Concert of new music this Tuesday 1-22 8 PM UT Powell Recital Hall. Here the program that will feature guest violist Hillary Herndon.

Epidermis (2017) marimba, bass clarinet and electronics by Dan Van Hassel

            Abby Fisher – marimba

            Jorge Variego – bass clarinet

Inner blues (2014) solo vibraphone by Jorge Variego

            Abby Fisher – vibraphone

De Kooning Movements (2001) marimba and clarinet by Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez

            Abby Fisher – marimba, Jorge Variego – clarinet

Thread and Frey (2006) viola, marimba and bass clarinet by Sarah Kirkland Snider

            Abby Fisher – marimba, Hillary Herndon – viola, Jorge Variego – bass clarinet

Program Notes:

Epidermis

In Epidermis the bass clarinet and marimba merge into a single machine-like entity playing funky rhythmic patterns made up of percussive sounds with electronics forming a noisy protective layer around the players. At the beginning of the piece the acoustic and electronic sounds are closely aligned, but as the piece progresses they begin to move apart. Repeating melodic patterns begin to appear in the bass clarinet and marimba, while the electronics become noisier and more abrasive. This piece was commissioned by Transient Canvas and premiered in November 2017 with funding provided by the Johnstone Fund for New Music. – Dan Van Hassel

Inner blues

Inner blues is a jazz ballad in sulfuric acid. – Jorge Variego

De Kooning Movements

Lately, I have been looking at the work of an immigrant artist, Willem De Kooning, who came to the United States from his native Holland and later became one of America’s most representative 20^th-century artists. I have always been impressed by the brutality, the energy, dynamic forms, and the synthetic power of de Kooning’s work, and have now composed a piece that, through its exploration of the dramatic power of rhythm and bold instrumental gestures, seems to conjure that experience of flipping through the pages of a printed catalog of de Kooning’s paintings. A journey that allows me to savor with each stop a graphic, perfectly assimilated and electric concoction of Matisse, Picasso, German expressionism, Abstract Expresionism and total abstraction. – Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez

Thread and Fray

Thread and Fray, commissioned by the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble of the Aspen Music Festival, weaves a single, middle-register melody through an increasingly fragmented musical landscape. – Sarah Kirkland Snider

In the series of concerts organized by the South Eastern Composers Collective, Kamran Mian will perform Nunca tan lejos at UGA, this Sunday at 5PM. The concert will also feature recent work by M. Gendelman, Joe Alexander, Peter Lane, William Price and David Peoples.

Mtro. Michael Douty will conduct once more my piece for mixed ensemble “Small big band” at Florida State University in Tallahassee (Dohnányi Recital Hall – DRH) on February 9th 7:30 PM.

Small Big Band is a “personal summary” of musical sonorities, which inspire a twenty-first century composer. Original jazz melodies and improvisation permeate the work, but the influences of Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, Miles Davis, and Iannis Xenakis percolate just below the surface. The work opens with a full ensemble jazz/blues melody, but one-by-one the performers peel off from the ensemble to perform their own improvisatory solos. Duets and other small groups within the ensemble create the atmosphere of a casual jam session. Once the improvisations have concluded, the full ensemble sounds shimmering bell tones. The baritone saxophone interjects new rhythmic ideas. The piccolo takes a turn at improvisation as the ensemble sound grows thinner. Finally, when all other instruments have finished, one lone drummer remains to “broom the stage.”

On April 1st, the IU Guitar ensemble premiered my work “Shumba” for guitar ensemble under the direction of Dr. Daniel Duarte. The piece was commissioned by Mtro. Ernesto Bitetti as part of the Bernstein at 100 celebrations.

Indiana University Guitar Ensemble