Year of Composition: 2012
Nick Diodore, Cello and Chester Englander, Cimbalom live in Cleveland, OH
No Exit Ensemble concert, 2019
Commissioned by Andre Emelianoff
Saint Elizabeth Bells is a duet for cello and cimbalom honouring the memory of Sándor András Agócs (1932-2011)
About the piece:
Saint Elizabeth Bells takes its inspiration from bell sounds of the Saint Elizabeth Cathedral in central Budapest. The cathedral is named after Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a Catholic saint who served the sick. The piece was written in memory of my father, Sándor Agócs (1932-2011). He spent his final days over Easter in Saint Elizabeth Hospital, which stands next to the cathedral. His room faced the cathedral, and through the open windows he would have heard, in semi-consciousness, the tolling bells drifting and resonating. Every phrase of the work’s nine-minute trajectory comes out of the natural intervals of the bell sounds as I mis-remember (and imagine) them, with the purest version—and the part that I composed first—heard near the end. The piece is not mournful, but has a light, evanescent, delicate quality. Inhabiting a meditative space populated with memories just out of reach, the work is a dialogue of colours in which time is suspended. Saint Elizabeth Bells was commissioned by the New York-based cellist André Emelianoff, who encouraged me to explore my Hungarian roots by writing a piece that included the cimbalom, the concert hammered dulcimer, in its scoring. Those roots originate with my father, who came from a family of watermelon farmers—the first of his family to be educated—and who fled the county as a political refugee after the 1956 uprising (he returned to Budapest in the 1990s). The work was premiered by Paul Katz and Nicholas Tolle on the New England Conservatory’s First Monday series in 2013, and is about ten minutes in duration.

-	Kati Agócs

http://www.katiagocs.com

Saint Elizabeth Bells (Violoncello and Cimbalom)

I.Contemplativo (Contemplative)
II.Vagueando (Wandering)

Darya Filippenko, viola  Дарья Филиппенко (альт)
Vladimir Gapontsev, guitar  Владимир Гапонцев (гитара)

Gravação ao vivo da estreia mundial realizada na Embaixada do Brasil em Moscou, em 26/8/2016.

Visões Do Paraíso (2016), para viola (de arco) e violão (viola and guitar)

Written for the 2015 Royal Northern College of Music Chamber Music Festival: Songs Without Words. Premiered in the RNCM Studio Theatre on the 4th of March 2015.

Interrupted - Lucy Hale

Interrupted

Viola, Sam Kelder

This piece is written based on a poem by Iranian poet, Yadollah Royaee.
He has a collection of poems with a theme of “ Death”.
Each poem is an imagination of a “Tombstone” for an imaginary or real person. This piece is based on this poem:

A tomb stone for “ Simin”:
        … and I saw the “death” as a child,
	running, exhaustedly, away
	from the death.
	سنگی برای سیمین:
… و مرگ را کودکی دیدم،
که سراسیمه،
میگریزد از مرگ.

Image: Score of the piece written by Bahar Royaee

Tombstone - سنگ قبر for Solo Viola

[Visuals are an important component of this piece and a video of this performance can be viewed here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=5Df4NONJUrY# ]

A percussion quartet concerto celebrating renewable energy. 
OO:00 I. Water
O4:14 II. Wind
10:04 III. Solar

Sandbox Percussion with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra
Live performance in Santa Monica on February 11, 2018
Recording mixed by Nathan Alef

This piece was commissioned by GE Renewable Energy and the Albany Symphony, David Alan Miller, artistic director, for the 2017 American Music Festival.

Re(new)al - sinfonietta version

First performed by London Sinfonietta, conducted by George Benjamin, 
on 21 July 2018 as part of the BBC Proms, at Roundhouse, London. 

The Verdala was one of the ships that brought the British West Indian Regiment from the Caribbean to Europe to fight in World War I. Already knowing that I wanted this piece to highlight the BWIR’s involvement in the war, and thinking about titles around the time that the 2018 ‘Windrush Scandal’ surfaced, it seemed fitting to name it so, as a reminder that there have been many ships long-prior to Windrush interweaved throughout British and British-Caribbean history. 

I have been particularly drawn to the writings of Caribbean/Guyanese poet and political activist Martin Carter for many years, who expressed his feelings of the British-Caribbean experience, and military presence through powerful and poignant imagery in his texts. Lines from his ‘O Human Guide’ inspired the musical material for ‘Verdala’: 
‘In the burnt earth of these years...So near so near the rampart spiked with pain... The guilty heaven promising a star...Each day I ride a wild black horse of terror...’ 

Intricate interweaving woodwind lines feature throughout, often punctuated by strong raw chords in the strings, recurring chimes in the harp, and initial beating from the claves. Highly direct and rhythmic activity dominates following the opening section, which foreshadows this, except when biting ‘jabs’ give way to a softer, quieter ‘chorale’ in the low woodwinds and brass, before building-up again, becoming more unsettled, and culminating wildly and piercingly.

Verdala [EXTRACT]

Premiered April 2019 in Duncan Recital Hall

Joshua Hong, conductor
Megan Torti, flute/piccolo
Julia Simpson, oboe/english horn
Justin Best, clarinet
Julianne Mulvey, bassoon
Shawn Zheng, horn
Ayman Abouleish, trumpet
Zach Glaser, trombone
Joe Desotelle and Justin Kang, percussion
Wesley Ducote, piano
Mae Osawa and Julianne Oh, violins
Sarah Mason, viola
Nathan Hsu, cello
Rachel Martin, bass

Image: Achilles Mourning the Death of Patroclus, by Cy Twombly

as the light begins to drift (2019) for sinfonietta

A recording of the premiere of "Fire Season" by Sakari Dixon Vanderveer on December 14, 2019. Commissioned and performed by the Salastina Music Society (Kevin Kumar, violin solo; Maia Jasper White, Hana Kim, violins; Meredith Crawford, viola; Yoshika Masuda, cello; Brianna Goldberg, double bass; Jason Yoshida, lute; Bernard Gordillo).

Poetry by Thea Gavin, Benjamin Gucciardi, and Donna Emerson. These works can be found in the anthology Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California: https://amzn.to/2FaK8ps (affiliate link).

http://www.sakaridixon.com
http://www.salastina.org

http://theagavin.wordpress.com/about/
http://www.benjamingucciardi.com/
http://www.donnaemerson.com/

The Four Seasons x 2

Fire Season - from "First Rain" by Donna Emerson

Who the hell is Joyce?!

Joyce knows exactly who she is. Joyce is not afraid to be herself. She is smart, sassy, and courageous. She recognizes that it is her responsibility as a member of her community to defend the defenseless, even when it isn’t easy. Joyce builds others up instead of tearing them down. 

Joyce is every one of us.

We are all living through a time of great change. Change is not easy, but it is necessary. We at IMT are hopeful for the day where we look past color, race and creed, towards a time in which we live in a society that judges only on what good you do for the community. We are committed to lifting up those in need onto our shoulders so that we may all live a better life. We stand alongside our brothers and sisters of color, the LBGTQ community, and whomever else is marginalized at this moment.

Through our experiences abroad, we discovered how much in common we truly have. We encourage you to travel often, to engage with and befriend your neighbors, be an upstanding citizen, and like Joyce, do what is right even in the face of adversity.

IMT is extremely honored to have worked with the following artists on this track:

Vocals recorded by the extraordinary Mia Ventura Lucas. Find her work and contact here:
www.miaventuralucas.com
https://www.instagram.com/miavlucas
https://www.facebook.com/maria.venturalucas

Drums recorded by the venerable Jordan Henry. Find his work and contact here:
https://www.instagram.com/jhendrumming/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1vo_68YKNjaEvud3ExEtZg/

Joyce

From Flutronix's forthcoming album, 2.0.  

Written by Nathalie Joachim. Produced and performed by Flutronix.

Nathalie Joachim and Allison Loggins-Hull are Flutronix, a critically acclaimed pair of fresh and eclectic flutists performing original music that displays "a unique blend of classical music, hip-hop, electronic programming and soulful vocals reminiscent of neo-R&B stars like Erykah Badu." - Tad Hendrickson, The Wall Street Journal

www.flutronix.com

Fire Season - from "First Rain" by Donna Emerson

Sakari Dixon

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