a primal tongue (2021) for voice & electronics

Valse grise

رسول آفتاب

Rumi - گر تو خواهی که ترا بی کس و تنها نکنم

"Crystallum" is a journey into the depth of the sounds by investigating the internal and invisible relationships of their inner components and the complex network of their nature. 
The piece is structured on the relationship and the mapping of all the possible natural harmonic nodes on the strings of each independent instrument of a string quartet. 

"Crystallum" is a compositional kaleidoscope of networks, organized with sounds in several levels and categories and pictured from different angles.

"Crystallum" is the thin thread between the past and the present, orient and occident, Maqam/Adwar system and Just Intonation music and inspired by the nomadology concept of Gilles Deleuze.

Commissioned by NeoQuartet. World premiere on 29th October 2021, at 10. NeoArte Synthesizer of Arts Festival Gdansk, Poland.

Crystallum for string quartet and electronics - 2021

سیاحت‌نامهٔ ابراهیم‌بیگ (انتشار ۱۳۲۱ ق ۱۹۰۳م استانبول) سفرنامه‌ای از زین‌العابدین مراغه‌ای است که تأثیر زیادی در آگاهی اجتماعی و سیاسی جامعه ایران در آستانه جنبش مشروطه ایران داشت..

سیاحت نامه ابراهیم بیک_نویسنده: حاج زین العابدین مراغه ایی_ قسمت سیزدهم

One More Cup of Coffee written by Bob Dylan

Henri Ciliberto - drums
Bryan Ciliberto - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards.

One More Cup of Coffee (Bob Dylan)

Partita
for solo Violoncello

Composed for:
Juan Aguilera Cerezo

Premiered on 
January 25, 2023, Espacio Turina, Seville, Spain

I. Lobelia

Second set of variations for piano on another orchestral theme drawn from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade Opus 35. 'Variations' mean you stand on the shoulders of giants, hoping for a better view

Second Variation on Op. 35 Rimsky-Korsakov

The third album from Films, a dark fantasy music project formed by the instrumental band Anoice, featuring dark cinematic sounds with two female vocalists, who sing in their own originally created languages.

signs from the past

BandCamp

wild hunt (Anoice / Films 'signs from the past')

Barbora Kolářová, violin
Jordan Bak, viola
Mia Barcia-Colombo, cello
Charles Paul, bass

Commissioned by the Lake George Music Festival
made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts


Program Note:

The initial impetus for …enfumée was Georgia O’Keeffe’s Blue II, an early work from a series of abstract and monochromatic explorations in 1916. When setting out to write this piece I initially chose to engage with O’Keeffe’s work because of her close connection with Lake George. While browsing a featured exhibit of her work at MoMA, I was immediately struck by the deep saturation and subtle shading of the color in this particular painting, the powerful movement portrayed in the crumpled yet expansive swirl of blue –  like someone making a fist of smoke. This image resonated particularly strongly at the time, as we were in the midst of New York’s first encounter with the hazardous smoke from the Canadian wildfires which was engulfing the city and surrounding regions of the country. In that moment I decided not to write a work that was necessarily in direct response to O’Keeffe’s painting, but rather to allow my connection and inspiration in that moment to refocus the piece as an outlet for my experience with that recent and present change in our environment. I began to see vivid imagery of the swirls of smoke, the flow of the air patterns, the gradually shifting colors of haze. I was mesmerized by air flow maps I found on various air quality tracking apps, the constantly shifting color patterns, all the while living through my own waves of paralyzing anxiety, an almost PTSD-like response to being told to be afraid of the air we breathe, yet again. It was ironic that after such a long period of time with Covid, growing accustomed to masking indoors but finding relief and safety in the free-flowing air outside, we were now being told to stay locked indoors and mask up if we ventured out. 

I composed …enfumée while in residence at Copland House, an idyllic retreat in Cortlandt, NY. Aaron Copland’s house is situated in a wonderfully isolated natural setting, a perfect space to engage with this subject matter, to escape from the city and breathe the fresh air. In the middle of my residency another wave of smoke set in, creating an opportunity for me to re-engage directly with the experience in the middle of the composition itself. I remember the first afternoon of the smoke’s return, driving on a bridge across the Croton Reservoir and almost stopping my car in the middle of the road as a I was struck by the imagery looking out into the hills beyond the water: it looked exactly like O’Keeffe’s paintings of Lake George, the haze from the smoke recreating her shading, her brushstrokes. The title …enfumée is also a reference to the work …à la Fumée, an homage to the composer Kaija Saariaho who passed away in June and whose music I have held in my mind and heart as I worked on this piece.

...enfumée (2023)

#pianoday2020 
full album is here https://nickkhizha.bandcamp.com/album/xi-ix-mmxix  because I have a limit on soundcloud

roundabout

Composer Alyssa Weinberg uses color, texture and gesture to channel big emotions, creating music that is “quite literally stunning” (Chicago Tribune). She is fascinated with perception and loves to play with form, subverting expectations to create surreal scenarios, often in dreamy, multidisciplinary productions.

Alyssa’s music has been performed by celebrated artists and ensembles around the world, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as Eighth Blackbird, So Percussion, yMusic, and the Aizuri Quartet. She has received commissions and awards from organizations including Chamber Music America, FringeArts and the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Barnes Foundation, and the Curtis Institute of Music.

A dedicated educator, Alyssa currently teaches composition at Peabody Conservatory and Mannes School of Music. She is the Founding Director of the Composers Institute at the Lake George Music Festival, a summer program that centers mentorship and community alongside the craft of composition.

Alyssa holds a PhD in composition from Princeton University, as well as degrees from Vanderbilt University, Manhattan School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music.

...enfumée (2023)

Alyssa Weinberg

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