Talea & Copland Ensembles (Queens College): Julius Eastman's "Femenine" // LeFrak Concert Hall, Aaron Copland School of Music

Program
Performance  

Talea Ensemble and Copland Ensemble
May 9th, 2022, 7:30 p.m., LeFrak Concert Hall

Femenine (1974)
Julius Eastman (1940-1990)

Talea Ensemble:
Christopher McIntyre, synthesizer (Music Director)
Matthew Gold, vibraphone
Greg Chudzik, electric bass
David Adamcyk, sound engineer

Copland Ensemble:
Grace Na, piano
Elliott Brown, trombone Dylan Ofrias, percussion Alphonso Valentin, percussion Sara Strozzo, cello Victoria Arsenicos, violin Diana Pipa, violin Theodore Froelich, viola Sarah Kadtke, flute
Jee Youn Kang, flute
Eric Juneau, oboe Natalie Olivieri, French horn Juney Li, soprano

Julius Eastman’s Femenine (1974) is of its time and timeless, a challenging and comfortable live music experience. It possesses qualities found in much of the experimental music he was performing at the moment of its creation, by composers such as Frederic Rzewski and Jon Gibson (among many others), which he encountered as a Creative Associate (a performance fellowship at Univ. of Buffalo’s Center of the Creative and Performing Arts) and as a member of the still-extant NYC-based group SEM Ensemble. These qualities include a continuous pulse with which various types of material are in dialog, a euphonious harmonic profile, and non-hierarchical ensemble organization. He absorbed and synthesized these elements, using them as tools in his own idiosyncratic musical world making. The experiential aims of this constellation of qualities provide the timelessness of the music, including reposed mindfulness over long durations and a sort of relinquishment to sonic and interactive flow. Many of the students participating in this performance were previously unfamiliar with the type of music making Femenine represents. The hope is that through the process of learning about it together, by playing and thinking through what is requested of all its participants, and with the mentorship of the Talea Ensemble artists, this epochal work will be joyfully brought into the immediate present for performer and listener alike.
– Christopher McIntyre