Precious Nothing

Recorded live at the cell, New York, NY, 6 October 2017.

Radio Free Music | Microcosms

Domenica Fossatti, flute
Christa van Alstine, clarinet
Andie Tanning Springer, violin
Kallie Ciechomski, viola
Caleb van der Swaagh, cello

Recorded live at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, NY, 3 February 2018

Great Music at St. Bart's

Season II | Light & Dark: Concert I on September 23, 2013
Presented by Ear Heart Music at Roulette

Composer: Richard Carrick
Flute/piccolo: Domenica Fossati
Flute: Katie Cox
Clarinet: Isabel Kim
Bass clarinet: Christa Van Alstine
Piano: Kirsten Volness
Electric guitar: Hannis Brown
Violin: Andie Tanning Springer
Viola: Gillian Gallagher
Cello: Caroline Bean
Contrabass: Shawn Lovato
Conductor: Richard Carrick
Recording Engineer: Charles Hagaman
Mix Engineer: Matt Mehlan

Prisoner's Cinema | Richard Carrick

Season II | Light & Dark: Concert I on Septermber 23, 2013
Presented by Ear Heart Music at Roulette

Composer: Kirsten Volness
Mezzo-Soprano: Megan Schubert
Flute: Domenica Fossati
Clarinet/bass clarinet: Christa Van Alstine
Piano: David Friend
Violin: Andie Tanning Springer
Viola: Gillian Gallagher
Cello: Caroline Bean
Contrabass: Shawn Lovato
Electronics: Kirsten Volness
Conductor: Meg Zervoulis
Recording Engineer: Charles Hagaman
Mix Engineer: Matt Mehlan

Precious Nothing: Across the Oceans | Kirsten Volness

Precious Nothing: Dream Song | Kirsten Volness

Season II | Light & Dark: Concert I on Septermber 23, 2013
Presented by Ear Heart Music at Roulette

Composer: Kirsten Volness
Mezzo-Soprano: Megan Schubert
Flute: Domenica Fossati
Clarinet/bass clarinet: Christa Van Alstine
Piano: David Friend
Percussion: Bill Solomon
Violin: Andie Tanning Springer
Viola: Gillian Gallagher
Cello: Caroline Bean
Contrabass: Shawn Lovato
Electronics: Kirsten Volness
Conductor: Meg Zervoulis

Recording Engineer: Charles Hagaman
Mix Engineer: Matt Mehlan




Precious Nothing: Nocturne | Kirsten Volness

Katie Cox, flute
Patti Kilroy, violin
Hannis Brown, guitar
Shawn Lovato, bass
Josh Perry, percussion
Patrick Castillo, conductor

Recorded live at the cell, New York, NY, 6 October 2017.

Hannis Brown: Radio Free Music

Michaël Attias, saxophone
Hannis Brown, guitar
Santiago Leibson, piano
Patti Kilroy, violin
Shawn Lovato, bass
Vinnie Sperrazza, drums
Josh Perry, percussion

Recorded live at the cell, New York, NY, 6 October 2017.

Shawn Lovato: Microcosms (1/2)

Shawn Lovato: Microcosms (2/2)

Oceania is the smallest Continental grouping in land area and the second smallest in population after Antarctica. It is home to the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and others whose landmasses are being slowly submerged by rising waters. This evolving relationship between land and sea is explored through changing points of reference in the work, as the advancing tide redefines the nature of the island and its purpose for those who inhabit it.
—Leaha Maria Villarreal

Domenica Fossatti, flute
Christa van Alstine, clarinet
Andie Tanning Springer, violin
Caleb van der Swaagh, cello

Recorded live at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, NY, 3 February 2018

Leaha Maria Villarreal: Oceania

Music for Four is a paean to the spirit of discovery, as embodied equally in the creative process—a writer discovering the exact turn of phrase to capture what she means to express; a composer mining a melodic fragment for all of its potential implications; etc.—and in the play of a young child. Nabokov, in Speak, Memory, describes observing his infant son: “It occurs to me that the closest reproduction of the mind’s birth obtainable is the stab of wonder that accompanies the precise moment when, gazing at a tangle of twigs and leaves, one suddenly realizes that what had seemed a natural component of that tangle is a marvelously disguised insect or bird.” Another prompt here is the rhetorical cadence of Dr. Seuss’s Hop on Pop (“Pup up. Brown down. Pup is down. Where is Brown? WHERE IS BROWN? THERE IS BROWN! Mr. Brown is out of town!”)—reading material in heavy rotation these days with one-year-old Oliver, to whom Music for Four is dedicated, and whom I so delight in watching as he suddenly realizes that what had seemed a natural component of a tangle of twigs and leaves is a marvelously disguised insect or bird.
—Patrick Castillo

Domenica Fossatti, flute
Christa van Alstine, clarinet
Andie Tanning Springer, violin
Caleb van der Swaagh, cello

Recorded live at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, NY, 3 February 2018

Patrick Castillo: Music for Four

Meditations on the Moon at Kanazawa is inspired by a wintery train ride from Japan’s mountainous Nagano Prefecture to the ancient city of Kanazawa. The train passes through the Japanese Alps, making for spectacular views of frost-covered trees that cast me into a meditative state. The music reflects that quiet, solitary (and in this case frosty) state of sinking into one’s head in the midst of untamed wilderness. 
—Hannis Brown

Domenica Fossatti, flute
Christa van Alstine, clarinet
Andie Tanning Springer, violin
Caleb van der Swaagh, cello

Recorded live at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, NY, 3 February 2018

Hannis Brown: Meditations on the Moon of Kanazawa

desangramiento was commissioned by the Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival and inspired by the tragic feeling one has when receiving horrible news, as though all the blood has suddenly left one’s body and an immense implosion of emptiness has taken its place. This image came to mind after reading that 65 million people have been displaced by violence, primarily in the Middle East and Africa (2016 UNHCR report) and another 45.8 million are enslaved around the world (Global Slavery Index 2016). The suffering we cause one another is astounding.
—Kirsten Volness

Kallie Ciechomski, viola

Recorded live at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, NY, 3 February 2018

Kirsten Volness: desangramiento

The Automat was a self-serve coin-operated restaurant that was popular in New York and other big cities from the start of the 20th century up through the 1960's.  Horn & Hardart had automats all over New York city in places like Grand Central Terminal and Union Square.  Strangely, automats were replaced by fast-food chains in the later half of the century, even as modern life was itself becoming increasingly automated.  

This piece was written with this image in mind: a public place filled with people who were all there for the same purpose but were drifting through it at their own pace, often as part of their commute or work day.  
–Jascha Narveson

Domenica Fossatti, flute
Christa van Alstine, clarinet
Andie Tanning Springer, violin
Caleb van der Swaagh, cello

Recorded live at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, NY, 3 February 2018

Jascha Narveson: Automat

Composer: Michael Gordon (The Sad Park excerpt). Recorded live: Hotel Elefant Concert II (NYC)

The Sad Park | Michael Gordon

Hotel Elefant is a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the works of innovative, living composers.

Formed in 2011 by composers Leaha Maria Villarreal and Mary Kouyoumdjian, Hotel Elefant ambitiously presents new music through commissions, performances, and moderated discussions between composers, performers, and audiences. Committed to modern sounds and sonic explorations, this vibrant ensemble brings a keen awareness of today’s music to the general public and highlights those living composers who are blurring lines, pushing boundaries, and fostering creativity. With a flexible roster of more than twenty musicians, Hotel Elefant has worked closely with such progressive composers as Robert Ashley, Michael Gordon, David T. Little, Angélica Negrón, and Chinary Ung. The ensemble’s premiere sparked the interest of Alex Ross’ The Rest is Noise, radio station Q2 Music, and The New Yorker. Of their inaugural season, the online publication I Care if You Listen raved: “Hotel Elefant seems to be carving out their own niche, combining style, versatility, and quality of performance. They are well on their way to becoming a resounding force in the new music world.” 


Hotel Elefant

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