live recording of the Swiss premiere on Nov 22, 2021 in Grosser Saal, Musik Akademie Basel

flute – Phoebe Bognár
bass clarinet - Ábel Fazekas
cello – Caspar Johannes Walter

Outside (2021) | for flute, bass clarinet, and cello

premiered by Quartetto Maurice on October 10, 2021 at the Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik

hollower | for string quartet and phone speakers (2021)

performed by:
Clara Giner Franco, alto flute/piccolo
Isaac Roth Blumfield, objects
Miriam Paschetta, harp
Anastasia Agapova, viola
recorded live at the Grosser Saal of the Musik Akademie Basel on March 28th, 2022

like a stain only you see | for alto flute/piccolo, viola, harp, and objects (2021-22)

composed, recorded, and mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield 
mastered by Moritz Wetter 
first broadcast: SRF 2 Kultur, June 29, 2022 as a part of collaboration between SRF and Elektronisches Studio der Musik-Akademie Basel

Program note:
"Worn like a map" moves through imaginary spaces, synthesizing disparate worlds into an evolving landscape. It continually searches for a deeper memory than what appears on the surface, pushing itself to uncover sounds which both undermine and enrich one another. It's inspired by dreams – not the simple ones which tell a story, but the ones which are confusing, where images and people appear in ways which contradict each other, where one has the feeling that some hidden depth is just around the corner, but it always remains inaccessible and out-of-reach.

link to press, including my interview about the piece: https://www.srf.ch/kultur/musik/studierende-komponieren-musik-aus-stimmen-und-schritten-ueber-den-schotter

full broadcast: https://www.srf.ch/audio/neue-musik-im-konzert/classical-and-jazz-talents-live-aus-dem-srf-auditorium?id=12198833

Worn like a map | for fixed media (2022)

performed by Abel Fazekas (organ) and Isaac Roth Blumfield (electronics) on September 9, 2022 at Martinskirche in Kassel, Germany as a part of BRANDNEU – Internationaler Orgelsommer 2022.

mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield

deep life  |  for 31-tone organ and six-channel speaker cube (2022)

performed by Schallfeld Ensemble at the Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik on October 8th, 2022 in Bludenz, Austria

Flute - Elisa Azzarà
Bb / Bass Clarinet – Szilárd Benes
Soprano/Baritone Saxophone – Matej Bunderla
Accordion – Mirko Jevtović
Piano – Patrick Skrilecz
Percussion – Manuel Alcaraz Clemente
Violin – Lorenzo Derinni
Viola – Francesca Piccioni
Cello – Myriam García Fidalgo
Double Bass – Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka
Conductor – Leonhard Garms
Sound engineer - Davide Gagliardi

recorded by Chris Swithinbank
mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield

commissioned by the Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation􏰙􏰗 􏰎􏰓􏰍 􏰏􏰈􏰝􏰕􏰍􏰌􏰣􏰍􏰋 􏰤􏰊􏰠􏰍 􏰣􏰍􏰅􏰎􏰠􏰍􏰘􏰥􏰦􏰍􏰋 􏰧􏰝􏰖􏰅􏰨 􏰢􏰅􏰎􏰓 􏰎􏰓􏰍 􏰖􏰝􏰑􏰑􏰇􏰋􏰎 􏰇􏰡 􏰎􏰓􏰍 􏰩􏰋􏰌􏰖􏰎 􏰞􏰇􏰌 􏰐􏰅􏰍􏰘􏰍􏰌􏰖 􏰧􏰝􏰖􏰅􏰆 􏰪􏰇􏰝􏰌􏰕􏰊􏰎􏰅􏰇􏰌 􏰢􏰋􏰅􏰎􏰎􏰍􏰌 􏰡􏰇􏰋 􏰐􏰆􏰓􏰊􏰈􏰈􏰡􏰍􏰈􏰕 􏰩􏰌􏰖􏰍􏰘􏰙􏰈􏰎􏰓􏰍 􏰏􏰈􏰝􏰕􏰍􏰌􏰣􏰍􏰋 􏰤􏰊􏰠􏰍 􏰣􏰍􏰅􏰎􏰠􏰍􏰘􏰥􏰦􏰍􏰋 􏰧􏰝􏰖􏰅􏰨 􏰢􏰅􏰎􏰓 􏰎􏰓􏰍 􏰖􏰝􏰑􏰑􏰇􏰋􏰎 􏰇􏰡 􏰎􏰓􏰍 􏰩􏰋􏰌􏰖􏰎 􏰞􏰇􏰌 􏰐􏰅􏰍􏰘􏰍􏰌􏰖 􏰧􏰝􏰖􏰅􏰆 􏰪􏰇􏰝􏰌􏰕􏰊􏰎􏰅􏰇􏰌 􏰢􏰋􏰅􏰎􏰎􏰍􏰌 􏰡􏰇􏰋 􏰐􏰆􏰓􏰊􏰈􏰈􏰡􏰍􏰈􏰕 􏰩􏰌􏰖􏰍􏰘􏰙􏰈􏰍
Program note:

“End of summer, light between your eyes” deals with memory: not as something which flows easily and envelops you like a dream, but as a series of sensations, zoomed in, never able to regain the momentum or consistency of experience. 

Only the essence of the feeling, the strange details that remain after years, more present than the significant moments which always seem to disappear and reappear without reason, without a thread to hold them together. 

It deals with memory as distraction, as the inability to stay present in a moment, as a kind of zig-zag through realities both present and obscure; as something which binds together and something which is irredeemably isolating, which constantly presses on the ability to share anything at all.

End of summer, light between your eyes  |  for ensemble (2022)

improvisation 11.17.22

performed by and commissioned by ex-sentia trio

live recording from June 21, 2022 in Grosser Saal of Musik Akademie Basel

Miguel Fernández - tenor saxophone
Jacob Mason - piano
Santiago Villar Martín - percussion
Isaac Roth Blumfield - mixer

recorded and mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield

Once in your life | for saxophone, piano, percussion, and mixer (2022)

performed by Francesco Palmieri, June 28th, 2022

Always | for electric guitar and electronics (2020-21)

darkless | fixed media (2023)

live set as a part of nachtstrom 107, a concert of elektronisches studio basel at gare du nord

synthesizer, pedals, laptop

live at Gare du Nord, 5/11/2023

performed by Schallfeld Ensemble at the Klangspuren Schwaz Composers Lab

live recording, September 18, 2023, Schwaz, Austria

conductor: Pierre-André Valade
recorded by ORF Austrian Public Radio

Before you were born | for piccolo/alto flute, saxophone, accordion, piano, violin, and cello (2023)

"Wo?" was written in the summer of 2014 at Freie Universität Berlin as a part of a summer composition course taught by Dr. Samuel Adler. It was premiered and recorded by Donna Lee and stefanpaul at Konzertsaal der Neuen Synagoge Berlin on July 9, 2014. The text is by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856).

Text:

Wo wird einst des Wandermüden
Letzte Ruhestätte sein?
Unter Palmen in dem Süden?
Unter Linden an dem Rhein?

Werd ich wo in einer Wüste
Eingescharrt von fremder Hand?
Oder ruh ich an der Küste
Eines Meeres in dem Sand?

Immerhin! Mich wird umgeben
Gotteshimmel, dort wie hier,
Und als Totenlampen schweben
Nachts die Sterne über mir.

English translation:

Where shall the weary traveler
Find a final resting-place?
Under palm trees in the South?
Under the linden on the Rhine?

Will it be in a desert,
Surrounded by unfamiliar hands?
Or will I find peace on the coast,
A sea on the sand?

It doesn't matter! I am surrounded
God's heaven is there and here
And as the death-lamps float over me
At night, the stars are always above me.

WO? || FOR SOPRANO AND PIANO

performed by:

Elijah Spies – viola
Francesco Palmieri – guitar
Jacob Mason – piano
Mikołaj Rytowski – percussion

recorded by Santiago Villar Martín
mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield

recorded Nov 30, Klaus Linder Saal, Musik Akademie Basel

Underglow | for viola, guitar, piano, percussion, feedback network, and electronics (2022-23)

Youtube video of the performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUf5Ca6_wk0

commissioned by Ensemble Proton Bern as a part of Protonwerk No. 13

live recording of premiere 23. April 2024 - Dampfzentrale Bern

Ensemble Proton Bern 

Conductor- Gregory Charette
Alto flute, piccolo - Bettina Berger 
Oboe - Martin Bliggenstorfer 
Basset horn, contrabass clarinet - Richard Elliot Haynes
Bassoon, Contrabassoon - Elise Jacoberger 
Harp - Vera Schnider 
Piano - Coco Schwarz
Violin - Maximilian Haft 
Cello - Jan-Filip Ťupa

Recording and mixing - Joël Cormier

Program note: 
“Stained light” is a part of an ongoing attempt in my work to uncover sensations and emotions from my own childhood. It can be both nostalgic and dark, as I try to remember how sensitive I felt to everything as a child – to the weather, to the energy of people around me, to the sounds of the world. In the piece, I try to create fragile spaces in which small details can affect the whole system, uncovering layers of sweetness or of darkness. There is something always under the surface, like a hidden song, half-remembered, heard from a distance.

Stained light | for ensemble proton bern (2023-24)

commissioned and performed by Blaurenz Duo
Rebecca Blau - flute
Rebecca Lawrence - double bass 
electronics – Isaac Roth Blumfield

live recording at Theater Pavillion, Lucerne, Switzerland on July 8, 2024

recording - Fernando Manassero
mix - Isaac Roth Blumfield

Half life | for amplified alto flute and double bass (2024)

performed and written for Mikołaj Rytowski for the ATTACCA Festival 2024; premiered on June 1 at Druckereihalle im Ackermannshof, Basel, Switzerland

recording: Robin Michel
mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield

The electronics for this work were recorded in part at the SWR Experimentalstudio in Freiburg, Germany with assistance from sound engineers Thomas Hummel and Luis Miehlich

link to binaural version (for listening with headphones): https://soundcloud.com/isaacrothblumfield/strange-symmetry-for-percussion-and-ambisonic-live-electronics-2024-binaural-version-use-headphones

strange symmetry | for percussion and ambisonic live electronics (2024) – stereo version

performed and written for Mikołaj Rytowski for the ATTACCA Festival 2024; premiered on June 1 at Druckereihalle im Ackermannshof, Basel, Switzerland

recording: Robin Michel
mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield

The electronics for this work were recorded in part at the SWR Experimentalstudio in Freiburg, Germany with assistance from sound engineers Thomas Hummel and Luis Miehlich

strange symmetry | for percussion and ambisonic live electronics (2024) – binaural version (use headphones)

performed and commissioned by Alexandre Silva as a part of the Sustain project, with generous support from the Fachausschuss BS/BL

recorded by Santiago Villar Martin
mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield

recorded on December 17, 2024 at Theaterpavillon, Luzern, Switzerland


You hold the present as if it were a memory | for percussion and electronics (2024)

Rebecca Lawrence – viola da gamba
Isaac Roth Blumfield – modular synthesizer

Recorded Dec 2024, Frankfurt am Main

All sounds produced by viola da gamba and processed by modular synthesizer

Mixed by Isaac Roth Blumfield

Lawrence + Roth Blumfield – viola da gamba & modular synthesizer

Rebecca Lawrence – violone
Isaac Roth Blumfield – modular synthesizer & laptop

sound engineer – Matthias Hoch
mixing – Isaac Roth Blumfield

live improvised set performed at Parfümerie, Frankfurt am Main, from July 23, 2025
supported by BHV45 concert series, Jazz Montez, and Musikfonds

Image credit: Paul Pape

Lawrence+Roth Blumfield – live at Parfümerie

performed by Abbey Felton on Aug 1, 2025 at Lichtenbergschule, Darmstädter Ferienkurse 2025

written for the workshop "Co-Lab," organized by Yaron Deutsch and Clara Iannotta

recording and mix: Isaac Roth Blumfield

Still hollow | for classical guitar (2025)

performed by Yarn/Wire at Paine Hall, Harvard University on February 28, 2025

Laura Barger – piano
Julia Den Boer – sampler & MIDI controller
Russell Greenberg – percussion
Dennis Sullivan – percussion

recording: Anthony DiBartolo
mix: Isaac Roth Blumfield

Program note:

In English, the word "dream" has a positive connotation, but there is a thin
boundary between a dream and a nightmare, and our experience of dreaming
rarely fits neatly into either category. In dreaming, a fluidity emerges between
bliss and dread, and one's desire to escape reality can collapse at any moment.
Familiar places, people, objects, animals might emerge, and as we dream we
know that it is both really them and really not them at the same time. Something
both illusory and deeply real is happening. While you listen, try to fall asleep.

The electronics for this work were prepared at the Südwestrundfunk Experimentalstudio in Freiburg, Germany through their Workstay program with assistance from Thomas Hummel, sound designer, with recordings performed by James Morley, cello, and Rebecca Lawrence, double bass


Like a dream I can' t wake up from | for Yarn/Wire & electronics (2024-25)

"Poems and Fragments" by Isaac Roth Blumfield. Recorded live at New England Conservatory's Pierce Hall on February 3rd, 2016 in Boston, MA. All rights reserved.

Geneva Lewis - Violin
Gergana Haralampieva - Violin
Martine Thomas - Viola
Francesca McNeeley - Cello

Poems And Fragments || for string quartet (2016)

Sonar || for solo piano

blue rose \\ for solo amplified flute (2017)

violin - giancarlo latta
violin - leerone hakami
viola - martine thomas
cello - stephen marotto

everything that grows  || for string quartet (2017)

...node lecha unessaper tehilatecha...

for 8 voices

performed by Roomful of Teeth
conducted by Brad Wells

...node lecha unessaper tehilatecha... | for 8 voices (2018)

for percussion trio

Instrumentation: three bass drums, each prepared with six electric bass strings, vibrators, aluminum foil, and coins

premiered and commissioned by line upon line percussion: Adam Bedell, Cullen Faulk, Matthew Teodori

Program note: 

The internet is ubiquitous but largely experienced as immaterial. Often it is experienced like a ghost or spirit; an invisible, ethereal animating force rapidly reshaping what we think of as reality.
While composing "Sunken Landscape: thread of light", I was struck by descriptions of the physical infrastructure that makes the internet function. I knew nothing about the fiber optic cables buried at the bottom of the ocean which allow the internet to function across continents. These extremely thin cables send patterns of light across oceans, transmitting data. They create a web of wires wrapping around the world, like a sunken land-bridge. Our experiences, conversations, hopes, dreams, and intimate secrets are transmitted from one continent to another through these thin threads of light; they bind the world together in this strange, beautiful, and terrifying way.

Sunken Landscape: thread of light | for percussion trio (2020)

contact: isaac.blumfield@gmail.com

Isaac Roth Blumfield is a composer from Saint Paul, Minnesota, currently based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He writes experimental music for acoustic and electronic instruments which explores resonance, materiality, and memory through expanded sonic approaches towards instruments and objects. His music looks for the strange spaces between subjective and unconscious experience, exploring uncanny places between beauty, pain, and strangeness.
His music has been influenced through  through work with performers such as ensemble sonic space basel alumni, Schallfeld Ensemble, violinists Austin Wulliman and Chris Otto, line upon line percussion trio, Ensemble Modern, Barcelona Modern Ensemble, guitarist Francesco Palmieri and Jamie Monck, and Quartetto Maurice at programs such as the Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, the Banff Centre for Creativity, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, New Music on the Point, Valencia International Performance Academy, Ticino Musica Festival and Freie Universität Berlin im Sommer.  
His music has been broadcast on Swiss Public Radio and supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Fondation Nicati - De Luze, and the Hirschmann Stiftung. He graduated with his Bachelor's degree in composition at New England Conservatory in Boston and a Master's degree in composition at the Hochschule für Musik FHNW in Basel, Switzerland and is currently pursuing post graduate studies at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. His primary teachers have included Stratis Minakakis, Timothy McCormack, Caspar Johannes Walter, Svetlana Maras, and Clara Iannotta. He is currently a PhD candidate at Harvard University, studying with Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku.

Isaac Roth Blumfield

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