Jennifer Bill, soprano saxophone
Daniel Doña, viola
Ketty Nez, piano
February 9, 2023
CFA Concert Hall, Boston University
audio: Dave Jamrog
photo: "Bagpipe player, Hunedoara" from "Rumanian Folk Music," vol. 1 (Béla Bartók, ed. Benjamin Suchoff)

2. organum, and a dance

Recorded by Fabrizio Bardelli
January 13, 2025
Arezzo, Italy

photo: Castle Rock, Colorado (2024), by Ketty Nez

bird map (2019), version for contrabass clarinet

Robyn Julyan, violin, David Short, cello, Ketty Nez, piano
Packard Hall, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
April 7, 2025

1. searching within     0:01
2. slipping away          15:17

 Written the summer of 2023 in honor of the passing of my father, "trio in memory" explores musical roots of my parents: my father’s Slovenian and Croatian background, and my mother’s family from North Macedonia, which includes Romanian heritage.  The first movement, "searching within" is based on motives of a Slovenian song first recorded in 1834 by Stanko Vraz, “Godec pred peklom” (“The fiddler standing in front of hell”) as well as allusions to the Croatian “klapa” style of a cappella singing, which uses close-spaced harmonies.  Towards the end of this first movement, one hears motives of a Romanian mourning song, “My beloved youthful lad,” recorded and transcribed in the 1910’s by composer and ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók, and featured throughout the following movement, "slipping away."

Ketty Nez: "trio in memory" second performance (4.7.25)

Packard Hall, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
April 7, 2025

1. Mit Humor: Vanitas vanitatum               0:01
2. Langsam                                                3:19       
3. Nicht schnell, mit viel Ton zu spielen  6:31
4. Nicht zu rasch                                       10:15
5. Stark und markiert                                12:09

Robert Schumann: Five Pieces in Folk Style, op. 102 (1849)

Composed for, premiered, and recorded by conductor David Martins and the Boston University Wind Ensemble in February, 2017, this composition is based on some of the music from my opera "Lina and the Wolf,"  and here includes  melodic gestures from Prokofiev's ballet "Romeo and Juliet."  The four "tableaux" of different musical textures in this piece describe the romance, and follow each other without pause: "anticipation," "balcony," "echo," and "hush."

Photo by Ketty Nez, taken at Banff, Canada, October, 2010.

"four scenes for Juliet"

instrumental music example: "four scenes for Juliet" (2016, wind ensemble)

Katrin Meidell, viola, and Ketty Nez, piano
Ball State University, January 14, 2017

Katrin narrates the folk songs' texts before each movement (see http://people.bu.edu/knez/sea-changes.html)

Artwork by David Nez: "Sun in Pisces" (2011)

shaking leaves

Elissa Alvarez, soprano, Ketty Nez, piano
Boston University, April 14, 2014

For folk song texts, see http://people.bu.edu/knez/loverain.html

Artwork by David Nez: "Mandrake Maiden"

two went

now that time's caught up with me

rain is falling

you go seek the needle

hey, the cock crows

Katie Wolfe, violin, Ketty Nez, piano
University of Iowa, October 7, 2018

2. I woke up and remembered

Alea III Ensemble, conducted by Theodore Antoniou
Boston University, October 30, 2006

"cirrulian ice" (2006) chamber orchestra

Het Amsterdams Kwintet
Ijsbreker Concert Series, Amsterdam, May 2, 1998

Antje Lohse: mezzo-soprano
Raymond Honing: flute
Martine Sikkenk: mandolin
Rody van Gemert: guitar
Kirsten van de Hogen: harp

"Sanglots" (1997) soprano, flute, mandolin, guitar, and harp

Germany's surprise air attack of Moscow forces Russia into war, and the cultural and scientific elite are sent to the country's interior for safety. As Mira and Serge hurriedly pack to leave on one of the evacuation trains, he calls Lina to offer her and their two sons tickets. Out of wounded pride, Lina refuses.

Performance by soprano Helen Hassinger, mezzo Rebecca Printz, tenor Gregory Zavracky, and pianist Ketty Nez (recorded 17 December 2018, at Boston University).

Fresh forces going to the front, Moscow, December 1, 1941. Photo by RIA Novosti archive, image #429 / Oleg Ignatovich / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16790863

Ketty Nez

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