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

Over the last 18 months Pancake7 has collaborated on Linesmasher shows with artists as diverse as Dead People Particles; spoken word artist IBé; emcee Katana Da Don and poet Sharon Chmielarz; dancer and choreographer Dolo McComb; and singer/songwriter Zen Anton. No two Linesmasher events look or sound the same. We aren’t quite sure what April 21 will look and sound like. But, as we like to tell ourselves: if we’re not a little unsure and a little scared about what is going to happen then we’re clearly not turning the steering wheel hard enough left.  Don’t stay in your lane. ​

What is the Celtic Collective? 

The Celtic Collective is a group of Irish musicians from across the US, many from Minnesota, who I gathered together to record my compositions based on the early life of St. Patrick, which accompany the audiobook and illustrated text called The Boy Patrick. It is the story of the young boy who became St. Patrick; his daring adventures as a slave in ancient Ireland,  and his escape to freedom and his love of the Irish people.

What does the Boy Patrick story mean to you? 

It's a story of courage, coming of age, the birth of compassion in the heart of a young boy, and the triumph over obstacles that seem insurmountable. It is an uplifting tale that resonates into the present day.

How did you decide to create a multimedia audiobook project based on the story? 

The story balances the kind of revelry that is typical of St Patrick's day with the authentic facts about the life of St. Patrick, told in an entertaining way with the authentic instruments of Ireland's musical language. Our goal is to reinforce the celebration by offering some depth and insight for all ages to enjoy.

Who are the artists and musicians who worked on this project, and how did the collaborative process work between all of you? 
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We are lucky enough to include two veterans from Riverdance on the recording, namely Katie McMahon and Pat Mangan, who recorded harp and fiddle respectively. Among the Minnesota musicians we had Jode Dowling, Tom Klein, John McCormick and Amy Shaw. In San Diego we had Mairtin De Cogain recording Bodhran. We are lucky enough to live in an age where recordings can be sent back and forth online, thereby allowing Pat in New York and Mairtin in California to contribute to the project. 

Anything else you would like to add? 

It's been a great pleasure to collaborate with such fine musicians on a such a worthwhile project and we can't wait to share it with the world, starting in St. Paul on April 15.
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​The Celtic Collective proudly presents THE BOY PATRICK - The story of a boy who became a saint. Told in music, words and pictures.

This unique project is comprised of an audiobook telling the true adventures of the boy who grew to become St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint. It is his true tale of capture, slavery, escape and determination against all odds. 

The CD Audiobook also includes a musical soundtrack written and recorded by artists from Riverdance as well as local traditional Irish musicians. The full score is played on the authentic instruments of Ireland. It  is accompanied by a fully illustrated read-along book, which also offers background to the musicians involved in the project plus the instruments used.

The event will include live music, excerpts from the book and projections of the illustrations. Performances scheduled throughout the day. 

Esteemed Minnesota composer Scott L. Miller discusses the story and process behind his new CD/DVD entitled Raba, coming March 16 on New Focus Recordings. The Raba CD/DVD release show featuring Scott L. Miller and Dan Lippel is this Saturday, March 10 at Studio Z. 

There is Raba the CD/DVD and Raba the composition. The CD was first conceived as a retrospective of previously unreleased audio-visual works from different collaborations I’ve been part of since 2001. It quickly became the foundation for new collaborations, and revealed a trend, if you will, in my compositions the past two decades. A large body of my music has become increasingly patient, ambient, and informed by the environment. 

The music is a mixture of fixed-media electronic music and music for acoustic instruments and electronic sound. The human musicians are Laura Cocks (flute), Dan Lippel (acoustic and electric guitars), and Ensemble U:, Estonia's premier new music ensemble. The video and filmmakers I collaborated with and whose work we will see at the concert include Rein Zobel (Tallinn), Mark Zaki (Princeton), Rosemary Williams (St Paul), Ted Moore (Chicago), Ron Gregg (NYC), and Paul Clipson (San Francisco). Paul tragically passed away on February 3 this year, and the concert is dedicated to his memory.

When I started proposing music to New Focus Recordings that I wanted to include on the CD, it became clear that I have worked with a lot of film and video artists and so this seemed like a great way to revisit the original works and also forge new collaborations. I was simultaneously involved in a separate project developing the virtual reality (VR) concert version of the composition Raba. Eventually I realized that this composition complemented perfectly the other works on the CD, so it was included and also became the title track.

The musical composition, Raba, was originally commissioned by Spitting Image Collective. Raba (which means “bog” in Estonian) is inspired by the Marimetsa Raba, located about an hour drive from Tallinn. I wrote it following my first visit to Marimetsa as a Fulbright Scholar at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2014. This new version was created with support from a St. Cloud State University 2017 Research Faculty Improvement Grant and Eesti Kultuurkapital. Raba is experienced by the audience seated in swiveling chairs while wearing VR headsets. Audience members visually explore a 360º film while Ensemble U: performs the synchronized music. The ensemble and speakers (for the electronic sound in the music) physically surround the audience, unifying the audience experience with a live, immersive audio performance while each audience member has a unique, individual immersive visual experience. I am really interested in producing collective audience experiences through live performance. What is exciting to me about Raba is that the audience is immersed in the sonic reality of the space, surrounded by the performers and electronic sound, while they are visually immersed in the unique beauty of the Marimetsa Raba.

We won’t have Ensemble U: present at this concert, but I have created a version that can be experienced using VR headset and headphones with music from the CD recording made by U:. Folks can have an individual VR experience before and after the concert.

​--Scott L. Miller

As part of the celebration of Athena Kildegaard's new book of poetry, Course, beloved Minnesota soprano Maria Jette and noted pianist Ann DuHamel will perform the world premiere of a song cycle by award-winning St. Paul composer Linda Kachelmeier. The song cycle, I Give Voice to My Mother, features six poems from Kildegaard's book. Kachelmeier's remarkable cycle reflects and enlarges the themes in the book.
 
The celebration will be Saturday, March 3, 7:00 p.m. at Studio Z. The program begins with the poet, composer and performers discussing the challenges and surprises of bringing poetry to life as art song. Kildegaard will read selections from the book, and then Jette and DuHamel will return to do a performance of the complete song cycle. A reception and book signing will follow.
 
Course is Kildegaard's fifth book of poetry and is published by Tinderbox Editions, an independent press based in Red Wing, MN. The book explores the course of Kildegaard's mother's life and death, the course of grief, and the course of a river. Four-time Minnesota Book Award winner Jim Moore says: “'Tenderness toward existence' is the phrase that came to me again and again as I read Course, Kildegaard’s marvelous new book of poems in which grief and joy course together through time and to the end of time. 'Any tender place a place for death,' Kildegaard writes. But equally true, as this book so lovingly demonstrates, is that any tender place is a place for life. Athena Kildegaard has written a book which has found a true home for tenderness in a world so desperately in need of it.”  
 
The commissioning of the song cycle and the performance are made possible by an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Athena Kildegaard has been a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and the Midwest Book Award. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and have appeared in such journals as Ecotone, Poetry Northwest, North American Review, and Alaska Quarterly Review. She lives and teaches in Morris, Minnesota.
 
Linda Kachelmeier is a composer, conductor, and professional singer in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has received grants and commissions through the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Jerome Foundation, the American Composers Forum, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and is a 2017 McKnight Fellowship recipient for composition. She has written over 50 choral pieces and art songs performed by professional choirs such as The Singers, VocalEssence, and The Rose Ensemble, as well as many school and church choirs across the United States.
 
Soprano Maria Jette has sung everything from early Baroque opera to world premieres, in the United States and abroad.  She has performed with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston, Kansas City, San Luis Obispo, Santa Rosa, Charlotte, Buffalo, Grand Rapids, Austin, Marin and San Antonio Symphonies, New York Chamber Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra and Musica Angelica; plus Berkshires Opera, Roanoke Opera, Sacramento Opera. In the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro, she has sung with VocalEssence (led by conductor Philip Brunelle), Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, Minnesota Sinfonia The Schubert Club and Lyra Baroque Orchestra.
 
Pianist Ann DuHamel serves as Head of Keyboard Studies at the University of Minnesota, Morris, where she coordinates and teaches solo, collaborative, and group piano, as well as piano pedagogy. She is a founding member of new music group ensemble: Périphérie, which has performed in Carnegie Hall. Other venues where DuHamel has played include Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, and across the U.S., including the San Francisco Festival of Contemporary Music.

Athena Kildegaard is a fiscal year 2018 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Tetsuya Takeno started playing drums while he was attending International Christian University, Mitaka Japan and won two prizes at the Yamano Big Band Jazz Contest as a drummer of the Modern Music Society. He recorded with jazz trumpeter Wayne Bergeron at Capital Records in Los Angeles, CA in 2003 with MMS. He earned his B.M and M.M in Percussion Performance with summa cum laude from Youngstown State University. While attending YSU, he performed with many ensembles including at famous venues such as Carnegie Hall. He also performed with several well-known artists, including Allen Vizzutti, Sean Jones, and Grammy Award Winner Ralph Lalama. He was also a winner of the Dana Young Artist Competition in 2006 playing vibraphone. After the B.M. degree, Tetsuya worked as a drummer for the Holland America Line. Since the summer of 2010, he has lived in Twin-Cities and performed with numbers of professional groups such as Electric Avenue, Melody Best Band, Popular Girl, Elemental Ensemble, and Cantus Vocal Ensemble. With these groups, he performed various well-known venues and music festivals.

Tetsuya is also an active composer/ arranger and scholar. His works have been performed various professional groups and university ensembles such as Greenville Symphony Orchestra. His analytical work Metric Structure of the Compositions by Miles Okazaki was selected at the Research on Contemporary Composition Conference (ROCC) 2017 at the University of North Georgia. He is currently a doctoral student in Music Composition at the University of Minnesota, serving as a teaching assistant/ instructor.

Tetsuya is one of three winning composers of Zeitgeist's 23rd 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. Tetsuya's winning composition, Samsara, will be performed by Zeitgeist at their annual Playing it Close to Home concert Feb. 23-24 at Studio Z. 

Samsara features steady and simple catchy patterns that depart from that symmetry, gradually transforming into complex polyrhythmic ensembles. It ends dramatically, frantically reprising materials from previous sections. Samsara is inspired by the rhythmic concept of Mirrors (2006), jazz guitarist and University of Michigan professor Miles Okazaki’s debut album, and David Lang’s 1993 breakthrough composition cheating, lying, stealing. Both composers are known for their own unique rhythmic concepts. Okazaki’s Mirror is focused on a variety of rhythmic concepts, applied to both jazz and classical contexts. The modern minimalist Lang is known for his concept of rhythmic permutation.

Samsara is based throughout on the simple rhythm and its permutations, which are sometimes shortened and at other times concatenated into longer patterns. The combination of the permutations of basic figures provides a sense of asymmetrical meter, juxtaposed against a group measure of 4/4. Because at least one part always keeps a repetitive rhythmic pattern in common time, music is always polyrhythmic. Thus, each part may appear simple, while ensemble coordination is always challenging. The solo part in the middle section is based on rhythmic mirror form and palindromic melody. Harmonically, Samsara features slash chords, triads with an independent and typically dissonant bass line, and a unique and intricate progression of pentatonic and synthetic modes.

Folwell School, Performing Arts Magnet Elementary is a public, magnet school located in Minneapolis that encourages students to become responsible, successful learners in and through the arts. With their strong dedication to the arts, Folwell School teamed up with local composer collective 113 for an extended residency project in the 2017-18 school year. Composers from 113 and professional string players met with Folwell School orchestra students (grades 5-8) beginning in October 2017 to teach composition and string techniques. In large groups, they listened to contemporary art music, discussed contemporary and traditional string techniques, improvised, and composed text-based music. In smaller groups, the students composed using traditional, graphic, and text-based notation and wrote poetry. As the pieces developed, the students performed the music as a large ensemble. 113's residency at Folwell School will culminate in a concert of student works performed by combinations of students, Folwell teachers, and professional musicians.​ 

The resulting graphic and text-based compositions written by the students at Folwell School were chosen as a group to be one of three winning entries to Zeitgeist's 23rd 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. A suite of selected graphic scores by the students at Folwell School will be performed by Zeitgeist at their annual Playing it Close to Home concert Feb. 23-24 at Studio Z. 
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Isaac Mayhew is a composer and trumpet player based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He holds a bachelor's degree in music composition from Lawrence University, where he studied primarily with Asha Srinivasan, Joanne Metcalf, and Benjamin Klein. Isaac, who is a recipient of the Pi Kappa Lambda Composition Award, has had works featured on programs both on campus at Lawrence and in the Appleton community. His piece Ataraxis 2.3 for solo bassoon and electronics, was premiered in June 2017 at the International Double Reeds Society Conference. His work may also be heard on the album Liquid Jungle by his brass quintet of the same name. Isaac strives to create music that has the capability to engage a wide range of audiences while maintaining a high level of artistic integrity, drawing influence and inspiration from the works of a great many composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Alan Hovhaness, and David Maslanka.

Isaac is one three winning composers of Zeitgeist's 23rd 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. Isaac's winning composition, On the Nature of Self, will be performed by Zeitgeist at their annual Playing it Close to Home concert Feb. 23-24 at Studio Z. 

On the Nature of Self is a piece that explores two contrasting (and competing) aspects to one's personality. There is the side of ourselves that we are the happiest with, the way that we wish to be seen by others, and the way we wish to see ourselves. This is represented by the Christian hymn All Creatures of Our God and King, which shares melodic similarities with the other major quotation--the Dies Irae, which also has Christian roots, but with very different connotations.
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Feb. 23-24, 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 Eric Stokes Song Contest plus music by local composer Davu Seru, Zeitgeist's annual 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 Isaac Mayhew, Tetsuya Takeno, and students from Folwell School, plus the world premiere of Davu Seru’s new work Dead King Mother, which tells the story of a near-forgotten event in North Minneapolis and United States civil rights history that has been with Seru since early childhood.  ​

How long have the two of you been collaborating? What was your collaborative process like in creating this version of Stockhausen's POLES? 

Taavi: We have been playing together for five years. So far it has been mainly a flute/piano duo. But now we added electronics too and it really does open up even more repertoire and challenges. The process with POLES started with a three-week rehearsal period in Morelia, Mexico where we were in residency in the electro-acoustic music centre CMMAS. The piece is an open score so you would imagine that reading it would not maybe be so difficult but in reality it is a truly difficult piece to perform. It is written in  so called + - notation, a notation created by Stockhausen. To perform it you have to learn it from zero. It is really like learning a new language. You learn grammar, learn words, learn how to put together a sentence.


What is special about the Serge Modular Synthesizer? 

Taavi: It is indeed a special instrument. The instrument comes from early 1970s, and by now it has gained a somewhat cult status. First of all, of course, because its beautiful profound sound that still amazes musicians, but also because of its very clever interface. As I see it, interfacing with electronic instruments is a very important part of music creation process. It is a West Coast style synth meaning that it is possible to redesign it in countless ways; you have to make it your own to make music with it and find your very own language to communicate with it. The very instrument's previous owner was Michael Manion, a late composer who used to work as an assistant for Karlheinz Stockhausen. 


What was it like working with Stockhausen on the piece he wrote for you, Camilla? 

Camilla: It was a complete surprise. I had won a prize in Rotterdam playing his In Freundschaft, which I had prepared with the help of Suzee Stephens and the late composer Michael Manion, and before I was to play it in Cologne, I went out to Kürten to play it for Stockhausen himself. I had of course analyzed every note and could play it perfectly from memory, and this somehow impressed him so much that he began then and there to start arranging AMOUR for me. Eventually I returned and lived for a week in a cabin on his ground while he continued to work. When we met for daily work sessions, he’d ask me about range or fingering or intervals and we would discuss phrasing and breathing. The original version was for clarinet (Suzee Stephens), and several things worked differently when transposed for flute. I remember being impressed not only with his exactness, but also in his desire to make it natural for the flute. He didn’t want to create “difficulties for difficulties sake.” I also experienced for the first time the luxury of being at a “retreat” — living in nature with no outside distractions and allowed to just practice and read (notably Satprem on Sri Aurobindo) and then to enjoy stimulating conversations with Karlheinz and Suzee at mealtimes. I also got to browse in his record library (which included a great LP-set of the history of folk to rock!)


How did your interactions with Stockhausen influence the creation and performance of this version of POLES? 

​Camilla: My interactions with Stockhausen included a wide range of activities, from attending rehearsals of music from Donnerstag aus LICHT (where I first met the whole Stockhausen clan)  to working in his publishing company to learning other solo and chamber works. In the 80’s I attended every rehearsal and performance I could, later I participated in Montag in a studio part and then had a role on stage in 1993 for the opera Dienstag. Nothing he did was superfluous and this inspires us to respect all he has notated. At the same time, remembering him as a person, I remember him also as someone who could surprise with humor — and who introduced in his otherwise strictly formal compositions, the occasional “flowers for the ladies” (as he called a certain phrase in In Freundschaft) and who could also write “bagatelles” as gifts for friends (AMOUR).  If I were to summarize the influence all these interactions with him in one word, I would choose “awareness.” He himself was always aware of so many things that were going on around him. He listened and watched very precisely and demanded from his musicians this as well: an extremely high level of awareness concerning not just the musical notes, but every aspect of the creative and re-creative process. This we are trying to carry on with our realization of POLES.
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