December 3, 3pm @ 3rd Street Music School: Small is Beautiful

ISCM Mid-Atlantic & Marsyas Productions Present

Small is Beautiful

Microtones, Micro-ensembles, Micro-curation
Admission: Free — Duration: approx. 60 minutes

Bodies Electric e-guitar quartet
Vox n Plux soprano Elizabeth Farnum & her two guitarists
Bowers-Fader Duo mezzo Jessica Bowers & guitarist Oren Fader
Sheer Pluck guitar orchestra

And with pianist Joan Forsyth & guitarist Angelos Quetzalcóatl

December 3, at 3PM at the Third Street Music School Settlement, 235 East 11th Street. Free Admission

with premieres by Kyle Miller (US), Agustin Castilla-Avila, lately of Salzburg, John McLachlan, of Ireland, and Emil Awad, of Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

encore performances by
Judith Saint Croix, Tim Mukherjee, Frank Brickle, Charles Wuorinen & Alba Potes

ISCM Mid-Atlantic is an arm of the Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music (RSF) which has sent delegates to ISCM’s world music days in Sweden, Poland, Vienna, Slovakia, and Vancouver. RSF finds itself in a unique position at the ISCM gatherings, as virtually the only organization in the world of its kind whose musical activities are not limited by national or geographic borders. RSF has commissioned composers from Canada, Poland, Ireland, Italy, Colombia, and, for this program, a composer from Austria—Agustin Castilla-Avila, originally from Spain.

This program brings together various strains of microtonal musical culture– Johhny Reinhard and Angelos Quetzalcóatl’s 128-tone system, and Salzburg, Austria’s “Ekmelic” 72-tone system. William Anderson’s setting of Djuna Barnes “Paradise/When the Kissing Flesh is Gone” introduces a little taste of just intonation in the form of Elizabeth Farnum’s amazing overtone singing. All the tunings on the program will be discussed and compared in discussions with the composers.

Each of the small ensembles on this programming are attracting an interesting body of musical work, each with its own distinct character.

Program

Premiere of Agustin Castilla-Avila’s The Horsemen
Encore performance of Charles Wuorinen’s Electric Quartet–Bodies Electric

David Claman–Melville Settings; William Anderson–Barnes Settings
Alba Potes–Calma mi Niño–Vox n Plux

Judith Sainte Croix’s Goddess Blessing; Frank Brickle: Piazza Piece; Tim Mukherjee: O Come O Come –Bowers/Fader Duo

– –

Johhny Reinhard—Chasing Ghosts; Angel Blanco–Tribute to Van Halen—Angelos Quetzalcóatl

–

Emil Awad Cuatro Elementos –Sheer Pluck guitar orchestra

Jonathan Dawe–Sad Philosophy for piano & electric guitar
John McLachlan–Bibelots for guitar duo
Kyle Miller–Eréstide (guitar solo, performed by the composer)

Featuring

Bodies Electric

= John Chang, Dan Lippel, Oren Fader, & William Anderson

Vox n Plux

= Soprano Elizabeth Farnum, Oren Fader, & William Anderson

Bowers Fader Duo

= Oren Fader & Jessica Bowers

Sheer Pluck Guitar Orchestra

= Pablo Sanchez, Jonathan Ramirez, Kyle Miller, Xavier Hermann Paez Haubold, Charlee Ray Price, Joel Kelly, Ricardo Arias, Ebin Samuel, Pascual Araujo, William Anderson, conductor