Either/Or: Variegates & Reactivities // Tenri Cultural Center

On Thursday May 19, 2022 at 8:30pm in Tenri Cultural Institute (new time and location!), EO presents Variegates & Reactivities, a program of solos, duos, and ensemble works from an expansive group of creative perspectives. This cohort of composers represents continuing musical dialogs (Grisey, Hakim, and Chacon) and newly initiated investigations (Bland, Da Costa, and Lou) for the group.

Featuring EO flutist Margaret Lancaster and stellar guest performer Madison Greenstone on clarinet, Talib Rasul Hakim’s (1940-88) Duo is a special addition to EO’s growing TRH repertoire (initiated in Nov ‘21). This work introduced Hakim’s music (then Stephen A. Chambers) to the NYC music community during a Music In Our Time concert at Town Hall in 1965. Greenstone’s learned performance of Gérard Grisey’s classic Deux Pièces pour Clarinette Contrebasse builds on previous EO presentations from the Frenchman’s oeuvre including "Solo pour Deux" (1981) and Périodes (1974). In December ‘21, EO took its initial step into the idiosyncratic creative world of composer, performer, and current Whitney Biennial artist, Raven Chacon with Whisper Trio, a brief, barely audible recitation in Diné (Chacon is a citizen of the Navajo Nation.) In the program note for his 2004 graphic score …lahgo adil’i… (the full title translates to “acting differently in the presence of strangers'') Chacon says the piece is “a reaction to some listeners (or performers of my early works) believing that they should be hearing some kind of ‘Native American influence’ in my music. Whatever that meant (to them). So this piece puts that burden into the hands of white performers, as that is who is the majority in music institutions in this country.” For EO’s realization, Chacon will visually guide the group through the score while the individual players consider their own interpretive paths.

Each of the three composers on the program that are new to the EO fold use very personal, distinctive languages in their compositions. Noel Da Costa (1929-2002) was a Jamaican-American artist and educator born in Nigeria. In 1967, Da Costa co-founded the Society for Black Composers with Mr. Hakim and a number of others. He was also deeply involved in the important Symphony for the New World as a performer, composer, and organizer. Trombonist and event Curator *Chris McIntyre* recently retrieved Da Costa’s 4 Preludes from the Library of Congress and he’ll be joined by EO’s Director Richard Carrick on piano in its first performance in decades. Ed Bland’s (1926-2013) career was also quite diverse, straddling the various worlds of concert music, literary criticism, filmmaking, film and TV composing, and beyond. He made a number of flute pieces, of which For Flute (to be performed by Ms. Lancaster) is the most virtuosic and visceral. Finally, EO delves into the singular realm of 2018 Rome Prize winner Michelle Lou’s music. Lou’s bio states that her work “studies the possibilities of how strange form(s), functioning as behavior/as odd containers of strange objects/material can shape experiential time.” Outlines for bass flute (Lancaster), bass clarinet (Greenstone), and horn (Nicolee Kuester) articulates these preoccupations by using audio phone apps, tone generators, wine glasses, and more to alter and skew static instrumental sounds, along with time and listening itself.

PROGRAM
Talib Rasul Hakim Duo (1963) for Flute and Clarinet
Gérard Grisey Deux Pièces pour Clarinette Contrebasse (1983)
Ed Bland For Flute (1980)
Noel Da Costa 4 Preludes (1973) for Trombone and Piano
Michelle Lou Outlines (2017, rev. '22) for Bass Flute, Bass Clarinet and Horn
Raven Chacon …lahgo adil’i dine dooyeehosinilgii yidaaghi (2004) open instrumentation

PERFORMERS
Margaret Lancaster - Flutes
Madison Greenstone - Clarinets
Nicolee Kuester - Horn
Christopher McIntyre - Trombone
Richard Carrick - Piano
Raven Chacon - conductor