2020–2021
MUSIC AT EMORY
This pre-recorded concert is presented by the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts schwartz.emory.edu/virtual-stage Box Office/Audience Information 404.727.5050 • schwartz.emory.edu
Photographs and Recordings Digital capture or recording of this concert is not permitted. Event and Program Information Available online at schwartz.emory.edu Cover Photo By Mark Teague Acknowledgment Eternal thanks to Donna and Marvin Schwartz for their many contributions.
2020–2021
MUSIC AT EMORY
Fall 2020 Composition Showcase Ivan Chen, Jacob Ennis-Bailey, Matthew Chau, Chris Fenger, Sawyer Gray, Brian Le, Joshua MacLean, Rachel Ofotokun, Ann Felicia Sinsuan, Candace Suh, Beverley Sylvester, and Yida Wang Adam Mirza and Katherine Young, program coordinators Saturday, December 5, 2020, 8:00 p.m. A virtual concert featuring previously recorded performances from remote locations. Emerson Concert Hall Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Fall 2020 Composition Showcase
We are living through an unprecedented time, one which demands much of each of us—as members of the Emory community, citizens, and musicians. We are contending with two complex and interconnected crises: COVID-19 and the persistence of racial inequality in our society. Both crises ask us to reexamine our physical, spiritual, economic, and technological connections to each other, and raise many questions for artists. This semester, composition students critically considered their roles and contributions as musicians in relation to these crises. To do so, they explored new collaborations with members of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra (under the direction of Paul Bhasin), vocalists in Bradley Howard’s studio, and pianists in Elena Cholakova’s studio. Remote collaboration requires equal parts ingenuity and patience. Scores and click tracks had to be sent back and forth by email, recording sessions conducted with smartphones, and tutorials on video editing watched late into the night. Through all of these challenges (among others), wonderful new work has emerged: emotionally personal explorations, political statements, playful engagements with popular musics, evocative scenic music, and much more. Our inaugural showcase of student compositions displays a rich diversity of musical creativity and engagement. We are proud of the work of all of the student composers and performers this semester and grateful for the new connections that have been established and will persist long after 2020. —Adam Mirza and Katherine Young, program coordinators 4
Program Sawyer Gray (b. 1999)
Introducing Mike Espy Instrumentation: Stereo audio Performed by: Sawyer Gray
Program Note and About the Composer This piece was inspired by the depressing futility of state-level electoral politics in Mississippi. It began as a homework assignment in Adam Mirza’s Electronic Music class, in which we were tasked to make a sound collage—a project where the only allowed manipulation to the sound is cutting it up and moving it around. Every sound heard in this piece is in some way created from the Mike Espy campaign Facebook page, and a few sounds are from Macaulay Library (a repository of bird calls). Sawyer Gray is a junior at Emory majoring in music on the composition track. He is from Starkville, Mississippi, and he plays guitar in the Emory Tango Ensemble. In his free time, he enjoys riding his bike.
Brian Le (b. 1999)
What Democracy Looks Like
Instrumentation: Six voices—three soprano and three tenor Performed by: Anjali Shah and Nathan May
Program Note and About the Composer What Democracy Looks Like is a piece derived from the protest chant of the same name. It was inspired by my experiences with protests and their rallying cries. The core chant of the piece, presented at the very beginning, has been used in racial, gender, and religious protests and continues to persist as a signifier of liberation. The piece explores the different timbres of spoken and sung text and uses the two to create different sound textures throughout. It reimagines the chant through fragmentation and repetition to ask the audience—what does democracy look like? Brian Le is from Dallas and is currently a junior at Emory studying music composition and business and society. He plays the cello and performs in the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and the Emory Tango Ensemble. Le’s compositional influences come from his background in various ensembles and musical theater, along with his cultural experiences as a Vietnamese American and a Texan. 5
Chris Fenger (b. 1998)
Untitled Instrumentation: Recorded voice/stereo audio Performed by: Evelyn Sload
Program Note and About the Composer Untitled is a piece that explores the challenges of identity for Palestinians. As a Palestinian, I have always felt compelled to shine a light on the issues and injustices faced by Palestinians in our historic homeland. In an attempt to do this, I decided to set some lines from the poem A Canaanite Rock on the Dead Sea by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. The piece is comprised of recorded vocals and is heavily edited and manipulated. Chris Fenger is a senior at Emory from Greensboro, North Carolina, completing his honors project in composition. He is a guitarist and cellist, and is musically inspired most by post-minimalism, jazz, hip-hop, and hard rock.
Prelude Sawyer Gray (b. 1999)
Walter’s Window
Instrumentation: Clarinet, vibraphone, violin, viola, cello, and bass Performed by: Members of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra Chunjin Park, Susin Li, Carilne Sikuta, Emory Wilson, Rachel Seong, and Alex Petralia
Program Note Walter’s Window, named for Baade’s Window, is an experiment in asynchronous music using material from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6.
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Ann Felicia Sinsuan (b. 2000)
The Glass Forest
Instrumentation: Electronics (MIDI) and recorded samples
Program Note and About the Composer This work uses sampling and MIDI to evoke the image of a walk through the woods. Its inhabitants guide one to the beautiful glass forest, though it is suggested not to linger for too long; many that wander there tend not return home . . . Ann Felicia Sinsuan is a third-year student at Emory double majoring in chemistry and music. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, playing video games, and not burning the house down while baking goods.
Ivan Chen (b. 2000)
Orientations Instrumentation: Solo violin Performed by: Emory artist affiliate
Program Note and About the Composer This is a piece that I wrote for a journey. The aim of the journey is to find the cardinal orientations. Each of the four strings of the violin represents one of the four cardinal orientations. Ivan Chen is a junior at Emory College studying music composition. He is from Ningbo, a city in the southeastern part of China. He has played saxophone for five years and enjoys jazz music.
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Yida Wang (b. 1999)
After October Instrumentation: Voice and piano Performed by: Katherine Wang and Jisu Yang
Program Note and About the Composer The inspiration for this piece comes from the pop songs of Jay Chou, a famous Chinese composer and singer. In his songs, he widely uses chords with sus2 and a fixed motive in the accompaniment, while developing his melodies above. Because it sounds really good to me, I decided to mimic his style and compose a song myself. I began with writing the melodies first, accompaniments next, and lyrics last. Writing the lyrics last was definitely hard because the number of words for each phrase had been fixed, but generally, it was interesting. Yida Wang, a junior majoring in music composition at Emory, is from China. Besides writing music, she enjoys playing the violin and piano in her free time. She especially identifies with Bach’s work, and wishes to write a fugue in his style in the future.
Rachel Ofotokun (b. 2000)
Gold and Ripe Instrumentation: Violin and cello Performed by: Emory artist affiliates
Program Note and About the Composer Gold and Ripe began with a set of intentions that quickly acquiesced to cathartic, nature-inspired composing. The harvest, warm rays of sun amidst the cool air, and endless musings motivated this piece. Rachel Ofotokun is from Lilburn, Georgia, and is a currently a junior at Emory studying music composition and African Studies. Nature and cinematic scenes inspire her work, as well as dance and body movement.Â
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Jacob Ennis-Bailey (b. 2001)
Roaming Instrumentation: Solo piano Performed by: Sydney Chung
Program Note and About the Composer From a young age, I have always been drawn to the music of films—these scores have a specific quality that plunge you into a completely new world. The goal of this composition is to replicate this “cinematic” quality with a minimalist approach. Jacob Ennis-Bailey is double majoring in quantitative sciences and music composition at Emory, and is originally from Bakersfield, California. EnnisBailey is a cellist and participated in the Emory University Symphony Orchestra last year and joined the Emory Tango Ensemble this semester. In their free time, they enjoy exploring the city of Atlanta with their close friends to experience the sounds of the city.
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Joshua MacLean (b. 1999)
Tarot 3 Instrumentation: Piano Performed by: Jisu Yang
Program Note and About the Composer This collection of pieces is based on the Tarot, a deck of cards historically used in fortune telling. I love the thematic depth held in each card, so I assigned a musical idea to each card in the Tarot deck and drew several of them for each piece. I then combined the musical ideas pre-compositionally. For example, for the first piece, subtitled Aggression, I drew Hierophant (reversed), Chariot (reversed), Wheel of Fortune, King of Swords, and 6 of Wands. Hierophant (reversed) meant use a non-standard mode; Chariot (reversed) meant include a large decelerando, or slowing of tempo; and Wheel of Fortune meant the piece had to be very cyclical. Those are the “Major Arcana” or the bigger pieces of thematic material. The other two cards, King of Swords and 6 of Wands, helped determine the pitches (B-flat and F) and general tones (aggression and intangibility). Each piece can be broken down like this, but for the sake of space I will refrain. Hope you enjoy! Joshua MacLean 21C is a music composition/math major at Emory. After a short break from the composition program, he is back with a series of short piano pieces. He comes from an orchestral percussion background, which may contribute to his strong interest in rhythm.
Prelude Prelude to L’inverno
Jacob Ennis-Bailey (b. 2001)
Instrumentation: Violins, viola, and cello Performed by: Members of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra Alyssa Stegall, Dan Kim, Ayusha Shrestha, and Andrew Choi
Program Note My miniature to Vivaldi’s L’inverno serves as a prelude that would flow directly into the beginning of the Vivaldi piece. I was very drawn to the trill motive Vivaldi used and wanted to experiment with its development in a more condensed piece.
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Candace Suh (b. 1999)
Stages of Instrumentation: Violin and cello Performed by: Emory artist affiliates
Program Note and About the Composer Stages of explores the progression of anger within an argument between two intimate voices. This piece began with a study of Ares, the god of war, and modern depictions of both Ares and his domain. From war, I began to think about the rising tensions I felt around me and the anger. Anger is an emotion with a negative connotation; one we are told to suppress, but I learned that “pure” anger, used properly, can be immensely progressive. My unfamiliarity with the emotion made me more interested in how there are different ways anger can manifest. Through this work, I hope to express the complexity of anger and how it is not just something negative. I chose the viola and the cello for their deep, rich timbre and their wide overlapping ranges. Candace Suh is a senior at Emory majoring in music composition. She plays the violin and performs with Emory’s Tango Ensemble. A lover of cinematic scores, Suh’s compositional work is strongly inspired by cinematic imagery and the creation of ambience, drawn from serialism and more minimalist music in order to explore instrumental timbre.
Prelude Prelude of K. 320 “Posthorn”
Yida Wang (b. 1999)
Instrumentation: Flute, clarinet, bassoon, timpani, triangle, violin, viola, and cello Performed by: Members of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra Claudia Wahoski, Trisha Sengupta, Jason Goodman, Seyon Kim, Michael Blankfein, and Hannah Lu
Program Note This short piece was written as the prelude to the first movement of K. 320 “Posthorn.” It shares many similarities with Mozart’s piece, including the key, melodic gesture in the beginning, and the harmonization, among others. It is also the result of a wonderful collaboration between the composer and members of Emory University Symphony Orchestra. The musicians have put in a great amount of effort and this piece would be eclipsed without them. 11
Matthew Chau (b. 1999)
Schism Instrumentation: Violin and viola Performed by: Emory artist affiliates
Program Note and About the Composer Everyone has a positive self and a negative one, always fighting with each other and sometimes we get overwhelmed in one of them. Stemming from this idea, I have written Schism for string duet. As the title suggests, it is a story of two different personalities splitting from the same host. They sequentially experience creation, coping, conflicts, dominance, and death. The violin represents a positive and delightful mood, and sometimes a dominant and powerful personality. The viola represents a melancholic, depressed emotion and a relatively more compliant and acquiescent personality. Eventually one personality dominates the other, and the other is extinguished. Matthew Chau is a senior at Emory studying mathematics and computer science and music composition. In addition to composing, Chau plays piano and guitar. He is a big fan of movie soundtracks and he loves to tell stories with his music.
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Beverley Sylvester (b. 1999)
Hiraeth’s Call Instrumentation: Solo violin Performed by: Emory artist affiliate
Program Note and About the Composer This piece will eventually be performed during a production of Woodsmoke and Magnolias, a play co-written with a fellow Emory student, William O’Neal II. Hiraeth’s Call is played offstage while two lovers sit on a porch and look out at the woods that edge the small town of Woodsmoke, Virginia. These woods carry many legends—of vengeful ghosts from atrocious lynchings, of benevolent faeries who befriend children, of young Black folks gone missing, and of an imaginary friend named Hiraeth who plays violin. As we watch these two characters discuss how imaginary this Hiraeth is, we begin to hear music from the woods. We begin to believe that maybe there is a little magic in Woodsmoke. Beverley Sylvester is junior, double majoring in music composition and playwriting at Emory. She was born and raised near Atlanta, where she learned to play piano and alto saxophone and fell in love with creation in many forms. Her artistic focus includes exploration of the American South through religion, music, and Southern gothic literature, among others.
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From the Schwartz Center
During this season of celebration, we celebrate you—your support, your feedback, and your willingness to take this virtual journey with us. We are driven by Emory’s motto—the wise heart seeks knowledge. Care and compassion are critical to our educational and service missions. These very values must guide our response to challenging situations, including our current ones. Whenever it is appropriate for the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts to return to live performances, we hope to continue providing a livestream for those who prefer to watch virtually. The timing of a return to live performances will be informed by the current health guidelines, and in coordination with Emory University. Wishing you a joyful and safe holiday season.
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More events coming soon to the Schwartz Center Virtual Stage schwartz.emory.edu/virtual-stage ECMSA Emerson Series: All-Star Trio
January 23, 2021 at 8 p.m. ECMSA begins the year with an all-star trio of violinist Chee-Yun, cellist Zuill Bailey, and pianist Natasha Paremski joining forces for a thrilling concert of Brahms, Franck, and Piazzolla.
Jeremy Denk, piano
January 29, 2021 at 8 p.m. Jeremy Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists. Winner of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year award, he was also recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Denk has performed in recent seasons with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra.
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Music at Emory Music at Emory brings together students, faculty, and world-class artists to create an exciting and innovative season of performances and events. In a typical year, Music at Emory presents more than 150 events across multiple Emory venues; however, in this challenging season, we are committed to coming together virtually for a variety of musical offerings. Spring 2021 concerts remain as scheduled, but are subject to change based on guidance from Emory University and public health officials. Please visit music.emory.edu for the most up-to-date schedule and announcements.
404.727.5050 music.emory.edu