Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s posthumous publication La Ciudad de Vapor (The Steam City or City of Steam) is perhaps one of the most eclectic, and representative samples of the author’s inventive, highly descriptive, enveloping style that span several narrative timelines, genres, and worlds. 

The way in which each short story’s narrative is spun in deceptive, unexpected arcs through ephemeral, abstract gestures, and flares, really proved poignant in the composition of this piece, but also in thinking of aesthetics and my musical identity as a whole. 

Performed by Ensemble Dal Niente members:

Katie Schoepflin-Jimoh, clarinets
Matthew Oliphant, horn in F
Ben Melsky, harp
Ammie Brod, viola
Michael Lewanski, conductor

Gannon Concert Hall
DePaul University School of Music
Saturday, July 31, 2021
4:00 PM

This piece was written in the ocassion of Ensemble Dal Niente & DePaul Summer New Music Residency 2021.

La Ciudad De Vapor (2021, performed by Ensemble Dal Niente)

Ever since I first read Julia de Burgos’ evocative, thought-provoking, vivid poetry, her words have deeply inspired many ways of conceptualizing music, text and my personal point of view. Her work shows her most intimate thoughts, feelings and desires. She yearned to be her own true self in a world that wanted to shape her into what others wanted her to be, say and do.

In 1938, at 24 years old she published her first collection of poems: Poema en Veinte Surcos (Poem in Twenty Furrows). This collection comprised what would later have considered her best and most renowned works and a testament to the unique voice she carried in her generation. Her oeuvre opened the paths for new voices that wanted to reconsider their own identities, beyond Puerto Rico’s colonialist past, present and future.

Momentos, is the fifth poem from said collection and it not only serves as a testament to Julia’s incredible word-craft, but also lets loose her most honest thoughts regarding a search of purpose, fulfillment and self that I believe we all might identify with.

Surcos: V. Momentos (performed by Katherine Needleman)

This piece was born out of my constant fascination with poetry and how the power of the written word is able to both describe and create imagery that go from the drudgery of the mundane to the most fantastic, awe-inspiring landscapes.

The poem Transmutación by Julia de Burgos moved me to consider among other things how relationships shape who we are and embrace the idea that our identity and sense of self is and should be, an ever-changing construct. 

Performed by Talea Ensemble
James Baker, conductor

Transmutación (performed by Talea Ensemble, live recording)

In 2017, Puerto Rico was devasted by the impact of Hurricane María. Floods, months long power outages, food scarcity and societal collapse ensued, through the whole social order into disarray and causing the deaths of over 4,000 people. Most of these deaths being from the lack of emergency services and other much needed social structures. Political instability, economic stagnation and many other factors led me to write my Elegía for the Victims of Hurricane María and us for concert band.
This present work, however, is motivated by the incredible rage that has angered thousands of Puerto Ricans in and out of the land, after the landfall of Hurricane Fiona that caused almost the very same damage, five years later. Fury, not because of the nature of these kinds of uncontrollable weather patterns, but because of the government’s complete incompetence, lack of preparation and foresight to avert or ameliorate the disaster and be of help to the people.
Whereas in Elegía I was mournful for a world and nature lost, here I am angry for the one that we’re still living in.

HASTA QUE EL CORAZÓN AGUANTE (recorded live by Tacet(i) Ensemble)

This piece was conceived, composed, and finished while constantly clashing against different pathways and possibilities. Time and time again I found myself in different bisected roads as the title suggests and much like in life’s many unknowable and erratic decision-making processes, I just let the material suggest the constant ebb and flow of expressive interaction that happens between both instruments. Amidst all this seemingly diffuse and foggy landscape the piece initially suggests, different “truths” and ideas take shape, blur, and materialize. 

The issue of just being, melancholy, nostalgia, and the uncertainty of the present and future are explored.

with bated breath in the middle of a bisected road (performed by Christopher Agnew and Alyson Kanne)

The seemingly unconnected nature of words mingling with instrumental sounds lend themselves to an air of pretentious flourishes of superficiality, whose echoes of veracity and untruth reverberate in equal measure. Our realities and perceptions shaped by the expectations of what may be expressed, a palimpsest of all our cumulative experiences makes us question, anticipate, and judge the message or the art of the poet, their intention. Funnily enough in this absurd notion of how or what should the work of the composer be with the text, in all its tedium and criticism, they deftly try to fuse their and the poet’s figure in a bizarre pentimento to make every inquisitive notion both suggested and negated. To share their words and the poet’s music. Accepted and denied. North and south. Up and down.

Nada, poem by Julia de Burgos

Premiered at Elebash Hall, Graduate Center CUNY by:
Christopher Herbert
Josh Modney
Yezu Woo
Martine Thomas
Mariel Roberts

II. Nada, from reflejo cristalino, onírico, pétreo

As a person born in Yauco, Puerto Rico, the name of Amaury Veray is heard sporadically when his most famous piece of music (performed and recorded all over the world) the Christmas carol: “Villancico Yauco”, is mentioned. This piece of ephemeral music aside, his contributions to music, particularly music history and composition, became cemented when he along with several other Puerto Rican composers started a modernist movement of Nationalistic Music. 

The present piece is a reaction to among all of the above, the expectations that minority composers face whenever they are asked about their background, the role these elements may play in our imaginaries and the various ways in which these constant considerations of identity, nostalgia, loss of a sense of permanence shape our perspective of ourselves and the world around us.

This piece was commissioned and Premiered by Tianhui Ng and the MIFA Victory Players:
Nathan Ben-Yuhuda, piano
Linda Hwang, cello
Justin Ouelette, violin
Giovanni A. Pérez, piccolo/flute
Robert Rocheteau, percussion

my father never knew Amaury Veray (performed by Tianhui Ng and the MIFA Victory Players)

En el principio... is a symphonic meditation on the myth of creation according to the Judeo-Christian tradition. This piece tries to reflect on the origin of the universe, its mysteries, complexities and our assumptions on it.
Played by the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico's Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Roselín Pabón.

En el principio (for orchestra)

En el fondo del Caño... is a chamber operetta for 5 singers and chamber ensemble based on the homonymous short story by Jose Luis Gonzalez. The story focuses on themes like racism, poverty, prejudice, political satire and death. This Aria focuses on the scene where the mom worries for her child being born in a cruel, dangerous, miserable world. This orchestration for piano trio features: Juan Daniel Cruz (Violin), Luis Pabón (Chelo), Sergio Cordero (Piano) and Melanie Ojeda (Soprano).

Aria De Mamá, de En El Fondo Del Caño...(for soprano and piano trio)

En el fondo del Caño... is a chamber operetta for 5 singers and chamber ensemble based on the homonymous short story by Jose Luis Gonzalez. The story focuses on themes like racism, poverty, prejudice, political satire and death. The Preludio(prelude)expresses the feeling of  foreboding that preceeds the dark subjects which the Narrator in the Prologo refers to. This orchestration for piano trio features: Juan Daniel Cruz (Violin), Luis Pabón (Chelo), Sergio Cordero (Piano) and Martin Alicea (Baritone).

Onedrive 1 5-17

Preludio y Prólogo, de En el fondo del caño...(for baritone and piano trio)

Performed by James Alexander, written for Nick Photinos' 1:2:1 Intensive.

In our ever-changing world, for every action that happens various possibilities spring forward. From life comes death, from happiness comes sorrow, from loves comes disappointment for suffering. These kinds of dualities with which we must deal with through all our lives are ephemeral and illusive, only affecting us when we least expect it. With this in mind, what would most aptly describe the intent, feeling and thought process being this piece is the following: 
From "In Hora Mortis" by Thomas Bernhard

My vision torments me Lord 
And torments makes me heart
Into a blackbird
That does not sing
And my writing on the sky
Someone else's grass
O Lord the star torments me
That floats through my sleep
Until death and mourning's pure soul
Lord my vision sees what depresses You
and makes my children's tears into blood
Lord my vision sees that house of walls
And the world's pain perfectly
And doesn't know how to help itself
Like the tree in winter 
That silently fells me
my word my happiness my weeping.

...et in hora mortis nostrae... for solo cello, performed by James Alexander

Known for his compelling, expressive and socially aware music, Puerto Rican composer Julio Elvin Quiñones writes works that are imbued with visceral gestures, intuition and represent every aspect of his identity.

His music has been performed by many ensembles like the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico’s Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band, the Omnibus Ensemble, the JACK Quartet, loadbang, Ensemble Dal Niente and Talea Ensemble; additionally he’s also been performed by known soloists: Katsyarina Shaposhka, James Alexander, Hakeem Davison and Katherine Needleman. 

Julio is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at the Graduate Center CUNY, having studied with Suzanne Farrin, Jason Eckhardt and Jeff Nichols. He holds a Master's degree from the Peabody Conservatory with Michael Hersch and a Bachelor's Degree from the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico with Alfonso Fuentes.

Julio Elvin Quiñones

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