THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY College of Music presents
EChO
Electric Chamber Orchestra
Eren Gümrükçüoğlu, Director
with special guests
Noah J. Gruenberg, 6 String Electric Violin
Brian Juntilla, Conductor
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
7:30 p.m. | Lindsay Recital Hall
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
Recording Notice: This performance may be recorded. Please note that members of the audience may at times be included in this process. By attending this performance you consent to have your image or likeness appear in any live or recorded video or other transmission or reproduction made in conjunction to the performance.
Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
PROGRAM
Arcana (2004) – for flute and recorded sound
Rachael Lawson, flute
Away from Face (2019) – for electric guitar, harp, double bass, and live/fixed electronics
Justine de Saint Mars, harp
Joseph DeLorenzo, electric guitar; Maximilian Levesque, double bass
Florida Man (2024) – for flute, alto saxophone, and electronics **
Rachael Lawson, flute; AJ Nguyen, alto saxophone
Dash (2018) – for soprano saxophone and harp
AJ Nguyen, soprano saxophone; Isabelle Scott, harp
Elizabeth Brown (b. 1953)
Elliott Lupp (b. 1991)
Rachael Lawson (b. 1997)
Dai Fujikura (b. 1977)
Concerto for 6 String Electric Violin (2024) – for 6 string electric violin and strings** Will Davenport (b. 2000)
Noah J. Gruenberg, 6 string electric violin
Emelia Ulrich, electric violin; Christopher Chiarotti, electric violin
Jacob Grice, electric viola; Thu Vo, electric cello; Maximilian Levesque, electric double bass
Brian Juntilla, conductor
** World premiere
Brown: Arcana (2004)
In Arcana, for solo flute and recorded sound, the ghostly voice of the theremin shadows the melancholy and lyrical solo flute through a dark soundscape. Written in Brooklyn, NY in 2004, Arcana was commissioned by Itzhak and Toby Perlman for the 21st birthday of their daughter, flutist Ariella Perlman. Ariella performed the premiere at Rice University in Houston on April 1st, 2006. Arcana is now frequently performed around the world.
Lupp: Away from Face (2019)
Away from Face was composed for and premiered by members of Ensemble Dal Niente at the 2019 SPLICE Institute. I primarily used a plastic bic lighter to improvise a number of gestures on a crappy electric guitar, and then orchestrated the other instruments around that. The title comes from a warning on the back of the lighter “keep AWAY FROM FACE.” – Elliott Lupp
Lawson: Florida Man (2024)
Florida Man takes inspiration from an unusual yet captivating tale of a Florida man who kidnapped a scientist, hoping to make his beloved dog immortal. This piece for saxophone and flute duet, with live electronics, explores the humor and absurdity of this story through the variety of textures and extended techniques.
Fujikura: Dash (2018)
For me, the feeling of this piece is water floating in the air like a stream while turning around and drawing a circle in various shapes. It feels like a small planet orbiting around the melody. It’s a short piece, but I think it has the potential to be bigger. Perhaps one day it will end up as a saxophone concerto.
–
Dai Fujikura (edited by Bridgid Bergin)
Davenport: Concerto for 6 String Electric Violin (2024)
The electric violin was introduced more than 40 years before the electric guitar. As different effects and techniques surfaced over time, the instrument became one of the most exciting to write for. Concerto for 6 String Electric Violin expands the growing repertoire for the electric violin and shows that a more vivacious concerto is possible with the instrument. My goal with this piece was not just to write a concerto that could be played on any old violin, but to create a showcase of all that the electric violin is capable of by highlighting the similarities and differences between the acoustic violin and its electric brother.
The piece begins with an uneven rumble from the low strings, setting the stage for two themes to emerge. The first theme in Allegro Elettrico matches the roughness and angularity of its surroundings, as if begrudgingly submitting to it. The second theme, however, gathers speed and sings above it all before crashing back down into the turbulent sea below. The two characters intertwine in playful and surprising ways. Throughout this movement, the soloist showcases their wide array of pedals, deep range, and ability to fluctuate wildly between intimate and monstrous at the flip of a switch. The solemn and emotionally charged second movement, Meditation, utilizes delay and looping pedals to build a grid-like environment that the soloist and ensemble later embellish. The nature of the delay pedal–the star of this movement–is to decay over time; despite this, the form of the movement fights this decay and builds into a “rage-against-the-dying-of-the-light-esque” climax. As the smoke dissipates, a cadenza bridges the calmest point of the whole piece towards the highest energy movement: Scherzo. This movement is soloist vs the ensemble. As the ensemble shouts their disdain at the electric interloper overstaying their welcome, the soloist begins taunting and dodging the ensemble as a game of cat and mouse ensues. Episodes of chase dovetail one another until finally the ensemble goes all out, mustering all their power to exile this strange new instrument, but of course, the soloist comes out on top.