Yesterday, December 3rd, was the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the prestigious Jonathan Club.  I had the honor of performing with the Citrus Women’s Ensemble at their beautiful beach location.  We offered an exquisite selection of classic Christmas Carols with elegant and diverse arrangements directed by Mrs. Keelly Milliken.

http://www.jc.org/

The audience was a warm and kind audience including joyful children.

Picture above: Yuki Funakoshi and Victoria Vives, two of the Sopranos of the Citrus Women’s Ensemble

Picture above: Jackeline Aceves, Victoria Vives and Mercedes Cademartori.  Sopranos of the Citrus Women’s Ensemble

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Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (October 26, 1685 – July 23, 1757) was born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, where his father, Alessandro Scarlatti was a prominent composer. It is safe to say that there is very little known about Domenico Scarlatti. He made an active effort to remain out of the eye of the public. Only at moments of transition and forced into self discovery do we see the true nature of Domenico Scarlatti. While he was not the greatest composer of his day, being born the same year as such influences like Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, he remains one of the most innovative composers of all time. For nearly 2 centruries, music theoreticians failed to explain the logic behind his most famous work, 555 solo harpsichord exercises or sonatas. Each piece incrementally builds on the next in both technical difficulty, stamina as well as range and depth of the keyboard. His works prior to this period fail to account for the nuance, variety, and innovation of this massive collection.

Growing up in a full house hold, sixth of ten children, in the city’s center, he was constantly surrounded by activity, music, and noise. His father turned their home into practice rooms for his students and artists alike. A constant flow of visitors graced philosophical and musical discussions on a regular basis. There is no doubt Domenico felt at ease and perhaps with some obligation to his pursuit in music. His father recognized a talent in Domenico at an early age, becoming his first teacher. However, Alessandro also wanted Domenico to be exposed to other teachers. His early teachers include very influential composers and performers of the Baroque age, such as, Gaetano Greco, Francesco Gasparini, and Bernardo Pasquini. It is easy to hear their influence in his music as well.

As a maturing student of the keyboard, he was expected to improvise entire compositions in social settings. Alessandro believed, as most composers of the time, that art held no place in the creation of music. In fact, most keyboard players were expected to be able to compose. Alessandro believed music composition fell completely under the category of science. The laws of music mimicked the laws of nature. One could not defy gravity much like one could not bend the rules of composition. These two elements, improvisational composition, a strict respect for the laws of traditional music theory, as well as Domenico’s exposer to many different cultures and folk music, were the greatest contributors to his most influential keyboard collection.

At the age of 16, with the help of his father, he secured his first employment as the composer and organist at the Royal Chapel in Naples. Early into this station, he father once again found him an honorable position in Venice. He remained here for four years until 1709 where he moved to Rome.

While little is known of these formative years, it is said that he became an eminent harpsichordist. He also developed a huge sense of self-doubt. In a famous trial of skill, he found himself up against a young but already much accomplished composer named George Frideric Handel. Handel himself proclaimed Domenico superior on the harpsichord, but when it came time to test skill on the organ, it was clear, Handel was much better grasp of the instrument. Domenico remained defeated and respectful of Handel’s skill for the rest of his life.

The single most important figure in Domenico’s development during his stay in Rome was Queen Christina of Sweden. Christina abdicated her crown at the age of 28 and moved to Rome in order to support the arts and theater. She had been a patroness of Alessandro, Domenico’s father, for many years and within her circle, established connections for Domenico before she died in 1689.

After the death of Queen Christina, Queen Maria Casimara of Poland set out to take her place. She heavily believed in preserving theatre and art for not only cultural integrity but also a show of personal power. Domenico wrote several private operas while under her patronage. She also built a theater and commissioned painters, set designers, performers, and musicians for extravagant parties. These parties eventually became the result of her downfall as she drove herself deep into debt. However, the relevance of her impact and influence toward the development of art in Rome is felt even today. From his position under her guidance, Domenico established relationships with the Vatican and was appointed Maestro Di Cappella at St. Peter’s in 1715.

Domenico took leave of his station in 1719 and traveled in London to direct the performance of his opera Narciso in the King’s Theatre under the guidance of Thomas Roseingrave. Instead of returning to Rome, he set out for Lisbon to become music master to a very gifted, young Portuguese princess, Maria Magdalena Barbara. He would remain in her service for the rest of his life.

Alessandro Scarlatti died on October 24, 1725. At the age of 40, Domenico was faced with the burial of a father as well as a large financial support. The following 25 years mark a rebirth in the composer’s life. It is at this point here Domenico dedicated his life to family and music. He became a composer of great output and raised five children over two marriages when his first wife tragically died.

During these years, Princess Maria Barbara became queen of Spain. Domenico Moved to Sevilla and traveled the country as music master. He was introduced to Spanish folk music and flamenco where he found great inspiration for his collection of 555 sonatas for solo harpsichord.

Domenico died at the age of 71 in Madrid, Spain. Although a composer of a multitude of innovative pieces, as well as being knighted on the request of Queen Barbara, he remained out of the public eye. His fame is largely owed to the preservation of his work by his friends and supporters, Thomas Roseingrave and the famous castrato, Farinelli.

More info here & there & here too.

Jeffrey Parola is a brilliant, visionary composer who has blessed Choral Chameleon with his musical talents for the 2009-2010 season.  I interviewed him about his latest composition for the Dec. 12th concert.

You visited New York City the week of Choral Chameleon’s Day of the Dead concert.  How was your trip?

Most of my visits to New York have been spent playing tourist; but venturing to New York to hear my works performed added a layer of significance to this particular visit.  The Chameleon concert was THE major highlight, in addition to visiting friends and walking the grand city streets.

What did you take away from the Choral Chameleon concert on Nov. 1? 

I was moved by the programming, and felt that the difficult subject of death was treated in a unique, beautiful way.  Though I enjoy All Souls Day concerts that feature Mozart, Brahms, and Faure requiems, I loved the variety of repertoire on Chameleon’s Day of the Dead concert, which offered a diversity of perspectives on death.

What was it like to hear the choir sing your pieces “Giant Mirror” and all three movements of “Sempiterna?”

I enjoyed hearing Giant Mirror come back to life.  I wrote it in 2004 for a choral composition competition at the San Francisco Conservatory, at which it received its first and last performance, until Chameleon resurrected it.

Sempiterna has a special place in my heart, since I wrote it to commemorate my grandfather’s death. I think it worked well in the context of the Day of the Dead concert, and I liked that each of the three movements were spread throughout the program. The choir did a fantastic job, especially with “In pace,” as they seemed to master the phrasing of that movement.

Choral Chameleon’s Dec 12th concert is called “Choose Something Like A Star” after the Randall Thompson choral piece of the same title.  I first sang this in honor choir in 9th grade!  What’s your history with this work?

Choral Chameleon brought Thompson’s piece to my attention about a month ago, prior to which I had never heard it.  I did a little research, and listened to it a few times. Limited listenings have not yet inspired informed opinions, though, I do find it beautiful on the surface.

 Vince Peterson (artistic director of CC) encouraged me to write a piece connected to the “star” theme of the concert, which led me to seek star poetry.  I found a great poem by Robert Frost, who also penned the poem on which Thompson’s piece is based. Thus, there is a connection between my and Thompson’s pieces.

What is the title of your new composition for Choral Chameleon’s holiday concert?

The new composition is called Stars, based on Frost’s 1915 poem of the same name.

From where did the inspiration for this composition come? 

As I said above, I sought to write a piece thematically consistent with the December concert’s theme. Initially, I though I would write a “Christmas Star” piece, but the poetry I found did not move me.  Then I thought I would find something a bit subtler, and looked for “star” poems that might somehow relate to Christmas.  I found some great ones by Blake, Hopkins, Rossetti, and others, but the one that caught my eye was Frost’s Stars. I found myself immediately attracted to its sense of wonderment, awe, loneliness and isolation.

I initially doubted the poem’s relationship to Christmas. However, after some thought, I realized a connection could be made by focusing on the events that led to the birth of Jesus.  As Joseph and Mary sought shelter to prepare for Jesus’ birth, turned away by several people along the way, they must have felt lonely, doubtful and skeptical that what was about to happen was truly an act of God.  The evening sky, the chill of the night air, and the cold indifference of fellow man must have created for them layers of immense physical and psychological difficulty.  Though Christmas is often celebrated cheerfully, it is ironic that Jesus’ birth was achieved with a large amount of apprehension and anxiety.

How much of “Stars” had been written prior to Choral Chameleon’s Day of the Dead concert?

None of it!

Did hearing the choir perform influence your new composition? Did you get new ideas after the choir’s sound was fresh in your ear?

Hearing the choir gave me insight as to how I should play to Chameleon’s strengths.  I noticed that the group sounded best when singing vertically, when all of the vowels and consonants matched from soprano to bass.  So, Stars is a bit more homophonic than my other choral works.  Also, while writing it, I kept in mind that Chameleon would have little time to rehearse the piece ahead of the concert, and I minimized the piece’s difficulty-level, whileattempting to express the sophisticated message of Frost’s poem.

When you compose something, do you gain a sense of completion and think, “it’s over, it’s completely finished” or does it tend to feel unfinished?

The double bar line at the end of my compositions rarely indicates completion, and each piece undergoes a heavy editing process. Even though there’s always room for improvement, I eventually let go and move on. I think of my compositions as having their own lives, and at some point I need to let them live on their own beyond the formation I initially gave them. So, in that sense, yes, I think my compositions feel finished after they’ve matured a bit.

How does your new composition compare to your other pieces CC has sung this year?

Sempiterna explores the process of death, which concludes with a clear message of peace. Giant Mirror answers the “why are we here?” question, and celebrates it.

Conversely, Stars is skeptical and, perhaps, somewhat nihilistic. The stars in the sky, though ageless and beautiful, are indifferent to our short lives here on this earth. What we do in this life seems to mean nothing to them, and goes unnoticed…if my interpretation of Frost’s poem is accurate, that is!

The resulting musical material attempts to express a longing awe inspired by viewing the beautiful starlit sky, while simultaneously evoking the loneliness and vulnerability of the viewer.

Are you coming to the Dec. 12 concert?

Yes, I will be there, and I am excited to see and hear Chameleon again!  It is such an honor to know and write for such a great group of talented people.

How is your large work for the April concert coming along? 

I’ve finished all of the choruses for Such Beautiful Things, and am about to send Vince a stack of music so he can study them over break! The solo movements are in the works, and will be done soon. I’m thrilled by and proud of this piece, and I hope Chameleon and the audience enjoy it.

Working with librettist, Tony Asaro, has been a great source of inspiration and joy for me. His lyrics sing right off the page, and it’s been incredibly easy to set his text.

Such Beautiful Things is based on a Grimm’s tale, The Traveling Musicians, which tells the story of musicians – in the form of various animal characters – who are scorned by their respective societies. Each musician escapes the oppressive grip of their society, meeting other musicians in like-situations along the way, hoping to find a place where they might be valued for who they are and what they do.

This story can be applied to many socio-political realities, which makes its message that much more profound. I have found that working on it during the current economic crisis to be quite timely, since the arts are almost always the first victim of a budget cut. It is easy for an artist in this day and age to feel meaningless, devalued, and unappreciated when society is quick to pull support for the arts.

Having said that, the story ends with hope, as the musicians find a place where they can make music, and fear nothing for it.

This blog is written by Andrew Cook-Feltz.

Anoka-Ramsey Community College Cambridge Campus Guitar Ensemble and Concert Choir is practiced and ready to entertain faculty, fellow students and the public at a free, annual concert, Thursday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m., Rm. G202 Lecture Hall. 

Directed by college Music Faculty members, Eric Anderson and Sharri VanAlstine, the ensemble and choir will perform songs of the season. 

Choir, a mixed choral ensemble, is offered to students as either an activity or for credit. The group performs concerts each semester. 

For more information about the concert, including directions to the college, or the college’s music programs, visit www.AnokaRamsey.edu or call 763-433-1255.

Yes you staring at the “title” ! What all are you willing to do to get this golden top? Scrounge this month, not travel by cab for a week? Ditch the movies? Save on popcorn? This elegant yet sizzling piece is all yours and is available at Ensemble at Kalaghoda, Mumbai. Price tag? Rs 4900/- (Told you, you’d have to cut down on the other privileges of life. No pain – no gain.)

All I can say Iam willing to do all this and perhaps pay my phone bill slightly late all to grab this gorgeous golden designer blouse. I’d love to team it up with a little black skirt or perhaps a pair of fitted Capri, maybe even the black silk skirt I got from Nimbloo closet. Looks like I have it all sorted out, ok where’ s my piggy bank now.

Under Construction

Juan Cabanilles ( 1644 – 1712)

Corrente Italiana, originally for organ, transposed here for string or wind trio/ensemble

Treble 1, Treble 2, Bass:

Score | Treble 1 | Treble 2 | Bass

Treble, Alto, Bass:

Score | Treble | Alto | Bass

Treble, Bass 1, Bass 2:

Score | Treble | Bass 1 | Bass 2

Need a different arrangement? Send your request to OttavianoArchive@gmail.com with “Corrente Italiana” as the subject.

More parts coming soon!

thanks 3d4h for cleaning ensemble

Sonntag, 29.11.09, 11.15h, St.Peter, Wien I

Sonntag, 06.12.09, 10h, St.Othmar Weißgerbern, Wien III

Vocal C(h)ords
Sopran: Daniela Mulle, Lisi Buchberger
Alt: Astrid Gursch
Tenor: Roland Stickler
Bass: Adrian Csik, Erwin Weiss

Roma, 26 Novembre 2009 alle ore 18:30 presso l’Auditorium della Casa Argentina in Via Veneto, 7  serata in collaborazione con l’ Associazione Limina, di nuova costituzione ma già operante tra l’Italia e l’Argentina, e l’Ambasciata della Repubblica Argentina. Questo concerto, inoltre, è frutto della collaborazione con l’ Ensamble from Musicians for Human Rights, uno dei gruppi musicali di questa associazione composta da oltre 100 musicisti professionisti volontari, impegnati nel sociale a sostegno dei diritti umani. L’Ensemble, costituito appositamente per questo evento, vede Laviania Morelli e Marlène Prodigo ai violini, Lorenzo Falconi alla viola, Sara Gentile e Patrizio Serino ai violoncelli e Anita Mazzantini al contrabbasso. Precederà il concerto un breve intervento di Allessio Allegri, fondatore di Musicians for Human Rights. Altro protagonista della serata sarà il chitarrista Leopoldo Saracino tra i più apprezzati interpreti di nuova musica. Il programma prevede musiche di: Alejandro Galiano, Dante Grela, Simone Fontanelli, Lui Menacho, Mariano Etkin, Maria Cecilia Villanueva, Diana Rud, Daniel Cozzi, Juan Ortiz De Zarate, compositore argentino presente in sala. Apriranno e chiuderanno il concerto i due compositori italo argentini Gustavo Adolfo Delgado e Marcela Pavia, la quale presenta un’opera scritta assieme al compositore romano Cesare Saldicco.

Happy Thanksgiving (just about)!  It has been a busy month for me since my last update, but progress is occurring in almost every aspect of my life.  The last few weeks have been an exercise in trial and error and I have learned so much.  Now I have a chance to enjoy a break, savor some rest, and contemplate what I have learned.

This past weekend, I attended a Butoh Workshop at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina.  This all came about because by pure chance, while researching Butoh for my structural analysis paper, I happened to find a link to an Asheville-based website devoted to Butoh.  The three hour workshop fit my schedule and was a drivable distance, so I decided to go for it.

Julie Becton Gillum, a dancer with more than 40 years of experience behind her and who had studied in Japan with the living masters of Butoh this past summer, led about thirty of us students through the workshop.  We warmed up together and “danced.” It was a wonderfully freeing experience, because instead of being locked into the vocabulary of modern dance movement, we were free to create our own vocabulary.  No movement was restricted, and thus the only barrier on our ability to physically express ourselves was our own inhibitions.

This removal of a set vocabulary or system of movement, and this embracing of physical freedom, kept bringing me back to the training I had received this summer in Suzuki and Viewpoints with the SITI Company.  In particular, Barney O’Hanlon’s words kept echoing through my head: “Dance is simply conscious movement.” But the remarkable thing about Butoh is (and I couldn’t have grasped this from merely reading about it, I had to experience it) there comes a point during your dance where your movement is barely conscious.  At times during the workshop, I was becoming so in-tune with listening to my body, listening to the impulses that moved me from within on a visceral and even animalistic level (instead of an intellectual one), that I began to move in ways that surprised or even shocked my own senses.  I had a new Viewpoint.

Perhaps that seems a bit of a contrived tie-in to my research, but I will try to argue my point: Anne Bogart’s system of Viewpoints are a way of breaking down and experiencing time and space, theatrically, within the context of the ensemble.  To achieve the level of precision and specificity, on an individual and group basis, that Viewpoints requires, you have to get out of your own way.  You have to listen, you have to embrace all possibilities, and only then can you make a choice.  The conscious movement that Barney talked about at SITI was the product of all that precision, specificity, and listening – it was a conscious choice in reaction to infinite possibilities.  And through the Butoh, I found that my choices became easier and easier to make and (based on the reactions of the Julie and others in the workshop) more and more compelling.  I achieved a state of such careful listening that my body was one step ahead of my mind, and consequently, I was free to create with an unimpeded physical imagination.

This is a powerful and useful tool at the disposal of the performing artist – the ability to lead with the body, to kinesthetically respond instead of intellectually.  If the body leads, the mind will follow.  Because of this, my experience with Butoh has been phenomenally helpful in not only improving my acting and my appreciation for dance and movement, but also in my understanding of the efficacy of Viewpoints in building a dynamic and compelling ensemble of actors!

I love Antaeus readings. I love being in them, I love attending and listening to them. I recently participated in the “down & dirty” reading of Fathers and Sons by Brian Friel, initiated by Michael Murray.

It was really FUN–and this is always a good sign. For me, if I’m having fun, chances are I’m relaxing slightly from the neurotic precipice off which I am all too capable of dangling, and from which I examine every acting choice I make, from the creative to the business to the wardrobe, find nothing good to say about any of it, and spend the rest of the day rehashing how it all could have gone if I had said This instead of That. Familiar to any of you?

So much for being present, being open, being spontaneous –which I hear are good states to inhabit as actors. This was fun, so I think there was some real creativity and not too much self-abasement happening all around the table…(plus the fact that my character Anna falls in love with Bazarov, played by the dashing and handsome John Sloan, so this was going to be OK for me no matter what).

The play is based on the Turgenev novel (that famous one that’s been on my list of should-reads since high school), but from what I hear there are differences—some relationships emphasized more, others less or not at all….Michael says about the two pieces “These writers share the same sensibility–a sense of family, of nature, of the mix-up of comedy and tragedy”. The play was funny on paper; it was funnier when read aloud. In fact Michael was laughing through 90% of Arye Gross’s lines.

Arye Gross, Antaeus Company Member

Much of the humor comes from people taking themselves extremely seriously, which should be a reminder to all of us to lighten up a bit in life because the universe as our audience is probably laughing its ass off. It’s a Russian story adapted by an Irishman. One of the things we discussed after the reading is that Friel maintained a sense of his Irish identity inside of this story–certain words and rhythms he uses are distinctly Irish. I like that—reminds me that one’s essence is always a part of what one does. Rather than pretending he was Russian and omitting everything about him that is Irish, Friel leaves it in, and it works.

I feel as actors when an audition comes along that seems very far from who we are it can be easy to think I should take the Me out of it because this character is Other, and forget that it’s exactly that Me essence that is so important and wonderful to bring everywhere. Trying to hide it is not only futile but detrimental—hiding what’s deepest and most true seems the antithesis of art, right? So Friel finds the alchemy between Turgenev’s Russian and his Irish, the commonality in their souls. I will do that when I’m cast in the 10th Lara Croft movie because Angie is on baby #11.

So back to the reading—-there is so much subtext in Russian literature and no, not every piece of it came out, but what was thrilling was to sense how much lies beneath the surface and how satisfying it would be to go hunting for it. That’s another great thing about these gatherings—we get excited as a group to get behind something. We sense its potential. Or collectively we feel it isn’t for us. We get enough alone time as artists. This ensemble participation is good for the soul and good for the spirit of the company. Those of us there left wanting more.

Melanie Lora & Richard Miro in Zastrozzi,a reading at Antaeus

Melanie Lora is an A2 member who last performed with Antaeus in American Tales. Now that the biggest production of her life so far, getting married, has opened and is running with rave reviews for 2 months now, she is ready to get back onstage.

First days are by their very nature difficult. The beginning has always fascinated me both in theatre and indeed life and I have often wondered why, in many ways my fascination with beginnings is to do with the fact that beginnings are loaded with hope and also inevitably coupled by a certain degree of nervousness and it could be fair to say a sense of fear. Its this strange brew of feelings that give beginnings their weight and we tend to look back on them from far into the future and recall them in great detail.

Yesterdays session was the culmination of an idea that I have been ‘talking into a reality’ for quite a long time, in total for at least a year now. My super objective for fragments was always to create a working hub of artists that are multi disciplinary and who share a common ethos.
My main problem with our production work thus far has been one of time, there simply was never enough and the demands that were put on the actors during THE BAY rehearsals were beyond cognition, and I must add that the results were extremely positive but there was always a little voice in my head saying ‘these people deserve more’. So eventually I started to listen to the voices in my head and began to question what is it I really want. When you start to ask this question you quickly get into the realm of priorities and when you include something you also must be aware of what you are excluding. So eventually I made some hard choices,not so much about who I invited, for that Is a far longer story, but about what way did I want the work that we are going to develop. The truth is that we have have only had one days training with the new group but already there are patterns emerging that are not only vibrant but unique. In many ways I am interested in developing a common language, and it can only emerge through work, I am not one to impose concepts onto the work but I suppose in this modern age people are afraid of applying a philosophy to their work.

I have been extremely lucky in the past months as I have been exposed to an incredible diversity of theatre from around the globe. The three weeks I spent at The Dublin International Theatre Festival could only be described as a creative shake up, I began to really question not only what I do but more crucially why I do it and this is not a simple process, like all learning, it is difficult and at times painful. But from this searching, small fragments of meaning emerge, and from these fragments potentially bright and new ways of making new work can grow. What emerged from the work I saw in Dublin was that the values of ensemble playing was not simply that the productions appeared more rounded and polished it was the sense that the actors truly belonged to something that is bigger than themselves. In a time where actors appear to the most dispensable of all, there has to be a place beyond drama school where actors can truly experiment and risk and indeed fail. The work of Lev Dodin and The Maly is not only of the highest standards but there is an enormous respect for the work at hand and indeed an almost sacred quest for truthful performances. When you have the honour of witnessing such craftsmanship,something deep rotted takes place it is almost as if a light shines deep into your heart and you begin to imagine a vision of the future.Ensembles like ours do not exist in England and Ireland apart from one or two notable examples and this is primarily due to funding but I think it is more to do with the cultural and philosophical differences between countries that were once under Communist rule and that of the western Capitalistic society. In the West there has always been an emphasis on the individual and it is no coincidence that some of the finest Ensembles in Europe come from the former Eastern block, perhaps it is due to the socio-economic conditions that pervailed but I am certain that ensemble practice is the most efficient means of creating theatre.

We have taken our first steps together and there is a new life emerging that I am certain will have the potential to not only grow but to flourish.