Y O T A M H A B E R B L O G



1/13/2011

Ari Mintz for the New York Times

Amazing concert on 1/11/11 at Baryshnikov Arts Center with the Knights and Christina Courtin! I was so thrilled with the energy and conviction the players emanated. Aside from my NEW GHETTO MUSIC, the concert was beautifully programmed --all works grappling in some way with the past: delicate arrangements of Schubert songs by C. Jacobsen and Llojva; Pulcinella (spectacularly played, hadn't heard this in years, and was so happy to become reacquainted with this tremendous, deft masterpiece); and Colin Jacobsen and Siamak Aghaei's infectious, spectacularly orchestrated arrangement of a Persian folk song, Ascending Bird.

Read Steve Smith's review in the New York Times here.




12/27/2010

Finished writing NEW GHETTO MUSIC for The Knights and Christina Courtin, a Meet the Composer commission. I am very excited for rehearsals to begin -- perhaps my most ambitious work, a jigsaw puzzle of a piece, in some ways the most straightforward thing I've ever written, in other ways, the most complex. I've included my program notes below:

New Ghetto Music continues my series of works based on the music of the Roman Jewish tradition. In 2008, I came across nearly ten hours of reel-to-reel tapes of Roman cantors chanting, captured in the 1940-60s by Leo Levi, an Italian ethnomusicologist. These recordings captivated me, with stoic, iron voices seemingly encapsulating more than two thousand years of history since Jews first set foot in Rome.  This piece, however, deals more loosely than my other works with a literal history, and instead deals with a notion of ghetto. Thus, what we hear first is not strictly Jewish music, but rather a nod to the exuberant, hypnotic wildness of Sardinian Tenores singing.  As Christina Courtin approaches the orchestra, singing and playing the violin, I felt compelled to use this ancient, rugged music to create a sort of ritual for beginning, for setting the stage, and for fusing two things (cultures, musics, timbres) into one.  

 

Once the orchestra fully engages, we hear a charged set of interludes, ruminations, variations, deconstructions, and constructions mostly all based on one liturgical melody, or piyyut, whose glowing, swaying melody grabbed my attention, with its ineffable sadness and joy. Rather than using the original Hebrew poetry (most likely written in the 11th century), I asked Christina Courtin and my friend, the poet Barbara Ras, to write a new text, reflecting on the original meaning and interpreting it in a personally meaningful way.

 

 This piece was made possible through the generosity of Meet the Composer Commissioning Music/USA Program, the Marlot Foundation, and Jane and Bernie Frischer. Thanks also to Simone Ghetti for creating the electronic component of this work. I am indebted to the extraordinary efforts and collaborative spirit of The Knights, Eric Jacobsen, and Christina Courtin.

 




4/16/2010

Just started working at MATA - very exciting!




June 2008

American Academy in Rome

The past few whirwind days have been the culmination of our time at the Academy - Trustee�s Week - devoted to guided walks and lectures by scholars, a dance presentation by Molissa Fenley, open studios from artists and architects, readings by Junot Diaz (read by John Guare) and Sarah Manguso, and the final concert featuring the work of the two composer Fellows.

Although we don�t officially get kicked out of the building until August 1, the year�s activities are over and the long dinner table in the jasmine-scented courtyard becomes shorter daily as Fellows and Residents trickle back home.

The very last crop of Residents have arrived, including John Corigliano and Mark Adamo, staying for a few weeks and giving us a half-hearted illusion that our year is still chugging along like it always was.

Rome is now becoming hot, humid and full of tourists � so many that one thinks twice before descending from our serene Gianicolo hill down to reality.

It has been an extraordinary year; challenging, sometimes maddening.  But it was also incredibly intense, gratifying, and unforgettable. Every day and every meal was an experience, both culinarily and intellectually, as I encountered scholars and artists that opened my eyes to new ways of thinking, of seeing, of hearing, of learning.

In the next two months I�ll be working on several new commissions, giving a lecture about my music in Umbria, traveling for performances of my string quartet in Venice and Sardegna, and taking the opportunity to see some European cities I�ve never seen before.

I know that I�ve built lasting, extraordinary friendships, and created ties to a magical city that will remain with me for a lifetime.



September 2007
American academy in Rome

September was a roller coaster of events, lunches, dinners, cocktail
parties, exhibits, guided walks around the city, and introductions to
some of the most interesting people I've ever met.


Courtyard, American Academy in Rome


The food is pretty extraordinary this year thanks to Mona and her
staff from Chez Panisse. Turns out I know her from NYC - a couple of
years ago I threw a dinner party and my friend Louisa asked me if she
could invite her friend Mona to "help" out in the kitchen...she blew
me out of the water by completely deboning a chicken while leaving it
intact in three minutes flat.

I've been heading over to Santa Cecilia (the Juilliard of Italy) to
do some research in the Leo Levi jewish music archives, but really,
i've just been starting - the last month has been so full! Yesterday
and today are the big Roberts celebrations (the director during the
40s and 50s). I was seated at dinner last night next to Diana (forgot
last name) who used to represent Copland and Bernstein from CAMI.
Great stories...

My studio, in the Casa Rustica, is the one in the back that has the
slanted chalet-like roof where Galileo used to work. The piano is
lovely and is deeper in sound than the piano in Erin Gee's studio,
which I find funny - is there such a thing as masculine piano?

As I imagined, there are quite a few personalities emerging, such as
Caveh, the filmmaker, who screened his film "I am a Sex Addict" last
week, or Tim Davis, the photographer who, on the archeological trip
to Cervetri and Tarquinia, delayed the bus for several minutes by
stopping to photograph snails next to an ancient temple. It's all
great fun and feels like camp...

Erin Gee, for her 5-minute project presentation, sang her Mouthpiece
1, which was beautiful and courageous. It's so nice that she is doing
something completely different from me - we aren't stepping on each
other's toes - stylistically speaking - and I think it's certainly
helped us become friends in a way that often is impeded to composers
cut from the same cloth.

Marty Brody the arts director arrived a day or two ago, and we've
had several conversations about his plans for the coming year and
beyond. He is brimming with enthusiasm and it's contagious. I told
him that I'd like to meet Ivan Fedele and he'll see what he can
do... Perhaps I should
just contact him myself, though I'm beginning to learn that
everything in Italy works better if you come bearing an official
letter of introduction, preferably on heavy paper with a watermark
and a seal...

Richard Trythall, the music liason, has been planning upcoming
concerts with us. I'd like to have a string orchestra and mezzo-
soprano perform my Rome Project - a work synthesizing the research on
the music of the jewish community of rome - in the final concert for
the trustees. That would mean hiring a Roman orchestra. Hopefully
that doesn't then preclude having Xak Bjerken, Rick Faria, Steve Miahky - three
wonderful musicians and dear friends, come to play as well.


Yesterday, Trythall performed a concert at the glorious music room of
the Villa Aurelia. Very challenging program of music written at the
academy during the Roberts years - Copland, Foss, Alexi Haieff. I was
enlisted as page turner at the last moment, and I was a nervous wreck
by the end of the Foss sonata - a never-ending whirwind of propulsive
subtly changing running 8th notes.

I'm off to Santa Cecilia again this afternoon - their music library
is extraordinarily good - with old recordings all digitized and
available online; modern, sleek facilities, and a gorgeous new
auditorium designed by Renzo Piano. It's quite a hike to get there
from the academy - off the map, really, if you use the little dinky
ones they give you at hotels and McDonalds. I bought a scooter before
arriving in rome from a past fellow, but have been to chicken to take
it out to town - the rules of the road are rather anarchistic here,
and as you know, stop signs are merely suggestions.

 

 

 


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