New music coming up in December! We’re thrilled to be presenting two Callithumpian commissions on this concert — Lee Weisert‘s New England Drift (2011), which we premiered at Sick Puppy 2011, is an open-form piece with a variety of layers for individual performers to play (“Drone”, “Noise”, “Clusters”, “Triads”, “Vocal”) at any given point determined by the conductor. Also a Callithumpan commission, Marti Epstein‘s Troubled Queen (2011), a 17-minute work for flute, bass clarinet, trombone, 2 violins, viola, cello, piano, and percussion, will be receiving its world premiere this evening.
Rounding out the program are three duos: Two pieces by Claude Vivier, Pièce pour violon et clarinette and Pièce pour flute et piano, both written in 1975 by the Canadian composer, and Jason Eckardt‘s Rendition (2006) for bass clarinet and piano, a piece exploring the word “rend”, as from the mid-’90’s CIA decision to implement a program of “extraordinary rendition”. Eckardt writes, “The etymology of “extraordinary rendition” can perhaps be traced to the meaning of the verb rend: to tear, to remove from a place by violence, to wrest. Other meanings include to tear (the hair or clothing) as a sign of anger, grief, or despair, to lacerate with painful feelings, and to pierce with sound.”
Join us for this evening of duos and commissions. Monday, December 19th at 8pm in Williams Hall — free.
Callithumpian Consort 