Written for the JACK Quartet at New Music on the Point (NMOP) in June 2023

Sound engineer: Brian Riordan

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“i know the story of a rose.” is part of a series of works inspired by Clarice Lispector’s novella Agua Viva. This work in particular draws its musical nature from the intimate and delicate relationship found in the excerpt below:

“I know the story of a rose. Does it seem strange to you to speak of a rose when I am talking about animals? But it acted in a way that recalls the animal mysteries. Every two days I would buy a rose and place it in water in a vase made specially narrow to hold the long stem of a single flower. Every two days the rose would wilt and I would exchange it for another. Until one certain rose. It was rose-colored without coloring or grafting just naturally of the most vivid rose color. Its beauty expanded the heart by great breadths. It seemed so proud of the turgescence of its wide open corolla and of its own petals that its haughtiness held it almost erect. Because it was not completely erect: with graciousness it bent over its stem which was fine and fragile. An intimate relationship intensely developed between me and the flower: I admired her and she seemed to feel admired. And she became so glorious in her apparition and was observed with such love that days went by and she did not wilt: her corolla remained wide open and swollen, fresh as a newborn flower. She lasted in beauty and life an entire week. Only then did she start to show signs of some fatigue. Then she died. It was with reluctance that I replaced her. And I never forgot her. The strange thing is that my maid asked me once out of the blue: “and that rose?” I didn’t ask which one. I knew. That rose that lived from love given at length was remembered because the woman had seen how I looked at the flower and transmitted to her the waves of my energy. She had blindly intuited that something had gone on between me and the rose. That rose-made me want to call it ‘Jewel of my life;’ because I often give things names-had so much instinct by nature that I and she had been able to live each other profoundly, as only can happen between beast and man.”

"i know the story of a rose." for JACK Quartet (June 2023)

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Breaking Track:
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Kristian Josifoski (b. 1996) is a composer and percussionist based in Boston who's interests include: integrating elements of the musical vernacular into a new music idiom, using music as a metaphor for the philosophical concept of difference and repetition, enjoys working with crossfades, proportionality resonance and composed theatre.  

He earned his B.M. in Music Composition at Valparaiso University, and studied composition and theory with Benjamin Krause and Sky Macklay. Kristian has attended workshops and masterclasses by Stefan Ashbury, Joshua Rifkin, Tonia Ko, Jake Runestad, Gaudete Brass, Oystein Baadsvik, Stefon Harris, and Spektral Quartet. He earned his M.A. in Composition at NEC, and studied with John Mallia and Stratis Minakakis.

Composer Yiheng Yvonne Wu (b.1981, Taiwan) earned a Ph.D. and M.A in Music from the University of California, San Diego and a B.A. in Music from Yale University. Her compositions have been performed by the La Jolla Symphony conducted by Steven Schick, Arraymusic, Palimpsest, Ensemble SurPlus, Bonnie Whiting, Jessica Aszodi, Carla Rees, Rachel Beetz, and Dustin Donahue, among others. Her music has been featured in the WasteLAnd concert series, New Music on the Bayou Festival, SoundSCAPE Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Schloss Solitude Summer Academy. She was the winner of the 5th Mivos/Kanter String Quartet Composition Prize. Primary composition teachers have included Katharina Rosenberger, Kathryn Alexander, John Halle, Sophia Serghi, and Steven Takasugi. She is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Previously, she taught at Beloit College, where she founded and directed the InterArts Ensemble. 

Artwork by Karl Pilato www.karlpilato.com

Caleb Walker (they/them) is an experimental composer, conductor, performer, and improviser. Focused on the cross-roads of music composition and improvisation with environmental advocacy, ecological processes, and queer studies, Caleb strives for intrinsic organismic in their work. Currently based in Boston, Massachusetts, and having recently graduated from Berklee College of Music.