my concert at Studio Z on April 22nd. He was interested in improving on the common regional/folk instruments already in circulation in order to solidify this particular zither within a strong Hungarian national identity in the classical music of the area. The cimbalom is offered as an instrument for study in the conservatories of Hungary and cimbalom players are often the leaders of the folk ensembles and orchestras of the region. An extremely influential moment for me was when I got to see a concert by the Moldavian National Folk Orchestra in Chisinau, Moldova. The leaders and central focus of the group were the two cimbalom players alternating between the melody, improvisation, and common accompaniment doubled by the 'rhythm' section; the viola, accordion, and bass. Stage right there were six violins and stage left there were a combination of clarinets, ocarinas, pan flutes, and possibly other winds. They played for three hours straight, full volume, fast and furious, with the audience clapping along the whole time!


What cimbalom music should we look forward to hearing on the 22nd? 

I will perform traditional and classical music of Eastern Europe. It was somewhat common for composers of that region to add cimbalom to their symphonic orchestral music. Stravinsky, Bartok, and Kodaly are the main three from the turn of the century. I've created a version with piano of the Song and Intermezzo movements from Kodaly's Hary Janos Suite that featuring the cimbalom more than it does in the original orchestral version. We will also perform two traditional dulcimer tunes from Moldova, Fantezie on American hammered dulcimer, and Briu on the cimbalom. We will also perform two movements from the Hungarian Dances by Brahms. These come from a version for cello and piano that I've adapted for the cimbalom.


Tell us about your project of performing Book 2 from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier on the marimba. How did this project come about and what will it entail? 

This project reflects a path I started down early on with solo marimba performance. I've always had a fascination with fugues and complex contrapuntal works. I've written several modern fugues for myself and commissioned composers to write them for solo marimba. Along the way (since 1998) I've been playing movements from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier. There are also some large-scale marimba solos that I've tackled over the years that reflect this interest: Nereus by Jeffrey Holmes, Night and Fugue by Ben Phelps, my own Concealed Chambers, Trois Tableaux by Tobias Brostrom, and of course Khan Variations by Alejandro Vinao. I think I was originally drawn to the WTCii because it seemed to be uncharted territory following much of the Bach performing that Vida Chenoweth and Leigh Howard Stevens did on marimba. I also realized early on that a soloist could potentially play every movement in the work with almost no alterations. After some 'false' starts, and performing some of the movements individually along the way, I officially 'launched' the project in 2017 with performing five preludes and fugues, 10 movements. I will attempt to add 6-8 movements each season, and in five years or so I hope to have worked my way through the whole collection of 48 pieces and recorded much of it! Additionally, one day I would like to commission a collection of several modernized Preludes/Interludes and Fugues by multiple composers. 

The modern fugues I've commissioned/written and premiered include:
Fugue on a Chromatic Subject by Bjorn Berkhout
Four Etudes and Fugues by Andrew Ardizzoia
Superfluous I and II, Pentagonal Arabesque, Crazy Characters, and III. Cortex from Concealed Chambers by Matthew Coley
Fugue Odyssey by Dolores White