Issue 7
The tri-annual newsletter of RED LIGHT NEW MUSIC
A Word from the Red Light Directors “The ensemble, conducted by Ted Hearne, played the entire program with admirable energy and precision.” -The New York Times Playing to positive reviews and ample audiences, Red Light New Music is off and running on its sixth season of imaginative programming. Imagination… that is precisely the strength of this organization, one that resists dogma, challenges expectations, and presents it all with “energy and precision.” This season features a rewriting of a Mozart piano concerto, a concertlength dramatic work, and a live original film score; all this alongside a diverse lineup of brand new commissions from our composer collective. We don’t want to toot our own horn too much here; but let’s just say that this is what we love about Red Light, and you’ll have a hard time finding it elsewhere. The aforementioned Mozart concerto is from our season opener in September. You’ll find a description of that inside.
Donate at redlightnewmusic.org Click on “Support” For new donors, now is the perfect time to join our 100/100 campaign. 100 people x $100 = $10,000
Winter 2010/2011
The dramatic work is Christopher Cerrone’s In- The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari with Original Live Score visible Cities, and we are Monday, December 13th, 8pm proud to announce its at Roulette spring premiere (article also 20 Greene Street, Manhattan inside this issue). $15/$10 students and seniors The film music project is our upcoming premiere of a new score to The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. We commissioned twelve different composers to score specific scenes of Robert Weine’s 1920 masterpiece of German Expressionism. After some stitching together by Vincent Raikhel, the resulting patchwork quilt is a brand new and many-sided treatment of this classic silent horror film. We hope to see your there on December 13th! Sincerely, The Red Light Directors
Fall Fundraising Drive: We Need Your Support! Red Light New Music is a small non-profit that depends on the support of a family of donors and the generosity of grantmakers. We try our very best to not be pesky solicitors, to keep our requests for financial support as courteous, minimal, and meaningful as possible. In tough financial times, some of our contributors have not been able to give. If you are able and willing to donate, any amount goes a long way. Go to <redlightnewmusic.org> and click on support.
Performer Spotlight: Nathan Koci
Composer Spotlight: Liam Robinson
Q: Can you highlight the difference between performing new music as opposed to regular classical music? What remains the same if anything? Being that I play a lot of different kinds of music besides "new" music, photo: Leslie McKellar the dichotomy for me isn't quite a two -sided situation, i.e. classical vs. new. I've ended up performing in many different situations, from jazz gigs to country songs to orchestras to noisy garage bands singing traditional Cuban songs. But the thread that I try to keep running through all of the situations in my world is simply the passion and care of everyone involved. The elements that make me enjoy performing with Red Light are the same elements that make me enjoy performing country songs, Cuban songs, jazz tunes, etc. It's a medium to express a certain connection with the people I'm making the music with, as well as the people listening. We're all taking great care to stop and think about a certain duration of time and to create something special of it. I wouldn't dare make any sweeping generalizations about classical music environments, because I've had incredibly moving musical experiences there too, but it is true that there is often a less flexible approach to performing classical music. Expectations are high, and jobs are hard to come by, creating a very competitive world in which playing things the "right" way is key (whatever it may mean). Playing strange contemporary music is often rewarding to me because it takes a lot of extra musical steps, a bit of extra energy on the part of everyone involved. Expectations are wide open, paychecks are hard to come by, and hours are long; simply put, we wouldn't be there doing it if we didn't care deeply about it. Q: What interests you in performing the works of composers who you know and work with? How is the result different from performing pieces in which you have no contact to the composer? It really interests me to play composers who I know, or at least am able to work with in the process of realizing a performance of their piece. There is often so much that isn't able to be captured on ink and paper, on both the performer's and the composer's side. When a composer is present for the work there can be much more "What if I play it this way?" and "Could you try playing it this way?" that isn't possible otherwise. As a performer, I am able to get permission to really insert my own ideas into the piece and get immediate feedback on whether it's what the composer was looking for. Of course, plenty of amazing experiences occur with no composer in sight, and I still aim to put my own stamp on performing someone's work, but it is certainly more rewarding to know that the composer feels good about the way in which I am interpreting their ideas.
Q: What prompts your desire to create music? Most recently, the musical prompt, the energy that gets a piece off the ground for me, is the act of play. There is so much playful music that I love, but much of it is old. The idea of lively music was for many genres and in many periods, the norm. Allegro, scherzo, divertimento, rondo, minuet, most elements of a partita; these were all essentially playful musics. The thread that connects all of these is the element of the body in motion. (Playful is not the same as lighthearted. The devil gets his jig, too!) As dance became estranged from concert music, as people dancing became separated from one another (so much dancing is now an individual act), and as dance itself lost much of its social value, concert music has reflected this loss of bodily movement. (A similar trajectory can be traced in jazz, a music whose link to dance is essentially confined to a period of history.) I want to write music that moves and that moves in different ways, a music of many gaits. When stillness comes, it is set in relief and vibrates with possibility. The other sense of the word play, the idea of playing with materials, has also proven fruitful in my recent writing. The more I write, the more I realize that the catalyst for writing, the thing that gets me going, doesn’t have to be all that important to the piece in the end; the inspiration doesn’t have to be the subject matter, nor does it have to even be perceivable to the listener or performer. If the development of a system — or stealing material from another piece, or playing with a traditional form — gets the music to flow, I have to let it happen, and I don’t have to worry about consecrating that original idea as some unified theory. Ideas are easy to come by, but music needs to fill spans of time in order to create something we can name as an experience. (That is its beauty and its hazard. Like hedge fund managers, we take your time, and make a risky investment.) My desire to create music is, in many ways, circumstantial. Though some people are clearly prodigies and display an incredible sympathy with a medium, it seems that there are those who are constitutionally creative and will play with whatever is available. If I were the son of a blacksmith, I might be a sculptor. If I lived in a cave, I might be a cave painter (though I would probably get a kick out of the acoustics as well). Society invents artistic roles (The idea of a “composer” is a rather recent historical phenomenon), and creative people fill them. In time new roles arise (If born a hundred years later, Wagner would have been a filmmaker.) and others fade (Are there more blacksmiths or composers today?). We choose or inherit a set of tools and, over time, develop an affinity for their response to our desires. In this way, my desire to create music is a funneling of my desire to create.
Nathan is a native of Charleston, SC and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. He performs with the Red Light Ensemble and a diverse array of music groups on horn and accordion.
Liam is a composer and performer in NYC. He appears with several bands on accordion, piano, and voice and co-directs Red Light New Music, the group for which he devotes most of his compositional energies.
Red Light Presents Cerrone’s Invisible Cities On May 13th and 14th 2011, Red Light New Music will present a staged production of Christopher Cerrone's opera Invisible Cities at the Italian Academy at Columbia University. Invisible Cities is a musical distillation of Italo Calvino’s evocative surrealist novel of the same name. Performed by four singers, a small chorus, and the Red Light Ensemble, the work imagines the relationship of the historical figures Kublai Khan and Marco Polo.
Invisible Cities explores the elemental human forces of love, death, memory, desire. Musically, the composer draws on wide-ranging influences – avant-garde, baroque opera, electronic, minimalist – to Save the Date! evoke and explore this comInvisible Cities pelling landscape. The opera May 13 & 14, 2011 will be directed by the acclaimed young German director Louisa Proske and will feature new video by the Brooklyn artist Laura Grey. Red Light alumna Christiana Little will join the creative team as dramaturge.
Highlights from the Fall Between Classical and New: Variations on a Theme Red Light opened its sixth season this past September in full swing at Symphony Space with a concert centered on the changing role of Classical music today. The concert’s theme was most prominently tackled in a re-imagined rendition of W.A. Mozart’s Piano Concert no. 9, a work performed by pianist Yegor Shevtsov and the Red Light Ensemble and recomposed by Christopher Cerrone, Vincent Raikhel and Scott Wollschleger. Each composer approached the notion of Classical music from their own aesthetic grounding, resulting in a Mozartian Suite that captures the clarity, construction and humor of Mozart’s composition. Mr. Shevtsov was also featured in the second installment of Liam Robinson’s Chamber Concerto. The concert received a positive and insightful review in the New York Times. The review as well as recordings from this concert can be found on the Red Light New Music website.
Thank you to our generous family of donors! Directors’ Circle ($2,500-$4,999) Meet the Composer/JP Morgan Chase New York State Council on the Arts Commissioners’ Circle ($1,000-$2,499) Nils Vigeland & Madeline Burke-Vigeland Foundation for Contemporary Arts Benefactors’ Circle ($500-$999) Caroline Chen Gloria Coruzzi & Douglas Daly Michael and Rose M. Emanuele Tania Lanfer Puffin Foundation Alexander Raikhel Natasha Raikhel Jane Blameuser and Brock Robinson Charlie Wilmoth David Andrew Wightman
Sponsors’ Circle ($250-$499)
Dimensions of the Unaccompanied Members of the Red Light Ensemble performed solo works in concerts at New York City’s Rockwood Music Hall and Washington DC’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This kind of concert was a first for Rockwood who usually hosts rock bands, and the venue allowed for a unique opportunity to present amplified music to a new audience. Cellist, John Popham performed Enno Poppe’s Herze, and Erin Wight played Jonathan Harvey’s Ricercare una Melodia for viola and live electronics. Yegor Shevtsov premiered works for solo piano, Scott Wollschleger’s In Search of Lost Color and Christopher Cerrone’s Hoyt-Schermerhorn. At the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, Kevin Sims premiered Espejos, a new vibraphone solo by Vincent Raikhel, which appeared alongside repeat performances by Shevtsov and Popham.
The Appleton Family Leslie & Erik Andresen Barbara & Ben Cerrone Dax de la Monta Grant and Meredith Robinson Scott Wollschleger Joanne Chory & Steven Worland Patrons’ Circle ($100-$249) Rosalie Bulger Buzzi Federico & Rebecca Cerrone Reiko Fueting Carol B. Levin Denise Melato Gerard and Geraldine Melato Bill Sims Richard and Norine Sims Shelly Cryer & Michael Stern Janet Struckley Ann & Dave Wollschleger
Friends’ Circle ($10-$99) Josephine Arduini Joan Asher Patty Bullock Joseph Carvelli Lisa & Michael Ceriello Karen and Bill Franke Pamela Green Chuck & Valerie Hashim Clarice Hearne Jordan Kuspa Elizabeth Lord Mary Marino Mary Jo Melato Esther Palermo Olga Palermo Jim & Diane Robertson Jean Rohe The Sementilli Fanily Robert and Rosemary Sieffert To become a Red Light donor, go to redlightnewmusic.org and click on “support.”