“Of California Ecology” features new works based on different
facets of California’s natural world. Drawing on the artists’
distinct backgrounds in jazz, band, and chamber music, the
program is inspired by seismic activity, fungal biomes,
waterways, and social ecology, among other natural phenomena. The
result is a diverse set of works all created with the aim of
bringing appreciation to California’s beautiful and delicate
environment.
This program was originally made possible with the support of
InterMusicSF.
Preconcert Discussion from 1:15–1:45 pm with
composers Yu-Hui Chang and Maria Niederberger with
Empyrean’s director Sam Nichols.
The music department’s professional contemporary music group the
Empyrean Ensemble will premiere Weaving Sound by Maria
Neiderberger, a 1981 graduate of UC Davis, a music department
lecturer for nearly 15 years and professor emeritus at East
Tennessee State University. The three-movement work interweaves
clarinet, viola, and piano into a tapestry of sound. Her music
has been performed throughout the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe.
This piece is an exploration of resonance, and in the essential
nature of the earliest harps. Crowd (etymologically related to
the Celtic words crwth, cruit, and
crot) was the English term used for instruments of the
lyre class, and ultimately for a frame harp from pre-Christian to
medieval times.
Commissioned by Boston Musica
Viva (BMV), the oldest professional ensemble in the United
States dedicated to contemporary music, Germinate was
written for their 50th anniversary in 2019. Scored for flute,
piccolo, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion,
Germinate is a tribute to BMV for its contribution to
the music of our time. A former UC Davis faculty member,
Chang now teaches at Brandeis University.
Jonathan
Harvey: Still
Portia Njoku, tuba and UC Davis lecturer in music
In Still, written for solo tuba and electronics, the
soloist improvises around a series of eight chords, gradually
building up a sustained background of reverberations.
Another BMV commission, Hyla’s Polish Folk Songs notably
uses the melodica and organ to evoke melodies the composer heard
in Zakopane, Poland. Hyla noted, “In my composition I have taken
a number of the songs commonly heard in the area and re-combined
them, allowing them to bump heads as well as interact
peacefully.”
Joseph Donald Peterson, viola and UC Davis graduate student
in music
Program
J.S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012
Several period performers are convinced Bach’s Sixth Cello Suite
was composed for the “Shoulder Cello” or the violoncello da
spalla, which is much larger than a viola. This arrangement for
viola is a testament to the versatility of Bach’s cello suites in
particular.
Milton Babbitt: Play It Again Sam
Piggybacking off of the misquoted line in the film
“Casablanca,” Play It Again Sam is a serialist
composer’s humorous take premiered by violist Samuel Rhodes (a
double meaning perhaps!).
Pablo Ortiz: Le vrai tango Argentin
Le vrai tango Argentin musically recalls Pablo Ortiz’s
uncle—who was going through a difficult divorce—playing classic
(pre-Piazzolla) tango records for Pablo as a young adult. Ortiz
says of his tango: “Like a good storyteller who is not afraid to
go on tangents, the performer conveys [this] narrative in a
pensive, relaxed manner.”
Dr. Faythe Vollrath, solo harpsichord and UC Davis lecturer in
music
Immerse yourself in the Halloween season with the eerie and
spooky sounds of the harpsichord. Spine-chilling chords and
cackling runs bring alive a concert of things that go bump in
the night, with black cats, Jeckyl and Hyde, and even
compositions written by spirits. Featuring works by J.S. Bach,
Dominico Scarlatti, James Dorsa, and Rosemary Brown.
Bay Area Indonesian-Folk-Rock fusion group, Purnamasari grew
out of the idea of supporting a new generation of artists from
both sides of the world through music and dance. The concert
takes place on the eve of the LUCE Foundation’s conference
“Rethinking the History of Indonesian Music.”
Purnamasari, led by Indonesian born, San Francisco Bay Area
singer-songwriter Lisa Graciano, integrates Indonesian gamelan
instruments and ideas into original, yet accessible guitar-based
songs and compositions. Purnamasari means Essence of the Full
Moon and features performers experienced in both gamelan and
Western music, mixing and extending traditional techniques. They
create a unique musical fusion, using a variety of gamelan
instruments and tuning systems, mixed with western instruments
tuned to a pitch allowing interaction with the gamelan.
Purnamasari grew out of the Indonesian American Cross
Cultural Music Project, a collaboration between Lisa and
gamelan player Paul Miller, and includes musicians Megan Hewitt,
Patrick Liddell, Richard Phillips, Keenan Pepper, Nami Murata,
and Julia Martin. The band performed at the San Francisco
International Arts Festival 2021, and the concert was also
sponsored in part by grants from the Sam Mazza Foundation and the
National Endowment for the Arts, and marked the release of
Purnamasari’s concept album titled Le Gong.
Maryam Farshadfar, piano
Shawyon Malek-Salehi, violin
Maryam Farshadfar, piano (Ph.D., ethnomusicology, University of
Montreal) and Shawyon Malek-Salehi, violin (B.A., music, UC
Davis, ‘14) present this lecture-recital, which discusses the
history of piano and violin in Iran, and the influence of
Persian culture on Western composers from the late 19th century
to the present. The recital includes performances of a variety
of lesser-known pieces by Western and Persian composers,
including pieces by Samin
Baghcheban, Gena
Branscombe, Henry Cowell,
and others.
Program
To be announced.
About the Artists
Maryam Farshadfar has had a passion for playing
the piano since the age of six, which has taken her across the
world to play and to share her love of music. She holds a
master’s degree in piano performance and has performed in solo
recitals and with chamber ensembles at prestigious concert halls
including the Tehran Niavaran Hall and Konzerthaus Freiburg.
Maryam has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of
Montreal (2017) where she was the recipient of the Bourses
d’études supérieures for her dissertation, “The Practice of
Persian Piano in Iran from 1879 to 1979,” which breaks ground in
the vibrant world music cultural debate about the traditional
practice of Persian piano music. She enjoys an active career as a
piano performer, scholar, and lecturer. She is currently a
full-time music faculty in San Jose Evergreen Valley College and
the music director of Evergreen Valley College Choir.
Shawyon Malek-Salehi graduated from UC Davis in
2014 with a bachelor’s degree in music (violin performance) and
pharmaceutical chemistry. He began studying the violin at the age
of five and is now a violinist with the Sacramento Philharmonic
and Opera, Oakland Symphony, and Stockton Symphony. He also
substitutes with orchestras throughout Northern California such
as the Berkeley Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and others. He has
performed at the Royal Albert Hall (BBC Proms), Amsterdam
Concertgebouw, and other European venues. He has also performed
at the Aldeburgh Music Festival with the Britten-Pears Orchestra
and studied at the Castleman Quartet Program. While at UC Davis,
he served as concertmaster of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra
from 2010 to 2013 and won the UCDSO Concerto Competition in 2009,
2012, and 2013. At UC Davis, Shawyon studied with Dan Flanagan
and participated in masterclasses with Fritz Gearhart, Ida
Kavafian, Rachel Barton Pine, David Halen, and Gil Shaham. He
enjoys his life as an active performer, and also loves skiing,
hiking, and traveling.
UC Davis’s own Jazz Big Bands present songs from the Great
American Songbook as well as a few contemporary works and
sometimes feature student vocalists too. Tunes by Chick Corea,
Herbie Hancock, and many others are often presented.
The UC Davis Concert Band presents thoughtful works written
especially for concert band, and sometimes for film (“My
Neighbor Totoro” and “The Polar Express” to name a couple).
Constituting members of the UC Davis community from students to
graduate students to faculty, the band is proud to represent
more than thirty areas of study in its members.
LiKWUiD, spoken word
Josh Henderson, violin, bass, guitar
Ju-Young “J.Y.” Lee, cello
Mikael Darmanie, piano
Rick Martinez, drums
Black Voices is an original concert program that integrates
classical, jazz, hip-hop, and spoken word—sounds and poetry
created by African-American artists—in an effort to lift up
lesser-known contributions that define the multifaceted culture
of the United States. Featuring the award-winning artist
LiKWuiD, the program utilizes poetry of Langston Hughes,
Ntozake Shange, and the Sacramento-based Maya Angelou. It also
features original spoken word material, set against music by
Duke Ellington, William Grant Still, Harry Burleigh, and
original compositions by Warp Trio members.
Described as “a talented group that exemplifies the
genre-obliterating direction of contemporary classical music”
(Columbia Free Times), Warp Trio is an
internationally touring cross-genre chamber music experience.
Reflecting the combination of Juilliard-trained members
juxtaposed with members steeped in rock and jazz styles, the
one-of-a-kind trio (that even has a fourth member!) can be seen
performing classical works in prestigious halls on the same tour
where they headline a standing room only show at a rock venue. In
addition to their electrifying public performances, they have
gained a reputation for their innovative educational workshops
with students from grade school through university
level.
Maintaining a busy performance schedule, Warp has performed
hundreds of concerts across the United States, in addition to
tours throughout The United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Holland,
Germany, West Africa, and the Caribbean. Highlights of recent
seasons include headlining performances at The LEM Festival for
Experimental Music in Barcelona, and the Omaha Under the Radar
Festival, being featured guests at the 2020 MASA Jazz Festival in
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and the sold-out world premiere of their
Triple Concerto for Piano Trio and Orchestra with the New York
City-based Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra. They have been one
of the honored recipients of a New York Foundation for the Arts
Grant, and in the 2020 season, they were the recipients of the
Chamber Music America Ensemble Forward and Classical
Commissioning grants.
Individually, the members of Warp Trio hold degrees in
performance from the Juilliard School, Cincinnati-College
Conservatory of Music, and New York University. The beneficiaries
of an incredibly diverse range of education, among the ensemble,
they have received chamber music training from members of the
Guarneri, Juilliard, Emerson, and La Salle Quartets as well as
jazz instruction from figures such as Ray Anderson, Tony Moreno,
Dave Pietro, and Mike Richmond.
Warp Trio is an Internationally touring cross-genre chamber
music experience. Every chamber music program needs this kind
of energy. While the beginning and ending compositions by Haydn
and Brahms provided expected pleasures, it was the Warp Trio’s
own jazz/tango/classical works that gave the concert a kick in
the pants. —Cape Code Times
The Bacchetto / Sabey Duo is a collaborative project of San
Francisco-based composer-performers Nick Bacchetto and Ben
Sabey. The duo creates new works for piano and live electronics
using MIDI Polyphonic Expression instruments controlling analog
modular synthesis, which is spatialized into any speaker
configuration via the new Dolby Atmos renderer.
Ben Sabey is a composer of chamber, orchestral,
and electronic music, lately specializing in expressive
polyphonic control of analog synthesis and spatialization.
Nick Bacchetto is a composer and pianist whose
creative works derive from a tension between algorithmic and
intuitive composition, and explore concepts such as fractal
geometry and natural selection.
Composed by New Zealand-born American composer Annea Lockwood,
Immersion (1998) for marimba and two
tam-tams was written for Dominic Donato and Frank Cassara and
arranged for the Talujon Percussion Quartet in 2001. It grew out
of a fascination with the rich beating frequencies generated by
long cluster rolls in the low register of the marimba and the
interaction between the marimba and a quartz bowl gong tuned to
F.
Pablo Ortiz: New Work WORLD PREMIERE
with video by Daniel
Godsil (Ph.D. composition ‘21)
and UC Davis students
Frederic Rzewski: Coming Together (Part I)
with Christian Kiefer, voice
Composed for a flexible number of collaborative performers,
Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together was
written in response to the 1971 uprising at the Attica
Correctional Facility. Our performance of Coming Together will
feature both undergraduate and graduate student instrumentalists,
playing alongside the professional musicians of the Empyrean
Ensemble. The performance will feature Christian Kiefer (Ph.D.
American Literature, UC Davis, ‘06) reciting a text written by
Sam Melville that reflects the conditions at Attica during his
incarceration there. Kiefer is now director of the Master of Fine
Arts in Creative Writing at Ashland University, and the author of
five novels as well as works of poetry, short fiction, and drama.
His latest novel, Phantoms (2019, Liveright/W.W.
Norton), was included in the Kirkus Reviews shortlist of the best
historical fiction of 2019.
Steve
Reich: Pendulum Music
performed in the Noda Lobby
The program ends with Steve Reich’s Pendulum
Music (1968) in a performance staged by Alysa Banks
(B.A., human development, with minors in music and sociology
’21), in the lobby of the Pitzer Center. Pendulum Music
makes use of multiple microphones swinging, pendulum-style, over
loudspeakers. Featuring dramatic squawks of feedback, the piece
concludes when the inertia of the swinging microphones naturally
come to rest. Sharp rhythms gradually wind down into a sustained
drone piece. The composer writes, “If it’s done right, it’s kind
of funny.”
