Community and Empathy at the 2017 Ojai Music Festival

by Alexander K. Rothe

This year’s Ojai Music Festival (June 8-11) in Ojai, California was the chance of a lifetime to experience how music can serve to imagine and also activate a world of greater tolerance and social justice. The theme of this year’s festival was community and empathy, and the innovative programming of Vijay Iyer provided a space in which to reflect on this theme in a variety of different contexts. Iyer didn’t tell the audience how to interpret the theme, but rather framed the question in such a way that it invited further discussion. Each concert approached the theme from a slightly different angle, but there was a common thread connecting each one: the featured artists and composers had either participated in or been influenced by the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a collective of African-American musicians founded on the South Side of Chicago in 1965.

Vijay Iyer and Jennifer Koh following the spectacular world premiere of Iyer’s violin concerto.

A highlight of the festival’s first evening was the spectacular world premiere of Iyer’s violin concerto for Jennifer Koh. Koh, who was interviewed later during the festival, is a warm, intelligent person, and this was reflected in her performance of Iyer’s violin concerto. The concerto—a genre that traditionally involves a hierarchical relationship between the hero-soloist and the orchestra—was instead reconceived here as a dialogue between equals. The soloist was depicted as a vulnerable figure responding to the musical material of the orchestra. For example, at one point during the concerto, the violinist sustains a single pitch while the orchestra plays the melody. When Koh performed this section, she drew her bow close to the bridge, resulting in a brittle, fragile sound—like a voice on the verge of breaking.

The festival’s second day was especially rich in its musical offerings. The afternoon concert featured two artists who were both inspired by the AACM. Claire Chase gave a magnificent demonstration of her Density 2036 project, performing a series of compositions based on Edgard Varèse’s revolutionary 1936 musical work Density 21.5. Later during the panel discussion on the AACM, Chase mentioned that she couldn’t have conceived of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), which she founded in 2001, without the history of the AACM.

The audience cheers for Claire Chase, who performed selections from her Density 2036 project. Also pictured are composers Tyshawn Sorey, Pauchi Sasaki, and Vijay Iyer.

The Friday afternoon concert also featured a performance of Tyshawn Sorey’s brilliant composition The Inner Spectrum of Variables, which presents a fresh take on aleatoric procedures. The conductor performs a series of gestures instructing the ensemble which path to take in the score, a technique reminiscent of Boulez’s Eclat. Sorey refers to this technique as “conduction,” which is an elaborate system of conducted improvisation that he adopted from Butch Morris. Sorey, who also participated in the AACM panel, emphasized the organization’s influence on his personal and professional development. Having grown up in a poor neighborhood in which funding for the arts was not readily available, Sorey turned to the history of the AACM as a source of inspiration to guide him in his quest for self-determination. 

The Friday evening concert was the West Coast premiere of George Lewis’s Afterword, an opera about the history of the AACM. Compared to the 2015 world premiere in Chicago, the Ojai staging was more minimalist—there were no dancers and only a few props—and the gestures and movements of the three singers were much more transparent in meaning. This staging worked well because it highlighted the powerful message of the libretto—the transformative nature of creative music and the ultimate success of the AACM. The most impressive aspect of the performance was the superb singing and dramatic intensity of Gwendolyn Brown, Joelle Lamarre, and Julian Terrell Otis. The International Contemporary Ensemble did a wonderful job supporting the singers, and one had the sense that both were in dialogue with each other. In sum, the opera was a great success, and the audience was clearly moved.

The powerful West Coast premiere of George Lewis’s opera Afterword: pictured here, from left to right, are Gwendolyn Brown, Sean Griffin, George Lewis, Joelle Lamarre, Julian Terrell Otis, and Steven Schick.)

Another highlight of this year’s festival was the world premiere of the chamber version of Courtney Bryan’s Yet Unheard, to a text by Sharan Strange. The rich, nuanced voice of Helga Davis was juxtaposed with a chorus mourning the tragedy of Sandra Bland. Sharan Strange’s deeply moving text serves as a site of empathy, creating a community of listeners honoring the memory of Sandra Bland.  

In conclusion, this year’s festival accomplished its aim of creating a new kind of community through diverse and innovative programming. Pre-concert talks encouraged open dialogue between composers, performers, and audience members. After each concert, many of the performers and composers would come out and interact with the audience on the festival grounds. Moreover, the focus on the impact of the AACM—as a collective of musicians transcending genre boundaries—was especially effective for making connections between communities normally assumed to be separate. The juxtaposition of improvised and notated traditions—as well as examples that draw on both—broke down the hierarchy that often exists between the two. The programming of artists and composers fluent in multiple traditions further contributed to this tendency.   

On a personal note: this year’s festival was a profound experience that will always remain with me. I will strive to adhere to the tolerance and open-mindedness demonstrated by the festival programming. Finally, I eagerly await next year’s festival, which will be directed by the amazing violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaya.

Courtney Bryan, Helga Davis, and Sharan Strange mourn the tragedy of Sandra Bland with Yet Unheard.


Alexander K. Rothe is a Core Lecturer at Columbia University, where he completed his Ph.D. in Historical Musicology in 2015. His research interests are opera staging, Regieoper, Wagner Studies, and new music. He is currently working on a book project on stagings of Wagner’s Ring cycle and afterlives of 1968 in divided Germany during the 1970s and 1980s. Dr. Rothe regularly blogs on musical topics on his website.

LIVE VIDEO STREAM: A Far Cry on Friday, May 26 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET

A Far Cry and members of Silk Road premiere Vijay Iyer’s “City of Sand.”

by Maggie Molloy

New and familiar works from all corners of the globe come together this Friday night at A Far Cry’s concert collaboration with members from Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. And although the concert itself is in Boston (and also completely sold out), you can still hear every minute of this musical tour de force right here on Second Inversion during our live video stream of the performance this Friday, May 26 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET.

Joined by Silk Road members Kinan Azmeh (clarinet), Sandeep Das (tabla), Haruka Fujii (percussion), Joseph Gramley (percussion), and Wu Man (pipa), A Far Cry explores music from across the ages and around the world, ranging from Bartók’s famous Romanian Folk Dances to a brand new world premiere of Vijay Iyer’s City of Sand.

The world-ranging program features composers and music from about a dozen different countries, including India, Iran, China, Syria, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, America, Japan, and more. Check out the full program below, and click here for program notes.

Kayhan Kalhor: Gallop of a Thousand Horses
Zhao Jiping: Sacred Cloud Music
Kinan Azmeh: Ibn Arabi Postlude
Béla Bartók, arr. Arthur Willner: Romanian Folk Dances
Kojiro Umezaki: For Zero
Vijay Iyer: City of Sand (World Premiere)
Sandeep Das, arr. Jesse Irons: Tarang
JPP and Marin Marin, arr. Karl Doty & Erik Higgins: Finnish and Swedish Fiddle Tunes
Kinan Azmeh: Bass Duo
Sapo Parapaskero, arr. Ljova & Osvaldo Golijov: Turceasca

Visit our website on Friday, May 26 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET to watch the sold-out performance LIVE. To learn more about our live-streaming video broadcasts of A Far Cry, click here.

ALBUM REVIEW: “gathering blue” by RighteousGIRLS

by Maggie Molloy 

a4c991_c913dd5409b14917bab1efcae62f8915Blue is a color rich in symbolism. For many it represents peace, tranquility, mystery, and truth. But it may also be a symbol for trust, wisdom, faith, and, above all, harmony.

Lois Lowry’s science fiction novel “Gathering Blue” tells the story of a young orphan with a deformed leg living in a dystopian society that leaves disabled people to die in the fields. But her life is spared due to her talent in threadwork—and her greatest triumph occurs when she discovers the art of dyeing the color blue, the one color no one else in her cruel society knows how to make.

Contemporary classical duo RighteousGIRLS takes this notion of blue as a symbol for social (and musical) harmony and explores its full spectrum of dazzling and luminous shades in their debut album, “gathering blue.” Titled after Lowry’s novel, the album blends elements of classical, avant-garde, jazz, improvisation, and post-production techniques.

RighteousGIRLS, comprised of New York-based flutist Gina Izzo and pianist Erika Dohi, creates a colorful musical palette through their collaboration with a variety of dynamic New York artists. Featured composers include Andy Akiho, Ambrose Akinmusire, Pascal Le Boeuf, Christian Carey, Vijay Iyer, Dave Molk, Mike Perdue, Jonathan Ragonese, and Randy Woolf.

The album opens with a bang—literally. The duo introduces themselves with “GIRLS,” composed by album’s producer, Pascal Le Boeuf, and scored for two flutes, piano, and prepared piano. The theatrical showpiece utilizes a variety of extended techniques and unconventional acoustic sounds, creating a dynamic, idiosyncratic, and completely otherworldly musical experience. Izzo’s rhythmic flute playing hovers above an array of distinctive piano timbres. For Izzo and Dohi, nothing is off limits: Dohi uses palms, elbows, and forearms on the prepared piano keys while Izzo strums inside the piano itself.

The next piece moves beyond the musical score: Izzo and Dohi experiment with improvisation in “Accumulated Gestures” by Vijay Iyer. Featuring drummer Justin Brown, the piece explores the ever-evolving theme of rhythmic contrast, keeping the listener (and the musicians) constantly on their toes.

Improvisation is a key theme in “Anzu” by jazz trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire as well. Titled after the Japanese word for “apricot,” the piece captures both the velvety sweetness and also the faint tartness of this vibrant fruit. Featuring Akinmusire himself on trumpet, the piece paints a gorgeous sonic landscape with slow and soulful trumpet and flute melodies dancing over a twinkling piano backdrop.

RighteousGIRLS picks up the pace again in their adaptation of “…nobody move…” by Randy Woolf. The intentionally chaotic piece employs an energetic groove that showcases Dohi’s avant-garde jazz piano chops.

The work is followed by a RighteousGIRLS rendition of Jonathan Ragonese’s solemn and contemplative “non-poem 1.” In direct contrast to the preceding piece, “non-poem 1” explores soft, meditative melodies surrounded by silence.

Andy Akiho’s “KARakurENAI” offers another dramatic change in musical texture. The piece, which features Akiho on prepared steel pan, crafts an entire orchestra of colorful percussive sounds accented by flute and piano embellishments. But this is not just any average old prepared steel pan—Akiho performs the left-hand ostinato with the cardboard tube of a dry cleaner coat hanger while poking out the right-hand melody with a wooden chopstick. Yes, a wooden chopstick.

The duo also performs Mike Perdue’s “Entr’acte,” written for two flutes and two prepared (and intentionally overdubbed) pianos. Quizzical and unconventional, the piece is titled after the French term for music that accompanies a theater set change.

Perhaps the duo is setting the stage for a tribute to one of the biggest names in contemporary classical: Milton Babbitt. The next piece on the album, titled “For Milton,” is a flute and piano duo written by Christian Carey in fond memory of the late composer. The piece showcases both Babbitt’s famous serialism as well as his affection for the soulful swing of early jazz.

The piece is followed by Dave Molk’s “Edge,” a RighteousGIRLS-commissioned piece that packs some serious punch. The flute and piano spew glitchy and jarring staccato melodies blurred by brief legato interludes.

And true to the blue color symbology, “gathering blue” also packs a little bit of mystery: a series of ethereal hidden interludes written by Le Boeuf weave together this fearlessly bold and vibrant album.

And somewhere between the serialism, the prepared steel pan ostinati, the elbow piano playing, and the brink of silence, RighteousGIRLS crafts a palette of blue hues richer and more diverse than you ever dreamed possible.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: The Brooklyn Rider Almanac

by Maggie Stapleton

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Since the birth of Second Inversion, Brooklyn Rider‘s versatile recordings of new music for string quartet have been a significant presence on our airwaves.  Eric, Nick, Johnny, and Colin also captured our hearts with a great Vine video musically depicting and celebrating “Second Inversion,” back in February 2014.

To celebrate ten years together as a quartet, they created The Brooklyn Rider Almanac. This is a collection of thirteen new compositions for string quartet mostly by composers rooted in jazz, rock, or folk music. It’s an incredible celebration of Brooklyn Rider’s musical connections in the last decade (the composers are self-proclaimed “musical crushes” and old friends) and for posterity, an expansion of the string quartet repertoire.  Furthermore, the project is “about inspiration, about music being the tip of a bigger iceberg,” according to Colin Jacobsen.

Each composer indicates from which literary, musical, dance, or other artistic source the inspiration is drawn.  You’ll hear music by Vijay Iyer inspired by James Brown (it grooves, hard, and requires the musicians to extend their rhythmic techniques with polyrhythmic stomping while playing); Christina Courtin inspired by Stravinsky (full of neo-classical Pulcinella-esque charm); Aoife O’Donovan inspired by William Faulkner (what I’d give to be in Mississippi, drinking a mint julep while listening to this…)

My personal favorite track on the record is Colin Jacobsen’s “Exit,” featuring the versatile vocalist Shara Worden.  With a light texture of percussive hand claps, plucking pizzicati, and pointed vocal sounds, there’s an undertone of minimalism in this piece in a beautifully “less is more,” simplistic way.  Colin Jacobsen cites three sources of inspiration of this piece.  First is Shara Worden and her dichotomy of not giving any excess in what she sings, yet still diving head first and inhabiting the role of whatever she’s singing.  Second is Kandinsky, who happens to be the lyricist of the song – “Exit” comes from a book poems and woodcut etchings called Sounds, written at a time when he was going toward abstract painting and trying to get away from the literal meaning of words.  Thirdly, Jacobsen draws from David Byrnes’ How Music Works by finding just the groove that is necessary for the piece to happen and not putting anything else there.

In regard to each individual piece and the collection as a whole, it’s best for me to keep it simple and just say this music is GOOD.  The type of “hand it to my friends who have little or no interest in classical music and say, ‘stop what you’re doing and LISTEN TO THIS NOW!'” good.  It rethinks classical music AND the string quartet with a timeless quality, putting a stamp on the fact that music doesn’t need labels or categories or genres.  Put these four (or five, in “Exit”) musicians together who can not only play music well, but express emotion and breathe life into the notes on a page, and the magic is there.

Get your own copy on Amazon or iTunes (it comes with 2 bonus tracks if you purchase on iTunes!) of the Brooklyn Rider Almanac and keep an eye on their tour schedule for a performance near you!