We believe in the unexpected. Our signature instrumentation sets us apart, but we make our real impact through bold new compositions that integrate chamber music conception with jazz spontaneity. We believe that great music can happen anywhere, anyhow, anywhy, and anywhen — ours is fitting music for this bright and rushing world.

I composed The Bright and Rushing World over nine difficult months. Persevering in this struggle gave me a sense of ownership over the work — I knew everything there was to know about it. But, after all that time I still didn’t know what the title should be. And I was shocked. At first it seemed like clumsy, ignorant neglect, but soon I realized something important — the piece didn’t need me any more. Now that it was finished, it was ready to go out into the world, and it wasn’t about to wait for me to give it a name. In a moment of clarity that surprised me with its intensity, I wrote this ten line poem from which I drew the title of the piece and of each movement. I had finally given the piece a name, but it had taken that long to give it the right one.

The Bright and Rushing World

the door is open
and you watch as he goes out
a seeker, insubmissive
into the bright and rushing world,
who, over years in your care,
you never thought to give a name.
you gasp and ask aloud
how can you live without a name?
a question so weightless it floats away
on the wind of his leaving.

The Bright and Rushing World, Movement 9 - a question so weightless it floats away

Just something I cooked up for Christmas before going to bed. Goodnight.

Der Voghormya

An arrangement of a classic American folk tune from a suite of music inspired by the traditional Appalachian ballad called "Awake, Awake" featuring the great Wayne Horvitz on piano with Douglas Detrick's AnyWhen Ensemble. This program of music will be released in our 14-15 concert season.

Featuring Wayne Horvitz, piano; Douglas Detrick, trumpet, arrangements, compositions; Hashem Assadullahi, saxophone; Shirley Hunt, cello; Steve Vacchi, bassoon; Ryan Biesack, drums.

Awake, Awake!

Excerpts from AnyWhen Ensemble's "Awake, Awake!" Program featuring Wayne Horvitz

Joanna Dane interviews Matt Turner on his latest album, a collection of solo cello improvisations.  

Matt Turner On Virion Impasto

Vitallion III
Steve Cartwright and Mick Smith

Living Off The Lump

Flower Seller -

Composer and vocalist Jessie Downs combined the texts of Psalm 29:3-4; 31:9-10; 81:3 as a “libretto” to produce her work, which is written in the form of an operatic scene for Spark and Echo Arts' Bible Illumination Project.

"The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is majestic."                                     (Psalm 29:3-4)
 
"Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
    my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
    my soul and body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish
    and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,
    and my bones grow weak."                                               (Psalm 31:9-10)
 
"Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
    and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;"       (Psalm 81:3)

Lamentations

Lamentations - Jessie Downs

Singer Ileana Santamaría wrote a poem that she then brought to musician Raffi Dimoian to produce a an intimate spoken word piece imagining Eve’s response to Adam from Genesis 2:21-24 for Spark & Echo Arts' Bible Illumination Project.


ARTIST STATEMENT

This piece, “Eve’s song”, came about as a response to Genesis 2:21-24 and to the beautiful idea of a helpmeet* – Ezer in the Ancient Hebrew, a helper suitable for man, a companion on this Earth that was given first to him and then to her and their progeny. In a way, it was also a response to the deeply moving response to the same passage conceived by Spark and Echo Band in their first album. Titled “Flesh”, that work – in itself Adam’s response to this wondrous creature made from and for him, marked by an exuberant, childlike joy and excitement in showing her around the garden and declaring giddily, ‘I was waiting, I was waiting for you’, made quite an impression on me. Recently I was reminded of that fascination with the idea of Eve after reading a blurb from Christian author Gary Thomas’ book Cherish, in which he espouses the notion of Eve being the only woman on Earth as a guideline for men struggling with temptation, calling on them to cherish their wives (hence the title) as the sole woman on Earth, the precious gem crafted for and given especially to them. The seedling of an idea was thus born and lay dormant in me until recently, namely, that of responding to this Scripture by assuming Eve’s voice as she responds to Adam about her calling from and to his side and their calling together.
 
It is our hope and prayer that “Eve’s song” will capture something that will speak to and, in keeping with the spirit and the objective of this wonderful Spark and Echo Arts project, illuminate some aspect of the person of Eve, who and what she was made to be before the Fall, beyond the infamous fruit of the tree she is perennially associated with. The piece aims to tie in that destiny “redeemed, restored”, as one line reads, into the redemption of our humanity in Jesus Christ, and in particular, of the aspect of woman as partner – a femininity that goes way beyond one-dimensional stereotypes back to its true roots in gentle yet fiercely loving strength and capacity to love and serve and to follow our Lord together with man through the hardships of this life.
 
 
* helpmeet, help·mate
 
ˈhelpˌmāt/Submit
 
a helpful companion or partner, especially one’s husband or wife.
 
Origin: late 17th century (as helpmeet ): from an erroneous reading of Gen. 2:18, 20, where Adam’s future wife is described as “an help meet for him” (i.e., a suitable helper for him). The variant helpmate came into use in the early 18th century.

Eve's Song

Eve's Song - Ileana Santamaría

This simple song emerged from an informal workshop at All Angels' Church's 2018 parish retreat. I penned a few verses in response to a comment made by someone on the retreat, and this is the treatment that developed when I picked up a guitar and began to sing.

Draw Near To God (2018 AAC Parish Retreat)

This track is from the album Estelle's Farewell Gift and is available for purchase on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/benjedaneman

To Lay Down One's Life

Loved So Much

Spark and Echo Arts is creating or commissioning a work of art, music, theatre, poetry, dance, or film in response to every verse of the Bible.

Eve's Song - Ileana Santamaría

Spark and Echo Arts

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