MUSIC ON THE MAP

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by Maggie Stapleton
John Teske

Seattle composer John Teske takes inspiration from nature and space in a lot of his compositions, including his upcoming premiere topographies (along with Andrew C. Smith’s Topology (A/∀)) to be performed on Saturday, March 22, 8pm at the Good Shepherd Center’s Chapel Performance Space.  The work is composed as a set of graphic scores based on a topographical map and will be performed by 2 saxophones, cello, double bass, & percussion.  This should be a great catalyst for musical discovery – John is curious to find how the performers carve their own path.. both alone and together.

Here’s a conversation between Second Inversion’s Maggie Stapleton and John Teske on the inspiration behind this piece (including which particular map inspired this piece), his approach to collaboration with performers, educational outreach, and his overarching love of space and seas in his compositions.

To tide you over until March 22, here are some of John’s recent recordings with introductory comments:

BYRD ENSEMBLE SINGS THE NEW & OLD

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by Maggie Stapleton

The Byrd Ensemble (yes, as in William Byrd, 1540-1623) may not be the first ensemble in Seattle that you’d associate with new music, but on February 1, 2014 this 12-voice choir performed a program of (almost) all 20th and 21st century music.

Byrd Ensemble Artistic Director Markdavin Obenza offered me some of his thoughts behind this old-meets-new juxtaposition. “This particular program aimed to highlight similarities between modern vocal music and Renaissance music – a strong foundation in tonality and melody, and religious text. I thought a program centered around music by Arvo Part, Peter Hallock, Herbert Howells, and Renaissance composer Robert White would best do the job.”

Obenza also feels that new music seems to be easy to find, though rarely performed.   So, to round out the program, the Byrd Ensemble held a composition contest to draw upon composers of today.  Markdavin says, “To be honest, the idea was an experiment to see if it might get more people to the program, and, generally attracting a non early music demographic to our work.” The award for the contest was an audio and video recording of the piece (a real treat, considering Markdavin is also the co-founder of a tremendous record label, Scribe Records).  The response was better than expected, with 13 submissions and works by Erica Row, Gary James, Jeffrey Junkinsmith, and Markdavin Obenza himself were selected for performance on this program:

With many professional ensembles, programming new music can be a nerve-wracking territory with fear of poor audience attendance – many loyal followers of the Byrd Ensemble are most attracted to music of the Renaissance.  Was the risk of going outside the box worth it for them?  “More than I thought. Towards the end of the concert while I was acknowledging the composers, I noticed some louder clapping and mild cheering at the mention of doing a program entirely of new music by local composers. There’s some great music being written and I’d love to encourage them to keep writing, and I hope Byrd Ensemble’s willingness to perform new music does just that. We definitely plan to keep our modern/new music program in our rotation”

Cheers to you, Byrd Ensemble!

CATCHY STUFF FROM A FAR CRY

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by Jill Kimball

You know what’s really impressive? Musicians who can conduct and play…at the same time.

That’s the whole concept behind A Far Cry, a collective of 17 awesome musicians (they call themselves “criers”), all of whom can lead or follow whenever necessary. This group is all about diverting expectations and experimenting with new ways to prepare, perform and present music.

They visited our studios to record some liners the other week…

In this exclusive clip, A Far Cry plays a collection of short pieces from composer Ljova, aka Lev Zhurbin, aka “a man about town”–or so says Jesse Irons! Bagels, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and weddings in New Jersey play a part. It’s fun, catchy, and the crowd went nuts. Hit play and give it a listen while you surf. It’s Fiddler on the Roof meets Bartok’s Rumanian Folk Dances meets… well, A Far Cry.

A VISIT FROM BROOKLYN RIDER

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by Jill Kimball

Our favorite wacky string quartet from–you guessed it–Brooklyn paid us a visit today! They were on the way to their performance with banjo sensation Bela Fleck at the UW World Series. We were honored to have them!

(That’s our own Maggie Stapleton with members of Brooklyn Rider.)

As we’re preparing to launch the Second Inversion stream, we’ve been welcoming some class acts into the Classical KING FM studios to record interviews, liners, and even some music. This was our favorite visit yet, for reasons which become obvious below…