Kate Soper's "Ipsa Dixit" Premieres at Dixon Place

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 2, 2017, 10:12 a.m.

For six years, Kate Soper has been developing Ipsa Dixit ["She, herself, said it"]: an evening-length work that brings together her voice and instrumentalists of the Wet Ink Ensemble for an evening-length, staged work that explores the intersections between music, language, and meaning. Bringing together texts by Aristotle, Lydia Davis, Freud, and Plato, Ipsa Dixit addresses questions long avoided by philosophers and music theorists alike: is music a language? What, exactly, does it communicate? And who—body, voice, or instrument—is speaking?

Ipsa Dixit began when Soper realized that several of her works for voice and instruments—including Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say (2010-11) and cipher (2011)—shared several theoretical and musical correspondences, and ought to be developed into a single, multi-movement work. Through the past six years, Ipsa Dixit has developed into an evening-length work, with workshops and performances around the country, featuring Soper and Erin Lesser, Ian Antonio, and Josh Modney from Wet Ink. During a week-long residency at EMPAC in 2016, the piece developed into its final, fully-realized form, with the addition of director Ashley Tata, lighting designer Anshuman Bhatia, and projection artist Brad Peterson. 

Now, on February 3rd and 4th at Dixon Place, Ipsa Dixit is set to premiere in its most evolved form. (Dixon Place also saw the premeire of another of Soper's theatrical works, Here Be Sirens, in 2014.) If you're in New York, be sure to be there! 

Beat Furrer in Portrait at Miller Theatre with Either/Or Ensemble

by Ted Gordon on Jan. 31, 2017, 3:13 p.m.

The "Composer Portraits" series at Columbia University's Miller Theatre has brought the public an unprecedented in-depth look (and listen) into the works of countless living composers over the years. On February 2, Miller Theatre hosts a Portrait Concert featuring the works of Beat Furrer, the renowned Austrian composer, performed by the Either/Or Ensemble.

The program includes the US Premiere of his recent work for clarinet and string quartet, intorno al bianco, as well as linea dell'orizzonte, for ensemble, Ira-Arca, for bass flute and double bass, amd spur for piano and string quartet.

The Either/Or Ensemble was co-founded by fellow PSNY composer Richard Carrick, who will conduct the evening's performances. (This resonates with Furrer's own history as a composer and conductor, having founded Klangforum Wien in 1985). Carrick recently returned to the United States from Rwanda, where he held a Guggenheim Fellowship. In addition to returning to Either/Or, Carrick also returns to a new post in Boston as the Chair of the Composition Department at the Berklee School of Music. 

Check out a recording of Furrer's spur below. 

Chiara Quartet Premieres Pierre Jalbert's "String Quartet No. 6"

by Ted Gordon on Jan. 26, 2017, 1:28 p.m.

Whether he's writing for an orchestra, voice, solo instrument, or chamber ensemble, Pierre Jalbert packs fiery virtuosity, rhythmic intensity, and a depth of spirit into his music that is uniquely his own. Jalbert has already written numerous string quartets, many of which are available from PSNY (Howl, Icefield Sonnets, Thumbelina, and Quartets Nos. 3, 4, and 5); on February 1, the Chiara String Quartet will premiere his String Quartet No. 6 "Canticle"at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. 

(Chiara String Quartet; photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco)

As the title of this new work implies, "Canticle" evokes liturgical song by its use of bell-like sounds, created by the quartet's typical string instruments as well as by an array of percussion equipment, including glass rods and crotales. To get a sense of Jalbert's writing for string quartet, check out an excerpt from his String Quartet No. 4, commissioned and premiered by the Escher Quartet in 2008:

Additional performances of Jalbert's new quartet will take place on February 9 at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT and on May 11 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Keep an eye out for Jalbert's String Quartet No. 6 "Canticle" on PSNY soon!