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Photo by Angela Bartolo
ETHEL will soon be reunited with our dear friend and collaborator Ayelet Rose Gottlieb at the 2012 Winter Jazz Fest (January 7th/Zinc Bar). Ayelet has composed a beautiful and deeply heartlfelt piece for ETHEL and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi entitled Shiv'a. We've been developing Shiv'a together for over a year now, and recently recorded it. This January's concert marks the beginning of a series of live performances of the piece.
Ayelet's style combines tuneful folk influences with moments of abstract improvisation. Her tone color choices are unusual and interesting. In this interview she discusses her music, her projects, and the fascinating relationship between her music and her dreams.
Read the entire interview here.
ETHEL's Cornelius Dufallo sits down with composer Mary Ellen Childs. ETHEL is slated to perform the NYC premiere of Child's Dream House tonight at The Stone.1. Can you name some of your biggest influences?
Of course I've been influenced by the work of many other composers, but one of my biggest influences is dance. I grew up dancing and making dances. Even when I started writing music - in graduate school - I spent a lot of time watching choreographers create work. I did this simply because I was curious and interested, but later realized that I was learning the art of creating and some years later I found myself applying what I had learned to music-making.
2. Describe the process of creating "Dream House." Where did the idea come from, and how did it develop?
Dream House was written after I lived through an extensive building project at my home, removing the roof and building a studio on the second floor. Walls, ceilings, floors were changing and moving all around me. The experience was deeply affecting: structures that I had counted on to be unchanging, dependable aspects of my daily life - I experienced as shifting and disappearing so something new could take place. As a result of this experience I came to understand on a profound level that destruction and creation are completely interdependent. Dream House was written in response. It is 13 movements and with some of them there are recorded construction sounds woven into the fabric of the music. It was written expressly for ETHEL, who play it beautifully! The premiere took place in 2004 at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis and I worked with a team of collaborators to create multi-image video with the live string quartet at center stage. But the music is also meant to be heard without the images, which is how it will be performed in its New York City premiere at The Stone. I've been writing music for more than 25 years and Dream House is the work that is my most personal, deeply felt, most close to my heart.
3. What are some other exciting upcoming projects?
Lots! I'm creating a new solo work with choreographer Claire Porter, just finished a new choral piece for the Minnesota Chorale (the chorus of the MN Orchestra), I'll be writing a new piano piece based on a Sondheim song for Anthony de Mare's Liaisons project, and there are plans in the works for me to write a new piece for electric violin and trombone quartet for former ETHEL violinist Mary Rowell and Guidonian Hand. I'm also finishing revisions on my opera Propeller. I'm also in the research phase of a new project with music and designed scents. Yes, smells!
4. What do you think is the role of creative artists in society?
First, I think everyone is creative. It's part of being human. I think there is no one role for artists in society, but any role usually comes down to this: artists and their work can help others see and feel things in a new perspective or with more detailed and conscious attention.
5. Do you have any advice for young composers?
I tell my students to have lots of experiences. Listen to lots of music of all kinds, even things you don't think you'll like. Go to live performances as much as you can. See and study the work of artists in other artforms. Follow whatever you're interested in - eventually it will find it's way into your work. Be curious. Travel. Live. Write, write, write. Absorb life!
ETHEL performs music of Hafez Modirzadeh
By Cornelius Dufallo
Also published on Urban Modes
Hafez Modirzadeh, a visionary saxophonist, theorist and composer, has been developing his own style of inter-cultural improvisation for three decades. His mentors and collaborators have included Ornette Coleman, some of the founding members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and the great Iranian violinist, Mahmoud Zoufonoun. ETHEL first encountered Modirzadeh in 2007, and the two parties felt an immediate artistic sympathy.
Since that time, Modirzadeh has created a body of work for saxophone, flutes, karna, string quartet, trumpet, santur, tombak, daf, and voice. On July 23, 2011 nine musicians came together to perform this music at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CA. The lineup included ETHEL, Mili Bermejo (Mexican Argentinian jazz vocalist), Amir ElSaffar (Iraqi - American trumpeter), Faraz Minooei (Iranian santur player), Amir Abbas Etemadzadeh (Iranian percussionist), and the composer himself on saxophone and Karna. The unforgettable event, which Modirzadeh entitled In Convergence Liberation, was met with enthusiasm from a large audience, and all nine artists spent the following two days together at Open Path Studios in San Jose, recording the music for a forthcoming CD.
Modirzadeh's work combines fascinating musical and philosophical concepts. "Composting" (a specific type of improvisational dialogue based on pre-existing written material), "matching-spirit" (a process of group improvisation using shared interval structures), "intoning" (a technique of improvising within a unison, playing with the higher partials of the overtone series), "tetramodes" (a carefully calibrated microtonal system based on a synthesis of ancient and modern approaches to intervallic relationships), and "Makam X" (an overarching and inter-cultural musical system of various partials of the harmonic series) were some of the techniques that the nine musicians shared and practiced together. Rhythmic meters of 17/4 (5+5+7) --inspired by Persian poetry -- were the foundation for improvisations that defied cultural boundaries. Persian modal systems, Iraqi maqam, Andalusian musical traditions, aspects of Indonesian gamelan, and references to western classical composers from the past three centuries were all called upon in this collaboration.
In 2009 Modirzadeh described his musical aesthetic this way: "It begins with a few ideas sounded together, each one in an incomplete fashion, as if light were peering through traditions' tattered curtains." More recently he has started to speak of a "Convergence Liberation Principle," which is directly inspired by the gathering at Tahrir Square, which he considers "the most concrete and brilliant example" of Convergence Liberation. Musically speaking, the concept is connected to a dual approach of honing individual style, while also transcending all cultural distinctions. The strategies that we used to translate these concepts into sound were mostly intuitive. We each drew from our own years of discipline in our respective traditions, but we also abandoned that discipline to make ourselves totally vulnerable. The process was mysterious, but we could all clearly feel a deep connection to our nature as social animals. For a few days we rejected the concepts of right and wrong; instead, we created a group dynamic based entirely on trust.
(From left: Cornelius Dufallo, Amir Abbas Etemadzadeh, Mary Rowell, Dorothy Lawson, Ralph Farris, Amir ElSaffar, Hafez Modirzadeh)
As Director of Public Programming for Lincoln Center and as the former Director of Joe's Pub, Bill Bragin has been applauding ETHEL's work ever since the group's inception. In the midst of organizing Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Festival, Bill graciously set aside an afternoon to get to know the newest member of ETHEL - violinist Jennifer Choi.
BB: One of the
hallmarks of your work is your ability to cross over from classical composed
music to improvisation. How were you introduced to these arts and how do you
see these modes of music relating to one another?
Meanwhile, I hadn't
quite let go of the classical route and was still entering competitions,
performing the standard violin concertos, and classical chamber music. Throughout
all that, it seemed like the two modes of music were helping each other out. The
downtown guys liked that I could read their music and had the technique to
improvise really hard, while the many free jazz and improv concerts I was
giving and getting out on stage in whatever form was helping me to open up my
classical playing, too.
BB: Let's talk
about your parents. As you were veering toward downtown improvisation, how did
that effect your parents' expectations?
JC: They respected the fact that I was touring worldwide in new and improvised music, but I made sure they also saw me come home and play concertos with orchestras, so that it was a bit half-and-half. They did wonder why I was doing new music and if I liked it. Would it affect my classical playing? My answer was that I didn't really know. Now that they see that I am following my heart and paving new ways in music, they are constantly encouraging me to be more creative. I'm very lucky in that way.
BB: Given that
you're committed to extended technique, has it changed your classical playing?
JC: There are certain sounds in twentieth and twenty-first
century music that can be very different from classic and romantic music, and
definitely more sounds and noises - including the ugly ones! (I use a 1770
Storioni violin for everything I do.) The nice thing about it is that if you
are working alongside composers, they can guide you toward the "right" sounds
for a piece, whereas in classical music, you are guessing more to find that
particular sound that will fit the music. For a while it was really hard to
make that switch but I've become more accustomed to just adding more sounds to
my toolbox! I think improvisation can actually help with the classical playing,
too. Former ETHEL member, Todd Reynolds and I have discussed this issue
actually and we both agree that new music and improvisation can help free up
the classical mindset of playing everything perfectly. After all, it's common
knowledge that Beethoven and Chopin, for instance, were constantly improvising
and for that matter, coming up with new music for their time. In any type of
music, classical to experimental, the focus on sound, nuance and intonation has
to still be there. I like to think I'm putting my classical training into new
music with the difference being that in new music, and for sure in improvised
music, the results are more immediate.
BB: There has been
a recent movement of young, creative new music organizations. I feel that ETHEL
started this back at Joe's Pub in 2002. I remember sold-out rooms with people
sitting on the steps listening to this string quartet. In a way, they paved the
way. Talk a little about where you think the music is now in relation to the
larger culture.
JC: There has been
an explosion in the new music scene. It's great! There is more media attention
now than ever, and some really hot groups that are so good at new music are out
there. People are definitely attending these concerts as promoters are
believing in us and in the music. I think it has something to do with the fact
that new music being produced today is more relatable for the general audience
and also being performed at a very high level. It's less about being complex
and atonal - which has its place and reason for existing - but more about music
for our time. ETHEL was a pioneer of this music. I saw them perform when they
first started out at a concert at Symphony Space and remember thinking, "Wow!
They're really cool, amplified, standing, and moving around." ETHEL is doing
even more now, so I'm excited to be a part of it.
BB: How did you
find out about the opening in ETHEL?
JC: It was a bit of
a surprise. I knew Mary, Ralph and Neil. I've known Neil since we were both
teenagers. We attended the Aspen Music Festival at the same time. Neil called
me out of the blue and asked if I was interested in playing in a string
quartet. Since ETHEL is based in New York City, near my home and husband, it
was a possibility for me. So, I went in to read and when we sat together it
felt amazing and clicked! The music is extremely fun to play and I am familiar
with so many of the composers that ETHEL has performed and will be performing,
so the decision was mutual.
BB: It's the idea
of being in a band again. How do you think this is going to change your solo
career now that you're a member of a group?
JC: For the
immediate future, a lot of my focus will be devoted to learning ETHEL's vast
repertoire. It's the kind of music I would play on my own anyway, and I've
always had a love for string quartets and the workings within. I see Neil doing
his own solo projects and Mary did great things on the side as well. Ralph has
his own show on Broadway, and Dorothy is a professor at Mannes. Perhaps going
forward, more or different opportunities for my soloing will come out of
playing in ETHEL.
BB: So much of what
ETHEL is about is its residency work, specifically the TruckStop® project. They've been really switching the definition
of touring and working with communities. Has that been part of your work in the
past?
JC: Residency work
has been a large part of what I do. I was a Teaching Artist for the New York
Philharmonic's Educational Department for seven years as well as the Brooklyn
Philharmonic and 92nd Street Y. I was involved in creating outreach curriculums
for thousands of inner city school kids. We performed, introduced and taught
classical music in the public school system. So it's going to be a natural
transition for me, since ETHEL already has a great outreach aesthetic in place.
I think that the educational component of any group is very important as it is
a way to get children of all ages as well as adults interested to see and hear
live music.
BB: What about the
theatrical element? You talked about ETHEL playing while standing. They've done
pieces directed by Annie Dorsen. They've performed at the World Financial
Center where they really work with staging and presentation in nontraditional
places.
JC: ETHEL is
planning more collaborations that involve multimedia and guest artists going in
line with its innovative programming models, and that could mean some more
choreography for us, but that's one aspect I'm hoping to do more of because, if
and when it fits with the music, it can be that much more exhilarating for us
to play and for the audience's experience as well.
BB: What do you predict
will be your biggest challenge now that you are in ETHEL?
JC: It will be a
big responsibility to carry on the pioneering qualities as well as its founders
have done it. I have a great respect for ETHEL and everything that has been
achieved so far. I know it has taken a lot of hard work to get to this point.
Carrying the torch, staying innovative and keeping it an excellent group is a
big part of what my job will be.
BB: When is your
first ETHEL concert?
JC: Our first performances together are set for this Friday, July 15 in New Canaan, Connecticut, and July 16 in Woodstock, New York.
Dear Friends:Let me begin by saying it has been an incredible honor to share the creation and nurturing of ETHEL with Dorothy, Neil and Ralph - and with all of you! So many dreams, hopes and wishes fulfilled. So much music created, both with and for the band. So many wonderful opportunities to travel, create, perform, teach, mentor and to learn. It doesn't get much better than this!
We started out in 1998 with an open-minded goal of taking the art of string quartet playing into the 21st century. Thirteen years later, I'm proud of our success in raising the bar of performance of contemporary classical music and in making this music more accessible to all kinds of audiences. Our concerts, recordings and outreach activities represent our inclusive musical values, and I'm proud to say that we've never deviated from them.
All the passion and hard work have paid off in so many ways for ETHEL, which makes me extremely happy. I am grateful to all the presenters who took a chance on our hybrid group mentality - sharing us with their audiences and allowing us opportunities to open our sonic world to them. So many times after concerts I talked with people who had not expected to like a "new music group," yet were delighted by ETHEL. One of the reasons we named our group ETHEL was to give an impression of comfort, openness and familiarity to an otherwise cutting-edge experience. Other than that, it was just fun calling ourselves ETHEL! Some of you might remember our very first performance, before we had a name, at Ed Montgomery's Context Studios on the Lower East Side. The excitement and the ferocious commitment to playing music the way we wanted was exhilarating.
There have been so many other "firsts" for us since then. The first time we had management; the first time we played at Joe's Pub; the recording of our first CD; the first time we played in a major music series; the first time we received a major grant; the first time we played with a nose-flute player; the first time we played with a drumline; the first time we played at a Tasmanian penal colony: the first (and maybe last?) time we played at a sewage-treatment plant.
And the firsts will continue to happen, even as I end my tenure with ETHEL.
It was not an easy decision for me to leave an aspiration with which I have been so deeply and passionately involved. Forming ETHEL was a culmination of various attempts to fuse the best elements of popular and classical music, and all that might entail. I can't think of three better band mates to have done this with. I am truly blessed to have been able to share this experience with you all. I will continue to support Dorothy, Neil and Ralph - and now Jennifer Choi - as ETHEL continues on its remarkable path. I will also continue to create and perform in my own capacity, so do stay in touch.
My heart-felt thanks to ETHEL and to all of you who have made these past years so meaningful. May our paths cross again soon and often, and may ETHEL live long and prosper!
With love and gratitude,
Mary
Photo: Steve TaylorAlso published on Urban Modes
On May 23 ETHEL will be premiering quartets by this year's HomeBaked composers (Anna Clyne, Matt Marks, Andy Akiho, and Judd Greenstein). Merkin Hall, 8PM as part of the 2011 Tribeca New Music Festival.
HomeBaked is a new project for ETHEL, in which we support the work of innovative, emerging composers who are based in our hometown of New York City. ETHEL's HomeBaked commissions are funded in part by the Jerome and Greenwall Foundations. Click here to read a recent interview with Matt Marks.
Also on the program will be works by Corey Dargel, Randal Woolf, and Rick Baitz.
Judd Greenstein was kind enough to answer a few questions last week:
Dufallo: What are some of your influences (musical or non-musical)?
Greenstein: I really believe that artists need to be open to the possibility of everything they've ever encountered making its way into their work. So I don't claim to know what all my influences are, even if I can name the composers and musicians and other artists to whom I return most frequently. My "big three" in the classical world are Johann Sebastian Bach, Frederic Chopin, and Maurice Ravel; their approaches to voice-leading and harmonic motion serve as models for my own. Other musicians who are hugely influential are Philip Glass, Nina Simone, The Beatles, John Coltrane, Neil Young, DJ Premier, and Fela Kuti, as well as many of my friends and colleagues in our present time. Terrence Malick and David Lynch are are the two non-musical artists whose work has certainly influenced my music. But I'm less interested in the artists who I find personally important than in the many fragments of sound that have worked their way into my compositions. There are string quartets and pop songs that I've hated but which have had one moment that, knowingly or unknowingly, got past the defenses and wind up recontextualizing that work as an "influence"!
Dufallo: This question may seem overly simplistic, but why do you compose?
Greenstein: Music has always been a necessary part of my life, for as long as I remember, and at some point, I became addicted to my own music -- to the works that I made that satisfied my own needs as a listener, and which weren't being addressed by existing work. That sounds onanistic, and it is, but fortunately, it seems like there are other people who have an emotional use for what I create, as well. So that takes it out of the realm of pure onanism and into the broader realm of contributing something useful to society. There's no objective measure of when or how that happens; being an artist is, in part, about finding the confidence to take the leap of faith that your work does have that relevance. I could have done a lot of things in the world that are objectively useful, but I came to the conclusion that the most powerful thing I could contribute in the world is to make great art. There's no way of knowing whether that's the correct decision; I'll never know. But I wouldn't have known the other way, either.
Dufallo: ETHEL is thrilled to be premiering your piece, Octet 1979. Can you describe the piece and your inspiration for composing it?
Greenstein: I've been collecting synthesizers from the 1970s and 1980s for the past few years. One of my interests is to bring these great instruments into conversation with other kinds of instruments, and this commission offered an opportunity to pair four of these synthesizers with four strings -- thus, an "Octet". This is not an exploration of the sounds that these synthesizers can make, though I have created many new sounds for this piece. Rather, it's about "the notes" as well as the ways in which these two quartets speak to each other. ETHEL is the perfect group for this project, as it asks the string quartet to be a part of a broader conversation with what are conventionally "pop" sounds, while being incredibly virtuosic, technically proficient, and highly musical interpreters of a complex notated score. When ETHEL asked me for a quartet, it seemed obvious to bring them into the weird world of my "1979" series, and here we are.
Dufallo: What are some exciting upcoming projects?
Greenstein: My next project is a 30-minute orchestral work for the Minnesota Orchestra, which is premiering in March, 2012. I'm also finishing my evening-length work about King Solomon, "Sh'lomo", for my new synthesizer/guitar/bass/voices/percussion ensemble, The Yehudim.
Dufallo: Do you have any advice for composers who are just starting out?
Greenstein: Don't close yourself off to any of your influences. Study scores and refine your technique -- strong commands of counterpoint, voice-leading, form, and harmony are the bedrock of all good composition. Put yourself in a position to work closely with excellent performers who respect and understand your voice and your music. Start your own ensemble.
By Mary
Rowell
January 25,
2011, NYC
"Another
snow storm! Why today, when we have to fly to Lexington, Kentucky? Argh!"
--Mary, at 7:30 a.m.
As it turned
out, we slipped out of JFK before the storm gained any momentum and, luckily,
the ice and snow didn't hit Perry County, KY, until after we made the 2.5-hour
drive from LEX. So, safely ensconced in our hotel in Hazard, KY (yes, as in the
70's TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard"), we were in the heart of coal
country and all that means. We had been delayed leaving LEX, waiting for
Ralph's flight from ATL, so we didn't make it to Hazard in time to be on Dean
Osborne's radio show. But we did have time to find some very good Indian food
and a bottle of bourbon. We were able to tune into Dean's show in the car for a
while, long enough for Dean to call me. We talked on the radio as we were
driving to get there. By the time we arrived, Dean was heading home to Hyden
and stopped by the hotel for a little visit
January 26,
2011, Hazard, KY
An 8:30 a.m.
call from Dean Osborne, the Dean of students at the Kentucky
School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music. He informed us that the
school had decided to close for the day due to weather conditions, which meant
we wouldn't be doing a performance that evening. But that shouldn't prevent us
from doing a lec/dem for the students in the morning. So we headed southwest
about 17 miles to Hyden and the Hazard Community and Technical College (HCTC)
Leslie County Center.
We had visited
the school once before, just before it opened. We had come to Lexington at the
invitation of Jim Clark LexArts to do a
TruckStop performance with shape-note singers. We also met up with an old-time group and Dean
Osborne, a bluegrass banjo player and cousin to Sonny and Bobby Osborne of the
immortal Osborne Brothers Band. At the time, Dean had made a decision to "get
off the road" and was heading up the new music school in Hyden. He invited
ETHEL to perform and charge folks up about the new school.
The small facility is immaculately kept. There is a tremendous pride in what they are doing there; it is obvious and inspirational. To our surprise, most of the students showed up to meet with us on a snow day--now that's enthusiasm! We had a great time playing and talking with them. After lunch at Dean's (his house is just behind the school and across the street), we headed back to school and did a recording session for a few of the kids who had written some tunes and were curious how a string quartet might fit in. They all felt certain that a quartet was needed on their tunes. One boy, Corey May, composed a coda to his song when he learned we were planning to visit the school. He had never composed anything before and was pretty thrilled when he heard it played. It was clear that it wasn't quite finished, though, and he quickly filled out the cello part after hearing Dorothy do some filling during our reading.
Corey's brother,
Tyler, is a talented fiddler and claw-hammer banjo player. He had a haunting
and original recording in which he played an unusual banjo tuning and over-dubbed
fiddle. It was really fun creating a string quartet part for that. Steve Reich
meets moonshine--or something.
Starlit and
Sean had a lovely tune that we did a more traditional sweetening to. And that
was how we spent our snow day. Totally fun!
January 27,
2011, Hazard, KY
HCTC announced
it would open its doors today, which means we'd be able to play our main show
of the trip. Yay! The show was booked as our "Present Beauty" performance,
with the caveat that we'd work in some tunes with some of the students and
Dean. Two groups from the school performed an opening set, which was awesome,
and then we came out and turned everyone on their ear with Terry Riley, Julia
Wolfe and Philip Glass. Next, we invited Dean and Curtis up for a gander
through a tune Neil and I wrote, which Dean dubbed as "The Pretty
Song." We closed with everyone on
stage for a huge jam on "Deano's Blues/ Smoke on the Water." Whew!
The audience really ate up the show. They were thrilled by the new sounds we
brought to the mix and it meant a lot to them that we ventured into their
musical world as best we could.
Thank you, Dean,
for the opportunity to see what you're doing down there in the hollers and for
inspiring us with your kids' talents. Oh, and thanks for the bourbon,
too.
By Dorothy Lawson
It's been hitting me lately, how lucky we are in ETHEL--how brilliantly rewarding our musical lives together are. The experience of playing the "Present Beauty" program this season continues to evolve; it is more and more ecstatic.
And we will soon be working with Robert Mirabal again, on "Music of the Sun." And Dean Osborne, for TED. And Lionheart, on Phil Kline's "John the Revelator." And Thomas Dolby, on new songs he is recording. And there will be New York premieres of new ETHEL works by Dohee Lee, Judd Greenstein, Matt Marks, Anna Clyne and Andy Akiho. I am breathless.
When we speak at colleges, we encourage the students to consider what beautiful opportunities and associations might be present right in their midst--to treat their current relationships as lifelong assets, and their current activities as building blocks of their careers. We urge them to consider themselves unique, vital and empowered. It is their world we will all live into.
And I am happy to report, from the light in their eyes, that is looks truly, passionately beautiful.
By Cornelius DufalloPhoto by Timothy Sekk
This season ETHEL is thrilled to launch a new and ongoing project called HomeBaked in which we support the work of innovative, emerging composers who are based in our hometown of New York City. In 2011 we'll commission and premiere four new works by Matt Marks, Judd Greenstein, Andy Akiho, and Anna Clyne as part of this initiative. The premieres will take place on May 23 during the Tribeca New Music Festival at Merkin Concert Hall. ETHEL's HomeBaked commissions are funded in part by the Jerome and Greenwall Foundations.
In this interview, HomeBaker Matt Marks discusses his approach to music and his new ETHEL piece:
Dufallo: Can you describe some of your musical influences?
Marks: I suppose there are two types of musical influences on the music I write. The first would be the various kinds of music that I've consciously learned to emulate and the techniques of which I directly employ in my pieces, such as hip-hop, drum 'n' bass, and 70s power ballads. The first music I ever created was noisy hip-hop on my sampler, and the music I write for humans has gradually grown from that origin.
The other type consists of the unconscious influences, which I try to encourage indirectly. For about a decade I was obsessed with finding and listening to as many types of music as possible. At first I consciously attempted to write music in these various specific styles--everything ranging from house music to Nepalese folk song--but I would always fail. Eventually I learned to let these influences creep into my music, almost without my knowledge, with absolutely no claim to authenticity.
Dufallo: Your work has been described as "brilliantly simultaneously creepy and funny." Can you tell us a little about your distinct approach to humor in music?
Marks: I'm fascinated with the subversion of irony. Coming from the world of hip-hop and genre electronica, one of the main devices used is the remix, which often places a well-known extended sample in a completely different context. Quite often this displacement is done humorously or ironically, such as remixing the Tetris theme to a hard house beat, but sometimes the recontextualization makes for conflicting moods and emotions that can be unsettling, frightening, or unexpectedly beautiful. If you're lucky it can be all of these things. In my more theatrical works, I often pair up (or mash up) seemingly conflicting genres such as horror and romance, or sex and Christian pop. Audiences tend to expect basic irony when faced with these juxtapositions, but I like to use this expectation against them.
Dufallo: Please tell us a little about the piece you are writing for ETHEL.
Marks: My as-yet-unnamed piece for ETHEL is an extension of a series of solo pieces I've been writing for a few years. I've been creating solo works for specific instrumentalists based on music they are ashamed of or embarrassed to admit they love. These "Shame Remixes" have been based on the music of Madonna, Sade, Taylor Swift, and various Disney songs. For ETHEL, I thought I'd continue this project, but on a larger scale. I contacted everyone from ETHEL and asked them about their own shameful choices and they gave me a treasure trove to work from. I'm creating a large piece for string quartet and electronic track that involves all four of these choices. I'm tempted to give away what the choices are, but I'll hold off until the piece is performed.
Dufallo: Any other exciting projects that you'd like to mention?
Marks: As I mentioned above, I've been writing a lot of theatrical works recently, mainly with vocals. My post-Christian nihilist pop-opera, "The Little Death: Vol. 1," was released on New Amsterdam Records in the last year and had a successful run in NYC this summer. I am also completing a song cycle for baritone and chamber ensemble called "The Adventures of Albert Fish," which is a sort of pop song cycle about the notorious serial killer from the 1920s. I'm also in the planning stage of a new theatrical work for Alarm Will Sound.
Dufallo: Do you have any advice for composers who are just starting out?
Marks: I have two main points of advice for young composers. One, if you can't find people to play your stuff, play it yourself. Two, don't define your music by what it isn't.
A few pics from ETHEL's performance at Gild Hall in Arden, DE (1/1511).
Yes, it's true: Dorothy uses Windex to clean her instrument.
This picture was taken by Joe del Tufo. Many thanks to the Arden Concert Gild - we had a blast! Arden is a beautiful community.
By Rik Fairlie
Also posted on Urban Modes
Dohee Lee is a fascinating dancer, musician, and vocalist currently working in San Fransisco. She grew up on Jeju Island in South Korea, where shamanic traditions are very strong. Her current work fuses these ancient forms and traditions with contemporary elements.
Building new artistic relationships is one of the great joys of being in ETHEL. Our work with Dohee marks the beginning of a new relationship, and we are thrilled to bring her work to life. The performance will take place at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City on April 11 at 8 p.m.
Dohee has created a very beautifully written artistic statement. I particularly love the opening sentence:
"I passionately believe by practicing art we can commune with spirits to express and share our thoughts and ideas on vital issues such as identity, politics, nature, and spirituality."
Here's a recent interview I conducted with Dohee:
Dufallo: Can you name some of your artistic influences?
Lee: Anna Halprin (choreographer and dancer), Kronos Quartet, Korean Pansori singer Sohee Kim, Diamanda Galas, Meredith Monk, John Cage, Francis Wong, Tatsu Aoki, Larry Ochs, and many books, including Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" and the Korean ancient book "Chunbukyung 81 Letters".
Dufallo: How long have you been creating music/movement? How and why did you start?
Lee: I started studying dance when I was 16, full of desire and passion. Then naturally music became part of the movement. After that I could not deny how my heart was pounding for music, so I started studying Korean traditional percussion music after I finished dance in college.
However, the starting point for creating music and dance was when I moved to America in 2002. I was trying to focus more on what I wanted to do, and I realized that this is what I have to do in my life. Out of this contemplation came the PURI Project. Puri means "releasing suppressed spirits" in Korean. I wanted to release myself from suppressed stress and sprits. While doing this PURI Project and art, I started believing that audiences can also be healed and experience release by watching and participating in the performance. Although I started doing this to heal myself, I now do it with the belief that the everyone--audience and other performers--can be transformed. Performance to me is a form of ritual.
Dufallo: Can you talk a little bit about your creative process?
Lee: I read books, research, write, and draw a lot. Writing down and drawing all of my thoughts and ideas is one my biggest pleasures in the creative process. Sometimes it looks very abstract at first but it becomes clearer as time passes. And researching is the biggest adventure to discover something that connects to the work and myself. In addition to this fact, it really fulfills many different aspects of my work.
Dufallo: What is the role of the creative performer in society?
Lee: This is a hard question. I think performers are educators, magicians, and healers. They touch people's hearts and souls in many different ways through different media like visuals, sound, and physical and spiritual forms. These are very necessary for society.
Dufallo: Any advice for younger artists?
Lee: [Laughs] This is the most difficult question so far because I am the one who needs to hear this advice from the artists. However, at this point even though I am still a young artist, I would like say "do not limit yourself." That is a very important quality. As I mentioned before, I started dance first. I never thought that I was going to compose music but I really opened myself up to everything. I interpret unexpected events as gifts that always come to you but if you are not ready to receive them, you will miss the message. So I want to say, "Do not limit yourself, and love yourself because whatever you do is always connected to life and influences your art." The arts can come from everywhere when you start opening up and recognizing it.
We ETHELs have performed in some unusual places. The Chicago Zoo. A sanitation plant. And now, in an immense red dress!
How to describe the goings-on in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, this past weekend? In a word, sumptuous.
ETHEL took part in the official re-opening concert for the city's Muziekgebouw. We arrived for rehearsals at Philips Hall Thursday morning and were amazed to find a slight Korean woman standing in the folds of an enormous red dress that completely covered the auditorium's concert stage. The woman was Aamu Song, the Helsinki-based designer who created the dress and the idea of the performance setting. In designing the dress, Aamu said she imagined a huge dress as the mother giving music to her children.
We spent Thursday evening and Friday coordinating the forces to pull off one of the most unusual concerts I have ever participated in. Besides ETHEL, there was a children's choir; an adult choir; members of the Brabandt Orchestra the lutenist Isreal Golani; our fellow artist-in-residence, the Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto and German soprano Simone Kermes.
Simone actually wore the dress and the rest of us bedded down in the folds at her feet and in areas covering the rest of the stage. She was tucked into the dress and zipped in, and once inside could not leave her position until an assistant freed her. Simone was quite brave considering that it was, shall we say, very warm inside.
Positioning everyone in the dress and figuring out how to get in and out to perform involved some trial and error. Our director Matthijs Rümke, fresh from directing a production of "Richard III," adeptly guided us through the positioning. He was very upbeat and genuinely tickled by the concept, as was everyone involved.
There was a little issue about what to do about music stands. It was decided that people would serve as music stands and each player had his or her very own living music stand.
Lyres were designed with a yoke so the "stands" could sit or kneel and the lyre would rest on their shoulders to position the music at the proper height. My stand's name was Marika. She is an avid soccer player and she also teaches French to autistic kids. Pretty cool.
Once we worked out these details, it was time for the first performance. This brought another complication, since audience members were invited to view the show from inside the dress. It gave new meaning to the phrase "on your toes," because those of us who performed in different positions had to carefully step over all the bodies lying around.
Saturday was an "Open Day" at the Muziekgabouw, with short performances taking place throughout the day in various locations in the building. ETHEL did three performances with the Dutch pop singer Janne Schra, formerly of our old friends Room Eleven. Our location was the stage with the dress, so Janne performed in the dress with ETHEL at her feet.
We did several covers including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Fast Car," Janne's song "Swimmer," "Eleanor Rigby," and "Don't Give Up." We ended with ETHEL playing "Kashmir" and Janne dancing the dress! The effect of her gyrating in the dress was amazing. She even convinced the bedded-down audience to make a wave.
As I was watching the rehearsal from my dress bed and seeing folks get in and out and in and out again, the scene reminded me of kids in kindergarten playing floor games and rolling around. It was interesting to think that we all were going to be playing an important opening concert and the mood was so light and fun-not the typical worry and fretting.
We were all lying together on the stage and listening to the performances, we weren't playing ourselves. It felt more like sitting around a campfire and singing and sharing stories. The kids in the choir were giggly and smiling, as were the other performers, the living music stands, and the participating audience. When it came time to perform, each performer arose at the appropriate time to play or sing, while those who were not performing positioned themselves to listen and watch. It was at once elegant and homey.
Eindhoven--and the Red Dress--was the culmination of our tour. We started in Russia where we performed in four cities: St Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Kaliningrad, and Moscow. We had a delightful stay in Russia.
The audiences were enthusiastic and we felt very appreciated. There were wonderful posters for the concerts in each venue and the folks we met were wonderfully friendly and kind. Our driver, Vladimir, didn't speak English but we were able to communicate when we needed a restroom and such on our very long trip to Petrozavodsk. He was so sweet: When he picked us up for the trip he brought us a bag of apples picked from his yard.
Moscow was a 24-hour whirlwind. The city was the last stop of our tour in Russia before heading to Holland. I did not recognize Moscow from when I had last visited, before Gorby was kicked out. Today Moscow is a bustling big city packed with too many cars and people. But it was nice to see stores with things to sell, unlike my previous visit when most stores were closed and those that were open had long lines of people waiting to buy the one item in stock.
Enschede is a lovely town in the east of Holland. We did two performances of JacobTV's music at the Grenswerk Festival and then spent a couple of days coaching groups from the conservatory where Jacob is composer in residence. The students were enthusiastic, talented, and receptive to our insights.
We stopped off in Utrecht to meet up with Colin Kyteman and check out his new musicians collective, Kytopia. What an awesome guy. He had just received an Edison and the mayor of Utrecht sent him a cake that arrived while we were there. They are cutting funding to the arts in Holland, but there is no shortage of cake.
It was a great trip and I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Greetings, friends! We are having a fantastic time in Russia. Our hosts, CEC ArtsLink, are incredibly gracious, and they have made us feel so at home.
We landed on Friday, Sept. 24, in St. Petersburg after a very quick layover in Zurich. A bit groggy, we got to baggage claim, and erf!! Dorothy's bag hadn't made the connection. The mini-adventure that followed for our dear cellist was amazing to watch. More on that in a moment.
We had all been prepped for the customs declarations we needed to make for our instruments: Upon arrival, a visitor to Russia must fill out two copies of an incredibly complicated form. And these forms have to be filled out perfectly - No crossing anything out, no edits, etc. Plus it's highly recommended that folks have detailed documentation of their instruments. We all had photos of our fiddles, Dorothy had a bill of sale for her Luis and Clarke cello, and David Segal Violins had supplied me with a "passport" for my Douglas Cox viola, so we were armed and ready.
OK, cool. Neil, Mary, and I completed our forms, some of us faster than others (read: the violist's got no skills with forms). And then we were through.
But poor Dorothy was still stuck at the desk, having filled out her customs forms two or three times, the situation with her bag going AWOL making things that much more complicated. Thankfully, CEC ArtsLink's amazing program manager, Nastya Tolstaya, was allowed to enter the baggage claim area, and she swooped in to the rescue. Because Dorothy was entering Russia before her bag, her forms had to be filled out in quadruplicate. And she had to declare every single item - toiletries, shoes, concert dress, socks, underwear, the lot - that was to fly to her the next day. Amazing. Is anyone ever really expecting to declare her or his underwear? There's a reason they're called "unmentionables," people!
A'right, so Dorothy finally got through with her forms, and she was told her bag would arrive the same time next day. We then all piled into a van. Nastya handed us our itineraries, a city map, and a copy of The St. Petersburg Times with a lovely feature on ETHEL (wow!).
We were dropped off at our gorgeous (and huge) apartments. Neil and I shared one, and the ladies shared the other. After hot showers and a quick change of clothes (for three of us, at least), we were off to dinner with the lovely Susan Katz, CEC ArtsLink's program director of VisArt, Central Asia.
And what a feast! We went to an amazing Caucasian restaurant named Tarkhun. Susan and Nastya ordered beautiful dish after beautiful dish: bean stews, fresh whole herbs, dumplings, roast lamb and vegetables. And we washed it down with an incredible tarragon-infused vodka. I was brought back to a very special time in 1988, when I was fortunate enough to travel with Judith Woodruff's International Arts for Peace, as part of a larger tour of the former U.S.S.R. Truly some of the warmest, most special times of my life were spent in Georgia, and to relive those memories through this amazing feast was a treat indeed.
Throughout the meal, we had marvelous conversation with Susan and Nastya. Some exciting ideas were flying around the table (stay tuned!) and everyone had a lovely time. We then all headed back for some shut-eye.
We started the next day (Saturday) with a rehearsal for our Russian debut. After a few hours, Dotski had to head back to the airport to pick up her bag (yes, she had to collect it personally). Amazingly, she was back in an hour and a half, with time enough to spare for a cup of tea, and a yummy Russian cookie-doughnut-thing, before the concert.
And then it was show time! ETHEL's Russian debut was in a gorgeous, resonant space at the Communications Museum. We did a "Greatest Hits" program, kicking off with Arrival. Boisterous applause followed our every number. About halfway through the program, Mary popped her E string. She ran backstage to change it, and the three of us played Neil's "Lighthouse" while we waited. Mary returned just as we closed the trio, and we finished up the show all together.
ETHEL was received so warmly, and what an audience! There were conservatory students, folks from the museum, friends and supporters of CEC ArtsLink, this super-hip radio host named Damian, and the U.S. Consul General in St. Petersburg, Sheila S. Gwaltney. Sheila is a very cool lady indeed, and she knows her music! We were talking Bang On A Can and Julia Wolfe with her.
We headed back to the CEC ArtsLink office for a post-show gathering with Susan; her hubby Petr (an incredible artist); Chris Gordon, a New Jersey-born writer who had written the piece on us for the paper; his pal KC, an English teacher from Las Vegas; a lovely woman from the Finnish consulate named Elena; Jo, a British woman who works in child welfare; and several other folks whom I didn't manage to meet. Blinis, caviar, beet salad, and vodka all around, and we were a happy crew. And then we were off to bed to rest up for our 2 p.m. road trip.
And we're on the road now, from St. Petersburg to Petrozavodsk. We're heading into an area that I understand once was part of Finland. Beautiful overcast day that just cleared to reveal a bright powder-blue sky, a tree-lined highway featuring a random assortment of roadside vendors ("Were those mushrooms that guy was selling?"), and two-plus more hours to go. Our driver, Vladimir, a very sweet guy, an opera fan and a former sailor (if we understand correctly), hands over the van mic to Mary, who does a tour-guide bit for us as we passed a little collection of gas stations, bus stops, and an industrial park.
And now, methinks, it's time for a nap. Much love to all y'all!
By Rik Fairlie
If you wanted an example of how ETHEL and the Grand Canyon Music Festival's annual NACAP tour can inspire Native American youth, you only needed to look in the back seat of the band's rental car this year.
There you would have found Russell Goodluck, a freshly minted high school graduate who was a student of NACAP in 2008 and 2009. Russell went on the road with ETHEL this summer, not as a student but to help the band work with the kids and to perform his original pieces on guitar and native flute with ETHEL at concerts.
I caught up with Russell during the tour, and he said ETHEL continues to motivate him-even though he's no longer (officially) a student. "Every time I hear them perform, it's like hearing them for the first time again," he says. "They taught me inspiration and when I hear them rehearse it makes me want to play more."
Russell, a Navajo who lives right outside of Chinle, Ariz., plays tenor sax, guitar, and some piano. He says he's now trying to teach himself violin. "Learning violin is kind of hard," he admits. "You want it to sound elegant but you get a screeching sound."
Russell says he has written seven classical pieces in the past year, a wellspring of creativity that originated at last year's NACAP workshops. He would have liked to write more, but senior year of high school proved more hectic than expected.
He also plays tenor sax in a Navajo Nation marching band, and I asked what sort of music the band plays. To my surprise, he said John Philip Sousa.
I asked why the band doesn't play Native American music when it marches in parades.
"We don't have Navajo marching music," he deadpanned.
Which makes total sense, if you think about it. I laughed at my own witless understanding of Native American culture (even though I have enough Choctaw in me to join the tribe).
Russell says he plans to go to pursue a degree in education and afterward become a teacher, composer, and performer. I asked where he planned to teach, and his response illustrated something very fundamental -- and graceful -- about what it means to grow up Navajo.
Russell said he plans to return to Chinle immediately after college. "I want to give my knowledge to my people," he says. "The elders always told us when we were children that we should make sure to return to the reservation to share what we have learned."