Performed Friday, April 14, 2023
PROGRAM NOTES: an echo that doesn’t rhyme
Two pianos are bowed by six performers in an antiphonal harmonic progression that alternates between chords built on the harmonic series and their corresponding subharmonic series. Two performers play the extreme low and high registers of the keyboard and pluck a constellation of twinkling pitches inside the piano. The peripheral pianos surround a central third piano that is bowed by a soloist whose notes consist of common tones between the harmonic and subharmonic chords as well as an EBowist. Two percussionists playing struck metal instruments (vibraphone, thai gongs, almglocken, and chimes) surround the pianos, expanding the sonic ripples that emanate from the center of the ensemble. Large aluminum pipes hang from the building’s lighting rig and are played processionally; turning the venue into a giant wind chime. Lights are used as a means of conducting the performers.
Noted by the LA Times for his “luxuriant theatricality”, DANIEL NEWMAN-LESSLER is a composer, pianist, installationist, conductor, singer, and educator. Daniel is pursuing a DMA at California Institute of the Arts, where he directs the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble and studies composition with Nick Deyoe and Andrew McIntosh and piano with Vicki Ray. He is a member of the free improvisation bands (placeHolder) and ++Grandpa. He has released two albums: an echo that doesn’t rhyme – a concert/ installation piece for 7 bowed pianos, 4 percussionists, solo dancer, and light conducting system; and Lola’s Cookies – music for cassette tape-based fixed media and acoustic instruments. His music has been performed by Tony Arnold, Bergamot Quartet, Brightwork Ensemble, Andrew McIntosh, Clara Kim, Isaura Quartet, Vinny Golia, Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, and Alison Bjorkedal among others. He has performed artists including Natalie Cole, Jennifer Hudson, and Mary J. Blige.
Daniel has commissioned new works by Dan Trueman and Elizabeth A. Baker and performed as a Piano Spheres Emerging Artist in the ’22-23 season. Daniel was a conducting scholar under Gerard Schwarz at Eastern Music Festival, chorus master for Santa Barbara Symphony, and has taught at University of California Santa Barbara, Music Academy of the West, Pepperdine University, Cal State University Channel Islands, and California Lutheran University.
Upcoming projects include a commission for Collide-O-Scope Ensemble, a Barbara Residency at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, and a permanent installation of Do you still want to go anywhere? Do you still think turning a wheel will help? for Eve Beglarian.
As a dancer, MADY THORNQUEST has experienced years of self-reflection, from mind to body, and has morphed this awareness into a deeper process of self-ethnography, as she puts it. Understanding the limits and potential of extending their potential within a blank canvas allows for “moments of (re)starting” and reminds us “that there are no beginnings, really…even in stillness, I am breathing, and thus I am moving. The movement never left, the flame was just turned down for awhile…”
